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Mathew 22:37-38; Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

Deuteronomy 6:5; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Basically the soul is the person/life force, the heart is the inner seat of motivation. In the Bible, “soul” is translated from the Hebrew neʹphesh and the Greek psy·kheʹ. Bible usage shows the soul to be a person or an animal or the life that a person or an animal enjoys.

Soul, in religion and philosophy, the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being, that which confers individuality and humanity, often considered to be synonymous with the mind or the self.

While the two words are often used interchangeably, the primary distinction between soul and spirit in man is that the soul is the animate life, or the seat of the senses, desires, affections, and appetites. The spirit is that part of us that connects, or refuses to connect, to God.

The Bible teaches that we consist of body, soul, and spirit: “May your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:23). Our material bodies are evident, but our souls and spirits are less distinguishable.

“Good and contented souls” are instructed “to depart to the mercy of God.” They leave the body, “flowing as easily as a drop from a waterskin”; are wrapped by angels in a perfumed shroud, and are taken to the “seventh heaven,” where the record is kept. These souls, too, are then returned to their bodies.

Mind is the power of the brain whereas the soul is the power of the body. Mind is more radical. On the contrary , the soul is the spiritual essence of a person. The Mind decides the actions to fulfil desires but the soul stems desires.

The heart is the organ located in between our lungs while the mind is believed to be located in our brain; mind is the colloquial term used for the organ known as brain in biology.

Here are 9 ways on how to be spiritual and connect with God without going to church:

Slow down. …

Meditate or pray. …

Enjoy the outdoors. …

Stay open to finding God within yourself. …

Look for God in each person you meet. …

Stay open to experiencing the Spirit in unexpected places. …

Find music that touches your soul.

The link between mind, body and soul is scientific fact. Research reveals we have three separate neural pathway networks, leading to the head, the gut and the heart.

When we say heart, it usually refers to a hollow muscular organ that is responsible for maintaining circulation. Yet it could also mean ” the core of a thing /process ” ” courage ” ” emotions ” etc. Similarly, soul means ” the essence” or “the incorporeal”. The mind is used in association with thought.

Spiritually, the heart is the locus of physical and spiritual being, and represents the “central wisdom of feeling as opposed to the head-wisdom of reason” (Cooper, 82). It is compassion and understanding, life-giving and complex. It is a symbol for love.

-Romans 12:2 “Change your mind” is the central theme of Jesus’ first sermon (Matt. 4:17). Jesus challenged people to change their thinking because regardless how many times you read through the Bible, if your mind doesn’t change, you will simply impose your biases and labels on the words you read.

The heart contains far fewer neurons than the noggin, and their job is not to “think” in the way that folks have misinterpreted. They help the heart react to the various demands placed on it by the body. … So despite the presence of neurons in the heart, we can see that the heart does not have a mind of its own.

The brain controls the heart directly through the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, which consists of multi-synaptic pathways from myocardial cells back to peripheral ganglionic neurons and further to central preganglionic and premotor neurons.

The heart has two distinct networks of nerves, one consisting of nerve cells within the heart and the other made up of nerves originating outside the heart. Both networks have the potential to encode, store, and retrieve memories.

Research has shown that decisions are made through a combination of both cognition and emotion but, science aside, most people tend to think one is better than the other. As for the scenario above, listening to your head may lead to more tangible success, but not following your heart increases the risk of regret.

Because the heart is the location of the human soul and life force, it is the organ of utmost importance in Aristotelian physiology. The soul or atman, credited with the ability to enliven the body, was located by ancient anatomists and philosophers in the lungs or heart, in the pineal gland (Descartes), and generally in the brain.

The search for a hypothetical soul and its location have been a subject of much speculation throughout history. In early medicine and anatomy, the location of the soul was hypothesized to be located within the body. Aristotle and Plato understood the soul as a corporeal form but closely related to the physical world. The Hippocratic Corpus chronicles the evolution of thought that the soul is located within the body and is manifested in diseased conditions. Later, Galen explicitly used Plato’s description of the corporeal soul to physical locations in the body. The logical (λογιστικός) in the brain, the spirited (θυμοειδές) in the heart, and the appetitive (ἐπιθυμητικόν) in the liver. Da Vinci had a similar approach to Galen, locating the soul, or ssenso comune, as well as the imprensiva (intellect) and memoria (memory) in different ventricles of the brain. Today neuroscientists and other fields of science that deal with the body and the mind, such as psychology, bridge the gap between what is physical and what is corporeal.

