Is there life after death? Many folks believe that there is, but what is the evidence? Has anyone ever returned "from the other side" to tell about it? Does reincarnation happen? Do people who die go to heaven? Whatever the answers to these questions, what are the implications for daily living?

For most folks, the life-after-death question is a matter of faith. The best-selling book of all time defines faith as "the substance of thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." If life after death can be proven, then faith is unnecessary. Most of the world's religions believe in some sort of life after death. These fall into four broad categories:

• Reincarnation. In its Hindu roots, reincarnation is the cycle of a person, after dying, returning as just about anything--cow, crow, or cockroach-- or as another person. The Western version has rewritten the concept into a kindler, gentler form, in which people only come back as people.
• Universalism. In the modern culture, many people assume they will go to heaven after they die.
• Divinity--being gods now or in the future.
• Judgment, resulting in heaven or hell as eternal dwelling place, as taught by Christianity.

Reincarnation

This is a mystical and mythical concept. If reincarnation were true, everyone alive today would have had many previous lives. Some claim to have memories and abilities carried over from one life to another. If that were the case, the 5,000,000,000-plus people in the world would abound with examples of this phenomenon, which they don't. The Western version of reincarnation has another intractible problem: If everyone is a reincarnated being, how is it that the world's population continues to grow? From what do all of the new people come?

Universalism

Under this theory, everyone goes to heaven after death. One of the evidences cited for universalism is the peaceful "near-death experience" that some describe. Most of these episodes involve a person whose heart stops for several minutes, then is restarted. Following recovery, the person usually describes having seen a tunnel with a light at the end. Old family and acquaintances appear and beckon, but the person is told that it is not his time yet, and he returns to the world of the living, sanguine about his "experience" and no longer fearing death. Unfortunately, nothing about these memories suggests that they are anything but physiologically induced.

Divinity

People have always wanted to be God, from the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the time of today's New Agers. To the extent that God is self-existent, omniscient, and omnipotent, when a person claims to be God it is merely a case of mistaken identity. People simply do not exhibit these divine characteristics.

Mormonism teaches that people can become gods after they die. This idea is a corruption of Biblical teaching, formulated by a Nineteenth Century "prophet" who, based on a claimed angelic visitation, founded a cult steeped in violence, racism, and oppression. Despite historical evidence which argues strongly against the authenticity of his stories, Mormonism retains millions of followers today. They have no evidence whatsoever to support their beliefs in people becoming gods.

Judgment

The thought of standing for judgment can be delightful or frightful, depending on the place toward which a person seems to be heading, because of the permanence associated with the outcome. What evidence supports this teaching, and can it stand up to objective investigation?

Jesus said that he came from heaven and would return to heaven. He said that those who believe in him and follow him would spend eternity in heaven, while those who don't will be tormented forever in hell. He also claimed to be God, and his followers claimed he lived a life of sinless perfection. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, either Jesus was a nut case or he was exactly who he said he was.

Suppose we asked a noted expert on evidence, a superior legal mind, a religious skeptic, acknowledged as one of the best the world has ever known, to investigate "the case of Jesus" from the standpoint of evidence, and to issue a ruling based on the evidence alone. What would he say?

His name was the late Simon Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, author of A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, still considered one of the best books on the subject of evidence. Challenged by his students, Dr. Greenleaf set out to expose the "hoax" of the Resurrection and debunk the "myth." After an exhaustive study, he recorded his conclusions in a book entitled An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice:

It was therefore impossible that [the apostles] could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.

Doctor Greenleaf became a Christian.

If Dr. Greenleaf's conclusion is accurate, then consider its implications:

• If Jesus rose from the dead, as he had promised his followers he would--clearly a supernatural feat--then that fact lends great credibility to his other claims.
• Among his other claims is the promise of a Judgment Day, with most people being sentenced to hell and only a few being admitted to heaven
• For individuals, the implications are staggering. The question of eternal destiny is in a class of its own, requiring immediate attention, and greatly superseding all other decisions. For each individual, life could end at any instant, and a decision not made is, in this case, a decision made with disastrous results. A friend of mine, 41 years of age, is in critical condition this week as a result of a sudden collapse due to a heart condition of which he was unaware. His family takes comfort in the fact that he is a Christian, and if he should not survive this physical struggle, they will soon see him in heaven.
• For more information, please see the page on Jesus.