Biblical & Theological Issues

by Craig Branch –

The topic of this issue of Areopagus Journal is “Life after Death.” You might be wondering what the apologetics dimension and application of this topic could be. Well, there are many. Some are direct and some are indirect. Some of the direct apologetics applications are responding to atheism, to pseudo-Christian cults and heretical or faulty theology within the Christian community, as well as to some false religions, and to proponents of the occult and some New Age beliefs.

One of the indirect applications is the importance of learning biblical hermeneutical principles (rules of proper interpretation) since many individuals and some groups listed above try to support their views with proof-texts from Scripture (cf. 2 Tim 2:15).  Another application is for us to gain a biblical and eternal perspective on the point of life in the present age. Almost everyone is concerned about death. It is inevitable and everyone must face it. And everyone except some atheists are concerned about what lies beyond death and the implications it has for life now. Even consistent agnostics say that they don’t know if humans have a soul but are open to significant evidence.

So is there evidence for life after death? This journal will address biblical, historical, philosophical, and scientific evidences that support the reality of life after death as well as refute false ideas about it.

It is common among atheists to deny the possibility of life after death because they have enthroned Darwinian naturalistic materialism as ultimate truth. They believe science proves there is no distinction between mind and body. The mind is simply the brain and its functions. Yet over the past fifty years, many scientists and prestigious academics have conducted research that shows that there is a distinction of mind and body, that humans possess an immaterial soul.

For example psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler Ross and Dr. Raymond Moody examined the testimonies of thousands of death and near- death subjects and arrived at the conclusion that “the published material will help many skeptics to re-evaluate their position, to raise questions rather than reject the new area of research in existence after physical death.” This growing group of scientists and academics began to question and challenge the entrenched view of man’s soul-less descent from apes. Dr. Henry Margenau, Professor of Physics and Natural Philosophy at Yale University observed,

This decline of materialism occurred first because various discoveries culminating in the demonstration of the Relativity Principle, made untenable the motion of a continuous material medium upon whose postulation materialism was dependent. [T]here has been a change in the old-style dogmatism that imbued the whole of physical science.

Much of the evidence evaluated by this group of scientists has to do with paranormal phenomena such as extra-sensory perception and near-death experiences. Some of it also involves memories formed when the brain was dysfunctional, people pronounced clinically dead but returned to life, with accompanying memories. Unfortunately, while many of the findings are interesting and helpful, many of these scientists tend to interpret these experiences with a new age, occultic, or agnostic framework.

Our first article, “What the Bible Says about Life after Death,” is contributed by Dr. John W. Cooper, Professor of Philosophical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. Cooper does an excellent job at presenting “the large majority position” of the Christian church from Scripture. This view, termed the “two-stage view of life after life,” is that at death the human soul or spirit is disembodied and dwells either in heaven or hell, awaiting the final judgment, then reunites with the resurrected body for eternity. One variant of the historical majority view is “soul-sleep,” held by Anabaptists and two pseudo-Christian cults, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists. Cooper also presents four other minority views.

All but one of those views still maintains a body-soul duality position but differ on the sequence of events to the final stage of existence. One non-traditional view rejects body-soul dualism claiming that it is not taught in Scripture and that “evolutionary biology and neuroscience have undermined the idea of a separable soul.” But that also gets back to the disparity of views held within those fields which I mentioned earlier. Cooper then precedes to present a fairly comprehensive exegetical case for the traditional two-stage view from Scripture. He argues effectively that “the New Testament authors adopt and build on the two-stage view” both in the Old and New Testaments. He concludes with the indisputable “proof” of the resurrection of Christ, the “first fruit” of the dead, which was a “corporeal, not spiritual resurrection.”

