Category: Near Death Experience

Just One Life

About twenty years ago, I traveled to India. It was both a cultural experience and a place of many surprises. We landed in Hyderbad in the middle of the night. As our bus drove to the hotel, the streets were dark. I could vaguely make out the shadows of something on the sidewalk. I didn’t figure out until the next morning that it was all people who were homeless.

India is a nation that is primarily Hindu. A core belief of Hinduism is that this life’s situation is the just product of a previous life. Consequently, if you are homeless you deserved that fate.

You could even return as another living thing. The consequence was that roads would go around a tree. Still, this isn’t exactly a respect for nature. There was litter everywhere.

Another likely result of believing that you are on a journey through multiple lives was the extremely dangerous traffic situation. Overcrowding and poverty no doubt contributed to the situation, but it is easier to face death if you expect to be born again.

The Bible doesn’t take on the topic of reincarnation directly. It does speak of eternal existence for all, but it denies that this existence will be here–at least not immediately.

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27-28(ESV)

We die once, not over and over. Death is the separation of body and soul. Something that would never happen except for sin. We don’t lapse into non-existence nor even unconscious existence, we consciously continue in either Heaven or Sheol.

In this article, I am interested in the implications of this fact for this brief life. Is this life a throw-away, because something better is beyond it? Is it a time to pursue hedonistic pleasures because something worse is next? Is it as the famous polka says, “In Heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here.”? Certain pleasure are earthly pleasures, so pursue them now. Some embrace this philosophy because they feel that the truth about our fate after death is unknowable. I obviously disagree. To the skeptic, I would point out not only Scripture, but Near-Death Experiences. What happens at our death is only unknowable if you don’t try to know. For something as important as this, denial is a fool’s strategy.

Far from an approach that neglects this life, the set of promises that come with connection to Jesus Christ makes this life brief but valuable and life-after death the true prize. Jesus takes the pressure of saving ourselves off of our shoulders and places it on His. Forgiveness of our sins, our inability of fulfilling God’s Laws are all settled by His life. Heaven and beyond that a New Earth are ours for the taking. They are God’s gift.

This life becomes valuable because of what we can accomplish here with the presence of God within us. We can make an eternal difference in another person’s life. We can be a visible representative of God Himself. These things are worthy enduring the finite amount of grief that this life will throw at you.

So what are some of the consequences of knowing what God has given to us? First, I protect my life and try to be a good steward of my health and time, because I won’t get the same kind of opportunity to serve once I die. It isn’t beer that I have to get here, it is sharing God’s promises and His love in an environment that lacks knowledge of God. Besides that, they probably do have beer in Heaven.

Next, I value other people, even my enemies. They are potentially savable. They would be transformed by a connection to Jesus. They can be a reward to me. Life is cheap in many places, but it is not cheap to me.

The circumstances in which people live can be the product of many things: misfortune, bad parenting, limited natural abilities, poor education, poor government, injustice, bad decisions. The list goes on and on, but I can be a source of positive change. Their circumstances are not set by a previous life.

I will get older and closer to death every day. I am neither concerned about death nor a loss of purpose on the way. I know where I am going next and why. I am going to Heaven because of Jesus. My purpose may change as I lose abilities, but I will have a God-given purpose to the end.

The Fear of Death

The fear of death is a common theme and the motivator for many actions. We will all face death and, in a way, we are slowly experiencing it through aging. The final day of our lives can seem like a big, impenetrable wall through which even our imagination cannot go. One of the reasons for this blog is to help people think beyond death.

During the holidays, my wife and I decided to watch the old movie, Moonstruck. I think we heard the theme song in an Olive Garden. Anyway, during the movie the father of the family (Vincent Gardenia) is having an affair. His wife (Olympia Dukakis) asks, “Why do men chase women?” The conclusion is this is because they fear death. We are moving inexorably toward becoming old and then dying. An affair may deceive oneself that you are not aging.

