In the end, the only thing that will constitute seamless proof of life after death proof is experiencing it yourself. Once that happens, you had better hope that it is positive life after death because there probably isn’t a way to change course. Promises made in the Bible, experiences documented in the Bible, and more recent Near Death Experiences constitute the proof that you can have. God has put a premium on having faith. In this instance faith means, confidence that He exists (see my last blog entry), confidence that what the Bible records about Jesus actually happened, and confidence that God can and will deliver on His promises. Faith is confidence in something you cannot see.
What is your default belief about life after death and why? Some think it to be more intelligent and educated to only believe something they can experience first. To me that seems like a dangerous position, and I doubt that you follow it consistently. Must you see germs to believe in their existence? I think not. Must you die to believe it will happen to you? We need the experiences of others and sometimes revelation from God to fully understand what we are, what will happen to us, and what (if anything) exists beyond death.
Jesus demonstrated that He was not just an ordinary being. He did it through miracles and even bringing back people from the dead. People saw these things and were profoundly changed. Jesus gave a couple of pieces of insight into life after death to be noted here.
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man
John 3:13 (ESV)
You may suspicious of someone who claims sole authority over the topic of the existence of Heaven, but Jesus wasn’t just some crazy person without evidence of His claims. He also said,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. 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, that where I am you may be also.
John 14:1-3 (ESV)
His testimony is that there is eternal life with God after death. He states that if this life is all we get, He would have said so. Trust Him or not.
Then there is Jesus’ own experience. To win a favorable outcome for us after death, Jesus had to fulfill some legal requirements. We are sinners. To deserve a place in Heaven on our own merits we would have to be sinless. The Bible’s testimony is that the default outcome for a human being upon death is bad–very bad. Jesus’ came so that there would be one route to something much better. To fulfill the “legal requirements” Jesus had to be human, live a sinless life, and pay for an already accumulated sentence on human sin. That included experiencing being damned while hanging on a cross and a physical death. His death was guaranteed and certified by professional executioners and was more than obvious to observers. Yet in three days He rose from the dead and was observed by over 500 people.
If that is not enough, then you must deal with the experiences of now thousands of people who have been clinically dead, experienced an out-of-body experience and then were revived. Recent studies have shown that our brain has a storm of activity right before it has none. It is tempting to attribute NDE’s to that storm and claim that they are just an illusion created by that storm. I would advance a different theory. That the “storm” is our soul separating from our brain. Not unlike the arcing seen when slowly pulling out an electrical plug. The storm is not the creator of the out-of-body experience.
Near Death Experiences include both Heaven and Sheolhttps://afterdeathsite.com/2021/08/17/examining-near-death-experiences/ , https://afterdeathsite.com/2023/11/14/how-is-sheol-different-than-hell/
Remaining confident that death is the end because there is no “proof” is a form of self-deception in my opinion. If someone doesn’t want God to exist, doesn’t want dependency on Jesus, doesn’t want judgment on sin, doesn’t want to change their worldview, they can tell themselves that proof for eternal life is not ironclad. They can also ignore the giant holes in the proof of their worldview. That will be throwing away the love of their Creator and a tremendous existence.
afterdeathsite 