More and more stories are being reported of people having life after death experiences. This has lead me to do a comparison between today's stories and those found in the Bible.
I'm going to start by noting some characteristics of stories in the Bible where people have visions of heaven and/or hell and when people are raised from death. Then I'm going to compare these experiences with today's stories.
There are a number of passages in the Bible where we read of people coming back from the dead - these are found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In the Bible, when a person is raised from the dead either by one of the Old Testament prophets, Jesus or one of the apostles, the person who is restored to life does not speak of any after death experience at all. They do not speak of seeing the faithful departed, angels, heaven, hell or even God.
Today, some of the people who come back from death report having gone to heaven and/or hell. As well as reporting that they visited heaven and/or hell, they also tell of communication with spiritual beings (angels, Jesus, the departed faithful, demons...). There is not one instance in the Bible when those restored from death tell of an after death experience.
In the Bible, when a person has a vision of heaven or hell, they are alive at the time. Peter had a vision of animals being let down from heaven in a sheet, Paul was taken up to third heaven and John received the visions we have recorded in the book of Revelation.
Today's stories of about heaven and hell are often relayed by people who claim to have died first and then been taken to heaven or hell or both, before being returned to their bodies.
In the Bible, when Jesus tells a story of a man who went to hell, the man does not come back. Could be why Jesus had to tell the story!
I'm going to start by noting some characteristics of stories in the Bible where people have visions of heaven and/or hell and when people are raised from death. Then I'm going to compare these experiences with today's stories.
There are a number of passages in the Bible where we read of people coming back from the dead - these are found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
In the Bible, when a person is raised from the dead either by one of the Old Testament prophets, Jesus or one of the apostles, the person who is restored to life does not speak of any after death experience at all. They do not speak of seeing the faithful departed, angels, heaven, hell or even God.
Today, some of the people who come back from death report having gone to heaven and/or hell. As well as reporting that they visited heaven and/or hell, they also tell of communication with spiritual beings (angels, Jesus, the departed faithful, demons...). There is not one instance in the Bible when those restored from death tell of an after death experience.
In the Bible, when a person has a vision of heaven or hell, they are alive at the time. Peter had a vision of animals being let down from heaven in a sheet, Paul was taken up to third heaven and John received the visions we have recorded in the book of Revelation.
Today's stories of about heaven and hell are often relayed by people who claim to have died first and then been taken to heaven or hell or both, before being returned to their bodies.
In the Bible, when Jesus tells a story of a man who went to hell, the man does not come back. Could be why Jesus had to tell the story!
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