BiblicalInsights.net

Jesus asked two questions in Matthew 16:26 worthy consideration.  “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus Affirms That We Have a Soul.
Jesus is the creator of all things (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16).  Adam, the first man, was created from the dust of the ground (physical aspect of his being) and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7–the spiritual aspect of his being).  Adam was created in the image of God and exhibits will, intellect, emotion, morality–spiritual aspects of his being.  The soul is the inward man and the body is the outward man (II Cor. 4:16).  The body is subject to death, but the soul will never die.  We receive a soul or spirit at the time of our conception.  Zecharaiah writes, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”  God is creator of all things and He is creator of man’s spirit.  Solomon in Ecclesiastes writes, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all” (Eccl. 11:5).  And, in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”  Further evidence that we have a soul can be found in James 2:26.  James defines death as the separation of the spirit from the body.  Obviously, life must be defined as the union of the spirit and the body. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Whenever Jesus died, His body was placed in a tomb, but His spirit went into paradise (Luke 23:43, 46, 53).  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead involved the reuniting of His body and spirit.  The conclusion of this Biblical evidence is that each human being possesses a soul or spirit.
The Soul Can Be Lost.
Jesus affirms that we can lose our soul.  To be lost means that we will be eternally separated from God.  There are various ways that the Bible indicates this eternal state.  In John 3:16, Jesus said that individuals who do not believe on Him would “perish.”  In Mark 16:16, Jesus said that those who do not believe on Him and are not baptized into Him will be “damned.”  In II Thess. 1:7-9, Paul describes the fate of those who know not God and obey not the Gospel as being punished with “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.”  Everlasting destruction does not refer to annihilation, but to eternal ruination.  Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
The pursuits of the human heart will determine our eternal destiny.  Some attempt to “gain the whole world” as they pursue material things and riches.  They pursue the pleasures of sin and worldly delights.  We are warned about loving the world and the things that are in the world (I John 2:15-17).  Love of the world is enmity against God.  God desires that we love Him supremely (Matt. 22:36-39).
The Soul Can Be Exchanged.
The value of the human soul can be seen in the price paid to redeem it.  Jesus gave His life and shed His blood in order to redeem mankind from sin.  Peter states, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” I Peter 1:18-19).  The word “precious” means costly.  The value of the blood of Christ is priceless.  Consequently, the value of the human soul is priceless.
The value of the soul can only be preserved through discipleship to Jesus Christ.  If we are not a disciple of Jesus Christ (a Christian), then we have sold out our soul for something else.  The only alternative to serving Jesus is to be a servant of sin (Satan) (Rom. 6:16-17).  If we exchange our soul for some sin, we have traded down and proven ourselves to be fools.  Sin is worthless and has no value whatever.  To take something priceless and exchange it for something worthless is foolish.  More importantly, it means that we will lose our own soul!
Preserve The Value of Your Soul.
In Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”  Jesus asks three things of us.  First, we must deny ourselves.  This means that we must renounce the pursuit of the lust of the flesh through submission of our will to God’s Will.  Second, we must be willing to suffer persecution for the name of Jesus Christ.  Third, we must follow Jesus, i.e. actively pursue Christ-likeness.  We must put to death the old self and allow Christ to form a new life in us.  Only by undergoing this spiritual transformation can we save our soul. (see Rom. 6:3-4).

A recent letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch touched on a word missing from our every day vocabulary.  Can you guess what it is?  The title of the letter was, “‘Sin’ disappeared from lexicon long ago.”  The letter pointed out that the high priests of journalism have “outlawed” the word “sin” from the common vernacular.  This prompts the question, “why?”
I would like to offer two reasons.   One reason lies in the psychological coping mechanism we call “denial.”  Denial is a psychological defense where we will not face reality, instead, we deny reality so that we will not have to deal with it or the pain that it brings.  Another reason is redefinition of truth.  When we define truth subjectively rather than objectively, everything is permissible.  The ideology called postmodernism does this.  If everything is permissible, then sin vanishes.
