EVIDENCE FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH?

Transcription

1 1 EVIDENCE FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH? Luke 16:19-31 Dr Alan Gordon Three thousand years ago, Job asked one of life s ultimate questions, If a man die, will he live? That is, will life continue after death with no interruptions in a spiritual dimension? # Billy Graham has said that the question that he has been asked more than any other is, Is there life after death? # Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the psychiatrist who changed the approach of caring for the dying, comments: the unravelling of the mystery of death is truly the key to the door of life, for death is the final destiny. # Greta Christina realized she had a problem with facing death as an atheist in her article the Skeptical Inquirer (March/April 2005): Death can be an appalling thing to think about. Not just frightening, not just painful. It can be paralyzing. The fact that there is a strong possibility that when you die, you disappear forever can be a defining truth about your existence. You push it to the back of your mind for fear that if you allow it to sit in your mind, it will swallow everything else. It can make everything you do seem trivial to the point of absurdity. It can make your life seem like ashes in your hands. We ll examine the Bible s teaching on life after death and then consider the issue of deathbed experiences. 1. THE BIBLE S EXAMPLE OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 1.2 Jesus story of life after death In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus spoke of two men who had just died. The Bible doesn t call it a parable, nor does it have the marks of a parable. A parable is like an extended metaphor: A sower went forth to sow. The sower symbolises God; the seed symbolises the Word of God; the four types of soil symbolise four heart responses. In this story, there is nothing that symbolises anything else. Jesus understands the after-world. He came from God and went to God (Jn 13:3). The rich man in Jesus story had everything that money can buy, except a place in Heaven. He had no higher goal for his life than the selfish use of his great possessions. But his wealth and influence couldn t protect him from death.

2 2 In contrast, Lazarus didn t own a cent. The story indicates that he was one of the righteous poor. Names in the Bible are regarded as significant. His name means, God helps. His dependence on God enabled him to get to Heaven. After death, both people continued in the same relationship with God that they chose to take on earth. But now their roles were vastly different. The rich man was now the beggar, crying out for something as inexpensive as water. What does the incident teach us about life after death? The rich man recognised Abraham (whom he hadn t seen) and Lazarus. So he was fully conscious. He saw Abraham and Lazarus; so he could see. He cried and said, Father Abraham; so he could speak. Abraham said, Son, remember; so he had memory. Abraham told him why his request was impossible; so he could reason. I am tormented in this flame; so he could feel and suffer. He was in a place of intense pain. There was no soul sleep. The rich man s brothers were still alive at the time. Other Scriptures support this teaching: Isa 14:9-11; 2 Cor 5:1-8; Phil 1:21-23; Rev 6:9-11; Luke 22:32. There was no second chance. Jesus in his teaching on heaven and hell used the same word, eternal, for both. There was no purgatory or limbo. Both are Medieval fabrications. The rich man asked for permission to return and warn his brothers. But Abraham replied that they had the Word of God, and that was sufficient. Then came the hint that Jesus would rise from the dead as God s absolute evidence of life after death Since the story Jesus promised the repentant thief on the cross: This day you will be with me in Paradise. (Luke 23:39-43). There was no soul sleep, no purgatory or limbo. In Phil 1:23, death means that we are with Christ, which was far better than being on earth. In 2 Cor 5:1-8, to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. We won t be floating around Heaven like disembodied spirits. Death was like collapsing a tent and being clothed upon with a body suited for heaven. Dr Raymond Moody and other psychiatrists claim to have empirical evidence that disproves Jesus teaching on life after death. Empirical means firmly-established, scientific reasoning. I need to respond to those claims. 2. DEATH-BED EXPERIENCES

3 3 2.1 The experiences themselves # A student who heard Dr Raymond Moody lecture on Plato s belief in immortality, told Moody about his grandmother s recent out-of-the-body experience at death. It was similar to one told to Moody by the Prof of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia. So Moody began research and collected 150 similar accounts. Here is the composite description: A woman is pronounced dead by her doctor and suddenly finds herself outside her own physical body. She watches the resuscitation effort as a spectator. A being of light appears before her. Yet she must return to the land of the living. But is this only an emotional experience? # A person on TV in WA described to friends what was happening and what people were wearing in the room during the time he was dead. He even knew who came into the waiting room, what they did and what they wore- which he couldn t have done if he was partially awake on the operating table. Blind people could see the doctors. Remember that their physical eyes couldn t see physically. So the experience is not merely emotional Biblical parallels Stephen had a vision of Jesus at God s right hand as he died: Acts 7: Paul had an out-of-the-body experience in which he was taken to Paradise, almost certainly at Lystra where he was stoned (2 Cor 12:4). In Foxe s Book of Martyrs, many dying Christian martyrs saw visions of heaven or of angels ministering to them Absolute evidence The strongest evidence for life after death is the return of Jesus Christ after 3 days. Over 120 people saw him at various times and different places. 1 Cor 15 uses this fact to argue that there is life after death and that there will be a future resurrection of the body. What will our resurrection body be like? As a seed is to a fresh young plant, so our present body is to our resurrected body. In other words, there will be a continuation of the elements of the body but in a new form. Jesus body could go through a door unopened! But notice from Luke 24, his body had bones and flesh. 3. AN EVALUATION OF DEATH-BED EXPERIENCES However Christians should never base their doctrines on human experiences but on the Scripture. Experiences need to be weighed to ascertain their value.

