I've heard many stories of people dying, going to heaven, and coming back only to tell their story or write a book, etc.  I know the Hebrew writer said we are to die once, but also, I may be understanding this wrong, but didn't Paul say in 2 Cor 12 that he couldn't even speak of the things he saw?  If not, please help me understand this "to heaven and back" stuff and if Scripture tells us if this is possible.

Sincerely,
Feet On The Ground

Dear Feet On The Ground,

We have absolutely no idea why people have “near-death experiences”, but it isn’t heaven they are seeing.  It is a clinical reality that people resuscitated from near death do, on occasion, report having experienced something.  Here is what the Bible tells us (two of which you have already mentioned):

1. Like you said, Heb. 9:27 makes it clear that we only die once.  People who are “clinically” dead and then resuscitated have not actually died… they just got so close to death that modern medical tools and procedures couldn’t register that they still had life in them.  When people actually die, they don’t come back to tell us about it.
2. The apostle Paul, who did visit Paradise, made it clear that God didn’t want the details of his experience related to all mankind (2 Cor 12:4).
3. Lastly, Jas 2:26 says that when our spirit leaves our body, that is when we die.  As we have already stated, once you die, there is no coming back.  The entire argument for near-death experiences is that the person’s spirit leaves their body and then comes back.  The Bible makes it clear that when your spirit leaves your body, you are dead, and there is no coming back.

The people who have these experiences probably sincerely believe them and believe they went to heaven.  Whatever it was that they experienced (hallucination, effects of extreme shock, etc.), near-death experiences aren’t a window into heaven.

How does the Bible view suicide?

Sincerely,
Morbid Matters

Dear Morbid Matters,

Suicide is murder, self-murder, and is therefore very clearly a sin (Rev 21:8).  The only difference between suicide and murdering someone else is that you don’t get a chance to repent after suicide.  Suicide is a final decision and leaves no room for correction or for asking forgiveness.  It is a willful act of disobedience against God without opportunity for repentance.  The final judgment belongs to God (Heb 12:23), but we certainly wouldn’t want to face that judgment with our own blood on our hands.

       My sister is VERY angry, angry at God over a health condition because she has asked many, many times to be healed, had people pray over her many times, has not been healed, and now has to go through surgery.  If she were (God forbid) to die before having that resolved, if ever, would she still go to heaven?  She still believes there is a God and became a born-again many years ago.  She definitely has changed her beliefs about a lot of biblical things that were taught her through the years, but I am really wondering about this.  I wonder what God and Jesus think, knowing how angry she is.  And what if she even called God a name that was not nice?  That came out of her pain and fear, I know.  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Suffering Sibling

Dear Suffering Sibling,

It is questions like these that make us very thankful that we don’t have to do God’s job.  God is the final judge, not us (Heb 12:23), so we can’t specifically tell you whether or not your sister will go to heaven.  We are warned against bitterness and wrath (Eph 4:31); there is no doubt that it is a sin to live with hate in your heart for anyone… especially God.  However, no one goes to heaven based upon sinless living; we go to heaven based upon our faith in Jesus Christ (Jhn 14:6).  Your sister’s eternal fate will depend upon whether or not she has allowed her anger to turn her away from God or whether she is faithful, but struggles, with this attitude problem.

     When God returns for the seven-year trial on Earth from Revelation, and they say that in order to eat, you have to get the devil’s signature… if you do that to feed your kids, do you go to hell for getting the signature, or do you still go to heaven?

Sincerely,
For The Children

Dear For The Children,

The tribulation taught by many denominations is based off of a misinterpretation of Matthew chapter twenty-four.  Matt 24 is dealing with the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jewish temple that would happen in 70 AD.  If we carefully pay attention to the context, Jesus is talking about the Jewish temple’s destruction, not a worldwide trial thousands of years in the future (Matt 24:1-2).  Jesus specifically said that the tribulation would occur within that generation’s lifetime (Matt 24:34).

There will be a day when all the faithful are caught up to meet Christ in the heavens.  The day He returns (Acts 1:11), all mankind will be judged at the same time (Jhn 5:28-29).  In that great day (Jude 1:6), the whole world will be burned up with fire (2 Pet 3:10-12).  There will be no post-tribulation, pre-tribulation, semi-tribulation, etc.; there will only be the great Day of Judgment (2 Pet 3:7, 1 Jn 4:17).  If you would like a more in-depth look at the book of Revelation, we have a series of classes on the book that can be found at sermons.mvchurchofchrist.org.

Will the world end in 2012; everyone is talking about it, and it scares me.  I think it will end in 2012, but I don't know what date (like everyone is saying on December 21).  The Bible states He will come like a thief in the night; the sad part is that 90 percent of the world is not ready for it.  People are out drinking, partying, having sex with other people, and other sinful things. The Bible gave us signs of the end, and we had almost all of the signs.  What do you think?  I am just waiting for the rapture.

Sincerely,
Two Years To Go

Dear Two Years To Go,

Feel free to do your shopping for the holidays in 2012; the world isn’t likely to be destroyed on Dec. 21, 2012.  For those of our readers unfamiliar with the 2012 doomsday schtick… we will take a moment to explain this New Age teaching.  The idea that the world is going to be destroyed or transformed on December 21^st (some say 23^rd), 2012 is based off of the Mayan Long Count calendar.  The Mayan Long Count calendar is a non-repeating calendar that was used in Mesoamerica during the height of the Mayan civilization, and because it is a non-repeating calendar (unlike the Roman calendar which repeats every 365 days), it eventually runs out of days.  The last day on the Mayan Long Count calendar is December 21^st, 2012.  Therefore, some folks are expecting a cataclysmic change to the world order on that day.

Now that we’ve explained what it is, let’s explain what it isn’t.  It isn’t right.  We here at AYP are pretty sure that if God was going to hide the date of the end of the world in a conspiracy-theory fashion, He probably wouldn’t hide it in the calendar of a blood-drinking, child-sacrificing, snake-worshipping heathen culture.  But, hey, maybe that’s just us…

You are right; God promises that He will return like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2).  As you mentioned, the world is full of many unprepared people living sinful lives.  We would all be a lot better off if we stopped trying to guess the day everything will end and started trying to be prepared for when it does.  We also noticed that you used the term “rapture” – we recommend you read the article “Caught Up”; it should help clear up some of the misconceptions about that term.