Understanding the Afterlife?

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Dear Internet Pastor,

I do believe in God for sure, and take my faith to my heart. I am just having a hard time with understanding the afterlife. My mother and I pray and she reassures me that there is an afterlife and that we will be reunited in it. I suppose that my struggle happened when my mother went to visit her parents that are very near death themselves. I am just afraid that after we die, nothing happens, and such a thought frightens me beyond no end. Do I not have enough faith? Is there something wrong with me? I am just afraid. My mother tells me that our souls have so much energy, so much power that there has to be something. Even a basic law of physics says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but simply changed/transformed. I guess I just need someone not in my small circle of friends and family to help me find my own answers. I believe in God, but why can’t I believe in his plan for our afterlife? Please help me, I know how desperate this must sound, but I have cried and prayed so much and I feel like I need to make contact with a man of faith.

Thank You for your time.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Signed,

Afterlife

Dear Afterlife,

I think that it is very normal to wrestle through the questions of our mortality and eternal life. It is ultimately a matter of faith. It is easier for us to believe is what we can see and touch. We all have a little bit of doubting Thomas in us from time to time.

John 20:24-28
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

We have to believe in the promises of the Bible. Perhaps the most famous verse relating to eternal life is John 3:16.

John 3:16 (NIV)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Bible contains for us the amazing plan that God has given us in order that we might have everlasting life with Him. It is centered in the cross where Jesus paid the price for our sins and that by believing in Him we are forgiven and given eternal life. (If you would life more information on God’s amazing plan of redemption, I suggest you watch the videos on this site called “Understanding the Bible from Beginning to End”.)

When you begin to feel those doubts come upon you, take some time to think about all that God has done and is doing in your life. In this way you will keep yourself in God’s love.

Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (Jude 1:21)

Hope that helps!

Online Online

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