The Local Church

The Question

The first half of my life I spent mostly as a Catholic. I was happy with my religion but I never understood my basic need so I never found out how to end the emptiness I always felt. By the time I was twenty-six, I had set aside my faith and become agnostic.

One day, I heard someone say that the soul and the spirit are not the same thing. Every attempt of explaining this statement only stirred up my curiosity. For two years it became the question I would ask everywhere I went, but none of the answers satisfied me.

Eventually, I put my question to a Christian woman who knew the answer. She showed me a book by Witness Lee entitled The Economy of God and asked me if I knew what the two trees were in Genesis. I didn't know the answer but guessed it was the Tree of Good and the Tree of Evil. She told me that good and evil were from the same tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If I ever thought being good would save anyone, I found out then that it was this very tree that caused Adam's fall. The other tree is the Tree of Life.

Then she told me how human beings were made with three parts. We have a body with physical life. The word used in the Greek for this life is bios. Then we have a soul with our psychological life, psuche in Greek. This life is in our mind, emotion and will. In this part, we can know and decide between good and evil and we can even love God; but the soul cannot contact God. We also have a spirit and this part is especially designed so we may contact God and receive Him as the un-created eternal life. The Greek word for this unique life is zoe. The spirit is a container for the life of God. Without this life added to ours, we will remain empty and incomplete for eternity.

I asked how I could get the Life of God into my spirit. She said it is by believing and by calling on the name of Jesus.

That night I received faith by hearing the Word of God and I reacted to it by calling on the name of Jesus. From that day to this, I have not been empty. I was born into the family of God, having His divine Life; and I became a member of the Body of Christ, sharing the same Life of God with all the members.

S.C. | Back to List

Home Beliefs Revealed History Testimonies Recognition Contact Us Links