Who Owns Your Soul?

We all sense that there is a non-physical component of our being. We might call it our heart or our soul. We talk about people who are very close as being “soul-mates”. A popular wedding song refers to “the union of your spirits”.

Spirit
Soul
Heart
Essence
Vital force
Life force
Breath of life
and many other synonyms

I will call it the soul.

Most people would say that the soul is the most important part of our being. Many would say that the soul can exist apart from the body…….both before birth and after death. People who have had near death experiences often describe their soul as floating above their body. We typically see people who have “good souls” as good people……..whether they have money, health, success or anything else. We say that truly evil people……..and they do exist……..have black souls.

If the soul is real and if it is so important, then the question comes up……..who does my soul belong to?

This is so terribly important……..because it colors how we run our lives. More importantly, whoever owns my soul effectively owns me……and can dispose of me and my soul as he sees fit.

What are the possibilities?

My soul belongs exclusively to:

Me
God
Satan
Nobody
Some other human
It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t exist.

I’ll start with the easiest and work up to the most important:

It doesn’t exist. I doubt that many people believe this except for a few deeply committed (and intellectually honest) secular humanists. This includes the belief that when you die, the lights just go out. Thus, this is not popular. But, it does free me……..to do whatever I want to do. And that freedom is the big attraction.

Some other human. Again, not a popular option. Even for the most ardent star crossed lovers, nobody believes that their life force belongs to another flawed person. When push comes to shove…..we simply don’t trust the other guy……..and his agenda. This is the domain of those who join “cults”.

Satan. History is replete with stories of people selling their souls to Satan. Where it gets interesting is this: since he owns your soul, he controls it and can do with it as he pleases……….so what will he do with it? Since Satan is a liar, I cannot tell you what he will do with the soul that he has purchased and neither can the person who has sold their soul. But, I suspect that it will not be pleasant.

Me. I own and control my soul. I direct it where I want it to go. It does my bidding. I bend it to satisfy my appetites. I define it so that I can do as I please. This is best summed up in “Invictus” by Henley. “I am the master of my fate…….I am the captain of my soul”. The only problem here is that the as the “master of my fate”…..we never seem to honestly deal with the final disposition of our soul…..when we die. Some dream up a paradise that conforms to their appetites. Others accept death as the end for our soul. This is the heart of secular humanism.

Nobody. Your soul is a completely independent entity. It operates by its own rules. Nobody controls it. Nobody tells it what it can or cannot do. Your soul dictates your every action directly or indirectly. Your soul could be wildly different from mine. In a way, we are captive to an inner motivating force……and so is the other guy. This accounts for much of the conflict in our culture.

God. This is the Christian perspective. God created me…..including my soul. He did this for his own purposes, which I do not claim to fully understand. He has expectations of me and has given me guidelines to use in my life. Depending on how I manage in this world……depending on how I follow God’s agenda…….. when I die, he will send my soul either to paradise or to hell.

Most people operate on a combination of the last three choices. Christians generally say God owns and has dominion over their souls. God has ultimate control over my soul…….and its disposition. Most secular humanists fall somewhere between self ownership and an independent soul. The key to the secular humanist perspective is that no outside being has ownership of and therefore control over his soul.

In the final analysis……it all comes down to one thing……control. Either the primary control of my being…..of my soul……. is internal……or it is external. Either God is in charge……or I am.

Either I run my world based on “love God….love man” or I run it based on “what I want”…….today.

I propose that “what I want” isn’t working very well.

I propose that love and its cousins…….trust and obey………will work better. That is God’s promise.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Jesus, ESV

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Solomon, ESV

do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus, ESV