Do Church Leaders All Agree?

Many Bible scholars and clergymen question the “immortal soul” doctrine. Wesleyan Methodist clergyman Agar Beet wrote: “The Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul is a curious example of an opinion destitute of any foundation in the Bible and in some measure contradicting it, derived only from Greek philosophy, yet held firmly by large numbers of educated and intelligent Christian teachers and writers on the mistaken supposition that it is taught in the Bible.” Similarly, Dr. Martensen, former bishop of Zealand, Denmark, wrote: “It may be considered to be universally acknowledged in our day that no independent proof can be given of the immortality of man.”

Interestingly, the Hoofstad newspaper of Pretoria, South Africa, published an article entitled “Soul Does Not Survive,” which reported a leader of the same church, Professor Adrio König, as saying: “Christians must get away from the idea which originated with the Greek philosopher Plato that man consists of two parts: body and soul . . . according to the Bible man’s existence ends with death. There is not ‘something’ like a soul that lives on.”