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Life After Death—A Sure Hope

SOME persons place their hopes in medical science to restore the dead to life. They may ask: Since people who have collapsed in a snowbank, or drowned in a frozen river, have been revived after being “dead” for hours, couldn’t a person be revived even many years after being frozen? Findings of a new study, called cryobiology, have caused some to be optimistic.

Cryobiology is the study of the effects of extremely low temperature on cells or organisms. For example, a cat’s brain reportedly was frozen for six months at −3° F (−19° C) and registered normal brain activity three hours after it was thawed out. And, commonly now, human skin, corneas, nerve tissue and bones are frozen for possible use at a future date. Hoping for cures of diseases and aging to be discovered in the future, some are preparing now to benefit then. How?

They are having their bodies frozen at death in hopes that they can be brought back to life when a cure for the disease that caused their death has been developed. The practice is called cryonics. Dozens of persons are already in deepfreeze. In the San Francisco Bay area of California alone at least 45 more are signed up to be frozen.

The body of the person to be frozen is attached to a heart and lung resuscitation machine before the onset of complete biological death. This keeps oxygen circulating in the blood. The body is then gradually cooled, and the blood is replaced with an antifreeze solution. Then the body is put in a cryogenic storage capsule filled with liquid nitrogen, and is brought down to an extremely cold −320° F (−196° C). The process is expensive, and so is the cost of maintenance. But many are willing to bear this cost in hopes that, as medical science learns the answers to disease and aging, the person can be revived and kept alive indefinitely.

Yet how solid is this hope of returning to life? Since man is incapable now of reviving the frozen dead, what sound reason is there for believing that it will be possible later?

In actuality, whether frozen or not, the dead can be raised. It has happened before, and there were hundreds of eyewitnesses.

Reason for Confidence

According to the Bible, the man Jesus Christ was put to death by religious opposers. However, on the third day afterward he was resurrected. On the first day of his being raised, the Bible reveals, he appeared on five different occasions to some of his disciples. (Matt. 28:1-15; John 20:11-25; Luke 24:13-43) Then, during the days that followed, he showed himself to them several more times, once to upward of 500 disciples! (John 20:26-29; 21:1-19; 1 Cor. 15:3-7) With what effect?

When Jesus was killed his disciples were downhearted, in mourning. But, on receiving this absolute proof that he had been resurrected, they were lifted to heights of extreme joy and were filled with courage to preach this marvelous news. They boldly declared it despite the murderous persecution of religious opposers. (Acts 4:1-3, 33; 17:18) Now consider: If the resurrection of Jesus had not really occurred, would hundreds of people have risked their lives—some even being martyred—to proclaim this message?—Acts 7:55-59.

Yet these early disciples of Christ had even more evidence that the dead could be returned to life.

Other Resurrections

In the Scriptures then available to them, three instances are recorded of the dead being brought back to life. (1 Ki. 17:17-23; 2 Ki. 4:17-37; 13:20, 21) The disciples had every reason to believe these accounts, for Jesus Christ repeatedly emphasized the truthfulness of the Scriptures. And Christ himself told his followers: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) Some of his followers had actually been eyewitnesses of three resurrections performed by Jesus, which gave force and credence to his above promise.—Luke 7:11-17; 8:49-56; John 11:1-44.

The last of these resurrections that Jesus performed occurred shortly before his own death. Jesus had been ministering across the Jordan River in Perea. While there, word reached him that back in Judea his dear friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was sick. Two days after receiving the news, he told his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The Bible account says:

“When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. Bethany [the hometown of Lazarus] was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother’s death. . . .

“Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died!’

“Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. ‘Where have you buried him?’ he asked them. . . .

“Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. ‘Take the stone away!’ Jesus ordered.

“Martha, the dead man’s sister, answered, ‘There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!’

“Jesus said to her, ‘Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?’ They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, ‘I thank you, Father, that you listen to me. I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.’ After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. ‘Untie him,’ Jesus told them, ‘and let him go.’”—John 11:7-44, “Today’s English Version.”

We indeed have every reason for confidence that the dead can be raised! For surely the One who originally started off human life—the One to whom Jesus appealed in prayer—is also wise and powerful enough to resurrect the dead. And bodies need not be kept in a state of frozen preservation. God can restore to life a person whose body was putrefying, as he did with Lazarus, or, if one’s body has completely disintegrated, he can re-create an entirely new one and restore life to the person.

But consider: What was Lazarus’ condition for the four days that he was dead and in the tomb? Others of dead mankind are in that same condition. So we can learn from Lazarus’ experience.

A Conscious Existence or Not?

