Admit it. You’re worried about what happens after you drop dead. Maybe you’re afraid that nothing happens. You’ve seen dead bodies, and they look sooo dead.
The intent of this article is to show beyond a reasonable doubt that there is life after death. For those who at this moment doubt there's an afterlife, here's my prediction: By the time you finish reading this, you will at very least believe life after death is likely.
Let’s begin with a couple of thoughts about matter and the universe.
Perhaps the two most incomprehensible realities of the universe are, first, that anything exists, and second, that there was never a time when nothing existed: something can’t be created from nothing. This means matter has existed forever, although the form it is in today isn't necessarily the form it was in yesterday (think solid, liquid, gas, energy, etc.). Every cell in our body previously existed in some state. In other words, nothing dies in the sense of ceasing to exist in any form.
Most nonbelievers aren’t buying the afterlife thing. They simply assert that the life force of man doesn’t exist after death because metabolism and brain activity cease when we die. They might also point out that no immortal being has ever been caught on film. (Frankly, I'm surprised some TV evangelist hasn't produced fake footage.)
Additionally, atheists contend that reason is on their side and that believers are driven by emotions in hoping never to die; after all, fear of death is instinctive. Surely it is this fear of death that causes simple-minded people of faith to embrace the dogma of salvation and resurrection.
In a debate, this would be where the believer jumps to his feet, yells “Godless atheist!” and a huge argument ensues in which the believer spews drivel about faith and intelligent design and the atheist counters with the usual facts. Atheists might even point out that a lot of what the faithful—including Latter-day Saints—have historically embraced has turned out to be baloney. (Frankly, much of what they currently believe also could be considered baloney, but that's a topic for another day.)
What is the believer to do? Not much, actually. He needn’t argue science or theology. All he has to do is establish beyond a reasonable doubt that at least one authentic encounter has occurred between a mortal person and an immortal being, even if he lacks camera footage to prove his point. Or that one authentic, substantial miracle connected to divine power has occurred. (Divine power in a real miracle is strong evidence for life after death because divine power can't be exercised unless a divine, immortal being is available to exercise it.) If the believer can do either of these, the debate is over—there's life after death. This era in which the existence of unseen dimensions and parallel universes seem quite plausible (seen any movies lately?) appears to give believers a good excuse for not being required to show up at the courthouse with credible camera footage—or an immortal being by their side—to make their case.
Below are six categories of miracles and visionary experiences. Remember, if just one divinely connected miracle or just one interaction with an immortal person has occurred, there's life after death.
First, miracles in the Scriptures. Alleged biblical miracles range from the dramatic such as Moses parting the Red Sea and Jesus walking on water or raising Lazarus from the dead to smaller ones such as Peter’s healing a man reported to be lame since birth. There are also scores of miracles cited in the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and in the Pearl of Great Price. I admit some are less believable. Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt? Jonah inside a whale for three days? (I'd be more inclined to believe that Jonah visited Scotland and then spent three days in Wales.) And it certainly would have been a miracle if two of “every thing that creepeth upon the earth” had entered Noah's ark. (Think polar bears, penguins and kangaroos.) However, it's quite a leap from saying some, most or nearly all scripture-based miracles didn't happen to saying none of them happened.
Second, appearances in the Scriptures of heavenly beings to mortals. To mention a few: the Lord in the Garden of Eden, Isaiah sees the Lord in a temple, an angel visits Mary, shepherds see heavenly hosts, and Christ appears to Paul on the road to Damascus. Also, Christ’s reported appearances in the Book of Mormon and the ones in the 1830s recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants of various heavenly beings such as Christ, Moroni, Moses, Elias and Elijah to a number of Latter-day Saints. Certainly, some of our LDS vision claims are less believable. I'm not convinced, for example, that Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants (“the eyes of my understanding were opened”) was a literal vision. And I'm not convinced that Wilford Woodruff actually conversed with the Founding Fathers. However, as mentioned above, because the heavenly beings involved were once mortal and are now immortal, just one valid post-mortal appearance provides evidence of life after death.
Third, many reported historic sightings of heavenly beings. Examples: A. Being a fan of Joan of Arc, I lean toward believing her statements that from the age of 13, she experienced visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Remember, Joan was a devout Catholic but not an unquestioning follower—in fact, it was her commitment to truth that resulted in her fellow Catholics burning her at the stake for heresy. (It's hard to resist observing here that the religious establishment also apparently wasn't very fond of the mortal Jesus.) B. A more recent vision that at least deserves consideration is the one seen in 1879 by 15 people and lasting over two hours at Knock, Ireland, that reportedly involved Mary, Joseph, John the Evangelist and the form of a lamb on an altar representing the Lamb of God. The reported apparition, interestingly, was not seen by the parish priest as he declined to venture outside—it was raining at the time. C. Also interesting are alleged appearances at Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje, etc. At Medjugorje, the appearances of Mary that began in 1981 are said to still be happening.
