Posted on 06/10/2006 9:45:53 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Despite lifelong beliefs that have been ingrained in my faith since childhood, I have to admit that like almost everyone else I have from time to time wondered if my existence will simply come to an end on the day I draw my last breath.
There is, after all, no way to prove one way or the other that human life continues in another realm after the body ceases to function. Nobody has come back to testify about it, with one notable exception of course, and those who reject his divinity also tend to doubt what he had to say about life after death. And the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the infamous atheist, hasn’t weighed in on the subject lately either.
Some would insist such doubts are implanted by the devil himself. Others counter there is no scientific basis for belief in a hereafter in the first place.
But just about every time I entertain such doubts, something comes along to reinforce my long-held belief in the hereafter. It’s often the experience of a dying saint getting their first glimpse, as an old gospel song puts it, of what’s over on the other side.
I’m told the Rev. Dr. Hollis Pistole appeared to have one such experience at his passing a little over a month ago. According to the story, Dr. Pistole, after a long battle with debilitating illness, raised up and put his arms out just before he drew his last breath. Apparently he received that glimpse of what awaited him.
My wife’s father had a similar experience, opening his eyes and reaching heavenward just before his passing.
I also recently went over my mom’s notes made at the time of my dad’s death more than half a century ago. “Under me? Under me? Thank you, Jesus,” he said.
A whole category of what have been termed near-death experiences have been catalogued by those looking for insight into what happens at the end of life. A common phenomenon is a light-at-the-end-of-a-tunnel vision. Many claim to have seen friends or relatives but were unable to reunite with them when they were suddenly jerked back into life.
My Uncle Melvin had such an experience, claiming to have seen his brother and another loved one at the time he was suffering a severe heart attack from which he recovered.
It is impossible to figure out the working of the subconscious, thus rendering any attempt at concrete conclusions problematic. Are any or all of these phenomena merely the gyrations of an active brain or might they be an indication of a link between this world and one to come?
Belief in life after death has been part of human experience as long as mankind has pondered its existence. It has been reinforced by the most sacred writings of most of the world’s major religions, including Christianity, which bases its entire concept on the idea of God personally demonstrating life after physical death through the manifestation we call Jesus.
In this life, of course, our existence is tied to our physical body. But to define human life according to our physical limitations is an obvious understatement of our role in the universe. Human interaction is limited by our physical senses. But the true self that has developed over the course of our lifetimes would seem to go far beyond the senses.
And certainly there can be no doubt that the rationality of human beings and their capability to build on their life experiences place them in a category entirely separate from other living creatures.
Is there life after death? The question defies physical proof, to be sure. But there would seem to be glimpses enough into the future to show that our existence has only just begun.
And anyway, by preparing for eternity, I think I’m building a pretty good life here as well.
Jim Bailey’s column appears on Sunday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.
" One thing is certain I have absolutely no fear of death."
Anyone who has had an NDE or contact with the afterlife says the same thing. I'd be interested to hear more of what was revealed to you and how it came to pass.
My best friend was brutally murdered and his body was hacked into pieces. The night after his death, I was lying on the couch and saw a pinprick of light across the room. The light magnified in intensity and floated closer to me until it hovered over my head.
Man, I'm getting goosebumps just reliving all this.
I was totally lucid and was studying and examining this light - awed but unafraid. It all felt so peaceful, and I knew it was my friend - it was his light. Then the light turned into what I can only describe as a ball of energy like looking inside a brilliant atomic molecule - ablaze with indescribable and pulsating.
I swear I have never taken any hallucinogenics. This was so real.
Then to my amazement the ball of light-energy descended to my feet and I felt it enter through the soles of my feet. I was overwhelmed with the warmest rolling undulations coursing through my body - like I was being washed with pure love inside. It lasted for about 5 minutes then the ball of light hovered over me again and then retreated to a pinprick and disappeared.
The same thing happened the very next night. And that was the last time. Even more interestingly, a medical condition I had never surfaced again. It's been 7 years.
Am I a believer you bet. There is no reason to scoff or be afraid of the life after. I also believe in reincarnation ("In my Father's House there are many mansions" , and history says it was once taught by the church until 325AD.
I still miss my friend. They say it takes a second to fall in love but a lifetime to forget someone. So true.
