LIFE AFTER DEATH
One of the most underrated, yet remarkable researches that has been done in recent years is the work of Raymond Moody, who over fifty years analyzed the phenomenon of the after-life by studying the shared experiences of those who have gone through a near death experience. This refers to those who were thought to be clinically dead or close, yet somehow came back to life and recounted an experience of a different reality. Moody summarizes some of the common phenomena described by this unusual cohort, and let us see if there are Biblical parallels, that can help the vast majority of us who do not go through this experience to have a better handle of life.
Moody describes that after death, they enter a state of existence that transcends the spatial-temporal realm that limits us during our physical existence here on earth. They possess a ‘spiritual body’ different from the one we have now, yet retain their personality. They have also encountered the spiritual bodies of beloved ones who died previously. The transfiguration experience that the disciples of Jesus went through is remarkably similar.
As he (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. (Luke 9:29,30)
Jesus being God, was able to transition into this spiritual body at will before his death and the disciples identified the two spiritual men conversing with Jesus as Elijah and Moses, who were long dead, yet alive in the spiritual world and also recognizable as these men, because their personalities came through despite their bodies being spiritual. Reading through the life of Jesus in the gospels, it is hard to miss how seamlessly he recognized and operated in the spiritual world, somehow not being bound by the shackles of physicality. He routinely performed miracles likely multiplying food, walking on water, healing diseases etc. that overcame the physical limitations of our life here on earth. He also understood the unspoken about people before him and those remote like the centurion’s daughter who he healed without even seeing her.
Moody goes on to say that common to those returning after a near death experience is that they no longer passionately chase what they were doing before. The encounter with the Supreme Being in the spiritual realm, who is the perfect manifestation of love, induces them to center their lives around the ultimate reality of love.
Is it not remarkable that Jesus’ during his time here on earth, he chose to center his message not on power, conquest and judgment (not that he could not have done so), but rather on love? The two greatest commandments, Jesus said, were to love God with all your soul and to love your fellow men as yourself. In fact, when he gave up his physical life and embraced death as a substitution to pay the price for our sins, it was the message of love being enacted through the life of Christ. Nothing trumps love, because God by definition is love.
It is hardly natural to have a near death experience, but the picture of a spiritual world painted by those who have, is eerily similar to the spiritual reality described in the Bible.