Fourth, authentic personal experiences that fall into the “miracle” category. You may have had such an experience or may know someone who has. In this category are regular people offering straightforward accounts of being visited by someone from the other side. There are lots of these stories out there. I heard one on January 16, 2022, in a home visit to an older man and his wife that involved their kinfolk. Here’s one that I like from an online article of April 29, 2018: “A year and two months to the day of my mother's transformation, she appeared standing in my kitchen as whole, healthy and young. I was surprised, knowing she was dead, but so happy to see her. We embraced in a hug, and I said, ‘I love you.’ And then she was gone. She had come back to say a final goodbye and let me know that she was happy and okay.” What does it mean if every single one of the items in 1-4 above are false except for this mother/kitchen story? It means that life after death is absolutely, 100 percent a reality.
Fifth, for those of us who are LDS, certain other reported appearances of heavenly beings to Latter-day Saints in the Joseph Smith era are impressive. A. Many of the LDS scripture-based visions of heavenly beings as noted in item two above, as well as other reported visions, were also described in individual written accounts that are not included in the Scriptures. B. Consider the apparently quite active social life in the early 19th century of the Angel Moroni, a man who the Book of Mormon says died 14 centuries earlier. Joseph Smith recorded interacting with Moroni on no fewer than 22 occasions; moreover, 16 other people said Moroni visited them. (Can anyone blame him for such a willingness to spend time with mortals? After all, at the end of his own mortal life, the Book of Mormon says he wandered alone for many years.) If we don’t believe that even one of these Moroni appearances occurred, we are also forced to disbelieve specific and impressive descriptions of his visits, such as the following: “After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him; when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.” Again, just one legitimate Angel Moroni visit means afterlife for mankind is a reality. C. Additionally, I have long found the testimony of the Three Witnesses to be especially impressive, as I’ve noted in “Witnesses” on this site. To review, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris signed a statement, which appears in all Books of Mormon, that “an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon . . . the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it.” I find this impressive because all three men ended up having serious conflicts with the church and Joseph Smith, but in spite of those conflicts, throughout their lives (Whitmer and Harris lived to ripe old ages) they stuck by their account of the angel’s appearance. I've found only a couple of weak attempts to refute their claims.
Sixth, near-death experiences that are difficult to explain away. Arguably, most NDEs seem to be manifestations of minds in physiologically altered states. However, there are literally hundreds of NDEs posted in places such as YouTube, and some seem very credible. (Two examples are included at the end.) A book published in 2021 offers scholarly analysis and accounts of such experiences. It is titled After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond. I found many individual accounts and the analysis to be quite credible.
In the alleged miracles or sightings of immortal beings mentioned above, please note that I have NOT included any of the following seven gray areas, a couple of which are really gray. 1. Claims of seeing visions or apparitions made by people who are highly medicated, on hallucinogenic drugs or attending rock concerts. 2. Any healing, miracle or visitation involving a TV preacher. 3. Any healing or any restoration of health that invokes the power of God but plays out in a fairly normal time frame; after all, sick people tend to get well. 4. Any miracle that is viewed as a miracle because of timing, i.e., a person offers a fervent prayer to receive a specific blessing and, just as the prayer ends, the phone rings . . . you can guess the rest of the story. (Closer to home, the two most recent “miracles” I have heard up-close in this category involved a lost set of car keys and a genealogical researcher locating a hard-to-find family name. Elsewhere on this site, in an article titled “It's a miracle!” I question the miracle stature of a couple of recent miracles claimed by LDS leaders. (That's one example of why Church headquarters keeps a file on me.) 5. Shapes resembling the Virgin Mary or Jesus that appear in trees, clouds, windows, etc., and statues of religious icons that appear to shed tears, bleed, move, etc. I confess that if a Mary image appeared in a window at our house, I would use it as an excuse to avoid cleaning the windows, especially if a big game is on TV. 6. Dreams. Fairly memorable dreams can sometimes take on vision status with the passage of time in the same way that an angler who catches a 14-inch trout may remember it as a 21-incher after a few years. 7. Low-grade supernatural experiences. I'll cite two from my own life. First, a very credible older couple who lived in my current neighborhood told me that on multiple occasions an apparent pioneer-era girl appeared briefly in their bedroom, then disappeared. I believe them, but this experience is out of my comfort zone, as I would not want my afterlife to include popping up in people's bedrooms. There are laws against that sort of thing. Second, I participated in a blessing that invoked the power of God in healing a person who was experiencing pain. After the “amen,” the recipient of the blessing, referring to the pain, immediately said, “It's gone.” I believe a healing may indeed have occurred, but I also recognize, as noted above, that sick people usually get well, some sooner rather than later. More recently, I have had similar experiences involving swift healings.
