(ii) ‘There is life after death’

Question 1

• The Bible shows that life after death is a reality because Jesus is resurrected after his
death and St Paul makes clear in his letter to the Corinthians that what happened to
Jesus will happen to those who believe in him also.
• Even though a person’s body dies, it is possible that a person’s mind or soul could
live on after death.
• People have had near death experiences that seem to show that there is a life after
death.
• There is no scientific evidence for life after death: science seems to show that when a
person’s brain stops functioning they cease to exist.
• Focusing on life after death might lead people to forget to focus on living this life well
or prevent them from rejecting the situations of injustice or poverty that they are
currently experiencing.
• Belief in life after death is a human invention to help us to cope with the loss of loved
ones and an inability to accept the finality of death.
Possible sources could include:
• 1 Corinthians 15:35-44
“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they
come?’ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you
sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of
something else… So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is
sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in
glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:49-56:
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the
image of the heavenly man. 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet
will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the
perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed
up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• The Nicene Creed
“On the third day he rose again in fulfilment of the Scriptures; he ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to
judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end…We look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.”