For Impact Magazine
Deadline 21st July 2000
The AFTERLIFE
Revd. Dr. Soh Guan Chin
Interest in the Afterlife
Death is a reality we face in this life. Indeed it is the greatest finality for it is the end of life as we know it as flesh and blood human beings. It is an event in a person’s life that spells the end of life on earth and always affect those around them deeply; whether family, friends or colleagues. The reality of our mortality is therefore a subject of constant concern and interest.
The very impact of our mortality raises the question of the possibility of eternity, of life after death. It stirs our inquiry into who we are, into asking the question, “What is man?” In particular, do we somehow live after death? This is an issue that has been raised since the dawn of human civilisation and has persisted ever since because it is ever present with us as long as there are human beings and human civilisations.
Death and the possibility of life after death, of an afterlife, is a matter of continuous religious and philosophical enquiry. In this modern day and age, popular and philosophical views are influenced by Existentialism, a philosophical school of thought that emphasises the importance of understanding life on the basis of our finiteness and mortality. In this vein, death is nihilistic. To die is to come to an absolute end without any further existence and thus disappear from this world and from existence. Life is to be understood in terms of what it means in the face of the certainty of our always impending departure from existence. However, in this view, there is no afterlife. We are what we are when we live, while we are alive. Once we die there is no future and there is no further consequence. This is in fact a very different view from the major ancient religions which have plenty of adherents today. These religions have each its own particular view of what each human being is. Yet, in spite of such differences, there is a common factor that there is some form of existence after death and such an afterlife means that the human being in some sense persists in existence, albeit in a different form, after death. It is even possible for that person to come back to life on earth in some form as a different person or as a different being or entity. For our purpose, we want to focus specifically on the biblical view of this matter.
The Biblical View of the Afterlife
The Bible leaves us in no doubt that there is an afterlife. This comes across in a number of ways. In the Book of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible and the book that begins with God creating the world and mankind, man is given the unique status of being the only creature that is made with God’s breath in it (Genesis 2:7). This already implies that man shares something of God’s eternity. Man was warned against eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he will surely die (Genesis 2:17). When he did eat of it he was expelled from God’s presence and fellowship and from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Yet he did not immediately die physically. Therefore the idea of death in the Bible is not primarily physical cessation of biological life but the lost of true being and true life, which is life and being in fellowship with God. Physical death is but one consequence of this spiritual death and not considered the most significant factor. The loss of life and being as God meant man to have is the central issue. When, in the same book, Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:1-12), God confronted Cain with the statement that his brother’s blood cried out from the ground to Him. This again implies that there is life after death. In fact it suggests that Abel persists as a person with his own identity even after death and requires avenging for being murdered.
The Bible, in the Old Testament, clearly specifies that there is a place for the soul (or spirit) of the departed called Sheol, for which there are about 30 references (for example Psalm 86:13). A typical belief is that the body returns to the ground but the spirit returns to God at death (Ecclesiastes 12:7). It is the pervasive and normative view of death in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, “Hades” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Sheol” for which there about 10 references (for example Matthew 11:23). Therefore this view is true of both Testaments and held by Jesus Himself without modification. Yet Jesus did add to this concept of the dead the related ideas of Paradise and Gehenna. To the thief who was crucified beside Him at the cross, He said to him that he will be in Paradise with Him because of his confession of faith in Him (Luke 23:43). In His warning against being judgmental, He taught that those who hate their brother in the faith are in danger of Gehenna (Matthew 5:22). This is the place of fiery burning for punishment of sin. It would seem that Paradise may be a part of Sheol reserved for those who believe in Him. Gehenna (about 12 references) is the place of torment after the Final Judgement for all who reject Him. However, understanding what Sheol means is the principal issue here. It is the teaching of the Bible that very clearly identifies a place where the physically dead go to. This ascertains that the person survives in a spirit form, with his or her identity intact, after physical death. The difficulty in this matter for us who read English Bibles is that all three words are usually translated as “hell”, thereby losing the important distinctions between them.
The Resurrection and the Afterlife
What is often less noticed is that the Bible’s teaching on the Resurrection has very major implications for life after death. In I Corinthians 15:12-58 it is taught that the dead will come back to life with a newly given physical body that is unique to each. In Hebrew 9:27 it is specified that it is appointed to each once to die but after which comes judgement. In Revelation 20 to 21:8 it is clearly stated that all will come back to life in the Resurrection to face the Final Judgement where all who are saved enter into eternal life in the New Heaven and New Earth while all who are guilty will enter into the Lake of Fire for eternal punishment, or eternal death. This means that, quite unlike the nihilistic idea of death where one exits from existence and therefore will bear no consequence after this life, the Bible teaches that the consequences of one’s life determines the eternal outcome for each far beyond death into eternity. Indeed no one can never escape the consequences of one’s life on earth and the choices and actions one makes in the here and now. We will each and everyone reap the corresponding result. Therefore, not only is there an afterlife, we will be resurrected back with a physical body at a predetermined time by God, and then face the final and eternal outcome as a body and soul human being into eternity. If we put this together with the earlier teaching about Sheol, it suggests that there is a waiting period between one’s physical death, when one’s spirit or soul goes to stay in Sheol, until one is resurrected again as a fully embodied human being.
Communicating with the Dead?
The fact that there is a period of existence between death and resurrection raises the question of whether it is possible to communicate with those who have died. We will touch on this briefly as our final note.
The simple answer from the Bible is that it is possible but forbidden. Deuteronomy 18:11 lists consulting with the dead as one of the reasons why God was destroying the Canaanites and giving the land to Israel. Yet it is also a recognition that such a practice is possible. In place of such practices God put in place His prophets (Deuteronomy 18:14-22) to speak to Israel. A true prophet is a person called by God Himself to receive God’s message, not the prophet’s own message, to speak to His people. The clear implication is that God does not want us to find guidance by any consultation with the dead, or by any form of occultism or divination or spiritism, but by direct relationship with Him.
An incident of note is 1 Samuel 28:3-20 when King Saul asked a medium to raise up for him the soul of the prophet Samuel who had died to give him a message. This is an isolated incident where God permitted it. But it was permitted on the basis that Samuel return to pronounce God’s judgement on Saul. This would imply that anyone who consults the dead incurs God’s judgement.
Some might complain that it is then not possible to sort out what misunderstanding or problem one may have with those who have died. The answer to this is that we are required to sort such matters with people who matter to us while they are alive. There is no room and no excuse to let them die and then try to find a way to resolve matters with them. If one has unresolved issues with those who have died one can only sort it out with oneself and with God and find His answer.