DR. Geraghty,

Recently in a Basic Catechism it was stated that we could know by reason the existence of an Immortal Soul. I thought we could only know this by Revelation?.. And that by reason we could come to a certain knowledge of God indirectly by (atleast one way)observing the natural laws and beauty around us. Thanks for any help.

Dear Bill,

Yes, it is Church teaching that we can know both of the existence of God and the immortal soul by reason. For the existence of God we look to the existence of this world as a start. For the existence of the immortal soul we use the evidence supplied by the fact that we can reason while the lower animals can't. We can do geometry. They can't, at least not to the extent of proving that triangles must have 180 degrees. This ability vouches for an immaterial factor in us which animals do not have. Now the immaterial soul cannot fall apart or be cut apart or be torn apart because it has not parts. Therefore it must be immortal.

Dr. Geraghty

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