Evidence For Life After Death

The concept of life after death has been around practically as long as life itself. Our beliefs about life after death can have a profound effect on our attitudes toward life. Most individual's beliefs about life after death are directly related to their cultural or religious affiliations. According to Montagu, "Of all the many forms which natural religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far – reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality" (1955, p.15).

Life after death is a very controversial topic around the world and in society. Throughout our lives, we often wonder ‘what happens when we die?’. There are many different beliefs as to what happens to our bodies and to our souls after we die. Religion provides answers to this question, however different religions offer different beliefs and answers to this question. There are two basic kinds of religion in this world: Eastern and Western. Through learning about the key beliefs of Catholics and Hindus I have been able to learn some similar and some different perspectives on the forever debatable question ‘what happens when we die?’.

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “The real question of life after death isn 't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.” The idea that death is inevitable is well known by everyone, yet no one is certain as to what happens afterwards. Even though the subject of life after death has been argued for centuries by many philosophers and theologians. In the article Sign Here If You Exist, Jill Sisson Quinn adequately employs figurative language, rhetoric questionings, and personal anecdotes to demonstrate a controversial argument on the topic of life after death.

The book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, is a non-fiction work by Mary Roach, that explores the unanswered questions about the afterlife. The humorous and scientific exploration includes: whether there is a soul that survives death, reincarnation, near-death experiences and out of body experiences. This is a book about what scientists are doing and have done in their attempt to find evidence that when we die we don’t just turn into bones. Roach attempts to find and the define that soul using a scientific approach in order to determine the possibilities of an afterlife. To achieve this goal, she examines what scientists have discovered in their quest to find evidence for life after death.

There is belief of life after death. The soul of a dead person first lingers around the earth for three days as a result of separation from its body. On the third day, the soul is judged by its doings an is either taken to paradise (heaven) or to the world of punishment (hell).

1. What proof of live after death is there besides that everything has its opposites and one must follow the other can be presented? I am not sold by this argument, as a person of science I need more than wordy speculation to spend my life preparing for the afterlife and looking forward to it.

Death is defined as the end of life; the cessation of all vital functions in an organism indicated by a loss of heartbeat, breathing and brain activity. Although this translation is more than adequate, technical references to death and dying fail to capture the essence and impact of our eternal and inevitable demise. In every era in human history, cultures have exhibited fascination in death and the afterlife. All over the globe nations practice rituals and ceremonies for their recently deceased loved ones, while other unclaimed cadavers are thrown into incinerators like useless waste material. As human beings, we all face the uncomfortable and unavoidable fact that, someday, our life will come to an end. Nonetheless, the primary hurdle that still remains is fully understanding what it means to die - which is perhaps one area of inquisition that science fails to complete.

“I looked up and I saw this light; it wasn’t a normal light, it was different. It was luminescent. And it grew. I kept looking at it like, ‘What is that?’ Then it grew large and I went into it” (Sunfellow, David). Near death experiences and the knowledge of near death experiences have become more common in today’s society. Countless books have recently been written on them such as Heaven is for Real, Near Death Experiences of Suicide Survivors, Proof of Heaven, and 90 minutes in Heaven, but not everyone believes in these experiences. Some atheists, scientists and doctors have all tried to debunk the theory, but are they nonbelievers or disbelievers? A non-believer is one who does not have faith or believe, a dis-believer refuses to believe. Many people have stated that they have had near death experiences and of course with that comes the naysayers. The point is to look beyond scientific belief and to look at the proof we have from doctors records or for some, their own experiences. There are still many skeptics about NDEs but with countless records and so much proof, there draws a thin line between real and make believe. In order to prove that these experiences are true to the non-believers we need to not only gather records but also scientific proof of these phenomenons.

One of the most ancient mystery yet unsolved is the question pertaining to death and the afterlife. This mystery is one of the fundamental studies in both field of philosophy and religion. Comparing those who believe in a god-existing religion against those who don’t, we often see many differences in the answers relating to death. In the contrary, the similar answers to theist and atheist are evident strongly in two great thinkers and their works. The focus will be on Socrates’ speech in the Apology by Plato setting in 399 BCE and De Rerum Natura by Titus Lucretius 300 years later.

One thing that ponders almost all who live is what happens after one dies. There are multiple theories about life after death, or the absence of it, many dependent on one’s religious beliefs. However, this is also a question philosophers have faced and come up with theories for. Bertrand Russell, a well-known philosopher from the twentieth century, has a theory on the matter. His theory on life after death, in standard form, is as follows: There is a strong correlation between brain states and mental states. In particular, the correlation between brain damage and impairment in mental capacity. So, probably all the mental states and capacities that we associate with a particular person are ontologically dependent on the continued functioning of that individual 's brain. So, if one 's brain ceases to function, then one 's mind ceases, as well. If you survive death, then your mind must survive. But, brain functioning ceases with death. Therefore, you will not survive death (Zelinski “On”). The argument is valid but some question whether it is sound. Russell 's argument is sound because the third premise, if one’s brain ceases to function, then one’s mind ceases to function, is true; the fifth premise, brain functioning ceases with death, is also true; that all leads to the conclusion, your mind will not survive death, being true.

One of the strengths that this article has is that they provided a broad hypothesis. It was not specific and that gave them more room to play around with how they want to test the beliefs on life-after-death. They basically just wanted to explore from what was found in previous search on the afterlife and find more detailed data. Another strengths in this article were the specific questions that the participants were asked about their beliefs in the afterlife. The

There are many different religions in the world and every religion has a specific set of beliefs surrounding life questions. One of the most commonly asked questions is ‘is there life after death’. Almost all religions would have the same answer which is yes, but each religion has a different answer to what actually happens after death. In this essay I will compare the beliefs between Catholicism and judaism surrounding their beliefs on the topic of life after death, I will also look into the similarities between both religions beliefs of what happens after death.

Life after death is a concept that has been around for many centuries. Many philosophers came to the idea that there had to be something after our life ends. For some, they believe in the afterlife. Another concept is that of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the believe that once the physical body dies, the soul is then reborn as a different being. Some religious teachings are actually said to have skewed some of the details about reincarnation.

Life After Death All of the major religions believe in life after death. However the ideas from religion to religion can vary greatly. I am going to look at Hinduism and Christianity, two religions that I have been surrounded by all my life, and the different perceptions they have of life after death, and then I will give my own view. "For certain is death for the born and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable thou shouldst not grieve.

Many different religions around the world see the importance in life after death but these beliefs do vary a lot and each religion will believe completely different things. Two core religions in this essay that will be looked into are Islamic and Catholic. What do they believe will happen when someone dies? Is there another life after they die? Heaven? Hell? Or Paradise? Through this you will the importance in the belief of life after death, and the practices, rituals, and prayers that provide evidence and physical proof of how they show this belief. Then to go onto to discuss the wider implications holding onto these beliefs can have.