Spirit: Do you believe spirit is real? Scientists tend to tell us it is not real if it cannot be studied objectively and empirically. There are lots of questions about spirit if it is real, though: Questions a child might ask. We probably try to answer our children if they ask these things. Surely God, likewise, would give us understanding if we ask. Here are some questions that come to mind.
Do you think memory resides in the brain? If so, how did the rich man, in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, remember that he had brothers if his brain had decayed to dust? Do you think your consciousness resides in the brain? If so, how can the dead be conscious once their brain is turned into dust? Are ghosts real, do you think? Can we become ghosts and haunt people if we suffered injustices such as murder? Did the disciples seeing Jesus alive from the dead actually think he was a ghost? He said ghosts do not have flesh and bone like he had or eat like he did. Does this mean he believed like them that ghosts are real? Did he know a lot about ghosts? When casting out demons, did he treat them as evil ghosts? Can a ghost interact with our minds? If so is it interacting with our brain or some other aspect of consciousness? Or does it interact only with spirit? Is spirit a different level of consciousness distinct from mind? Does it persist after death but mind die with the brain? Abraham reasoned with the Rich Man in the story Jesus told. Was this at spirit level only or did reasoning ability continue after death in some kind of persistence of the mind? When Paul said speaking in tongues or praying in tongues does not necessarily involve the mind, does this mean spirit and mind are separate within us? Is the mind aware of the spirit, as with interpretation of tongues? Is spirit able to communicate with mind directly? Is it the Holy Spirit acting on the mind that enables interpretation of tongues? Are dreams in the mind or are they in the spirit? Can they be in both? Is a lucid dream what happens if mind becomes aware of spirit?