Plato, the student of Socrates and teacher to Aristotle, suggests in Timmeus that the human soul was divine in nature, and that it entered the human body after separating from a spiritual origin that it would return to upon death. Furthermore, Plato believed the soul to be a tripartite one, composed of the logos, the thymos, and the epithemitikon. In order to protect the immortal soul from contamination, the perishable souls, the thymos and the epithemitikon, were separated from the head by the neck. The thymos, responsible for feelings such as rage, bravery, and hope, was located in the chest cavity. The epithemitikon, which controlled desires and unconscious thought, was located near the umbilicus, farthest from the logos. The brain, then, was the seat of all rational thought, the logos, and the true location of the immortal and divine soul.

In De Spiritu Aristotle links the idea of pneuma and the soul directly together saying that “Pneuma is connected to the soul” that, “it is the souls primary driving force”. Aristotle in De Anima (On the Soul) suggests that organs of the body are required for the soul to interact with. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed the soul’s existence was not separate from the human body, thus the soul could not be immortal. Similarly to Plato, however, Aristotle believed the soul is composed of three parts: the vegetative, sensitive, and rational. Growth and reproduction is a result of the vegetative soul, and is found in all organisms. The sensitive soul, however, allows for sensation and movement in humans and animals. The third, the rational, is exclusive to humans, and allows for rational thought.

In book II, Aristotle states that, the soul is the part of the human that allows its entire being, that one can’t exist without the other and they complement each other. In book III he provides an example of his theory of the soul and makes the correlation between the physical sensations of light the phaos in the body and the corporeal imaginations phantasia. Aristotle imagined the soul as in part, within the human body and in part a corporeal imagination. In Aristotle’s treatise On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration, Aristotle explicitly states that while the soul has a corporeal form, there is a physical area of the soul in the human body, the heart. Aristotle states the heart is the location of the 5 sensations of the body and is directly responsible for respiration and the sustenance of life. The heart is of further importance as it is all animal’s area of heating the body and blood and the creation of pneuma, or life force that animates the body. To Aristotle this explains why dead things become cold, do not breathe, and that their souls have left them. Because the heart is the location of the human soul and life force, it is the organ of utmost importance in Aristotelian physiology. Correspondingly, the heart is the first organ to appear during embryonic development.

Epicurus, with a view reflecting that of the Greek philosopher Democritus, suggested that the human soul was corporeal and composed of small particles spread out within the entire body. Epicurus believed that the separation of these small particles resulted in a loss of sensation, and consequently, death.  Like Aristotle, Epicurus was of the opinion that the soul was a result of the body, making it mortal and perishable.

According to the recordings of his work, Herophilus thought that the location of the soul is in the brain, specifically in the ventricles of the brain, the 4 open cavities in the innermost parts of the brain. Herophilos describes the distinction of the soul and natures as being intertwined within the body and while are separate things, cannot exist without the other. Herophilos in his dissections discovered the differences between nerves and blood vessels. Nerves carried the pneuma or soul to animate the body and the vessels being related to nature. Following the lines tracks of the nerves through the body he saw that they all converge in the brain, and by Herophilus’ reasoning the ventricles of the brain. Of particular importance to the location of the soul was the 4th ventricle of the brain.

Herophilus observed that there existed two types of nerves, those that functioned in motor activity and those that take in sensory information. Because all nerves are a continuation of the spinal cord and the cerebellum, which are located most closely to the 4th ventricle, it stood to reason that the center of movement and perception, and thus the soul, must be located in the 4th ventricle. In his treatise, On Anatomy, pneuma was inhaled by the lungs and sent to the brain ventricles via the vessels of the body where the brain would convert it into what he called “psychic pneuma”, or the soul, and produce thought, motion, and all other animations of the body. Herophilus discovered the bumpy aspect of the walls of the ventricles of the brain that he called the choroid plexus and which was thought to be the interaction of the brain with the pneuma to create the psychic pneuma and then these were sent out via the nervous system. He further identified 8 of the cerebral nerves and tracked them to the spinal cord and throughout the body. The choroid plexus is the term still used today and are the structures that produce cerebrospinal fluid.