In another setting, I heard Aaron Rodgers (the quarterback of the Packers) explain some of the benefits he obtained from trying the hallucinogenic drug Ayahuasca. One he noted was that he no longer fears death. Why? He claims the drug helped him see beyond death. How might this be so? Ayahuasca and other methods like Transcendental Meditation (TM) definitely alter the functioning of your brain. Your experience may be completely an illusion created by your brain or you may have access to a place that is not here nor is it Heaven or Sheol. I once read the testimony of a high-caste Hindu who later converted to Christianity. He practiced TM and found himself in an alternate reality that he would later discover to be dangerous and deceptive. Where it is or what it is, is not clear.

Near Death Experiences (NDE) can have a similar affect. Are they simply a product of the dying brain, or a genuine experience of Heaven or Sheol, or could they be something real but deceptive? It sounds like Paul had an NDE that he refers to in 2 Corinthians 12:3-4. Do we know what we are experiencing in any of these states and what even exists beyond our current reality?

I am open to the idea that an NDE could give you an actual trip (not an illusion or even a vision) to Heaven or Sheol (https://afterdeathsite.com/2021/05/11/an-expectation-of-sheol/. With the completion of Jesus’ atoning death, humans are not excluded from Heaven and there may be conditions that cause a temporary excursion there. The Bible also shows the permeability of what separates this world from Sheol with the story of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) and the summoning of the soul of Samuel. Non-God inspired peeks beyond the vail of death might be possible and the source of semi-accurate information about life after death found outside of Christianity.

But God gives a much clearer and trustworthy picture. Knowing the nature of God (His love, His honesty), the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life, the nature of eternal life (Heaven, a New Earth https://afterdeathsite.com/2017/06/13/the-new-earth-in-revelation-part-i/), and the reason we can have these things (Jesus’ death and resurrection) can minimize if not eliminate any fear of death. Making a big transition into something new and largely still unknown is still a little scary. But the firmer your faith in the source of eternal life, the more you are likely to not be scared at all.

How about fear of the process of death? The process of dying is still the consequence of sin. It is not as things should have been. Obviously, death comes in many ways, some painful and slower and some quickly. Knowing that God is near and cares for us all the way matters.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Psalm 116:15 (ESV)

We must and can live knowing that death is a reality that can come at any time. Last night’s football game between the Bills and Bengals had a frightening reminder of that. Bills safety, Damar Hamlin, suffered cardiac arrest likely caused by a perfectly timed blow to the chest. It was scary and hopefully Damar will fully recover. Should we let the fear of death stop us from sports where we might suffer such a blow? Every day we do risky things. Driving, talking while eating, and many more activities could result in a fatal accident. It is better to understand our temporary nature here and know that there is more.

Family In Eternity

I have heard it many times. A person is dying but they are ready. Why? Because they want to see their spouse, child, mother or father. They are eager to see lost family. This is understandable. Our family are usually the people we are closest to and love the most during life. What do we know about the transition to eternal life and family?

One bit of information comes in Matthew 22. The Sadducees are trying to prove logically that the resurrection does not literally exist. They present a scenario where a woman loses her husband without having children. In Jewish law, the brother is to marry the woman and have children. The law served as a social, safety net as there was no government support for widows. In this scenario, the woman survives the death of seven brothers. Surely, the Sadducees argue, the resurrection would create massive family issues as people marry and re-marry during life.

Jesus answers their argument this way:

At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in Heaven.

Matthew 22:30 (ESV)

Some people seize on the wording to say that Jesus is only saying that there won’t be weddings in Heaven. But that loses the context. He is saying that marriages created in this life are only for this life. Other passages support that marriage is a contract that ends with death. That may make you sad or give you relief. No matter how you feel about it, it is a stated fact. That doesn’t mean you won’t know and love the people you know and love now.

We are left to imagine what Jesus means by “they will be like the angels in Heaven”. The implication is that the angels have a very different arrangement than what we have now. Jesus is also talking about “at the resurrection”, so this is post-Judgment Day information and may or may not apply to the period between your death and Judgment Day when you will be exclusively in Heaven.

