For millions of humans, death is seen as a final, inescapable moment, when our conscious selves cease to function.
But for others, it is the start of a new life in a new realm – the point where our souls exit our Earthly bodies and begin the afterlife.
Some believe death is like ‘getting out of one car and into another’, as John Lennon put it, while one anonymous thinker said ‘beyond death’s dark curtain lies a bright new dawn’.
But how do we know an afterlife – either heaven, hell, or otherwise – does exist?
Dr Hugh Ross, a Canadian astrophysicist and Christian author, now reveals five clues.
From the nature of our universe to near death experiences (NDEs) and even UFOs, subtle Earthly signs may suggest what’s to come.
‘I see five or six lines of evidence for the existence of a transcendent realm beyond,’ Dr Ross told MailOnline.
‘In other words, the biblical ‘heaven’, God’s spiritual realm of existence.’
Now, a scientist reveals the five clues that an afterlife really does exist – from UFOs to near death experiences (file photo)
Dr Ross is also founder of Reasons to Believe, a Californian non-profit organization that ‘opens people to the gospel by revealing God in science’.
He believes in a ‘causal agent’ – God or the ‘Creator’ – who exists ‘beyond the spacetime dimensions of the universe’.
The universe’s size is unknown, and it may or may not be infinite in extent – but there is always a limit in how much humanity is able to observe.
Known as the observable universe, this mind-bogglingly vast space is 93 billion light years in diameter – and expands another light-year every Earth year.
So, the fact that there’s always a limit to what we can observe suggests that there is something beyond it – a realm that we will never see during our Earthly life.
‘Given that mass exists in the universe and that general relativity reliably describes the movements of massive bodies in the universe, these theorems establish the necessity of a causal agent (aka Creator) beyond space and time,’ Dr Ross told MailOnline.
‘[The Creator is] responsible for creating space and time and all the matter and energy that comprises the cosmos.’
The universe’s size is unknown, and it may or may not be infinite in extent – but there is always a limit in how much humanity is able to observe (‘the observable universe’). This illustration marks the observable universe – with the circular edge its limit and our galaxy, the Milky Way, in the centre
TRUTHS IN THE BIBLE
The second clue is the ‘proven reliability’ of the Bible – which speaks extensively about the realm we call heaven – to tell the truth, according to Dr Ross.
For example, The Book of Daniel of the Old Testament gives specific predictions about the rise and fall of future empires – like the Babylonian empire and the Median-Persian empire.
‘While the Bible certainly is (and often has been) subject to misinterpretation, reasonably defensible interpretations do show that what the Bible records about history, science, and geography proves correct,’ he told MailOnline.
What’s more, he claims, the Bible alludes to scientific phenomena that would go on to be discovered by people in the future after it was written – namely the Big Bang.
The Big Bang theory, generally accepted by scientists, posits that the universe exploded into existence from a single minute point about 14 billion years ago.
The Bible’s writers stated the two fundamental properties of the Big Bang – a transcendent cosmic beginning and a universe undergoing a general, continual expansion.
In Isaiah 42:5 both of these properties were declared – ‘This is what the Lord says – He who created the heavens and stretched them out.’
About 14 billion years ago our universe went from being hot and dense, to expanding rapidly into stars, galaxies and black holes – a process known as the ‘Big Bang’ (artist’s impression)
‘Such consistent predictive power provides evidence that the Bible’s message comes not from a human source but, rather, from a Source who transcends the universe,’ Dr Ross added.
Christians will say that not a single prophecy from the Bible has been proven false – although scientists point out that not all events in the Bible are possible.
For example, no wooden ark would have been able to have fit two of every animal, although it might have been able to stay afloat, according to one study.
UFOs
The third clue emerges from encounters people have had with unidentified flying objects (UFOs), according to Dr Ross.
Some of these UFOs or ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ (UAPs) have caused physical effects – such as creating currents in the surrounding air.
But the objects themselves have been non-physical entities in that they were ‘impervious to the laws of physics’, Dr Ross said – such as the famous Tic Tac UFO of 2004.
‘The existence of non-physical reality stands as evidence for the existence of a realm beyond the dimensions of the universe,’ he said.
One of the most famous and unusual UFOs to date, spotted by the US Navy in 2004, moved and accelerated in ways which seemed to defy the laws of physics (pictured)
UFOs can be described as ‘extradimensional’ (from another dimension of time or space) or ‘interdimensional’ (existing or traveling between dimensions), as French astrophysicist Jacques Vallée has written.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was ‘puzzled to death’ by UFOs, likening them to a ‘technological angel’ or a ‘physicist’s miracle’.
NDEs
A fourth line of evidence comes ‘from extensive research on near-death experiences’ (NDEs) – vivid and often life-transforming conscious episodes associated with death or impending death.
Many NDEs occur under extreme physiological conditions such as trauma, ceasing of brain activity, deep general anesthesia or cardiac arrest.
Under such conditions, no awareness or sensory experiences should be possible according to the prevailing views in neuroscience.
One part of a typical NDE is the out-of-body experience – a sensation of the consciousness leaving the body and even looking down on oneself.
Other typical sensations include being drawn into a bright tunnel or darkness, the sense of peace or wellbeing, and seeing a preview of future events yet to come.
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are intensely vivid and often life-transforming experiences, many of which occur under extreme physiological conditions such as trauma (file photo)
These sensations are consistent with Christian beliefs in a soul leaving the body during death.
‘Some NDE claims may be explained by oxygen deprivation in the brain,’ Dr Ross told MailOnline.
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‘However, many others remain firmly established, as cardiologist Michael Sabom – a former NDE skeptic – has documented in his books.’
EFFECTIVENESS OF PRAYER
Lastly, and perhaps most contentiously, Dr Ross claims that praying is effective enough to suggest the existence of a ‘transcendent realm’.
Double-blind studies suggest prayer has beneficial effects – implying that some kind of entity is beyond our physical world is receptive to it.
‘People who are prayed for by believers in the Christian God experience measurably more rapid and complete recovery from surgeries or medically confirmed ailments than do people for whom no such prayer is offered,’ Dr Ross told MailOnline.
However, the effectiveness of prayer is again greatly debated and also has been reported to have no or little effect on outcomes too.