The Problem.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”  Rom. 3:23.  And, “the wages of sin is death…” Rom. 6:23.  Sin is a universal experience of mankind.  The consequences are serious both now and for eternity.  While some may deny the reality of sin, and others have redefined truth to make it disappear, the reality of sin keeps confronting us.  One way to force a realization of this is to look at the numbers. The price we pay for sin is enormous. Consider the following:
Internet Gambling.  The estimated social cost of internet gambling is 25 billion dollars per year. (Does God Exist, Jan./Feb. 2013, p. 27).
Alcoholism.  The cost of alcoholism to the American taxpayer is 43 billion dollars per year.  (Does God Exist, Jan./Feb. 2013, p. 29).
50% of all fatal accidents involve alcohol.
80% of all fire deaths.
65% of all drowning deaths.
40% of all assaults.
77% of falls.
55% of arrests.
Unwanted Pregnancies.  The annual cost to the American taxpayer of unwanted pregnancies is $11 billion dollars.  (Guttmacher Institute, Huffington Post.com, 5/24/2011).  Two-thirds of unintended pregnancies–a million births-are publicly funded by Medicaid and other government programs.
Addicted gamblers.  The costs associated with addicted gamblers in the U.S. is between 32.4 billion and 53.8 billion dollars a year.  This amounts to about $274 per adult annually.  Gambling in America, Baylor University professor Earl Grinols from dailyfinance.com., July 22, 2011).
Drug Abuse.  Substance abuse and addiction breaks down as follows:
Illegal drugs–118 billion a year.
Alcohol:  185 billion a year.
Tobacco:   193 billion a year.
Totals:   559 billion a year  (Drugabuse.gov  National Institute on Drug Abuse, 4/9/2013.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases.  Sexually transmitted diseases for Ages 15-24 costs $6.5 billion a year in 2000 dollars.  Among all age groups the cost go up to between $9.3 billion to $15.5 billion (includes HIV).  Guttmacher.org. Guttmacher Institute (Jan./Feb. 2004, vol. 36, no. 1).
Crime.  The annual cost of crime in the U.S. is $1.7 trillion dollars.  David A. Anderson, “The Aggregate Burden of Crime.”  This amounts to $4,118.00 per person in the U.S.  (David Anderson is professor of economics at Davidson College, North of Charlotte, North Carolina).
Divorce.  Family fragmentation costs:  $112 billion a year.  Benjamin Scafidi, J. Whitney Bunting School of Business at Georgia College and State University.  Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia.  “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing” c. 2008 www.americavalues.org.
Pornography.  The financial costs to businesses productivity in the U.S. alone is estimated at $16.9 billion annually.  The human toll is far greater.  Webroot.com “Internet Pornography by the numbers; a significant threat to society.”  Consider some stats:
Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet.
Every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet.
40 million people in America regularly visit porn sites.
35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
One-third of porn viewers are women.
2.5 billion emails sent or received every day contain porn.
Abortion.  The normal cost of a first-trimester abortion runs between $350 to $550.  Guttmacher Institute www.guttmacher.org.  “In 2009, the median charge for a surgical abortion at 10 weeks gestation was $470.  The median cost of  a medication abortion was $490.  In 2008, 20% of all abortions were covered by Medicaid (State funded).  In 2008, there were about 1.2 million abortions performed in the U.S.  Total costs:  $112 million dollars.
The total costs exceed 2 trillion, 35 billion dollars!  And, these are just the financial costs.  May we add the emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual costs?
How can we deny the reality of sin when it is costing so much?  Why not let God define sin?  Sin is a transgression of the law of God (I John 3:4).
The Solution.
The first step is to face reality.  We must admit to ourselves and to God, “I am a sinner.”  This confession will produce guilt and shame if prompted by godly sorrow and move us to repent and turn to God.
The second step is to pursue the pathway of redemption and righteousness.  We must say, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”  We must seek forgiveness from God who is the only source that has the power to remit sins.  We must yield to God’s Will for our lives.  We must repent.  Repentance involves a turning away from sin.  It involves a cessation of the practice of sin.  We must be baptized to “wash away our sins” (Acts 22:16; Acts 2:38).  And, we must pursue righteousness.  The way of righteousness is the strait and narrow way that leads to eternal life (Matt. 7:13-14).  The problem is sin.   The solution is “Christ in you and you in Christ.”

