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Near death experience thesis
Introduction to near death experiences
Near death experience thesis
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Reality of the Afterlife “Our sense of self, our sense of humor, our ability to think ahead — gone within the first 10 to 20 seconds” (Shaw, 2017). The afterlife has been questioned so much, especially throughout the thoughts of religion. “Theories abound from logical to irrational, yet there is no concrete evidence about the afterlife.” (Shaw, 2017). The idea of their being an afterlife maybe hard to grasp because it is based on having faith. Due to this, hoping there is a heavenly estate after death is not wrong but there is no significant evidence to supports this idea. Therefore, what waits after death maybe neither heaven nor hell due to the varies influential factors that can contribute to the idea of the afterlife. In the Thoughtco, an article …show more content…
Accessed 9 Sept. 2017. ryanandevanpickles.weebly.com/religion-and-beliefs.html. “Where Are the Dead? What Happens When You Die? | Bible Teach.” JW.ORG, Accessed 5 Sept. 2017. www.jw.org/en/publications/books/bible-teach/where-are-the-dead/ Ashraf. “Apple Maps causes Steve Jobs to be lost in the afterlife.” Dottech, Dottech, 22 Dec. 2012. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017 https://dottech.org/90930/apple-maps-causes-steve-jobs-to-be-lost-in-the-afterlife-comic/ Cuskelly, Claudia. “PROOF of afterlife? Doctors unlock MYSTERY of the tunnel of light you see when you die.” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 26 Mar. 2017. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/784095/afterlife-near-death-experience-brain. Taylor, John H. Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. 2006, Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=f4eRywSWJzAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=afterlife+in+ancient+egypt&ots=97B9VzjwOh&sig=MJvC8BT-1PfK0La6pg3D8D_PbP4#v=onepage&q=afterlife%20in%20ancient%20egypt&f=false Wagner, Stephen. “Descriptions of the Afterlife from Those Who Returned.” ThoughtCo. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
Many religions and philosophies attempt to answer the question, what happens after a person dies? Some religions, such as Christianity and Islam, believe there is an afterlife. They believe that good and moral people enter Heaven or Paradise and that bad and immoral people go to Hell. Other religions and cultures believe that death is final, and that nothing happens after a person dies. Buddhism and Hinduism have different ideas about death.
In this paper I will use Death’s Door as one way to answer the question, should we have hope for an afterlife after death in this world? I will discuss how the artwork supports the idea of life after death in a positive way. I will then look at some potential problems with this view of life after death. Finally, I will look at whether this illustration supports the idea of life after death and is well supported or the arguments against it are better to be believed.
There is no greater unknown in this world than what happens after a person dies. Throughout our lives we are told that there is a world to come, olam haba, which consists of Gan Eden and Gehenom. Olam Haba is greater than any reward in the physical world, and Gehenom is worse than any pain in the physical world. No human has been able to come back from the dead and confirm this for mankind, but we do have strong evidence that supports the idea that there is an after-life filled with reward and punishment. The books of Judaism are largely focused on being a good Jew in this life, and scarcely on the afterlife. Since the Torah does not focus a great deal on the afterlife, we have a limited source of knowledge on the topic. The answers to the question for what happens after we die are mainly derived from pesukim throughout Tanach.
Lindsay, D. (2007). OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE: THE DEFINITIVE AFTERLIFE RESEARCH TOOL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. Journal Of Spirituality & Paranormal Studies, 30109-119.
There are multiple views on death and the afterlife and each view is different depending on the religion or belief that someone practices. Some religions believe in a heaven but not a hell, some believe in both and others do not believe in either. The religions that are practiced today were created by our ancient ancestors who had the ability to think beyond themselves. Practicing a religion and having an idea of death and an afterlife back in ancient times laid a foundation on how religion is seen and practiced today. Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Hindu’s created the concept of death and life after death through what they believed and practiced in ancient times.
The grandeur with which Egyptians regarded their funerary customs does not come without explanation. They delighted in tying the occurrences of the natural world with supernatural dogma, and their burial practices exemplified this deluge of religion. A special deity was even attributed to cemeteries and embalmers: Anubis (Fiero, 46). Due to this deep sense of religion, a fixation with the afterlife developed within their culture. The Egyptian afterlife, however, is not synonymous of heave, but, rather, of The Field of Reeds, a continuation of one’s life in Egypt meant “to secure and perpetuate in the afterlife the ‘good life’ enjoyed on earth” (Mark 1; “Life in Ancient Egypt” 1). The pursuit of this sacred rest-place prompted the arousal of intricate Egyptian funeral rituals.
