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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 161
Answer: The inquirer is mistaken when he says that the
Bible teaches the immortality of the soul. There is not a
single mention of the word immortality or heaven in the
sense of a possession of man in the Old Testament. There
at is explicitly stated that "Heaven, even the heavens are
the Lord's, but the earth has he given
to the children of
men"; Psalms 115, 16th verse. It is explicitly taught
that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." If the soul were
immortal that would be an impossibility. In the New
Testament the word "immortal" or "immortality" is only
used six times. It is designated as something to be striven
for, or something which is an attribute of God.
So far as the spirit is concerned, howe?er, the case is
different, and even where that is the theme, the word immortal
is not used. Immortality is implied in the same
way that the doctrine of rebirth is implied in so many
passages, but even the doctrine of rebirth has the advantage
of the doctrine of immortality of the human spirit, for the
doctrine of rebirth was taught definitely at least once in
Matthew 11 :47, where the Christ said of John the Baptist,
"This is Elijah." In this teaching the doctrine of im-
mortality was again implied, for if the spirit Elijah was
reborn as John the Baptist he must have survived bodily
death. The teaching of immortality was at that time one
of the mystery teachings, and even to this day it can hardly
be received until a man has entered the path of initiation
and there sees for himself the continuity of life.
It may be stated, however, in answer to the question,
that everything hinges upon what is meant by "positive
proof" and what the qualifications of the person are who
asks for the proof to judge of these proofs? We cannot
prove a problem in trigonometry to an infant, but if the
infant is given time to grow and is properly taught the