Secrets from Beyond The Grave

( Kohanim ) would avoid contact and remain ceremonially clean. Other nations have their own methods of burial, which we will not take the time to examine. In America, the traditional funeral process is to contact a funeral home and director and permit them to make the arrangements based upon the family's personal desires or financial ability. In years gone by, a homemade casket was prepared, and the friends and relatives gathered in the home of the departed. This was called a wake . Food was provided for the family, and at times the home was filled with conversations of wonderful memories and stories about the departed. The coffin was placed in the living room, open for all to see. Of course, the following day men carried the departed to a family cemetery or church burial grounds for a final interment. The custom of a two- to three-day process of embalming, preparing the body, and arranging the viewing and church funeral eventually emerged as children moved to other states and grandchildren were scattered at colleges or at different regions of the country. It took time to drive or catch a flight to honor Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad, or, in some instances, a sibling. Today in North America, we have developed a traditional form of burial for our dead. There are some, however, who cannot or choose not to follow the traditional form and choose cremation. Four Main Beliefs About Death There are four main beliefs about what occurs after death. The first theory teaches there is annihilation , meaning that after death there is no life beyond this life. This is the belief of atheists and many agnostics. The second and very popular belief, especially among those of the Hindu religion and those in the New Age movement, is reincarnation . This nonbiblical theory teaches that after death a person's inner self transmigrates into other forms, and this process of death to reincarnation continues in a nonstop cycle from one life form to the next. The third theory is soul sleep , a teaching promoted by certain churches that the soul and spirit exist, and at death they "sleep" in the physical body until the resurrection. The fourth belief is that the eternal parts of a human, the soul and spirit, are removed from the body of the departed and will enter into one of two realms , heaven or the underworld of the lost. Among Christians, there is a disagreement between soul departure and soul sleep, or the teaching that at death the soul departs to paradise or hell, or the soul remains in the area of death and "sleeps" until the resurrection. According to the early father Eusebius, the idea of soul sleep was invented in the third century by heretics.5 One argument for soul sleep is the use of the word sleep in the Bible. Paul used this word extensively when speaking of believers who had died. Matthew spoke of those Christ raised with Him as the "saints who had fallen asleep" (Matt. 27:52), and Paul spoke of the resurrection and those who were asleep (1 Cor. 15:20). When alluding to the return of Christ, Paul said, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51). The idea among some is that the soul and spirit are sleeping in the body, as proven by the usage of the word sleep . However, other scholars point out that the word sleep is simply a metaphor for death. The following notes explain the controversy: This metaphorical use of the word sleep is appropriate, because of the similarity in appearance between a sleeping body and a dead body; restfulness and peace normally characterize both. The object of the metaphor is to suggest that, as the sleeper does not cease to exist while his body sleeps, so the dead person continues to exist despite his absence from the region in which those who remain can communicate with him, and that, as sleep is known to be