Some worry that we won’t even recognize each other or remember our former relationships. Here I present you a mixed bag of evidence. The first is Jesus’ resurrected bodily appearances. Sometimes He is not recognizable. Other times He is readily recognizable. Again, this is a resurrected body (so post-JD for us). He is also the Son of God, so this may not even apply to us. Another weird piece of information comes from the story of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28). In this story, Saul utilizes a woman, who knows occultic arts, to raise the Prophet Samuel from Sheol. It works, and Samuel is readily recognizable (and angry).

Near Death Experiences (NDE), for what they are worth, do include at times family who recognize each other and recognize their relationship.

I expect that not only will we recognize our families, but that we will know everyone else as well. Peter, James and John recognized Moses and Elijah without introduction, to our knowledge. I also expect that there will be closeness and relationship that rivals the best family relationships with everyone else. Because of this, the significance of family will fade without the blessing of those who are our family being lessened.

What about family who rejects Jesus? Jesus is not optional when it comes to receiving eternal life. I expect that we can have our losses. 1 Corinthians 7:14 says:

For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

1 Corinthians 7:14 (ESV)

While I would like to believe that this passage says that we are saved in groups, I don’t believe it says that. It only indicates that our unbelieving family have a special priority and source of the Gospel because of us. Jesus indicates that in many cases a person’s enemies because of the Gospel will come from within their family. This is often seen in conversions from other world religions.

So, would not Heaven be diminished if not ruined by a family member who has rejected salvation? We certainly grieve them while on Earth. It would not surprise me if we would briefly grieve them in Heaven. But I expect that loss and even the memory of it to fade in the midst of the glory and love that will envelope us in Heaven.

Will our grief not be re-opened on Judgment Day? Perhaps, but we have this brief description of being in the New Earth:

The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

Isaiah 65:17b (ESV)

I cannot guarantee that everyone in my family will be saved. In fact, I would bet against some who have passed. I would love to be surprised on this matter. All I can do is to be sure to share the Gospel while I can. I don’t want to feel like I left critical matters of salvation unspoken. The rest is in God’s hands.

Examining Near Death Experiences (Part III)

So far we have reviewed nine common (not unanimous) experiences that were discovered through extensive interviews and are reported in the book Evidence of the Afterlife by Dr. Jeffrey Long. To this point none are surprising given the information and experiences shared in the Bible. That takes us to the last three.

Encountering or Learning Special Knowledge. As with the others, not everybody indicated that this was their experience. The experience itself would provide special knowledge, but the question that yielded this response was driving at whether information was specifically given to the person. The Apostle Paul shares this about his experience, which may have been an NDE:

 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4

Paul saw and heard things that he was not permitted to tell to others. He does not share whether some of what he does write about came from this experience. I would assume that it did.

The study did not compare the information, but I have noted some inconsistencies from accounts reported in various books. That greatest was a report of universal salvation versus people who experienced what they called Hell. The universal salvation report would also clash with Scripture. Jesus says,

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

The exclusivity of salvation through Jesus makes sense if indeed there is a problem of sin between man and God. Is forgiveness just something God does because He can? If so, why would Jesus be required to go to the cross to atone for sin? The same can be asked about other religions and methods of “earning” Heaven. If that can be done, why would Jesus need to do what He did?

Reports of salvation without Jesus raise suspicion. Are the claims of universal love and acceptance a deception? If so, into whose hands can we fall when we experience a Near Death Experience? There is an assumption that the contents of the experience are necessarily truth. That may be misguided.

Encountering a Boundary or Barrier. There are very few descriptions in the Bible about a trip to Heaven. Those that exist are all focused on the throne room of God. There is also reason to conclude that these were visions. They definitely were not bodily trips to Heaven, nor are NDEs. A vision is not even a movement of the soul to Heaven. It is information about Heaven delivered to the soul. Would the throne room of God count as a place of no return with the only way to experience it is via a vision?

Of people experiencing an NDE, 31% reported that they encountered a point which they could not pass. The reason, or what was beyond, is not laid out. The only thing like it in Scripture is not in Heaven but rather in Sheol. In the account of Lazarus and the Rich Man , the rich man can speak to Abraham but he cannot go to Abraham neither can Abraham go to him.

