The debate over what happens to us when we die is a rich and fascinating field of study. Nevertheless, Christians holdthatat death “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecl 12:7). The interesting thing is this: it turns out that modern scientific discovery is affirming much of what the Bible has to say. One such example is in the study and treatment of epilepsy.
Approximately 50 million people from around the world have epilepsy, with three million adults and 470,000 children suffering from the diseaseinAmericaalone.Definedas a neurological disorder that causes abnormal brain behavior leading to seizures, loss of consciousness, and unusual behavior, epilepsy often has devastating effects on quality of life. While epilepsy in most patients is treatable with medications, in others, only major brain surgery has been found to alleviate the symptoms and suffering.
In his book The Immortal Mind, neurosurgeonMichaelEgnorrelays how fellow surgeon Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) began successfully “mapping” the brains of epileptic patients to pinpoint the exact locations causing the seizures. Penfield perfected the technique by using local anesthetic to numb patients’ scalps while awake. The scalp was opened to expose the skull, which was numbed with local anesthetic, and an opening was made in the skull to access the brain. Although it sounds barbaric, aside from injecting the local anesthetic into the scalp, the procedure is painfree because the brain itself has no pain receptors. With the patient fully awake and their head securely clamped in an apparatus to prevent accidentalmovement,Penfeildthen began the eight-hour procedure of methodically probing different areas of the brain, all the while noting the patient’s responses to various questions. Egnor notes an example of a woman who always “smelled burnt toast just before experiencing a violet seizure.” During the surgery, he asked her to tell him when she smelled burnt toast as he went about stimulating various areas of her brain to pinpoint the location causing the seizures and to remove it if possible. By stimulating the brains of 1,100 fully conscious patients, Penfield was able to map the cortex and deeper brain structures.
Wilder Penfield, who had been of the belief that nothing exists outside of the physical world made of atoms and molecules (the materialist’s belief), soon began to question what his observations of the human brain were telling him. And what his patients’ brains were telling him is that his materialist worldview contradicts what he was observing. Penfield began to believe that man did indeed possess a physical, material brain, but also an immaterial mind (what Christians understand to be the human soul). Penfield observed that the mind has an independent existence outside the brain and that some mental experiences do not originate in the brain. Egnor writes, “Penfield saw this duality—the dependent ‘reflex action’ of movement or perception of emotions or memories that could be evoked by brain stimulation, and theindependentmindthatcouldnot be evoked by brain stimulation—as a hallmark of consciousness [the soul]. He saw that there are some mentalexperiencesthatdonotcome from the brain.” He could make a person’s arm move by stimulating a particular area of the brain, but he could not stimulate the brain to use logic and reason, or to reflect upon some abstract state of affairs. n light of repeated observation, Penfield asked a simple question: Why does the mind have no seizures? Why is it only a brain phenomenon? He eventually answered his own question when, in his brain operations on awake patients, he could time and again only stimulate fourcapacities—movements,sensations, emotions, and memories—all brain-controlled reactions. On the other hand, in none of his patients could he stimulate those things controlled by the mind, such as the capacity to have feelings, to reason, to perceive, and to will.
Over time, Penfield became convinced that while the material body(andbrain)eventuallydiesand decomposes, the mind, which is not a complex of atoms and molecules, has a continuing existence surviving the physical death of the brain. This “mind”: Christians hold to be “the soul of man [that] never dies.” But there is still more, much more that points us to the existence of an immortal soul. Join us next time as we revisit near-death experiences by looking at a scientifically verified case. Oh, and by the way, if this article has led you to exercise your capacity to reason, either for or against, then congratulations; you have both a dependent brain and an independent soul. Until next time, exercising the mind’s ability to reason: Is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.