Galen was one of the most foundational physicians in history and is known for careful and detailed vivisection and dissections of animals that was foundational to modern medicine. Galen was known for his treatises on being both a physician and a philosopher and was well versed in the works of Plato. His medical anatomy is described through the use of Plato’s corporeal ideals of the soul. The heart was the spirited, the liver the appetitive, and the brain the logical. Later on, Galen moved to Rome where he carried out vivisections on pigs and monkeys to observe their pulmonary circulation. He was the first scientist to distinguish the physiological difference between the arteries and the veins. Galen restricted himself to the scientific explanation of blood flow and respiration.

Galen states in On Respiration and the Arteries “one must determine by dissection that the number and nature of the structures that connect the heart to the brain” and it was observed that when these nerves were cut in animals they would lose their voice and when veins were cut they would bleed, but retain their voice. Therefore, the brain does not need the heart to feel or create sensations and the heart does not need the brain to move. Galen recognized the importance of both the heart and the brain in the proper functioning of a human but saw these as two distinct systems governed separately. Therefore, there are two souls in combat, the brain representing the logical soul and driving logical being, the heart representing spirited actions of movement and impulse constantly at odds with each other and supplied by different supporting systems.

The Egyptian philosopher and father of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus’s idea of the human soul would form the foundation for the Christian view of the human soul. Like Plato, Plotinus believed that the soul resulted from an immortal being that would return to its divine source upon death. Plotinus believed in two parts of the soul, a higher level rational part and the lower level portion located in the entire body. Plotinus saw the soul as a tool of universal structure and one of two parts of the human form: body and soul.  He saw the soul as what was responsible for life and for there to be existence after death, the soul could not be in the body. However, the body was necessary for the soul to exist. Therefore, there was a duality to the roles of the soul among Plotinus’ philosophy. The soul played an important role in merging with the One, the “ultimate object of desire”. Plotinus created three stages to reaching the goal of “attaining union with the One”.

Stage 1: Return to one’s true self as soul. This stage involves gaining control of your own body through Plato’s civic virtues and detachment from material goods. Here you recognize yourself as soul, “a divine reality independent of body and prior to it”.

Stage 2: Attaining the life of divine intellect. This second stage involves embracing the higher processes of the soul and abandoning the current way of thinking. Since the soul is a bridge between the human form and reaching the One, the thinking processes of the soul and its divinity will lift you closer to the One.

Stage 3: Union with the One. The final step is an abandonment of all things one has learned before. Since the One is above all knowledge, language, and reasoning; it must be a personal journey to unite.

John 17:20-26; “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

As Plotinus himself put it: Therefore ‘it cannot be said’ or ‘written’, he says [Plato, Letter 7, 341c], but we speak and write, sending on to it and wakening from words [or explanations] towards contemplation, as if showing the way to him who wishes to see something. For teaching extends to the road and the passage, but the vision is the work of him who has decided to see.

Thomas Aquinas sought a Christian view of the soul using the ideas of Aristotle. In Aquinas’s view, the soul was incorporeal and immortal, and came about as a direct result of divine intervention from God, which typically came about during the second trimester of pregnancy.  At this point, the fetus would have the ability to perceive and move, the result of being given a soul. As such, being incorporeal, though “infused” in an unknown manner to the body, and being the “form” of the body in a platonic sense, the soul has no location, and therefore cannot be “located in” the body as one locates an organ. This is the typical understanding of the soul found in the Catholic Church today.

Descartes accepted Plotinus’s perspective on the dual nature of the soul. According to Descartes, the soul conferred the ability to think; this differentiated humans from animals, who had no ability to think or even feel. However, Descartes believed that the physical body and the mind must be physically connected at some point. Descartes’ reasoning came from his observation that every structure of the brain is paired except for the pineal gland. He felt that the pineal gland must be the meeting point of the physical body and the mind, and therefore, the pineal gland must be the location of the soul.

