most Americans believe we have an immortal soul.9 Sometimes this is assumed because God breathed his spirit into man (Genesis 2:7), investing us with his own immortality. But how can we sure? By every appearance, after sin entered the world, the Lord refused the first couple immortality (Genesis 3:22-24). Why would such an important teaching not be revealed until the New Testament—and especially if this vital truth had eternal implications for the hundreds of millions living before the time of Christ?10