FORUM II
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH? August 12
Dear friends and neighbors…
Thank you for your response to our invitation to participate in this E-mail Forum presentation WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH. It is our sincerest desire that you will be greatly comforted, especially now during these troubling times.
Our initial presentation, as a practical matter so as not to be overwhelming, is going to be spread out over 4 consecutive days. After that, we will continue in greater depth on a weekly basis every Wednesday thereafter. Feel free at any time to E-mail any questions you may have, or to contribute any thoughts and input. We will always get back to you on a personal one-to-one basis, so as to maintain confidentiality and your privacy. None of your personal information will be shared with anyone else in the Forum; we will honor and respect confidentiality in all matters.
The post card invitation you had received in the mail…probably August 1st…posed the question WHY DO I EXIST? Your personal answer to that question depends upon your opinion concerning…
- Is there is a God?
- What happens after death?
- Is there any purpose for my life?
There are many different opinions concerning the answers to these most pressing questions regarding our existence. But before we continue further…
There are 3 indisputable facts concerning everyone who is present here in this E-mail Forum that are absolutely true…that no one here would dispute, or question, or disagree with, or have a different opinion about. Everyone here would agree with these 3 facts… and everyone, everywhere, would agree with these 3 facts without question:
- I am alive; I exist; I have a pulse; I am living and I am breathing; I am not dead.
- Death is a certainty; my body is going to physically die and end up in a grave.
- I do not know when I am going to die. I do not know how much time remains until the death of my body…whether tomorrow, or another week, a month, a year, a decade or multiple decades. This is true no matter what my age is right now…even if I am just a child. Your real age is how much time you have from this moment until the death of your body. A child who is going to die tomorrow or a year from now is much older than a 70 year old who is going to live another decade. So no one really knows their true age.
My brother, 36 years old and just married one year, on July 14, 1991 did not know when he had only 10 seconds left to live in his life. He was driving home from work, 5 PM on a late Sunday afternoon, and was broadsided by a drunk driver coming the opposite direction; dead on arrival.
Faye Swetlick, just a sweet 6 year old little girl, got off her school bus on Feb. 10th at her home…playing in her front yard didn’t know that she had only an hour left in her life to live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtjqL1n3-L0
The single most important question I am faced with in life is, “What happens after death?” There are only 2 possible answers:
- I cease to exist; I no longer exist; I pass into oblivion, never again to be.
- My existence continues; it does not end. I continue to exist…forever.
Everyone has an opinion as to what happens after death…although there are some who have never considered this question, and may well answer, “I don’t know.” But even these would probably hazard some sort of a guess if asked…whatever would come to their mind at that moment.
For the sake of discussion…to choose a number…there are 100 different opinions in answer to this question. Some would have the opinion that existence ends and I am no more. That would be 1 of the 100 different opinions. All others who then have the overall opinion that my existence does not end but continues on…would have 99 differing opinions as to where I would be in my continuing existence, and in what form would I exist.
- Some would hold differing opinions, but all based on reincarnation…that I would come back into this physical realm in the form of another living being. Depending upon the benevolent quality of my current life, I may come back as an influential leader, an animal, a bird or a fish, a reptile or an insect, or even a plant. And that process would continually repeat at the end of each new life cycle, over and over again.
- Some would hold differing opinions, but all based on a continued existence in the spirit realm…as angels, or free wandering spirits.
- Some hold opinions that everyone would exist in a wonderful and joyous place… such as a “Happy Hunting Grounds” or “Heaven.”
- Some hold the opinion of eternal existence in 1 of 2 places…either Heaven or Hell. In all of these opinions that embrace eternal existence in either Heaven or Hell…with the exception of one…my eternal destiny is dependent on merit. The opinion of the one exception is not dependency on merit, but rather on exercising my right to choose to accept the free gift of eternal life in Heaven offered to everyone.
There are 100 different opinions as to what happens after death, but only 1 of these opinions, at best, can be correct…the actual, factual, truth of what really does take place after death. The problem…and the reason why there are 100 different opinions…is that no one can prove with factual evidence that their opinion is the correct one. You can’t prove to me that your opinion is correct, and I can’t prove to you that my opinion is correct. There are only opinions, and no one can offer undeniable proof of the factual truth of their opinion. If someone could offer undeniable proof as to what happens after death, then it would no longer be an opinion but would become an indisputable fact.
People are afraid to think about, to talk about, what happens after death. They don’t want to have to consider it, to deal with it. Ignoring the question, though, does not change the reality of death and what actually does happen after death. All it does is keep you from answering life’s most important question, and coming to an informed conclusion and comfortable opinion about it. Death, of course, seals your fate. Whatever is the actual reality of what lies on the other side of life as you enter death…at that point is unalterable, unchangeable, irreversible.
That being the case, there are 2 overriding questions everyone needs to consider concerning life’s single most important question, “What happens after death?”…
- What is the source for your opinion; on what are you basing your opinion? Is your opinion your “gut feeling?” Is it based on supporting written documentation underlying all that its teaching embraces? How authoritative and reliable is the source…the author of what you believe…that you are willing to stake your eternal future existence on it?
- What are the consequences to you if your opinion is wrong, and someone else’s opinion is the right one? If the actual reality is that you will exist forever… for all eternity, then all that really matters while you are still alive is where you will be living hereafter…in what neighborhood, and in what form. The length of time you live now in the physical realm on the face of this Earth becomes completely meaningless in the light of an eternal existence. What is 30, 70, or 100 years of life in this physical body which most assuredly will die…a mere blip on the screen of eternity? Just to give some perspective to this consequence, when you consider the incomprehensible reality that just one second on eternity’s clock can be likened to a million years of Earthly time…what do you stand to lose if your opinion is wrong? The stakes are staggering, beyond imagination!
My friends, I will continue this presentation in tomorrow morning’s E-mail, as we move on from this introduction and get into the heart of our Forum presentation. My sincerest heart-felt desire is for you to find and fully embrace a life that is peaceful and calm, tranquil and unruffled…a true sense of peace and joy, a true sense of comfort and well-being…all the days of your unfolding existence.
If anyone would like to be added to this E-mail Forum, please send name and E-mail address to:
Preserve Christian Family Ministries, Inc.
mihkail43@gmail.com
Preserve Christian Family 