But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’


Luke 16:25-26

A Return to the Body, Either Voluntary or Involuntary Isaiah, Daniel, Paul and John all have their vision or NDE come to an end. All would seem to prefer to stay . The same can be said for those who experience an NDE.

All we know is this life. There is something within us that clings to this life as long as we can. When people die, we often speak as if life is the prize and Heaven is the consolation prize. This is not the case. In Revelation 7 a picture of people in Heaven is given to us. John is asked if he knows who are these people. He defers to his questioner who tells him, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation…” While “great tribulation” may refer to an event or period of human history, a more likely understanding is that is how this life is referred to in Heaven. It is certainly not an endorsement. The good news is that something truly better does exist for those who are connected to Christ. We just fail to understand how much better.

Examining Near Death Experiences (Part II)

In my last entry I discussed six of the common factors found in Near Death Experiences (NDE) as detailed in the book by Jeffrey Long, MD entitled, Evidence of the Afterlife. Scripture remains the solid proof, promise and explanation of an afterlife; but finding or interpreting the experience of people in light of Scripture can give a connection to real events and broader understanding.

Here are some other common experiences listed in the book:

A sense of alteration of time or space. It is always mind-bending to imagine different scales of time or that time didn’t always exist. God reveals himself to be transcendent. Essentially, beyond the constraints of time or physical laws. A well-known passage that gets at this is:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord is day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

2 Peter 3:8

This statement is not a mathematical formula for converting God time to ours. It refers to God’s transcendence and to possibility that the experience of time will differ from Earth to Heaven to Hell. Science would suggest the same thing. While the measurement of the time difference is vague, the general experience is that there is a change of time and space and that you are aware of a difference.

Life Review. We have all heard the expression “my life flashed before my eyes” in connection to a brush with death. This would seem to be a review of your whole life, but particularly your sins. The Bible speaks of Judgment Day, but there is clearly also a “judgment” made at our death. I don’t think it is the same thing. Judgment Day is a future event. The judgment made at our death would be the determination of what comes next. We will all have failures that flash before our eyes, because we are all sinners. Are the sins that we see flash before our eyes our downfall, or are they what has been covered by the death of Jesus? This is what matters at that moment.

Not all people are saved. Scripture reveals it will be a minority. And not all people experience something heavenly in a NDE. Obviously, people would be reticent to announce, “I went to Hell/Sheol”. Those who return with a universalistic message of everyone is saved find themselves in conflict with both the words of Scripture and the experience of many people. Did they misunderstand something? Or is it possible for a NDE to be a deception?

Either way, to experience a life review fits what I would expect.

Encountering Unworldly (Heavenly) Realms. The Bible recounts several Out of Body Experiences (OBE) that took the writer to Heaven. You can find them in Isaiah 6, Daniel 7, Zechariah 3 and Revelation 4,5 and 7. Paul also refers to an OBE/NDE he had in 2 Corinthians 12. It is often hard for the person to discern exactly how they are experiencing this. They cannot tell if it is a vision or actually being there. They cannot tell if this is out-of-body or in the flesh. The Biblical experiences all show the person the throne room of God. It is not a tour of the whole of Heaven or even just another part. NDE recorded after medical emergencies typically reveal another landscape, a very beautiful one, presumably outside of God’s throne room.

These accounts mesh somewhat with Revelation 7:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat.17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:16-17

We have a great interest in the landscape and lifestyle of Heaven. A misinterpretation of the Bible leads to art and the idea that Heaven is on clouds, or that we are bodiless or that it is one unending worship service. Clearly from NDE and Revelation 7 it is not in a cloudbank. Everyone experiences great beauty, but the beauty is different from place to place. Some can compare what they see to what God had created on Earth. For others, what they see defies words as it is very different from what is on Earth. Do these descriptions simply project a person’s expectations? I doubt it, for some of those witnesses didn’t expect a Heaven at all.