4 4 # When cardiologist Dr Maurice Rawlings brought one patient around, the man opened his eyes and screamed, Help me, I am in Hell! Soon he died again. When he was brought around again, he screamed a piercing, Help me, I am in Hell! The third time, he recovered he said, Every time I die, I am in Hell. Don t let me go back to Hell! Dr Rawlings was an agnostic, despite being brought up in a Christian home. The man screamed, Pray for me! Rawlings prayed. The man survived. The doctor went home, read from his Bible and received Jesus Christ as his Saviour. However, when Rawlings, armed with pen and paper, returned to the patient at his hospital bed to copy out the details of hell and the afterlife. The patient had forgotten the whole experience! Dr Rawlings explained that Raymond Moody and other psychiatrists don t see the recovered patient for days. By that time, most patients have had the fearsome experience erased from the memory. As a cardiologist, Rawlings had first-hand experience of the patient at the point of death. With that pad and pen close by for immediate details of the after-life, he compiled a best-seller, Beyond Death s Door. The many examples that Rawlings quotes are confirmed by others. # A man asked Dr James Kennedy how to become a Christian: he had been to hell. It was the worst pain he d experienced in his life. Kennedy asked, Have you ever had much pain? The visitor revealed his wooden leg: I was run over by a train and had to drag my almost amputated leg one km. How was the pain compared? Inconsequential. His other leg had caught fire through petrol. Hell was 1,000 times worse. # Criminal George Lennox s vivid descriptions of hell are too vivid to be told publicly. But it does support Jesus narrative of the rich and poor man. He was quickly born again. # For Christians it is so different. T. de Witt Talmage described a young Christian girl dying: Mummy, I can see Heaven. It is so beautiful. Can t you see it?... Daddy, carry me there in your arms. I want to go. It s so beautiful. The weeping father said, No, dear. I can t take you. The daughter replied, Well, never mind. Here is a bright, shining one to take me there. And she died at that moment. CONCLUSION In his clinical findings, Dr Rawlings has established a clear Christian-unchurched divide as to where people went after death. His book supports the Lazarus documentary narrated by Jesus Christ.

5 5 From such studies, there is clearly an invisible, spiritual world of reality. It is closer to each of us than the thickness of your skin. [For non-christians] That world of reality can touch your life right now. Jesus Christ, who has died for our many mistakes, desires you To ask him for the forgiveness for those mistakes you ve made To invite him to give you Holy Spirit empowered living. The invisible world of reality will impact your own reality. You will become a Christian. # Two notable American leaders died the same year. When Evangelist D. L. Moody was dying, his family were around his bedside. He described heaven, mentioning people he saw there, all of whom had previously died. He included a relative, who had recently died but he had not been informed. He urged his family to stop praying for his healing as he had seen heaven and it was glorious. He said, This is my coronation day. His funeral was triumphant. # The vehement atheist Colonel Ingersoll had spent his life seeking to discredit Christianity. The nurse who cared for him when he died commented that she didn t want to nurse another dying atheist. He cried out for three days, Let me die; let me die; let me die. Suddenly he stopped. His eyes looked up as if he saw something. Then he screamed in terror: Let me live; let me live! and went out into a Christless eternity. [If used for Christians] In recent times, Rosemary and I returned to our former pastorate, Mackay Baptist Church. Pam Magnussen, in her eighties, shared with us how she was so close to death that her family ensured that a family member was always present at her bedside. Pam said, One night, I saw the gates of Heaven. Two angels gently held my hands and led me toward the gates. Not far from the gates, they stopped and said to me, Not yet, dear. They turned me around and gave me a little push back to return. (She didn t want to return.) At this she opened her eyes. Her grandson s face was above hers. He said, Grandma, it looked as if you died. You stopped breathing. Then, suddenly you called out, Rats! and opened your eyes. Pam has absolutely no fear about the time when she will be finally ushered through those gates.