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Dear Heather,
The immortality of the soul is something the Church has always taught, and has been figured out by the great philosophers, even those without religious faith, beginning with Socrates and Plato. Regarding the Bible, check out the book of Wisdom. Wisdom 3:1-4 states:
1 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
4 For if to others, indeed, they seem punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality. |
Remember, the word of God safeguarded by the Holy Spirit comes to us in Scripture and Tradition, not just Scripture. The Sacred Tradition of the Church taught by the Magisterium is that there are two judgments, the Particular Judgment and the Final Judgment. The Particular Judgment is when the individual soul departs from the body and becomes face to face with God. The soul after this:
- remains in full union with God
- descends into hell, or
- goes to the temporary state of Purgatory.
At the end of history, when Christ comes back, He will judge the living and the dead in a more public way, and bodies will be raised and reunited with souls. This is the culmination of Redemption when God will be all, in all.
Paul
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