Does the Bible Say What Happens after Death

Dear Roger,


Would you mind addressing this issue?

Sincerely, Bonita 

Dear Bonita, 

Death and dying are on the back burners of everyone’s minds from preschoolers to the oldest adult. Some 9-year-old children were asked what they thought of death and dying: 





Common Misconceptions of What Happens after Death

1. No life after deathThis is the view of naturalistic, secular humanist that says there is no God. When we die there is nothing. I suppose everything just goes dark when the lights are turned out. This view is primarily espoused today by Richard Dawkins. He is a devout atheist who has made a career attempting to debunk Christianity and take away hope from all those who follow Christ.  But in Hebrews 12:6, the author says that God made the universe out of nothing. It breaks my heart that Dawkins and other atheists are trying to take away the hope that is within us as Christians.  

2. Soul Sleep “Soul sleep” is the belief that after a person dies, his/her soul “sleeps” until the resurrection and final judgment. The concept of “soul sleep” is not biblical.  Paul refuted that when he taught that for believers, as soon as we die we immediately are in the presence of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:6-8Philippians 1:23). Until the final resurrection, there is a temporary heaven called “Paradise” (Luke 23:432 Corinthians 12:4). The temporary hell is known as “Hades” (Revelation 1:1820:13-14). In Jesus story of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar, as told by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31, no one in Hades is sleeping. The Seventh-Day Adventist church and Jehovah’s Witnesses, just to name a few, are believers in soul sleep. 

3. Reincarnation Reincarnation is the idea that after we die, we return again and again for multiple lives. Life is a cycle of coming and going, birth and death. Many believe that a good and blessed life is a reflection of how well we behaved in previous lives. The better we were, the farther up the food chain we return. Reincarnation is foreign to the Bible. The Bible teaches just the opposite. Hebrews 9:27 declares: “It is appointed unto men once to die and after that comes judgment.” 


4. The bright light We’ve all heard people testify of near-death experiences in which they look down a long hall and see a bright light. I have some experience with that. I’ve had heart rhythm problems since I was 13. On numerous occasions, my heart rhythm went into supraventricular tachycardia, when the upper chambers beat over 400 times per minute and the lower chambers, the ventricles, tried to keep up. The result was a quivering heart with no pumping action. 

With no blood going to my brain everything started to go dark. When SVT hit I knew that I had only seconds to get on the ground.  You know what it’s like when you stare too long at an electric light bulb? That’s what it looked like to me when my heart was failing to get blood to my brain. There was nothing spiritual about this. It was totally explainable as a physical manifestation. 


Purgatory is never mentioned in the Bible. It is mentioned in one of the apocryphal books that were written by the Jews for the first century. The Jews do not accept this book as divinely inspired. Unfortunately, it is seen as Scripture by the Roman Catholic Church. It did not make it into the actual Canon of the 27 books of the New Testament. The idea of Purgatory comes from 2 Maccabees 12:39-46. By acting honorably Judas Maccabeus was qualified to make atonement for friends who had been involved in sin. These men needed someone to pray them out of hell. 

6. St. Peter at the gate There seems to be an idea commonly accepted by many Americans that when they die they will meet St. Peter at the gate. On the basis of their behaviors on earth, Peter will determine whether they can go to heaven or must go to hell. Unfortunately, too many people feel that the Bible teaches that going to heaven or hell is based on how many “goods” or “bads” they’ve done. That is never true. Going to heaven or hell is based on our response to the gospel. Jesus died on the cross to forgive the sins of the world and whoever believes in Him might have sins forgiven and live eternally.



Teaching about the Afterlife from Major World Religions

 Most of the world’s religions have a strong viewpoint regarding life and death. Nearly all the religions believe in the afterlife, reincarnation, heaven, and hell, or soul. 


Hindus believe in the rebirth and reincarnation of souls. According to Hinduism, death is a natural process in the existence of the soul. When a person dies, the soul travels to another world and finally returns to the earth to continue its journey. 



Love, Roger
