Page 144 - Apologetics Student Textbook (3 Credits)

Study Section 20: Life After Death

20.1 Connect

In 1990, a woman named Theresa had a profound experience shortly after she supposedly
died of poisoning. Upon death, she entered a tunnel in which she was surrounded by a
“bluish-white light.” She then saw her aunt and Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers.
She said it was the most wonderful, loving, peaceful thing she had ever experienced. In the
next instant, she saw Jesus Christ reaching down to her and he picked her up. Jesus had a talk with her
for a while and told her he loved her. Finally Jesus set her down and she woke up. She was alive.

Another woman named Sandi temporarily died of a heart attack.
Her heart stopped for 12 minutes and she had no brain activity.
During that time, she claims to have experienced evil all around
her. She said she started fading away into an abyss of darkness.
She tried to scream but couldn’t. Something or someone was
pushing her and telling her to go with it. She says to this day
that the evil terrified her so much that she can’t bear to think
about it.

There are hundreds of such cases where people have died for a short time, then were revived to come
back and tell about it. Of course, the scientific community explains all these testimonies away as the
brain scanning itself as a survival technique. So the questions that are often asked, “Is there life after
death?” “Do I really have a soul that continues on after my body dies?” The apologist must have an
answer to these questions.

17.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain that there is life after death and the souls of men are
eternal.

2. The student should be able to describe Heaven and how Nirvana is not the same place.

3. The student should be able to explain how reincarnation is not true according to the Scriptures.

4. The student should be able to explain how a person can become one with God through Jesus Christ.

20.3 Life After Death

Is there some kind of life after someone dies?

The existence of life after death is a universal question. Job speaks for all of us by stating,
“Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and
withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure....If a man dies, will he live again?”
(Job 14:1-2, 14). Like Job, all of us have been challenged by this question. Exactly what happens to us
after we die? Do we simply cease to exist? Is life a revolving door of departing and returning to earth in

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