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Hello William, A year ago I believed that there is no immortal soul, that the soul dies or "sleeps" a totally unconscious sleep after physical death and that people will not regain consciousness until the resurrection. Now I can no longer believe this, both because of Biblical reasons and also because of scientific evidence of near-death experiences (NDEs). Near-death experiences are when a person has a spiritual vision while clinically dead. People can float out of their body, meet dead relatives, and even encounter God or Jesus Christ. There are no good scientific theories to explain how a person whose heart has stopped beating and who does not have any activity in the brain can still be conscious, unless there is a spiritual aspect of our being that survives physical death. Many thousands of NDEs have been reported by people who have literally died and been brought back to life by medical intervention. In some cases, there is hard evidence that the brain was non-functional during the time of the visions the person experienced. Sometimes people are able to report seeing things that happened in the operating room while they were totally unconscious or even clinically dead, and there was no way they could have known unless their soul left their body. Not all purported NDEs are necessarily real. Some are probably lies or exaggerations of dreams people had, which people elaborate to gain attention. Others are probably vivid dreams or hallucinations that people mistakenly believe were real, with no ill intent. But many NDEs are legitimate. One near-death experience in particular that convinces me that the soul survives bodily death is the experience of Pam Reynolds. She left her body during brain surgery, in which all the blood had been drained out of her brain and there was no measured electrical activity in any part of her brain. Her experience of her soul leaving the body and meeting dead relatives can be found at http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html. Another compelling NDE is that of Howard Storm. He was an atheist who lived a life of selfish materialism until, at the age of 38, he died from a perforated stomach. Instead of the unconsciousness of death he expected, he found himself in hell, and was only rescued when he cried out for the help of Jesus Christ. Jesus then showed him visions of the afterlife and told him many things. Howard Storm was revived from the dead by doctors, and he was so moved by his experience of meeting the Lord in the spirit that he became a Christian minister. You can read about his experience of the afterlife at http://www.near-death.com/storm.html. He has also written a book called My Descent into Death: A Second Chance at Life which can be purchased online at this page at Amazon.com. One Biblical reason for believing the soul continues after bodily death is the Transfiguration (see Matt 17:1-7). Moses and Elijah appeared to the Apostles along with Jesus, even though Moses was definitely recorded as being dead according to the Old Testament. There is no evidence in the Bible that Moses had already been resurrected from the grave, so the only logical conclusion is that he appeared in his spiritual body, which means the soul does survive death and continue to exist. Christians who believe the soul is totally unconscious until physical resurrection tend to argue that the Transfiguration was only a vision, not a real occurrence, and Moses himself was not really there. But I believe it was more than only a vision, because otherwise the Apostle Peter would not have wanted to make tabernacles for Moses and Elijah, as the Gospel reports (Matt. 17:4). People generally can tell the difference between something that is just a vision versus something they see plainly which they regard as objectively real in this world. The account in the Gospels indicates the Apostles believed it to be more than a vision, because people do not want to erect a physical structure for beings they see only in a visionary way. Another Biblical reason to believe the soul can remains conscious apart from the body, and therefore survive death, is the Apostle Paul's testimony of going to heaven. Speaking of himself in the third person, he reports: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know -- God knows. And I know that this man -- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows -- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell." (2 Cor. 12:2-4). This passage of scripture tells me that your interpretation of John 3:13 cannot be correct. Jesus is quoted in that verse, saying, "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." You said that verse tells you "that the only man that has gone to heaven is Jesus." However, Paul clearly states that he went to the third heaven. Therefore, John 3:13 must mean something else. I personally believe it could mean that Jesus is the only man who came from the highest heaven, where God is. In that case, the purpose of what Jesus said was to indicate his uniqueness, the fact that he is the only man who is perfect. Perhaps to Jesus, the place Paul called the "third heaven" is hardly like heaven at all! Perhaps that place that is so glorious to us, would be pretty ordinary to Jesus. Anyway, the experience of Paul going to the third heaven supports the idea that there is a spiritual aspect of the human consciousness that can exist separated from the physical body. Paul is saying that he actually went somewhere; in other words it was more than merely a vision. He goes on to say that he does not know "whether it was in the body or out of the body." That shows that the experience was so real that he even was open to the possibility that his physical body was literally taken into another dimension, and if not, he says it was an out-of-body experience in which his soul detached from the body. This proves two things: (1) that Paul believed there is a non-physical soul that can exist independently of the body; and (2) that his experience was beyond an ordinary vision, but was so real that he felt he might have been taken "to the third heaven" and "caught up to paradise" in his physical body. So, it seems to me that 2 Cor. 12:2-4 is excellent Biblical support for the validity of the soul or spirit-body being able to detach from the physical body, and therefore perhaps survive physical death, and for the idea that certain spiritual experiences called "visions" are more than merely visions but are actual experiences of travel into another dimension such as "the third heaven," which implies that there are heavens where non-physical souls can exist and perhaps where people's souls go when they die. This text also bolsters the argument that the Transfiguration vision was more than a visual hallucination but was a real experience of meeting spiritual beings in spirit-bodies, Moses and Elijah. There is also a major metaphysical reason why human consciousness cannot be completely expunged between physical death and resurrection: the lack of continuity of being. Consider this: If you clone someone, the clone is not the same person as the original. They are two separate beings. That is why, for example, you could take genetic material from someone's corpse and make a new person out of it, but it would not be the "resurrection" or "return" of that person. It would be a brand new person identical to the first person. If you tear down a house completely, and then build an identical house, it is not the same house; it is a new house. But if you leave some significant part of the original house intact, such as the foundation, and then you tear down and rebuild the rest, it can be considered the same house. I think it works the same way with life after death. If no part of a person survives death, then any future resurrection would actually just be God creating a new being