Why would some experience Heaven even as non-believers and others experience Hell? This is a mystery. God uses it often to turn around a life or point of view. The experience can seem like a mistake with people being told that it is not their time and sent back, but seems to be more complicated than that. Not every NDE happens with prophetic purpose. Perhaps our capabilities to retrieve people medically from death have made the boundary between Earth and Heaven more permeable, but in the end God’s will in done.

There are just a few more common experiences in NDE. I will discuss them next time.

Examining Near Death Experiences

I believe in life after death because God has given me faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, the forgiveness of my sins, and the promise of entrance into Heaven and eventually also the New Earth. This faith is the combination of the Holy Spirit working on me through the use of God’s promises and Jesus’ story in the Bible. I have no personal experience of dying or Heaven.

That may not be true for everyone who is still alive. Medical interventions have drastically increased the number of Near Death Experiences (NDE). Though I would not count them as an equal source of information to the Holy Spirit and the Bible, they do represent information that needs to be explained.

In the book, Evidence of the Afterlife, Dr. Jeffery Long publishes the findings of an extended study of those who report leaving their bodies, sometimes hearing conversations they should not have been able to hear within this world, experiencing people and places beyond this world, and returning to their bodies and normal life.

Dr. Long looks at demographics such as religion to consider whether expectations have created false memories. He is convinced that the NDE experience is genuine and not the product of hypoxia as the brain dies, nor false memory. He notes that not all NDE’s are identical, but considering that an NDE is an abnormal state, one would expect some variation. He would also note that there are a set of frequently occurring experiences. Let’s consider what these may be.

The first is simply leaving your body. This would not fit with a materialist view that consciousness is simply brain chemistry and resident in the body. It fits very well with the biblical model of the soul and body separating, ultimately because of sin. It would also support the idea that consciousness is either connected to the soul or is the soul.

The ability to briefly move independent of the body and to see or hear things within or even outside of the room containing the body is further proof of the veracity of the experience. It suggests a brief lingering between our body and our life-after-death destination.

The second is heightened senses. This is an intriguing surprise. Our sensory organs and the sensory portions of our brain are part of the body. How can senses be greater without the body? This common experience (74% of those surveyed) suggests that some of our sensory faculties are a part of the soul. This allows for a heightened experience of color and beauty, also sound and music. It may suggest the formation of a heavenly body, though awareness of having a body is not reported.

The third is the experience of intense and generally positive emotions. The Bible warns us that some, in fact a majority, will experience Sheol at their death. Those experiencing this would be unlikely to share it, thereby creating biased information among reported data. What is primarily reported here is such things as love, joy, happiness, warmth, safety, belonging, forgiveness and understanding. These are emotions that would be expected from Heaven and the experience of meeting God.

The fourth, and maybe the most well-known, is passing through a tunnel. People sometimes describe the tunnel as soft. They experience movement, sometimes at great speed. While the tunnel is not necessarily dark, they know that they are moving toward a bright light. What could this be? I would theorize that Heaven isn’t a part of the space-time dimension in which we now exist. You will not find Heaven by traveling far enough out. I expect it forms a type of parallel universe, as does Sheol. The tunnel is a form of transition from one realm to the other. Whether it has anything to do with Einstein’s “wormhole” concept, I do not know.

The fifth, is experiencing a mystical or brilliant light. Dr. Long reports that 64.6% of respondents report seeing this light. God is described in 1 John as light. While this could be read as being metaphorical, it can also be understood as a statement about his being. The one account offered by Long in the first chapter of his book speaks about an interconnectedness of other lights, including the reporters, to the main light. I think this is intriguing about the Bible speaks about our being a part of the body of Christ. It is connectedness to Christ that saves us.

There are several more common experiences noted in the book, Evidence of the Afterlife, I would like to continue discussing these in my next entry.

Why Not Reincarnation?

A large chunk of the population of the world expects to be reincarnated. This includes Hindus, Buddhists and many other who have incorporated this idea into their “spirituality”. Reincarnation gives the promise of continued life. While judgment or karma is expected and is meant to motivate an unselfish life, reincarnation gives hope for self-progress and self-redemption in the end. It also gives reason to judge people for their current condition and creates a fatalistic attitude with not much motivation to change the world. It is an interesting idea, but is real?

