Bible: The soul is clearly cited in the Bible, which is divinely inspired.

• Jesus clearly mentions the soul: "Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28 CSB)

Mind vs. Brain: The mind and brain are not the same; they have different characteristics and activities.

• Unlike the physical brain, activities of the mind (thinking) don’t have any physical aspects or location. Someone cannot find a sunset your mind is thinking about in your physical brain, even if they can see brain cell (neuron) activity.1

• According to Christian authors Moreland and Habermas, “…mental states possess intentionality, while physical states do not.”2

Consciousness: The soul provides a better explanation for self-awareness and thinking than materialism.

• Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland makes this point with a simple question: “How could consciousness have evolved from matter? Can matter think?”3

Personal Identity: Since I am constantly replacing the cells in my body over time, the soul is a better explanation of my personal identity.

• According to Dr. J.C. Sanford, our identity is not based on our cells: “A human being contains over 100 trillion cells. But we are not 100 trillion cells.”4

• Author Ralph Muncaster makes the point that your identity does not change, even though, according to estimates from scientists, virtually every atom in our bodies is replaced every five years.5 Even if it is actually seven years that almost all cells are replaced, the point remains.

Free will: The soul provides a better explanation for free will than materialism. Matter cannot make decisions.

• Christian authors Habermas and Moreland argue that if we are simply our bodies, there is nothing in us to make decisions.

  • “If I am just a physical system, there is nothing in me that has the capacity to freely choose to do something.”6

  • “If I am just matter, then my actions are not the result of free choice. They are determined by the laws of chemistry and physics plus boundary conditions.”7

• Habermas and Moreland reference a neurosurgeon to prove that the brain does not make decisions.

  • "Wilder Penfield, often acclaimed the father of modern neurosurgery, “mapped” the brain during surgery by electrically probing the appropriate areas while the patient was fully conscious. He was able to do this by using only a local anesthetic because the brain itself feels no pain. By probing these areas, Penfield could cause the patient to move his arms or legs, turn his head or eyes, talk, or swallow. But interestingly, the patient would “invariably” respond by saying, "I didn't do that. You did.” Or sometimes, if the right arm was moved, the individual would reach over with his left arm in order to stop his right from moving. Yet, no matter how much probing Penfield did, even in the cerebral cortex (where the highest level of human consciousness is located), he testified: “There is no place…where electrical stimulation will cause a patient to believe or to decide”.”8

Hemispherectomies: Personality and memory are not impacted in cases of surgery that remove half of the brain.

• According to an article from Scientific American, hemispherectomies, which in surgery to remove half of a person's brain, does not effect a person's personality or memory.9

• It is important to note that damage to a brain impacting memory does not disprove existence of the mind, because the brain acts as an intermediary between mind and body, similar to a cell phone receiving signals. The signals don't stop, but a broken phone cannot receive and communicate them.

NDEs: Near-death experiences provide strong evidence that we are not simply our bodies.