The Bible says nothing of Lazarus’ experiencing conscious existence elsewhere during those four days. If he had been alive in heaven, surely he would have said something concerning the many marvelous heavenly things about which humans are interested to know. Yet he was completely silent on the matter. Then, too, if he really had been enjoying heavenly life, would it not have been an unkind thing for his friend Jesus suddenly to take him from there, and bring him back to life on earth again?

The reason why Lazarus reported nothing about his activities during those four days is that he did not know anything. He was unconscious. No part of him had survived and was living elsewhere. He was in Sheol, mankind’s common grave, where “there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom.” He was really dead, as the Bible explains: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.”—Eccl. 9:5, 10.

How simple and clear the Bible teaching is! A person himself is a soul, so when he dies he is a “dead soul.” (Num. 6:6) He is no longer alive; he is unconscious. But Almighty God can resurrect that person, yes, bring him back to life. The churches of Christendom have created great confusion by adopting the pagan immortality-of-the-soul teaching. Pointing up this confusion, Theology Today, a prominent Protestant religious journal, notes:

“If the soul is already blissfully in heaven (or is already justifiably roasting in hell), what need is there for anything further? What point could there possibly be to Christ’s return or the renovation of the universe? This inner contradiction has remained to plague Christians throughout the centuries.”

Similarly, Catholic priest Ray T. Bosler observes:

“What happens immediately after death before the final resurrection? . . . Our theologians disagree among themselves over just what the existence of the saints is like until the final resurrection. . . .

“Our liturgical prayers for funerals reflect some of this ambiguity. We rejoice that our dead already enjoy some of the life of the resurrection and yet we pray that they will be raised on the last day. All we can do is humbly admit that we know not what awaits us at the moment of death.”

Yet, the answers are available from the Bible. There is no need for the confusion and uncertainty that is so prevalent in the churches. And consider the harm being done. Millions of persons, believing that death is a doorway to another life, are exposed to deception by wicked spirits who impersonate persons who have died. Around the earth many people live in fear of these supposed spirits of the dead.

The Bible teaching of the resurrection, on the other hand, can be a source of genuine hope, comfort and courage.

A Living Hope That Motivates

Suffering Job, who raised the question, “If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?” showed that he was comforted by the resurrection hope, for he said to God: “You will call, and I myself shall answer you.” (Job 14:14, 15) Early Christians, too, were strengthened by this same hope. They were given courage to face hungry lions in Roman arenas, rather than break God’s law by performing acts of worship to the emperor.

The resurrection hope has also been motivating Christians in modern times. For example, Christians in Nazi Germany chose to be executed rather than violate God’s law by supporting Hitler’s devilish war schemes. Consider such a person’s final letter to his wife, and note the strength he drew from his hope of the resurrection:

“My Dear Erna,

“It is now my last night. My sentence has been read out to me and I have eaten my last meal. So when this letter reaches you my life will be fulfilled. We know that the sting has been removed from death and victory has been won over the grave. . . .

“And so I look once more into your serene and glistening eyes, and wipe away the last sorrow from your heart; and, in spite of the pain, lift up your head and rejoice, not about death, but over the life that God will give those that love Him.

“Heartfelt greetings in love and true friendship, from your loving husband.”

Similarly a 13-year-old German girl, who was suffering from dreaded leukemia, illustrated what a powerful force the resurrection hope was in her life. Of her, the chief physician observed: “In my whole practice I have never seen such a case, where a child was so happy after learning that it had to die.” Why was this? In her letter read at her funeral she explained:

“My big hope is not to float around in heaven somewhere as a spirit. No, but I am resting in the grave till after Armageddon, and if the great Life-Giver Jehovah considers me worthy he will give me a resurrection—in honest-to-goodness flesh and blood as a human on a cleansed paradise earth in delight and happiness. So you see that is why it wasn’t hard for me to die. Can you understand that?”

Christians with this quality of faith are now meeting in “Living Hope” District Conventions in many places around the world. In the United States alone over 90 of these four-day conventions are being held from June through August. If at all possible, attend one of them. There you will learn more about the “hope of the everlasting life which God, who cannot lie, promised.”—Titus 1:2.

You are invited also to contact Jehovah’s Witnesses locally. For the address of their meeting place nearest to your home, please write the publishers of Awake! and we will be glad to send it to you. We are confident that you will enjoy discussing with them the resurrection hope held forth in the Bible.

[Blurb on page 14]

WHETHER FROZEN OR NOT, THE DEAD CAN BE RAISED. IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE

[Blurb on page 16]

“MY SENTENCE HAS BEEN READ OUT TO ME AND I HAVE EATEN MY LAST MEAL”