Author of “The Case For Christ” Returns

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?

What happens to us when we close our eyes in this world for the last time? Is heaven a real place? How can we know for sure? In the summer of 2011, Leslie Strobel found her husband on their bedroom floor, unconscious, and called 911. ER doctors determined Lee had a rare medical condition called hyponatremia, which caused his blood sodium level to drop sharply, and his brain to swell. When he came to, the doctor told him he was one step away from a coma, and two steps from death.  

Once he’d recovered, Lee was compelled to research more about the afterlife, despite his already firm belief in heaven. He interviewed experts in neuroscience, physics, and even examined near-death experiences, and non-Christian views of the afterlife, like reincarnation, annihilationism, and universalism.  

“One way or another, next week or in decades, you’re going to creep up to the dividing line between now and forever,” Lee says. “When you slip from this world, what will you find? A void of nonexistence? A dark realm of regret and recrimination? Or a reality that’s more vivid, more exhilarating, more rewarding, more real than anything you’ve ever known?”  

Lee’s studies led him to the tenet that people who don’t believe or understand what the Bible teaches about the afterlife have an innate fear of death, and respond to the inevitability in three ways: denial, distraction, and depression. These responses are often expressed in what apologist Clay Jones calls “symbolic immortality,” e.g. trying to live on through one’s children, or striving for a legacy of accomplishment, money, or celebrity.  

The phobia of death is overcome by belief in the Bible’s teaching on it. “Christianity, in contrast, offers the best possible outcome for followers of Christ after they pass from this world,” Lee writes. “Reveling in God’s presence. Reuniting with loved ones. Living without tears or struggles or fears. Experiencing a wondrous world of adventure, excitement, and exploration.  Contentment, joy, love – forever.”   

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES

“The evidence of near-death experiences points to an afterlife and a universe guided by a vastly loving intelligence.” – Physician and NDE researcher Jeffrey Long

Lee’s quest for a deeper understanding of the afterlife meant examining the legitimacy of near-death experiences (NDEs), knowing that many people, including biblical scholars, are dubious. “The differences among the various stories over the course of history are so dramatic it makes me skeptical that they are reporting what Heaven or the afterlife is like,” wrote New Testament scholar Scot McKnight.  

Lee knew just the man to interview: John Burke, a former colleague at Willow Creek Community Church, who had written the book, "What’s After Life?"

First, Burke told Lee that he didn’t like the term “near-death experience” because many of the more than 1000 people he’d interviewed over 30 years said they hadn’t been near death but were clinically dead, with no heartbeat or brain waves. Next, he went on to describe the core elements that the NDE stories had in common, and said all are consistent with Scripture’s teaching on the life to come.  

“I’m merely saying that the Bible contains black-and-white words about the afterlife, and these NDEs tend to add color to the picture. They don’t contradict; they complement,” Burke explained. Some of those commonalities are:

•    75% of people experienced a separation of consciousness from the physical body
•    75% have heightened senses and intense emotions - positive ones, mostly
•    66% encounter a brilliant light
•    More than 50% meet other beings, either mystical or deceased relatives or friends
•    25% say they undergo a life review

Still, Lee pointed out that a lot of Christians associate NDEs with the occult or New Age thinking.

“Not all Christians think that way,” Burke countered, pointing to the open-mindedness on the topic of the late theologian, R.C. Sproul. Referring back to the stats, Burke reported that for those who experienced a life review, they said they were asked by a “Being of light,” something like, “What have you done with the life I gave you? What’s interesting is that the focus isn’t on your accomplishments or trophies or resume, but on how you loved others. It’s all about relationships,” he told Lee.

“Sometimes, people suggest that NDEs are merely hallucinations of some sort. But hallucinations are scattered and confused, while NDEs are lucid and cohesive. Besides, I don’t see people completely changing the direction of their life based on a mere hallucination.” 

THE REAL HEAVEN AND HELL 

To better understand what heaven will be like, Lee sought the help of Professor Scot McKnight, who authored the book, "The Heaven Promise." Lee told him, “Among the misconceptions about heaven is that it’s an ethereal existence, up in the clouds somewhere, a purely spiritual place where we are ghostly souls who spend every waking hour singing hymns to God,” McKnight responded to these ideas: “We need to see heaven as being in two phases. First, there’s the present heaven, which is where we go when we die.”  

This is the intermediate state, Lee pointed out. “We don’t have a lot of information to go on,” McKnight added, “but in this intermediate state we will be consciously present with God. Ultimately, this present heaven is going to give way to a new heaven and a new earth. That’s the second phase. It’s the complete renewal of our world, a very earthy, physical place, not just for spirits or souls but for resurrected bodies designed for the kingdom of God.”

Belief in the reality of hell and how people perceive it vary widely. Lee found the following stats: “58% of Americans believe in hell (down from 71% in recent years), and only 2% believe they’ll end up there, even though Jesus warned that ‘wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.’”  Lee quotes this explanation of the denial of hell from Canadian theologian, Clark Pinnock: “Everlasting torture is intolerable from a moral point of view because it makes God into a bloodthirsty monster who maintains an everlasting Auschwitz for victims whom He does not even allow to die.”  

Lee also interviewed Dr. Paul Copan, professor of philosophy at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and asked him whether justice in hell would be “one size fits all.”  Copan responded, “…just as there are degrees of sin, so there are degrees of punishment. For example, Numbers 15 refers to intentional sins and unintentional sins. Jesus speaks of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which won’t be forgiven in the present life or the life to come, in contrast to any other sin or blasphemy, which can be forgiven.”