"I have a shot at Purgatory. At least I did the last time I checked the bulletin board.
I need to get more monks praying for me."
There's no such place. "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." - Matthew 15:9
This doctrine of demons was decreed by men in the year 1439. Somehow the Roman denomination managed without it for a thousand years. Amazing.
Great! Wonderful events!! Whew. Makes my spine tingle!
"but do remember great peace and beutiful soothing music and being surrounded by beautiful fauna."
People who go to Heaven never want to leave.
I once had a Near Life experience.
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee"
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
Hmmm, interesting. Now if you add the 24% of barrier+ 4% hellish experience = 28%, not too far from 33%. The 4% is not far from the %age of the general population that are hardened criminals, every culture, throughout history; nothing you can do but lock them away. Anyway, for most folks dying is just moving on to a more pleasant experience, at least until JUDGEMENT DAY. Thanks for your research.
Proof.
Years ago a retired Navy vet worked for the same company I did. He was a womanizing, cussing, drinking fool. He foolishly climbed up on the forks of a fork truck and fell. He was in critical condition and suffered a broken back and some internal injuries. He was never able to return to work but did drop in to see us a few times. He said "I met Jesus that day in the warehouse". He started going to church and was saved. He was a changed person.
Also I was at the death bed of my father in law. He had been unconscious for days when suddenly he opened his eyes looked up and said, "I don't want the angels to see me like this"...he died moments later.
libby
An interesting point of view, and unlike some of the other replies, I see where you have a scriptural basis for it. Thanks for sharing it.
However, there is one very important point in his theories and explanations on which I will have to do a lot more study and thinking before I can accept. As an evolutionary creationist he must account for what he clearly believes is indisputable evidence for a "Christianized" version of Darwinian evolution. The problem I have with that belief is that it must posit that death was a fact of life for millions of eons before death was introduced into the Genesis creation account solely as the result of Adam's sin in the garden. If death is the inevitable result of sin, which I believe is an unmistakably clear teaching throughout scripture, then according to the "biblical evolution" creation system the author proposes the uncountable quadrillions of "upwardly mobile" animals who must have lived and died prior to Adam's entrance into the creation account must of necessity have been capable of consciously sinning against their Creator, and in fact did sin, in order to have been condemned to death by a just Creator. If God is not a perfectly just and unchangeable Creator, as the bible claims him to be, the entire biblical plan of salvation and the scriptural explanation of the absolute need for an infinitely capable and perfectly sinless Savior who died a substitutionary death in order to atone for man's sin falls apart at the seams.
I may not have explained my problem with the author's theory well enough for you to comment on it, but I would like to know your thoughts in re my problem with it as best I can define it. I say his "theory" because like everyone with a view on the issue there is no way for him to offer incontrovertible scientific proof that his belief regarding the Genesis account is accurate or was even intended to taken literally. God operates outside the time and space constraints of the physical universe he created, and our human minds which are conditioned primarily by that physical universe in which we live cannot fathom the eternally extant spiritual world that has existed from eternity past, and which by definition must exist into eternity future. That's why we call our belief in the bible's authenticity faith, we take it by faith without positive proof that in God's written word he gave us all we need to know in order to believe in his Son Jesus Christ and be saved from eternal death, but not everything he knows about his creative work and which our minds could not comprehend even if he explained in minute detail how he created and sustains life and all the myriad complexities of the physical universe.
My wife is insisting that I begin dressing for church, so I am hoping to continue a dialogue with you on this issue later in the day if that is acceptable to you.
What happens *after* death is pretty clearly explained in the bible:
Dan 12:2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Paul explains further about those who awake to everlasting life:
1Co 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed
After death, we rest in peace awaiting our resurrection.
NDE ping
The ELECT will come out of this Earth age as "ministers" of God, and will teach and discipline those that are ignorant in the next age. There will be a great teaching, and many will of course come to an understanding when they can see what is in fact reality. Just my opinions, don't believe what I say outright, check it for yourself because if I speak with authority and lead you astray, I will be judged on that.
Luke 16 - Send Lazarus that he may tell my brothers. And Abraham said, "They have Moses and the pophets, Let them hear them." There is a great gulf , fixed.
Outpatient?
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