The second article, “A Philosophical and Historical Case for Life after Death” is written by Dr. Chad Meister, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Bethel College. He responds to the philosophical and logical arguments against mind-body dualism and then presents several arguments for dualism and discusses it implications for immortality. In addition, he presents evidence for immortality based on the nature of God and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

Dr. Gary Habermas, Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University, contributes our third article, “Near Death Experiences and World View Concerns: Addressing Difficult Questions.” Habermas is one of the foremost experts on the Resurrection of Christ, and he has also done extensive research on near-death experiences (NDEs) showing that many of them provide empirical evidence for life after death and that “naturalism is mistaken.” In this article, he examines the question of whether or not NDEs provide any support to particular religious worldviews. Many of those who experience NDEs report experiences that relate to specific religious viewpoints such as seeing Jesus or Buddha. Habermas argues that these particular aspects of NDEs have dubious evidential value, and that NDEs, while supporting life after death, cannot support any one religion over another.

The last article, “Are there Ghosts?” is by Dr. Ron Rhodes, president of the apologetics ministry, Reasoning from the Scriptures. Rhodes addresses the popular media psychics and paranormal “reality” television programs which promote ghost encounters.

Ghosts are believed to be real by 38% of Americans—over 100 million. Rhodes states that after many years of research and investigation in this area, he has come to the conclusion that alleged ghost experiences are due to many factors: exaggerated natural phenomena, impaired cognitive and perceptual abilities, predisposed “night fears,” and illusions, misinterpretation of data, the power of suggestion, intentional scams and frauds, and, in some cases, demonic activity. But, according to Scripture, the one thing they cannot be are the dead souls of human beings. Rhodes lays out the biblical basis for saying that dead souls or spirits are “not available for earthly visits.”

Two dimensions of death and the afterlife not covered by the contributors are purgatory and reincarnation. Purgatory is a Roman Catholic doctrine that teaches that the souls of those who are on the path towards qualifying for heavenly glory reside in a place where they suffer in order to expiate their sins. The scriptural support for this heretical doctrine comes from the Apocryphal book, 2 Maccabees. This doctrine undermines the gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ’s completed work.

Reincarnation is a foundational doctrine in Hinduism, Buddhism, and many New Age Cult groups. 27% of Americans say they believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation means that at death, the soul travels to another body (human or animal) and returns to live another life. One’s reincarnated state is based on the law of karma which is a law of retributive justice for good or bad deeds done in one’s life. So man “reaps what he sows” until the recycling process leads to Oneness with God (Nirvana, Brahman).

Because New Age beliefs state that ultimately all roads lead to God, they attempt to make the case for reincarnation’s compatibility with Christianity. They say that Jesus affirmed that John the Baptist is the reincarnated Elijah prophesied in the Old Testament (Matt 11:9- 15; 17:9-13). Of course, the Bible teaches that Elijah did not die but was taken bodily into heaven (2 Kings 2:9-18). Also, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration where Moses and Elijah appeared. He was still Elijah, not John the Baptist. When the New Testament talks about John the Baptist being Elijah, it is not saying that he was literally Elijah but was only serving the role or function of a prophet for the coming Messiah (Luke 1:13-17).

Another passage used by reincarnationists is Galatians 6:7-9 which states that whatever someone sows in the flesh he will reap corruption, and what is sown in the Spirit will reap eternal life. But again reincarnationists are taking the Scripture out of context to force it to fit their teaching. The passage merely warns the Galatians that immoral (and moral) conduct has consequences in this life and the next.

The Scripture plainly teaches, “It is appointed for men to die once and then comes the judgment” and “For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (Heb. 9:27; 2 Cor. 5:10). But thank God that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.10:21; cf. Eph. 2:8-9).

Craig Branch is the director of the Apologetics Resource Center, Birmingham, Alabama.

Notes

1 Order Areopagus Journal on “Biblical Interpretation” (Vol. 6, No. 1) to learn more about hermeneutics.

2 Stanislaw Grof and Joan Halifax, The Human Encounter with Death (New York: E.P. Dutton Pub., 1977), vii.

3 F.W.H. Meyers, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1961), 15.

(First published in the Areopagus Journal Vol. 11 No. 4 – Life After Death)