identical to the original. The resurrected person would not have the same consciousness; it would be just like a clone or identical twin, with a new individual consciousness. Only if some part of a person survives the death of the body -- the spirit being like the foundation of the house -- can a resurrection even be possible. This is because there must be some "seed" of the original person from which the new entity can grow. The seed (physical body) dies, but the plant (spiritual body) grows out of it. Notice that the seed does not completely die until the plant begins growing from it. It is a transformation of energy, not a complete death followed by a period of time followed by creation of new life. If the soul, the spiritual human consciousness, is expunged at physical death, then is it not correct to say that the WHOLE person is dead? And if so, then that's it; any new life in the form of that person is just a copy, nothing more. On the other hand, if the soul continues alive during the time between physical death and resurrection, it provides a continuity of being which is metaphysically essential for the resurrection to be of the same person, not creation of a new person with identical characteristics. I would argue that total unconsciousness of the entire human being -- body, mind and soul -- is the equivalent of total death, and therefore any "sleep" of the soul must not be total unconsciousness. The sleep analogy used in the New Testament for death does not preclude the possibility that the soul remains conscious in the intermediate state between physical death and resurrection. For example, we know from our own everyday experience here on earth that when we sleep, we may dream. Dreams can be very vivid, complex, and meaningful. Therefore, even if death before the resurrection is like sleep, the soul could simply be experiencing visions in realms of existence other than earth, much like the way our mind can dream when we go to sleep at night. In fact, the evidence from near-death experiences shows that life as a disembodied soul may actually be very dreamlike, since NDEs usually have a visionary character unlike physical life on earth. Space and time, for example, are said not to exist in the same way on the other side of the grave. Most NDEs are much more vivid than dreams, and in fact are often described as more vivid even than ordinary waking consciousness -- so we know this phenomenon is at least in some cases not just a dream or hallucination. But there are certain characteristics of the spiritual worlds beyond earth that to us, in physical bodies, may seem rather dreamlike. Perhaps the Biblical concept of "soul sleep" could refer to such a state. I do believe that at a future time, people will be able to regain a physical form after they have been in heaven or hell in a purely spiritual form. So I do not deny the concept of physical resurrection. The Gospel seems to be quite clear that at some point in the future, dead people literally will be able to exist in physical bodies once again, here on earth. However, the resurrection bodies will be spiritual bodies that have physical capabilities, much like the way the resurrected Jesus was able to walk through walls and ascend and descend from heaven, but also to eat with his disciples and allow Thomas to touch his wounds. Basically, a resurrected person will have the capability to appear and participate in the physical universe in a way that suits that person's spiritual characteristics and degree of glory. I believe there will be a time in the future when redeemed (or advanced) souls in heaven will be able to come down to earth in "resurrection bodies" and live on earth among the physically living. This will be a new era in human history, and it can be understood as the "general resurrection of the dead" prophesied in the Jewish and Christian scriptural traditions. For people alive on earth when this happens, they will suddenly see all kinds of dead people appearing among them, in bodies similar to a physical body but with greater powers such as Jesus had after his resurrection (telepathy, instantaneous travel, movement between physical and spiritual dimensions, etc.). They will be in spiritual bodies that are specially enabled to fully interact with the physical world whenever necessary. The reason this will happen is that these advanced souls will be coming down to transform the civilization of earth to a higher level of spirual advancement. The veil between living and dead will finally be lifted, and this planet will pass into a new era of greater spiritual advancement long awaited by most religions. In Christian terms, the arrival of this new era would be the "end of the age" and a transition into the "millennial kingdom of God" promised by Jesus and the New Testament. The advanced souls who will come down in these resurrection bodies will be the people who were "saved" and "born again / born of the Spirit" during their life on earth, and they will reign with Christ over the civilization of planet earth, helping it develop according to God's will until all mankind has been saved and perfected. This is the "aionian salvation," the specially chosen people who will serve as kings and priests with Christ. These are the ones who will be coming back down to earth in resurrection bodies. I hope I will be among them, but I recognize that the standard is probably quite high. That's why even Apostle Paul said he was running a race, striving for the prize (1 Cor. 9:24-27). The prize was not to be saved from eternal hell, but to attain the high calling of aionian salvation and reign with Christ during the millennium. Paul wrote that God is "the savior of all men, especially those who believe." (1 Tim. 4:10). Those who attain the aionian salvation and reign in the millennial kingdom, during the first resurrection age, are the people who are especially saved. I, for one, believe this special salvation is much more about the spirit in which one lives, rather than the religious doctrines one affirms. Being a Christian believer is not so much about doctrines, but about trusting in God and following the way of Jesus. I believe there will be people from various churches and denominations, and from no church at all, who attain to the aionian salvation -- not because of their doctrines, but because of how they lived their lives in an exemplary way for the service of Christ. Everyone, however, will eventually be saved and perfected. And everyone does go to a spiritual realm of some sort immediately after death, whether it be some level of heaven or some kind of hellish realm for purging the soul of evil. I believe both the Bible and the evidence of near-death experiences support the idea that life after death before the physical resurrection is not total unconsciousness, but a restorative "sleep" or rest period filled with visionary experiences necessary for the growth and development of the spirit. I hope my comments will encourage you to reevaluate your belief that human beings are unconscious between physical death and resurrection. I know that many Christian Universalists believe in the literal soul-sleep view rather than the idea of continued conscious existence in a non-physical realm, but I think there is a lot of evidence supporting the belief that the soul continues after death in the intermediate state, rather than becoming totally unconscious until the general resurrection of the dead. Peace in Christ,
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Heavenly Father, please bless this ministry, lead multitudes to this website, and help them see the truth of Your love and forgiveness for all people through the power of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the whole world. Open their eyes to Your true nature, take away their fears, and fill their hearts with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. |