Experience doesn’t settle the question. All of the Near Death Experiences (NDE) that I am aware of have given the individuals who had them an experience of Heaven or Sheol. None have said, I was a dog, worm or even another person. There are some who claim other “memories” experienced in dreams, flashback type of experiences that do give the impression that the person had a previous life. How can this be explained? Perhaps one experiences what they expect in certain neural states. Either type of experience may possibly be introduced by outside spiritual forces (i.e. God, Satan, angel, demons, etc.) to inform or deceive. Whatever the answer, experience is not conclusive.

The Bible rules out reincarnation by giving us a picture of Heaven or Sheol immediately upon death and by these words:

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who eagerly wait for him.

Hebrews 9:28

Many people are choosing a mixed, and consequently inconsistent, system of beliefs that merge Jesus and reincarnation. Granted these people are hardly what you would call theologians. It is clear for those who know the Bible, that reincarnation is not a part of the human experience if the Bible is truth. Here you have to look at the weight of evidence and have the help of God to understand why the Bible is to be trusted versus any of the writings of Eastern religion.

Jesus comes from a determined place and time, not some vague story. He backed his teachings with miracles before eye-witnesses. He rose from the dead and was seen by both friends, skeptics, and enemies. His coming was accurately foretold by prophets who lived long before him. I don’t think any other self-proclaimed revelation from God can claim such support.

The biggest difference between what the Bible presents as our eternal destiny versus Eastern religions is not the one life versus many. It is that God saves us out of love and does the work Himself versus a system where you raise yourself through lifestyle and knowledge. Wisdom, knowledge, kindness and good works have their place in Christianity, but not as the cause of being saved. They are the result of being saved. We are motivated by love and a sense of God-given mission.

Ironically, Eastern religions are very do-it-yourself compared to Christianity, but the goal is to cease to exist as an individual. One ultimately merges with an impersonal God. In Christianity, Jesus merges you to Himself for the sake of making you righteous and worthy of eternity. He does so without eliminating you as a person. Rather he emphasizes just how valuable you are.

Do not count on having another life and another chance. Definitely don’t count on your own abilities to merit eternal life. Count on Christ.

An Expectation of Sheol

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

Genesis 37:35 (ESV)

The above quote comes from the story of Joseph. His brothers, in spite, had just sold Joseph into slavery and then reported him as dead to their father Jacob. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, and he is crushed by the news. He basically says that he will mourn until he dies, and then he will go where Joseph is–Sheol.

Sheol, the place of the dead, is where every Old Testament person expected to go. They are divided as to whether the experience will be a conscious or unconscious experience. None of them really look forward to it.

There is an expectation of bodily resurrection someday. This can be found in the oldest book in the Old Testament, Job, and it is briefly taught at the end of Daniel. Time will elapse between their death and the resurrection, however.

As mentioned in previous blog entries, translators have struggled with what to do with word, “Sheol”, and its Greek counterpart, “Hades”. Some translations have decided to make it “the pit”, “the grave” or even “Hell”. Usually it is marked with a footnote acknowledging that the word is “Sheol”. Basically, an admission that the translators were not sold themselves on the translation. For this reason Sheol is unknown to most Christians.

Is Sheol Hell? I capitalize both, because both are place names. And no, Sheol is not what I mean when I use the word “Hell” as a place name. “Hell”, for me, corresponds to the final place of forsakeness and suffering reserved for the damned. This corresponds with the word “Gehenna” or the description, “Lake of Fire” found in Revelation 20. Sheol/Hades is dumped into the Lake of Fire in Revelation 20:14. Clearly, it is a distinct place.

Does Jacob expect to suffer after death then? Not necessarily. Sheol is spoken of 63 times in the Old Testament. I am not certain how the people of the Old Testament acquired their knowledge of Sheol. It may have been from revelation from God, but not necessarily. Near Death Experiences and even the forbidden occultic arts could have given to society scraps of information about Sheol. It is allowed to remain in inspired works because it serves God’s purpose in telling the stories. At no place, is there a theological treatise on the nature of Sheol.

