What you should know, but didn't know to ask...

Is There Life After Death?

Life After Death

Defining Our Mortality

The question is perplexing and the answer elusive. In an effort to better understand whether there is life after death, we can only compile research, analyze personal accounts of those who believe they’ve witnessed evidence of an afterlife and turn to the teachings of religion.

Is there life after death? How do you know if the brain is completely dead; just because the physician said so, under the minimal legal, medical requirements and the universally accepted standards?

What Does the Research Say? 

The mystery of the human consciousness and its link to the potential of an afterlife remains a new area of study for philosophers, theologians and medical professionals. Is there more after death? How? Where?

In 2015, a 15-year-old Israeli boy was pounced clinically dead for 15 minutes. When we awoke he was familiar with religious passage he had never studied and had a message to share with the world. Watch the chilling testimony in the original version.

It is occurrences like these that make people from around the world, celebrating many religions wonder about the possibilities that we cannot see. Are consciousness and the brain the same thing or are they different?  Does consciousness depend on the brain or is it independent of the brain? Bob Davis, Ph.D. hints of immortality in this article, explaining consciousness and its relation to quantum physics.

Some professionals believe that the “white light,” which many people who have almost died claim they’ve seen, is a side effect of the brain shutting down. (Learn more about brain death.) For those who claim their life “flashed before their eyes,” psychologists suggest that these are suppressed memories that flood in when the brain is deprived of certain chemicals. These memory flashes work similarly to dreams.

In 2014, researchers at the University of Southampton completed a study of 2,000 people who suffered from cardiac arrest. The study was the first of its kind to prove, by means of scientific research that “awareness” may exist after the brain has shut down.

In the study, 40 percent of the people who survived reported “awareness” after they physically died. One 57-year-old man reported watching himself from the corner of the room. He was pronounced dead for three minutes before being resuscitated.

If brain death is declared, and The Uniform Determination of Death Act has not been strictly followed, the patient’s life rights have been violated. This view was supported in the 2009 Presidential Council on Bioethics (PBCE). The PBCE stated:

“We cannot know with certainty that patients with total brain failure are dead or alive and as a result, such patients should be regarded as living until their heart stops.”

Firsthand Accounts of an Afterlife 

The internet has facilitated sharing stories of those who have had a near-death experience and lived to explain what they saw or felt during the ordeal, which may or may not help to prove the existence of an afterlife. 

Famous criminal and gangster Al Capone, had hundreds of people killed and murdered, dozens of others by his own hand, yet he sought God at the end of his life.  He had a prayer written on his tomb stone that read, “My Jesus, Mercy.” 

Anita Moorjani had a near-death experience during her fight with lymphoma in 2002. She recalls floating above her body and having a conversation with her late father, who told her it wasn’t time to die.

In 2012, Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, awoke from a seven-day coma feeling he had experienced being in a different dimension, “a place with clouds.” He was told a message in three parts: (1) “You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever.” (2) “You have nothing to fear.” and (3) “There is nothing you can do wrong.”

Amanda Cable saw a gate and her young daughter during emergency surgery to correct an ectopic pregnancy. She states that her daughter slammed the gate shut just as her heart was shocked back to life.

What Does Religion Say? 

The most popular religions of the modern world believe in some form of the afterlife:

  • Hinduism – Hindus believe in the rebirth of the soul. The soul is imperishable. Death is therefore not an end of all, but a resting period to recuperate. Unless the soul is liberated, neither life nor after life are permanent.
  • Islam – The Islamic tradition tells us that Allah will judge the spirit upon death. Death in Islam is the complete end of the physical life and the beginning of the rest period until the day of resurrection.
  • Judaism– Judaism centers more on life on earth rather than the afterlife. Jews believe that death is not the end of human existence. There is clear evidence in the Torah of belief in existence after death.
  • Buddhism – Buddhists believe that after death, the spirit travels through a three-stage process lasting 49 days. After the process, the person is either reborn or enters nirvana, a state of nothingness. 
  • Christianity – Christian belief connects conduct in current life with the life granted after death. The soul of man will never enter into a state of non-existence nor unconsciousness.

Each person will find that his or her belief regarding the existence of an afterlife varies based on personal experience, family influence and religion. Document your decisions and make it public that you want to sustain life and not end it so quickly.

If needed, Life Guardian has a medical card to protect and preserve life. 

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