Finding Evidence for Life After Death
Pastor’s Column
Easter Sunday, 2021
This week, my yard has had regular visits from some uninvited (though cute) guests, just in time for Easter: two mallard ducks and two white bunnies. They come and go as if they own the place. All I need now are a few chicks, colored eggs and Easter lilies and I will have all the symbols most people associate with Easter. Yet, Easter really has very little to do with chicks, ducklings, eggs, and bunnies.
The truth is more incredible than anything we could ever imagine. There exists another world, very close to our own, but invisible to our eyes at present. How do we know it exists? We know it because Jesus, who came from that world into our own, told us about it. The record of his words are in the Bible. All sorts of beings live in heaven: among them are angels, who are pure spirits, and they always do the will of God. Heaven is the home of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. The Son of God, Jesus, through whom everything was made, both that which is visible to us and the invisible world, entered our world and became visible. Why did Jesus do this? Why did he become human for our sake? To save us from the fear of death and an ultimately meaningless life and to help us to understand how the world really is.
Some people live as if this world is the only reality out there, but they are very much mistaken. The moment that a person realizes that there is life after death, everything changes. Even many scientists are beginning to realize that the evidence for life after death is simply overwhelming. One of many such books I can recommend to you is a book called Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Jeffrey Long, M.D.
When we learn more about the world to come (the one that is one heartbeat away), we come to appreciate in a deeper way what this life is all about and how we are to live our lives. In order to understand these things, we must listen to someone who has been there and back: Jesus Christ, the only Son of God who both created us and saved us by dying on a cross. He did this to open a way to heaven for those who believe in him.
Our earthly lives, even the longest of them, are very short indeed. As Christians we are called to have an eternal perspective. How will my actions today look in the light of eternity, my final destination? How am I living my life? What have I done with the precious gift of life that God has given me? Jesus waits for us to have faith in him. He gives us time to choose him before he reveals everything to us on the last day of our lives. If I believe in Jesus and of the world he has opened up for me, my life will never be the same again, starting right now.
Father Gary