“You will be with me today in paradise,” Jesus Christ told this to the thief on the cross while they were dying. However, can people believe that there is truly life after death? In many different religions there are different perceptions of life after death. For example in the Buddhist religion, the Buddhist people believe that life is practice for death. Professor Brown, of California State University of Northridge stated, “The Buddhist people cultivate positive, happy virtuous states of mind and abandoning non-virtuous, harmful, suffering states of mind.” This teaching is mirrored by Christianity teachings as well. Professor Brown also stated, “Death is an opportunity for great spiritual achievement if one is prepared and remembers one’s spiritual practices and beliefs and understandings during the death process.”
These ideals have influenced our culture though our use of language and thought. The implications are apparent in the common references to one’s past lives. For instance, if someone has a natural talent for music one may refer to the person as being once a talented musician in a past life. A religion which describes death as a continuation of existance is held by the Crow tribe of middle America. They viewed death as a journey with the final destination as a place where all their anscestors have gone before them.
Life after death is a topic of controversy in which Bertrand Russell and John Hick discuss the idea of whether it is possible to have life after death. Russell addresses his argument against the idea through his brief essay titled “The Illusion of Immortality” (1957). In addition, Hick also discusses the topic through his work “In Defense of Life after Death” (1983) of why life after death is a plausible idea. In this paper, I will be discussing Russell’s argument against the belief of life after death. As well, I will also be addressing the opposing view by explaining Hick’s argument in defense of life after death.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a term coined in the nineteenth century CE for a body of texts known to the Ancient Egyptians as the Spells for Going Forth by Day. After the Book of the Dead was first translated by Egyptologists, it gained a place in the popular imagination as the Bible of the Ancient Egyptians. The comparison is very inappropriate. The Book of the Dead was not the central holy book of Egyptian religion. It was just one of a series of manuals composed to assist the spirits of the elite dead to achieve and maintain a full afterlife (26).
Afterlife can also be referred to as life after death and how the afterlife is described in Jainism, Taoism and Judaism. Afterlife is an important issue in most every religion because it defines their beliefs that the world is comprised of essentially two substances: soul and matter. Soul is life which makes it eternal and valuable; on the other hand, matter is lifeless, material and evil (Lewis M. Hopfe). Many religions believe that their life will continue after death in the form of punishment due to their good or bad karma. It is an interesting topic to learn about as every religion has their different beliefs and values for afterlife.
Christian sects may see death and what follows a little differently however; the “majority” agree that proof of heaven, as a real place, can be found in the bible. The bible teaches that another life awaits Christians, when their time here on earth comes to an end. During the next life, they will dwell in the “presence of God” and other followers of Jesus. In the next life they will be liberated from sin and thereby released from their agony. (ReligionFacts.com). “Heaven is not a figment of divine imagination, some mystical floating, the ethereal, never-never land” (Stowell, (1995) p.87).
Dr. Moody reports, “Almost every person has expressed to me the thought that he is no longer afraid of death” (Moody Jr, MD, 2015, p. 90). Dr. Moody draws parallels between scripture, the philosopher Plato, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Emanuel Swedenborg. Scripture teaches us of Christ speaking to Paul and what body the dead will have. Christ
What is going to happen to us when we will die? Some people never considered what it could happen to them after life. For many people, death is a redoubtable event because they do not know what to expect after their death. However, other persons, such as religious people are conscious of what to expect after their death because of their beliefs. Each religion has different ideas and different ways of looking life. Death, therefore, is viewed by different religions in many ways. Although, different religions have a distinct conception of death, they all have something in common: they all give hope to people. Among all different religions in the world, four of the most common ones - Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu- view death in different ways.
Heaven and Hell, two contradictory destinations of the afterlife, where the first is filled with everlasting rewards and joy, while the latter encompasses eternal doom and torment. A person’s actions and behavior on Earth determine the fate of their soul’s destination after death, meaning that one must live a just and righteous life in order to enter Heaven. On the contrary, living a worthless life full of sin and wrongdoing will result in going to Hell as punishment. However, different worldly religions have differing views and interpretations of life after death, and no one can be sure of what to expect. These religious notions of the afterlife have become so engrained into the society and culture of the world, with expressions like “I feel like I have died and gone to Heaven” included in everyday dialogue.