In general, Sheol is described as either unconsciousness or unawareness. It is always pictured as the wages of sin and bad. That makes it surprising that all, even the righteous, express an expectation to go there. Sheol is spoken of in poetic terms in Isaiah. It becomes a synonym for death, even though it retains the nature of a place name.

The Old Testament holds only a very modest hope for eternal life. The most detailed description of life after death applies to the New Earth described in Isaiah 65. This description itself is problematic as it describes existence more in terms of long, pleasant life rather than eternal life.

The lack of information about eternal life and the complete absence of an expectation to go to Heaven raises some interesting questions about the nature of revelation. If one sees the religion surrounding Yahweh (whether Jewish or Christian) as the product of humans, then you would explain the doctrine of eternal life as a development–something added later either because it was borrowed from somewhere else or imagined by somebody later. If, rather, you understand both Old and New Testaments as an ongoing dialogue between God and humanity, you understand that God can reveal information when He chooses to reveal information. Theological development is people having more information then they had before.

Sheol is “developed” by Jesus in the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. No one would have better and more information about such a place than Jesus. In the story, Lazarus, a poor beggar, dies and is carried to Abraham’s side. The story does not immediately identify where Abraham is. From the Old Testament we should expect that this is Sheol. The rich man also dies and is take to Hades. Here the place is named. He is conscious. He is tormented by flames. Still, he is able to converse with Abraham. Lazarus, however, is being comforted. His place in Sheol is not a place of suffering.

Many jump to the conclusion that Abraham and Lazarus must be in Heaven. That is where the righteous go. But Jesus blocks that conclusion in John 3:13 by telling us that no one has gone into Heaven, at least not yet. Abraham and Lazarus are in a separate parts of Sheol divided by a chasm from the rest, but not prohibiting some communication between the two parts.

Some church bodies have given names to the pleasant part of Sheol. The Catholic Church refers to it as the “Limbo of the Fathers.” Others just refer to it as Abraham’s Bosom. Most just ignore it.

Sheol as a destiny for the righteous awaited the atonement for sins that Jesus would complete. I expect “Abraham’s Bosom” to still exist as a place. But it is now an empty place. Our expectations are now happily turned to Heaven. That humans should occupy Heaven awaited not only atonement but the expulsion of Satan and his minions as described in Revelation 12.

While I don’t need independent confirmation of God’s revelation, it does exist. Near Death Experiences include both seeing Heaven and Sheol as briefly described by Jesus. The expectation of the resurrection of our bodies still stands as a future promise awaiting Judgment Day.

Why Believe In Eternal Life?

You go to a funeral or visitation and there lies the body of a person you know. There is no movement, no sign of life. None of your senses tell you that this person still exists. There is just observable death and with it grief. Perhaps you want to believe that they are “in a better place”, but it could be just wishful thinking that we desperately need at this moment.

In another instance, you are sitting with a person in the process of dying. They seem to be having a vision. “I see Grandpa!” “The angels are coming for me!” ” I see Jesus!” You, of course, don’t see any of this. Is it real or is this just the expected delusions created by a dying brain? The same might be asked about people who have more terrifying visions. “I see fire!” “Help me!”

The sensory experience or even instrumental readings available at the time of death, all carry with them a large degree of doubt. Short of being able to freely move back and forth from this life to the next, all accounts are questionable. While I would put some weight behind the testimony of those who have had Near Death Experiences, I would consider our ability to measure or experience life after death to severely limited. Maybe someday we will have an instrument that can peer beyond death, but the current scientific orthodoxy has already decided that such a thing doesn’t exist.

That leaves us with two further means of information: one I can endorse and one I cannot. God can give to people the truth of what lies beyond the grave, if He so desires. And to a limited extend, that is exactly what He has done. When you are unequipped to investigate on your own, you are dependent on revelation. The other is a type of stolen revelation. Dabbling in the occult is tapping into the knowledge and power of other beings, evil beings, that can span the gap of death. God strictly forbids it. Why? He knows them to be prolific liars and deceivers. He knows them to hate our species, but that hasn’t kept people away.