Yes, many claims of miracles and manifestations are dubious or clearly false. And debunkers can find something to debunk in even the best claims. But when we carefully ponder the range of miracles and interactions involving immortal beings cited in items one through six, can we really say every single one didn't happen? That’s exactly what is required to assert there’s no life after death. And to do so would be equivalent to saying that 100 percent of those who have told of such occurrences were either delusional, deceived, lying or out to lunch. In other words, we would be saying that all of them throughout history, including every believer in the Judeo/Christian God who declares “thou shalt not bear false witness,” have borne some form of false witness 100 percent of the time whenever they have told either of miracles or of interactions involving divine beings. That seems absurd. Therefore, it is a great stretch to say there’s no life after death.
I will live on. So will you. Just because some—or much—of what religions teach about heaven, hell, resurrection, salvation, atonement, God, families, gays, abortion, etc., is nonsense does not alter the fact that the reality of an afterlife is supported by credible witnesses.
So why do we still greatly fear death? Most likely it is because we have confused our instinctive but baseless fear of ceasing to exist with our legitimate dread of a long separation from loved ones and our equally legitimate fear of leaving the known world and entering an unknown realm. Such fears are understandable and entirely natural. I suspect that within seconds of transitioning from mortal life into the afterlife, one of our first thoughts will be: “Wow! This place is so much better than where I just came from.”
Earlier, I had intended to write, “If you disagree, I ask that the first thing you do in the afterlife is to come up to me and admit you were wrong.” However, I have changed my mind. I sincerely do not want your afterlife to get off to such a negative start. And early in my own afterlife, I don’t want to feel like a priest taking confession. (In the hugely unlikely event that there is no afterlife, those of you who were right on that subject will be at quite a disadvantage as you'll be too dead to say, “See, I told you so.”)
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A few more thoughts
A 12-year-old girl had an experience in which she died and lived again, but she didn't want to share it with her mother, as doing so would mean hurting her mother's feelings by telling her that the other place was so beautiful that she hadn't wanted to return. Finally, she shared the experience with her father. In it, she stated that her brother had been there and that he had held her with great tenderness, love and compassion. “The only problem is that I don't have a brother.” Her father started to cry, then confessed that she did indeed have a brother who died three months before she was born. They had never told her.
An American Indian woman was struck by a hit-and-run driver. A stranger stopped to help, but she calmly told him she was about to die. She did ask, however, that some day he convey to her mother that she was okay and that she was happy because she was together with her father. The stranger was so touched that he soon drove 700 miles to the reservation where her mother resided. When he got there, the mother told him something her daughter had not known before her fatal accident: Her husband (the daughter's father) had died of a heart attack. According to their calculations, his death occurred roughly an hour before the hit and run.
(The two death experiences above are rewritten, in the interest of brevity, and are from “On Life After Death” by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, pp. 32, 55.)
Among the lesser-known Latter-day Saints to have an Angel Moroni experience in the 1800s was a fellow named Harrison Burgess, whose identity is a mystery even to 99 percent of Latter-day Saints. While praying about the Book of Mormon, Burgess said that “suddenly a glorious personage clothed in white stood before me and exhibited to my view the plates from which the Book of Mormon was taken.” He understood the personage to be Moroni.
Have you read Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon? It is one of the longest and perhaps the most boring chapter of scripture ever written. So what does it have to do with the afterlife? Consider this: On the surface, Jacob 5 seems to be about people struggling to grow olive trees well. A more studious reading, however, reveals it to be very complex parable that both recounts and prophesies God’s dealings with Israel and the Gentile nations. Its complexity and out of time/out of place feel (it is said to have been written by an Old Testament-era prophet named Zenos) are remarkable. It is not something any English-speaking Westerner would have composed in 1829. Even in its Book of Mormon context, this olive-tree chapter sticks out like an orange in an apple orchard. In 1829 at the age of 23, the poorly educated Joseph Smith was said by his wife to be unable to compose a coherent paragraph. The clearly ancient origin of Jacob 5 strongly suggests divine assistance in translation, thereby pointing us to afterlife as those who are capable of providing divine assistance tend to be immortal.
LDS poet and songwriter (also champion tennis player) Emma Lou Thayne had a near-death experience that she wrote about in The Place of Knowing. It includes the following thought that she offers about a 93-year-old friend who is dying: “She is winding down in some intuitive joining of her eternal self, the transition as right as being born and much easier. No violent awakening to her other life, only sifting like gentle wind through trees into the childness that awaits her.”
Holy Sonnet X, by English poet John Donne:
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
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