[https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article-abstract/65/4/633/2555733?redirectedFrom=fulltext

In the history of Western theological, philosophical, and scientific/medical thought, there exist 2 dominant and, in many respects, incompatible concepts of the soul: one that understands the soul to be spiritual and immortal, and another that understands the soul to be material and mortal. In both cases, the soul has been described as being located in a specific organ or anatomic structure or as pan-corporeal, pervading the entire body, and, in some instances, trans-human and even pan-cosmological. Moreover, efforts to discern the nature and location of the soul have, throughout Western history, stimulated physiological exploration as well as theoretical understanding of human anatomy. The search for the soul has, in other words, led to a deepening of our scientific knowledge regarding the physiological and, in particular, cardiovascular, and neurological nature of human beings. In addition, in virtually every period, the concept of the soul has shaped how societies thought about, evaluated, and understood the moral legitimacy of scientific and medical procedures: from performing abortions and autopsies to engaging in stem cell research and genetic engineering.

Our work enriches our shared understanding of the soul by describing some of the key formulations regarding the nature and location of the soul by philosophers, theologians, and physicians. In doing so, we are better able to appreciate the significant role that the concept of the soul has played in the development of Western scientific, medical, and spiritual life. Although ideas about the soul have changed significantly throughout Western history, the idea of the soul as being real and essential to one’s personhood has been, and remains, pervasive throughout every period of Western history.]

Can the soul of a person be metaphorically compared to a person’s shadow? Incorporeal, non-material, ethereal, immaterial, insubstantial, and intangible. Not physically located within the body, a bio-organic vehicle with specific life-expectancy, that upon its shelf-life date [physical death], decays, leaving the soul to ‘return to’ or be reabsorbed into the ONE, from whence it came, or was originally part of. But like a shadow that accompanies a person, invincible in the absence of light, but visible in the presence of light.

Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms – “offspring” – are produced from their “parent” or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reproduction, an organism can reproduce without the involvement of another organism. By asexual reproduction, an organism creates a genetically similar or identical copy of itself. Sexual reproduction typically requires the sexual interaction of two specialized organisms, called gametes, which contain half the number of chromosomes of normal cells and are created by meiosis, with typically a male fertilizing a female of the same species to create a fertilized zygote. This produces offspring organisms whose genetic characteristics are derived from those of the two parental organisms.

Ponder the scenario, in which God created Adam and Eve in an ‘asexual’ manner. The Bible did not mention the number of each life species that God created, except in the case of man. Did God create only one earthworm or millions of earthworms? If God created one earthworm or one man, what is stopping Him from creating one billion earthworm or one billion men. Do we know how many angels He created? What we do know, is that when Satan was driven from Heaven, one third of the angels were driven out along with him.

When we talk about fruitfulness and multiplying, are we talking about numerical increase in physical bodies, ‘dust’, clay, flesh, or is God talking about numerical increase in ‘spirits’, since God Himself is Spirit. [John 4:24; God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Numbers 27:16 (KJV) Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.]

Matter, material substance that constitutes the observable universe and, together with energy, forms the basis of all objective phenomena. The definition of Matter is anything that has mass and volume (takes up space at a particular time). Existence in the observable universe by living organisms requires the organism having the ability to grow, and to do this, the organism must obtain nutrients (reason in the case of man, transport and shield itself from elements) which it converts to energy for growth and all forms of ‘work’. Therefore, in order that spirits may inhabit or interact in the observable universe, a physical vessel is required. This fundamental law is valid for all spirits, including the Spirit of God Himself. The exception, however, is that God can and does interact in the observable universe without a vessel, there are numerous examples in the Bible such as angelic visitations and God Himself interacting in the physical realm with Moses, the Israelites, Elijah, Daniel, some of the Babylonian kings, and so on. (For example in Exodus 3:1- 4:17;). The validity of the law is demonstrated in Genesis 18:1-2; The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

Upon creating the observable universe, God made a copy of Himself ‘asexually’ to maintain this physical realm that He made. Genesis 2:7; Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:18; The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:20-22; But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. [‘Asexual reproduction’].