The people of Israel were strictly warned against this type of inquiry. The people who occupied Canaan where deeply into these practices along with other disgusting forms of worship. For these reasons, they were being dispossessed of the land.

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-14

Such practices and the desperate demand for such contact has also created a cadre of con-men and women who prey on sorrow. It leads many people to doubt that such capabilities even exist. But God was not warning about hucksters.

Revelation from Jesus, who is God incarnate, is our most trustworthy source of information. Others sources provide modest, secondary affirmation. Jesus promised to be straight with us.

“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?

John 14:1-2

If we were limited to just this life, then Jesus would have said so. There was no motive to lie. But Jesus’ whole mission was to prepare a place for us. It already had been determined and revealed that people would face a Judgment Day and experience a resurrection from the dead. Jesus was preparing a further place and a better resurrection. He was going to become the way to have Heaven as a destination at death, and a New Heaven and New Earth as a home after the resurrection.

Jesus proved his reliability on such grand promises to his contemporaries by raising people from the dead, three in all; and then rising from the dead himself. Do you have someone with better credentials?

It is true that there is nothing like experience. I can guarantee that you will get you chance at that. But listening to the revelation that God has given us is more than just interesting information. It is critical and relevant to all. It is information intended for you and truthful. It prepares you for death and guides you in life. It can make you certain of things you cannot see or measure.

Prepared for Your Death

You are in good health. Maybe you are even young. Why should you think about death? The obvious answer is that all you have to be is alive in order to die. There is no particular age or way that it comes, and you are not guaranteed that you will grow old before death. But there is a better answer for why you should consider your own mortality. That is because living like you will die someday (and you will), will cause you to truly consider the purpose of life and help you to live fully and wisely.

If it were a fact that we just die and cease to exist, then truly life would be without purpose. In that case do whatever you want and can get away with. But that is not the case. Both the Bible and Near Death Experiences around the world confirm that we go on. The Bible also confirms that life has a purpose and it is a purpose often neglected by people.

When you don’t consider your mortality, or more accurately your immortality, you tend to do mostly what pleases you. Your life is measured by the number and quality of your experiences or the accumulation of your wealth. There is a bumper sticker that reflects this default philosophy, it says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” If that is on your car, you may want to scape it off before I see it. I will mock you.

Wealth simply passes through our fingers. We enjoy it only temporarily. Life isn’t a contest either. You don’t win anything for being the richest or having many toys. Some of the richest people in history have even concluded that dying with massive wealth was a source of shame and not honor. It certainly hasn’t done much for family dynamics as people quarrel over the estate.

Legacy is a concern of those who truly doubt the reality of eternal life. To be remembered well isn’t a bad thing, it is just not something that will enhance your existence. It is like having a great looking monument on your grave. Others will see it and not care. You won’t see it at all.

The most important quality of both life and death is to right with your Maker. Running a course independent of that chosen by God may feel like freedom but it is actually slavery to our inherent evil. If our death deposits us into the judgment of a Being we have denied and rebelled against, then nothing else matters. We are doomed. If on the other hand, we move from a life that has always been tainted into the arms of a Being that loves us and has compensated for our inherent evil, then that is the most fundamentally important thing in life. The meaning of life is connected to whatever comes next.

The good news is that God does favor the human race. We aggravate Him. We provoke Him. We do our best to write Him out of history. But God is a different kind of being. When He has decided to love someone or something, then He loves them regardless of their response. Despite ourselves, God has enacted a plan that puts a joyful, fun, social and unblemished life after death in our laps. He just has to get through our tough defenses to make it a reality for us personally. A connection to Jesus is the most valuable and indispensable asset we can have, and it is a gift that God is trying to give.

If you have a faith in Jesus as a Savior who has given Himself to die for your sins, then God has done it. He has broken through to you. Every other preparation for death is small by comparison, but there are more. The upcoming blogs will talk about how life impacts afterlife when you are connected to Jesus through faith and baptism. I hope you are curious enough to read them.

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