Is there life after death

Last night I preached and we had an interactive discussion about the topic of this post, Is there life after death. If we simply believe the scriptures the answer to that question is an easy one. Yes there is life after death when we are talking about physical death. How do we know? Jesus speaks to it through the Gospels and the Epistles. John 3: 16: ^NRS  John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life, clearly gives us that God wants us to know that Jesus is sent here for the purpose of assuring we do not perish but have eternal life. I have added some other scriptures that lead us to the same conclusion through the scriptures alone.

^NRS  Luke 23:43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

^NRS  John 5:24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

^NRS  John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

^NRS  John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

^NRS  1 Corinthians 15:51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." ⁵⁵ "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So the Bible clearly indicates that there is life after death. We are not completely sure whether that life is physical or entirely spiritual, since Christ after the resurrection was both, walking through walls and doors, appearing and yet ate meals and was touched and felt. But it is clear from the worldly arguments that Biblical proof does not fulfill the requirement of many as proof of the existence of something. Sadly I believe that this convicts us in our own belief strength. God intends that we accept that God is real and that what God tells us is also real and full of the authority that we need. 

In an earlier discussions we used a method to decipher whether or not something was true. That method is based on scientific logic in order to arrive at what the world determines is truth. Let us use this same method tonight. Our measure of whether something is true was to first look for historical or scientific evidence of that truth. Then we look at the collaborating witness to that truth to determine whether or not something happened. So let see what happens when we apply that to this topic.

First is there historical or scientific evidence to life after death? Truth is we have little evidence as to whether or not there is life after death and yet, we have the Law of Conservation. Why is this law important? It says simply that energy cannot be created or lost, nothing comes to be that does not already exist and nothing perishes. It can be changed but it cannot be destroyed. Hmmmm. So if our human existence is a form of energy and I think all of you would agree that we are, then we understand that we cannot be created or destroyed. OK! If we cannot be created then we came from something. The Bible again helps with this. We have two passages that we know from Genesis that tell us that we are in fact created from something so that passes the first test.

^NRS  Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

^NRS  Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

And what then do we go to. The scriptures from the early reading clearly indicate that we are going to be with Christ in a new place called Heaven.

Still not convinced? Well let’s look to the second test, collaborating evidence. If we Google life after death books there are 591 million hits. If we begin to look at those books what we see is book after book listing people’s experiences in a place they call heaven. I had an Aunt Cora who slipped into a coma when she was young. She came out of the coma and told everyone until the day she died that she had been with Jesus and he told her she would live be a certain age. She died the year when she said Jesus had told her she would die. I had a great conversation with a Hospitalist in Farmville. He said that his experience was so dramatic that he believed that there is a heaven and a hell because of it. He said that he has been present at thousands of deaths and that many smile, reach out to someone, some say names, some say Jesus but all of the ones who seem to see something beyond us seem peaceful except. The exception is that some see something that frightens them so much that they cry out, Not there, oh please not there. What do you make of that? During the Sunday night discussion several people witnessed to the stories of seeing into a place of flowers, of peace and joy and being at the bedside of those who were passing into the next realm and their final words and actions which also lead witnesses to understand that there is something else beyond this physical life. 

Still not convinced? Using a model for proving or disproving a theory certainly gives credibility to the fact that there is something beyond this physical life. Our Christian faith tells us that there is a heaven and a hell. What do you think?