DO U BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?

by Mary 33 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mary

  Even though we were all raised with the firm doctrine that absolutely NOTHING happens to you after death, (except for those baptized before 1935 of course), does anyone here think that maybe something DOES happen after we die? I've seen some programs about people that have reported having Near Death Experiences. While this doesn't offer proof, I find it very strange that one individual, during her NDE, repeated a conversation she heard on an entirely different floor in the hospital while she was clinically dead. If this is simply a hallucination or the brain "breaking down", as some have said, then how on earth could you possibly hear something on a different floor?

  I know one brother about 7 years ago, told me (in private) that he had had an NDE after a bad car crash. He said he looked down and saw his body in the car, he saw the ambulance coming, and even described what they were wearing. Naturally, he never ever told the elders, for fear he'd be DF'd for being "possessed by Satan", but it always stuck with me.

  There also seems to be some scriptures that would support the notion that that something happens at death, most notably 2 Corinthians chapter 15 where one vs. says "if there is a physical body, there is a spiritual body". Then of course, we have the promise Jesus gave to the evildoer, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the raising of Samuel through the witch of Endor, the stoning of Stephen and many many other examples.

  What do you think happens at death?
• 

  JanH

  Considering what we know about our mind being the result of electrical and chemical processes in the physical brain, I cannot possibly believe that our conscious self can survive the death of the body.

  - Jan
• 

  Dizzy Cat

  I believe most things are possible, even the seemingly impossible, but in this area - I am unsure. I would love to believe, but I currently think we whither and die like a flower. Crumble into dust, back to the ground, forming soil. Forgotten and lost.

  sniff .... sob
• 

  scootergirl

  I am not sure........so I guess I am just gonna let the mystery be, be a good girl and hope that if there is that I will be rewarded.
• 

  metatron

  Years ago, my attitude was strictly materialistic.

  Now, I'm not so sure. Not all 'afterlife' experiences are hoaxes
  or simple hallucinations. Until all functions of the mind are
  completely reduced to simple causes, the alternative still exists
  that the brain may be more like a television set in 'receiving'
  programs and functions - rather than originating them.

  On the other hand, I'd like to hear about more proof of 'bandwidth'
  in near death experiences. Did the person SEE, HEAR, SMELL and
  FEEL during this state? The reality of an experience can logically
  be distinguished from simple hallucinations by examining the breadth
  of functions the experience generated. Seeing a ghost is not difficult
  but seeing, hearing and shaking hands with a ghost is another
  matter. (also experiences exist of a ghost being reacted to
  in panic by a human and a nearby animal simultaneously)

  I think there is a logical case to be made for reincarnation
  as a basic phenomena of nature but that isn't exactly conscious
  survival. Read the book Old Souls describing the life work of
  an academic named Stevenson on this.

  metatron
• 

  Double Edge

  I have no doubts that one continues on after this mortal body fails. After my father passed, my mother had two experiences re: my father, which she told the family years after they happened (it was very personal for her). Having said that, this board isn't the greatest for revealing personal 'spiritual' experiences....if one opens up regarding these things there's a tendency for mild bashing and then you feel 'stupid' for opening up. If you're interested in what people have said in the past, go up to the top left corner of this page and you'll see a heading titled 'search'. Click that on and type in - death experiences - , or something similar. It will give you several threads regarding this topic.
• 

  Lost Diamond

  I'm not too sure what do believe either. I would like to believe there is more after death. I have never liked the idea that we simply cease to exist, so part of me clings on to the idea....what if.

  You know the feeling you get when someone is watching, and you turn and nobody is there? I've wondered if that is connected to the phenomenon of a being's energy or presence.

  I guess I would like to believe that perhaps there is "something" that is rooting for us and cheering us on, trying to steer us in the right path so we don't fall so hard.

  This may sound a little "whoo-whoo" to some, but I'll admit the thought does cross my mind.
• 

  Mindchild

  I believe in life after death but not in your typical religious sense. For example, it is common to use cryogenics to deep freeze human cells, embryos, and soon entire organs and later revive them. Brain cells have been deeply frozen in liquid nitrogen and months later brought back to life and they were better than new in terms of their health and activity.

  The only real problem in freezing larger organisms (the science of cryonics) is that cellular damage results from water inside the cells freezing and rupturing the cell membrane (killing the cell). They typically use antifreeze solutions now to protect small sized organisms and they can keep them in suspended animation or death for considerable periods of time, years in fact, and then bring them back to life. There is now experimentation going on with new technologies that address the cellular damage done by water in the cells and perhaps in a few years we will have a viable option of being frozen to be ressurected again by people in the future.

  No God needed. No religion needed. Just technology and people. Eventually, we should be able to remain dead for thousands of years and perhaps travel to distant solar systems to be revived and start our lives over again. It might sound like science fiction but it has a lot more fact going for it than religion.

  Kind Regards,

  Skipper

  Edited by - mindchild on 16 August 2002 16:48:7
• 

  ThiChi

  YES! (I hope...)
• 

  Mulan

  Yes...........I believe it.

  As to the floating above the bed experiences, I've had one. When I was giving birth to my second child, I floated off like that...........I assumed it was the drugs, an inhaled gas. But I was floating over the table and saw everything, very vividly. I described things later to those who were there, (Mom, my aunt, my husband, etc.) and they said I was out, on the gas, so couldn't have seen those things. But I did.