Recently, Yahoo News reported on the negative effects of divorce.  The article was by Lauren Hanson and titled, “9 negative effects divorce reportedly has on children.”  Here is the list:
1.  Smoking habits.  In a study published in the March 2013 edition of Public Health, researchers at the University of Toronto found that both sons and daughters of divorced families are significntly more likely to begin smoking than peers whose parents are married.  In an analysis of 19,000 Americans, men whose parents divorced before they turned 18 had 48 percent higher odds of smoking than men with intact families.  Women had 39 percent higher odds of picking up the habit.
2.  Ritalin use.  Dr. Strohschein, a sociologist at the university of Alberta, wanted to know what was behind the increase in children prescriptions for Ritalin over the past two decades.  In 2007, she analyzed data from a survey that was conducted between 1994 and 2000.  In it, 5,000 children who did not use Ritalin, and were living in two-parent households, were interviewed.  Over the six years, 13.2 percent of those kids experienced divorce.  Of those children, 6.6 percent used Ritalin.  Of the children livng in intact households, 3.3 percent used Ritalin.  Stroschein suggests that stress from the divorce could have altered the children’s mental health, and caused a dependence on Ritalin.  Ritalin is commonly prescribed to help control the behavior of children.
3.  Poor math and social skills.  A 2011 study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that children of divorced parents often fall behind their classmates in math and social skills.  They are more likely to suffer anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem.  The reason that math skills are affected is likely because learning math is cumulative.  This means that children of divorce will fall behind their peers who live in more stable families.
4.  Susceptibility to sickness.  In 1990, Jane Mauldon of the University of California at Berkeley found that children of divorce run a 35 percent risk of developing health problems, compared with a 26 percent risk among all children.  The susceptibility to illness is linked to increased stress related to the divorce.  Divorce can also reduce the availability of health insurance, lead to less adult supervision and safe environments.  The risk of health problems is higher than average during the first four years after a family separation, but, curiously, can actually increase in the years following.
5.  An increased likelihood of dropping out of school.  A 2010 study found that more than 78 percent of children in two-parent households graduated from high school by the age of 20.  However, only 60 percent of those who went through a big family change–including divorce, death, or remarriage–graduated in the same amount of time.  The younger a child is during the divorce, the more he or she may be affected.
6.  A propensity for crime.  In 2009, the law firm Mishcon de Reya polled 2,000 people who had experienced divorce as a child in the preceding 20 years.  The subjects reported witnessing aggression (42 percent), were forced to comfort an upset parent (49 percent), and had to lie for one or the other (24 percent).  The outcome was one in 10 turned to crime, and 8 percent considered suicide.
7.  Higher risk of stroke.  In 2010, researchers from the University of Toronto found a strong link between divorce and adult risk of stroke.  However, the vast majority of adults whose parents divorced did not have strokes.  The link may be attributed to increased stress, which can change a child’s physiology.
8.  Greater chance of getting divorced.  University of Utah researcher Nicholas H. Wolfinger, in 2005, released a study showing that children of divorce are more likely to divorce as adults.  Children of divorce are more likely to marry as teens and to marry someone who also comes from a divorced family.  Wolfinger’s research suggests that couples in which one spouse has divorced parents may be up to twice as likely to divorce.  If both partners experienced divorce as children they are three times more likely to divorce themselves.
9.  An early death.  An eight-decade study called The Longevity Project by Howared Friedman and Leslie Martin that began in 1921 tracked 1,500 boys and girls throughout their lives.  More than one-third of the participants experienced either parental divorce or the death of a parent before the age of 21.  But it was only the children of divorced families who died on average almost five years earlier than children whose parents did not divorce. The deaths were from causes both natural and unnatural, but men were more likely to die of accidents or violence.  Generally, divorce lowered the standard of living for the children, which made a particular difference in the life longevity of women.  (The above facts were taken from the article cited which was copyrighted 2013 by Yahoo News). 
No-fault divorce laws which were a result of the feminist movement in American have contributed to the frequency of divorce.  The impact of divorce on children is devastating.  This is a strong argument against divorce and for permanency in marriage.  God’s design for the family involves marriage between one man and one woman for life (Rom. 7:1-3).