unAWARE

In an article entitled, "What Happens When We Die?" it talks about the scientific study known as AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation). It is basically a study of 1,500 survivors of cardiac arrest and their "near death" experiences. As the article says:

"When your heart stops beating, there is no blood getting to your brain. And so what happens is that within about 10 sec., brain activity ceases - as you would imagine. Yet paradoxically, 10% or 20% of people who are then brought back to life from that period, which may be a few minutes or over an hour, will report having consciousness. So the key thing here is, Are these real, or is it some sort of illusion? So the only way to tell is to have pictures only visible from the ceiling and nowhere else, because they claim they can see everything from the ceiling. So if we then get a series of 200 or 300 people who all were clinically dead, and yet they're able to come back and tell us what we were doing and were able see those pictures, that confirms consciousness really was continuing even though the brain wasn't functioning."

I have neither experienced, nor know anybody who has experienced, a near-death episode. So, I don't have any frame of reference to use. However, what is interesting is that the article makes us believe that we will get an answer about what happens when we die. But the article goes on to talk about people who have been "brought back to life." Personally, my unscientific opinion is that when people are resuscitated it doesn't mean they died and were brought back to life. Rather, I believe they reached a point, near death, where they no longer registered on the systems commonly used to detect life (clinically dead). In other words, they weren't dead there was just no life detected.

"For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." Hebrews 9:24-28

The reason I don't believe that people are brought back to life is because Scripture is clear that man is destined to die once and then face judgment. All the "visions" people who have had near death experiences or have been "brought back to life" claim to have are difficult to explain, but seem very similar to what we all go through when we sleep and dream. The Bible does compare death to sleep, so there is no doubt these people are close to death. But if they were really dead, they would not have lived to tell about it. Furthermore, if they were able to return to life I think there descriptions would be alot more vivid then those we commonly hear. In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we read were the Rich Man begged for an opportunity to return to life in order to warn his brethren of the error of their ways. He was not given the opportunity. In fact, what Abraham told him was that "they will not be convinced even if someone rises from dead." If he had been allowed to return from the dead, the Rich Man would have had a story to tell that would have been more detailed then the average story of lights, dead loved ones and bliss often accompanying these stories. The Rich Man is a perfect example of someone who was caught unaware of the fate awaiting those who die apart from faith in Jesus Christ and the One true God.

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2: 1-5

What most of these scientists and survivors may not know is that they were "dead" long before any of them had a "near death" experience. Because of Adam's sin all mankind is born into the world spiritually dead to God, but alive to the world. Therefore, one could argue that life itself is a sort of "near death" experience. We are not only spiritually dead, but also face the reality that we are, but one heartbeat away from eternity. And because we come into this world dead in sin, we can spend much of our lives following after the ways of the world, endulging the cravings of our sinful flesh. The people in this study are blind to the fact of just how close they are to a "post death" experience that they won't be able to come back and tell to others. There stories would not be of looking down from the ceiling at the doctors and themselves. Their stories would be of the fear and dread of knowing they have entered into a Christless eternity apart from the God of the universe. They are objects of wrath to a just God. If they chose to live their lives apart from God, God will grant their wish and allow them to spend eternity apart from Him. What the article correctly illustrates is that a dead person needs to be brought back to life. The only life available to a spiritually dead person is the life of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply the restoration of the life of God to all who come to Him by faith. The resuscitation we need is only made available through the resurrection. For those who are physically "brought back to life" they will still die someday. And, if they are apart from Christ, they have only delayed the inebidable because they are unaware of the real problem in their life. For a believer, whether resuscitated or not, they have already been brought back to life because as Jesus said:

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11: 25-26

Do you believe this?