Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Appointed once to die


And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb 9:27).
Some Christians quote this verse to nix NDEs. There is, however, a fundamental problem with their prooftexting. Unless they believe the Bible contradicts itself, the statement can't be absolute. For in the Bible itself, there are some individuals who died more than once. Mortals who were restored to life, viz. Tabitha, Eutychus, Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, the widow of Nain's son, and the unnamed individual in 2 Kgs 13:21. Conversely, Elijah didn't die even one time. 
Moreover, to treat Heb 9:27 as unexceptional would make the author of Hebrews contradict himself. On the one hand, he himself mentions two mortals who died more than once (alluding to the Shunammite's son and the widow of Zarephath's son):
Women received back their dead by resurrection (11:35).
On the other hand, he mentions an individual who didn't die even once:
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him (11:5).
It's odd that Christians who quote Heb 9:27 to nix NDEs overlook all these Scriptural counterexamples. 
Heb 9:27 is a general statement rather than a universal statement. Humans are mortal. As a rule, humans die just once–barring rare, miraculous exceptions.  

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