Betwixtjudy

Death - The Last Taboo

"There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time. 

The word death is used in at least three primary and numerous secondary ways. The three primary usages are: death as an event; death as a condition; and death as a state of existence or nonexistence. 

Biological science assumes that carbon matter is the primary stuff of life, that the brain is the source of consciousness.  What the Bible & the  prophets tell us is; that we are eternal beings.

We are fallen beings inhabiting a condensed fallen world, comprising a mere 4% of the mass of creation, that has been ejected from our true homeland due to a revolt. The revealed information is compatible with scientific evidence, it simply contradicts the belief standpoint of secular scientists, biologists in particular.

Death as an event. In this usage, death is something that happens. As an event, death occurs at a particular time and place and in a particular way. In this sense of the term, death is a phenomenon that stays within the bounds of mainstream conception and observation. Time, place, and cause can be recorded on a death certificate (theoretically, in all instances although, in practice, the information may be incomplete or imprecise). This usage does not concern itself with mysteries or explanations: Death is an event that cuts off a life. 

Death as a state of existence or nonexistence. In this sense, it can almost be said that death is what becomes of a person after death. It refers not to the event that ended life nor the condition of the body at that time, but rather to whatever form of existence might be thought to prevail when a temporal life has come to its end.

It appears that more and more people are asking the same question that Job asked nearly 4,000 years ago in the Bible: "If a man dies, will he live again?" What could be a more fundamental question of life (and death)? Reincarnation theories are popular in Eastern religions as well as the many New Age variants. It seems people are comfortable with the idea of another chance to return to earth and figure things out or make things right. Some nihilist thinkers believe that death is the absolute end; but contrary to what many might think, most people believe that death is not the end. In some shape or form we go on. 

When Jesus was talking with Martha about the death of Lazarus, her brother, He declared "I am the Resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Right here, Jesus started presenting the astonishing claim that there is life after death. Jesus then went the next step and brought Lazarus back to life after four days in a tomb. At that point, Jesus put everyone on notice that He would later overcome the grave Himself!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

For skeptics, the whole idea of heaven is just the product of fertile imaginations. For many others, the Biblical idea of heaven is too fanciful or fantastic. However, Christians can live their lives with bold hope, thanks to the evidence of history that establishes with convincing clarity how Jesus not only preceded us in death, but also came back from the deadLife After Death: Proof?

Is there mathematical proof for life after death? No. But if you believe the life-changing evidence for God, Jesus and the Bible, then heaven is as much a concrete reality for you as the Lord in whom you’ve invested your absolute trust. It’s not fantasy – it’s the absolute life-changing hope that strengthens us and gives us peace.

 Some short stories

Pastor Kenneth E. Hagin remembers that in April of 1933 when he lived in McKinney, Texas, his heart stopped beating and his soul left his body." After this, I began to descend lower and lower. The lower I went, the darker and hotter it became. As we went deeper, I noticed the flickering of ominous flames, presumably hell's, on the walls of the caves. Finally, a large flame burst through and began to pull me. Many years have passed since then. To this day, I can picture that hell's flame.

Having reached the bottom of the chasm, I felt the presence of a spirit next to me and it began to lead me. At this moment, above the hellish dark, a powerful Voice was heard. I did not understand what was said, but I felt that it was God's Voice. From the force of this Voice, the whole of the nether world trembled. Immediately, the spirit which had been pushing me, let me go and a wind lifted me back up. Gradually, the light of this world began to shine. I was, once again in my room and I jumped into my body like a man jumping into a pair of pants. I saw my grandmother, who started telling me, "Dear, I thought you had died." After a time, Kenneth became a pastor in one of the Protestant churches and dedicated his life to God. He wrote about his ordeal in a brochure entitled "My Witness."

 

An enfeebled man after suffering for many years finally prayed to The Lord for an end to his suffering. An angel appeared to him and said: "Your sins require cleansing. The Lord offers you to exchange one year of suffering on earth for three hours of hell. Choose." The sufferer contemplated his choices and decided on three hours in hell. Then the angel took him into the pit of hell. All around was darkness, narrowness - everywhere evil spirits, the cries of sinners, and suffering. The soul of the enfeebled began to experience indescribable fear and pain, but only echoes and the surging hellfire answered his screams. No one noticed his groans and bellows; all of the sinners were occupied with their own suffering.

The sufferer felt that centuries had passed and that the angel had forgotten him. Finally, the angel appeared to him and asked, "Well, how are you brother?" "You tricked me!" exclaimed the sufferer. "Not three hours, but many years I have been here in intolerable pain!" "What years?" the angel asked, "only an hour has passed, and you still have two to go." Then, the sufferer begged the angel to return him to earth, where he was willing to suffer as many years as required, if only to leave this place of terrors. "Very well," answered the angel, "The Lord will show His Great Mercy." Finding himself back on his sickbed, the sufferer from that point forward bore his sufferings with meekness, always remembering hell's terrors, which are incomparably worse.

(From the letters of Sviatogortz, pg. 183, 15th letter, 1883).