Is Death Really the End?

We have had a few deaths recently of people we know and some we don't know personally but follow on social media. So when I saw there was a documentary called After Death by Angel Studios, I decided to watch and was quite comforted. As I have been reading the Bible about death, I have come to realize that death is not as I imagined. It is not this final ending of a person, but merely a changing of the location for their spirit. From a physical body to a spiritual one, as it mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:44. In the documentary Dr Mary Neal who wrote To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story, recounts her death experience. The thing that stuck out to me was when she said she never felt alive and then dead. She felt alive and then MORE alive.

I now believe that death is not an ending at all, but a transition. A translation out of the earth mold we have here into our spiritual reality, which is the most freeing. No wonder the Bible speaks of no suffering and pain for those in Christ Jesus.

So then really death is a separation of the body and the soul. Reading Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of knowing good and evil, he will surely die. But as we read the account we don't see Adam physically die right after he eats the fruit. Instead there is first a seperation from God and the Tree of Life. Adam lived 930 years before he 'died' in the sense of his earthly body and spirit separating. And this separating is what the accounts in the documentary confirm. Once the people died, they left their bodies, but their spirit continued... whether they believed in Jesus or not. A persons spirit never ends.

It reminds me of the analogy that our deceased loved ones have only moved into the next room or even a coming home. Knowing this is a comfort. However, we of course miss our loved ones who have passed on and this is the testament to the love that connected us while they were here physically. There is much hope knowing we will see our loved ones again. I hold onto Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen", meaning that faith is not just about what can be physically perceived, but also about believing in things that are unseen and a future hope, in a life beyond this one. 

Believing that there is an afterlife doesn't only provide comfort for us as we mourn departed ones, but it also gives meaning to our life here and now. Without a belief in an afterlife, this life becomes meaningless - to exist just to exist is the most depressing belief of all. There would be no point in anything; trying to achieve anything, being a good person or leaving a legacy, if it all ended the day we died. And if belief in eternal life is choosing to trust that our lives continue is a gamble, I would prefer to throw the dice believing and live this life hopeful and find out I was wrong, than not believe in anything and find out I was wrong, because my experience of this life would be far more joyful having believed than not.

Ultimately, it doesn't come down to finding out whether we were right or wrong because the only way it is confirmed is through death. It is however about faith, choosing to believe with hope versus choosing to not believe and having no hope. And for me, choosing faith in Jesus and a life that continues beyond this life gives me hope, comfort and an anchor to hold onto in times of mourning.