CHAPTER SIX; Where Are the Dead?

What happens to us when we die?

Why do we die?

Would it be comforting to know the truth about death?


THESE are questions that people have thought about for thousands of years.  They are important questions. No matter who we are or where we live, the answers concern each one of us.

In the preceding chapter, we discussed how the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ opened the way  to everlasting life.  We also learned that the Bible foretells a time when  "death will be no more."  (Revelation 21:4)  Meanwhile, we all die.  "The living are conscious that they will die," said wise King Solomon.  (Ecclesiastes 9:5)  We try to live as long as possible. Still, we wonder what will happen to us when we die.

When our loved ones die, we mourn. And we may ask:  'What has happened to them?  Are they suffering? Are they watching over us? Can we help them? Will we ever see them again?'  The world's religions offer differing answers to these questions. Some teach that if you live a good life, you will go to heaven but if you live a bad life, you burn in a place of torment. Other religions teach that at death, people pass on to the spirit realm to be with  their ancestors. Still other religions teach that the dead go to an underworld to be judged and war then reincarnated, or reborn in another body.  

Such religious teachings all share one basic idea-that some part of us survives the death of the physical body.  According to almost every religion, past and present, we somehow live on forever with the ability to see, hear, and think. Yet, how can that be?  Our senses, along with out thoughts are all linked to the workings of our brain. At death, the brain stops working. Our memories, feelings, and senses do not continue to function independently in some mysterious way. They do not survive the destruction of our brain.  

Next time: Where Are the Dead?/WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT DEATH?

From the book: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH?