Since the discovery of the genetic basis of biological life, atheists
and other groups of people with a materialistic philosophy or world
view have been indulging in the fantasy of a purely material
existence of man. In this movement, attempt is made to force all
human phenomena into the mold of genetic code. Man is seen as
a machine pre-programmed genetically to be whatever he would
be. To them, man is only "matter" and the term "spirit", if it does not
refer to alcoholic fluids, can only be a vestige of a superstitious
past in the history of man.

Evolution compels Materialism

Such a mindset may greatly surprise many other persons who
regularly experience the spiritual in their lives and have come to
practically verify its reality. "How can anybody pretend there is no
spiritual realm?", they wonder. What must be appreciated is that a
materialistic view point does not stand alone but is tightly tied to an
evolutionary doctrine of origins and the propagation of life -
especially natural evolution. Therefore, for them to accept
spirituality is to destroy the doctrine of evolution. Consequently, the
only option left for them is to figure out every means of
accommodating all spiritual phenomena in their materialistic
conception. Therefore, their standard approach concerning
spiritual events and processes, is first of all to attempt an outright
denial of the phenomenon, while all those that cannot be denied
must be said to have physical explanations. Never mind that there
are no evidences for such declarations. In the morality of
materialists, what is expedient to be said must be said, whether
right or wrong. Morality is irrelevant and "evidences" would be
conjured later.

Genetic Code cannot explain all humanity

As I observed elsewhere, people who attempt to explain the
human mind by DNA are not only confusing the spiritual with the
physical, but are attributing all power of existence, to genetic code,
which is a physical structure. Actually, the fallacy of such a position
ought to be obvious since code, any code at all, must of necessity
be the product of intelligent design. We as human beings are
discovering more and more that DNA is the quintessential code!
But despite this discovery, the religious nature of evolutionary
mindset hinders its faithfuls from subjecting themselves to simple
reason - the very thing they claim to be strong at!

Lie of the Selfish Gene

Such is one of the evidences of the foolishness of Prof. Richard
Dawkins which he exhibited in his popular book, "The Selfish
Gene". This unfortunate work of "faction" (mixture of facts and
fiction), stemming from an assumption that everything is "natural"
in substance and evolutionary in dynamics, attempts to attribute
the human functions of the soul solely to genetic makeup.
Remaining true to type of his fellow atheistic scientists, he
attempts to explain away the utter failure of evolution to identify the
specific genes for human spirituality. The scientists claim
that such spiritual behaviours (for example altruism, love, hate,
worship, etc) are the results of the interactions of many genes - but
they also fail to identify the culprit collaborating genes. This is what
science has been turned to - making wild claims without
substance, and yet insisting that we all accept their claims without
questions pending when the evidences will be available. (In many
instances, the guesses are even presented as "facts" to the public.
Well, such escapist gimmicks are not acceptable.

Scientists are not always truthful

It is important to tell the scientists that they do not qualify to have
our unquestioning acceptance of their proclamations. They must
come up with PROVEN evidence. After all, they are mere human
beings like us. They are not God. It is unfortunate that many people
are not aware that many proclamations of science have not been
proven. They assume that only established facts will be published
and promoted - and that done truly and responsibly. The bad news
is that such an expectation places too much burden on the seared
consciences of the scientists that have pre-determined the
answers they want, and those that are "acceptable", even before
commencing the so-called research.

Place of revelational knowledge

For those of us who believe in God, many of the things the
scientists are struggling to unravel have already been revealed by
the word of God. Actually, knowledge comes only via two means -
revelation and reason. Revelation is from the spiritual realm and
the surer source of knowledge. This is why God gives us revelation
concerning all things that pertain to eternal life. For mundane
things, He occasionally also gives us revelation especially if we
ask specifically in prayer or if the information is needed urgently or
for current godliness. But generally with respect to mundane
things, God expects, nay, commands us (Proverbs 25:2;
Ecclesiastes 1:13) to do our due duty to find it out via reason. We
see therefore that research is indeed of God but such scientific
reasoning can only find out mundane things such as the genetic
code. Spiritual matters are accessed exclusively via revelation.

The True Nature of Man

Now about Man, the revelation of God is first that we are both
physical and spiritual. The physical aspect is our natural body
which is governed by our genes (genotype) and the influence of the
environment (phenotype). For example, the brain is part of this
physical makeup. On the other hand, our spiritual nature is at two
levels - spirit and soul, so that with the body, man is a tripatite
being of spirit, soul and body. The body is like a physical machine
which can be investigated by physical scientific means,

The soul is the residence of the personality. This is who we are with our faculties of intellect (i.e. mind), volition (i.e. will) and emotion. The soul is spiritual in substance and not measurable by physical science. It manifests its effects mostly through instructions it gives to the body. This is one of the reasons why ignorant scientists think that it is the body (and by implication, the DNA), that does all the things. The body is merely a servant of the soul.

The soul, especially the faculty of the will, is the means by which psychic phenomena are carried out. Things like psychokinesis (e.g.
levitation), extra-sensory perception, precognition, mind healing of
all types, and such other things are primarily premised on the soul
although the activities are seldom concluded without the input of
external spirit beings (called demons). Many ignorant ministers of
God are even being deceived in this area, and they mistake these
manifestations for gifts of the Holy Spirit.  In the last one hundred
years, the effect of psychic activities have been seen on an
unprecedented level in western societies. Yoga, transcendental
meditation, mind healing, repetitive affirmation, telepathy, and the
like have penetrated all aspects of society. Science has tried to
investigate these matters. As expected, physical science has no
clue at all on the matter and it assumes it to be "superstition" But
even the field of parapsychology can only succeed to the extent that
the observed effects are not influenced by demons and thereby
nullify the required scientific criterion of repeatability. The great
error of physical science is that it's rules are designed on the
assumption that all aspects of what is being investigated are
subject to human conditions. Spirit beings are not so.

In all, the soul is actually like the software while the body is like
hardware. The body perishes at death, but the soul continues to
exist hereafter.

Lastly, the spirit is the residence of life. The spirit is what makes
the body alive and working. Regardless of the intricacy of the
anatomy, it is the spirit that makes physiology to happen. The spirit
is the highest level of our being. It is the place of our conscience
and the means by which we commune with God and receive
revelation from the spiritual realm. For example, prayer is only
prayer when it is rendered "in the spirit" - otherwise, it is mere
soliloquy. As the controller of the entire human being, it has a
working relationship with the soul whereby the soul is subject to
the dictates of higher values than mere intellect, will and emotion.

Man is Purposeful free moral being, not machine

Therefore, love becomes sacrificial rather than lustful; human
interactions become cooperative and even altruistic, rather than the
imaginary "competition" of darwinian doctrine; and worship is
engaged in rather than the independent goalless self-assured
existence that evolution dictates. Needless to say, all these are
strange to the intentionally-hardened hearts of atheists just as their
methods in the laboratory can never find out any genetic basis for
them.