Genesis 1:26-28; Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Sin brought about a change in the order of things, a fundamental shift or change in the system created by God, including the aspects of numerical increase and its reproductive manner or style. Genesis 3:16; To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Genesis 3:20; Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Restoration of God’s original plan and work, required Him ‘asexually’ making a vessel to inhabit this universe for a specific period to execute redemption for man, which He did around two millennia ago. See Luke 1:35; The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. [‘Asexual reproduction’?].

John 15:5; “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Galatians 5:22-23; But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Liberation from the limitations of the flesh which occur at physical death[transformation], or crucifixion to sin, and subsequent rebirth or resurrection, brings about the continued existence of the spirit initially in the observable universe and subsequently in an unobservable (An unobservable (also called impalpable) is an entity whose existence, nature, properties, qualities or relations are not directly observable by humans.)universe or realm. Where certain souls are separated from God and some are united with Christ Jesus. For God, could it be that fruitfulness and multiplication are metaphors for increase in the numbers of those born of the Spirit, exhibiting certain similar characteristics such as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? What do you think?

The irony of life is that, most of us deep down believe that we know better than the big guy who knows everything. In my profession, one of my major tasks is to identify errors in documents and software applications, and in the execution of my duties, I have been involved almost on a daily basis, in discussions and arguments with colleagues about errors that were observed and recorded. The party responsible for the document or application insists that what was faulty, was okay. In such cases, my exit position is always that, the party responsible for building the app should meet the Client and convince him to accept the faulty product. Most of us believe deep down that we know better.

The irony of it all is that, all the precepts of God are meant for our own good, directly, and indirectly for the good of God. when God commands us, not to steal, it is for our own good. I mean, literarily, who knows God’s physical House, to want to steal or break into. By the way, when I say God’s physical house, I am not talking about a church. [see Acts 17:24; “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.]

It seems that when people are confronted with facts, reality, and truth, but insists on going against it, this to me smacks of ‘us knowing better’ than the source of information. This may be what is at the root of what the Holy Spirit said through Prophet Samuel [see 1 Samuel 15:22-23;… To obey is better than sacrifice,… For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.] Knowing better than God smacks of the ultimate in arrogance, which is also tantamount to having another god { in this case, we turn ourselves to gods, and we believe in and worship ourselves, which amounts to idolatry}besides the true God, Jesus Christ.

When a person claims to believe in God, and yet disobeys God, and will rather follow his or her own inclination, such a person is not a true believer, such a person is on a par with demons. James 2:19; You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. Simply because demons were once servants of God who along with Lucifer, disobeyed God and were cast down from Heaven. Revelations 12:7-9; Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. We all have a choice, either to believe and trust implicitly the true God, Jesus Christ, or to believe and trust ourselves or our Pastors, or ‘prophets’ or fortune tellers, or soothsayers or mediums or idols (an idol could also be your child, or your parents or your spouse, or anyone you love more than God). It is the ultimate in ignorance or stupidity to believe you know better than your Maker, Who knows everything, by disobeying Him. Have faith (a measure is given to you by God), and believe Him implicitly by trusting Him that His plans are of good towards you. The irony is that when you do not trust and obey Him, it does not stop Him from blessing you. And this, compounds the problem. Who knows better, you or God?

Emotional intelligence can be defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Furthermore, magnanimity can be defined as the fact or condition of being magnanimous; generosity. Magnanimity is the virtue of being great of mind and heart. It encompasses, usually, a refusal to be petty, a willingness to face danger, and actions for noble purposes. While humour can be defined as the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. Two stories from the Bible expresses this nature of God. The first one expresses the magnanimity and emotional intelligence of God regarding an interaction between God, Abraham, and Sarah, while the second one was a speech by God through His prophet Isaiah, an expression of sarcastic humour.

Genesis 18:1-15;

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, “If I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

The above story is a precise display of emotional intelligence and empathy by God.

Isaiah 44:9-26;

All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings.

Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame. The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?” “Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant. I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel. “This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfils the predictions of his messengers.

This story shows that God is perfectly capable of being amusing in His speech, while driving home the core of His message.