What did Lazarus experience?

[milimac]

When Lazarus died, but before Jesus brought him back to life, did his soul have some sort of consciousness? When Jesus raised him, was it as though he woke from sleep, with no consciousness of the several days that he was dead? Or was he aware of being “somewhere” and then being summoned back to his body?

Will we experience death differently than Lazarus?

 

[GEddie]

When Lazarus died, but before Jesus brought him back to life, did his soul have some sort of consciousness? When Jesus raised him, was it as though he woke from sleep, with no consciousness of the several days that he was dead? Or was he aware of being “somewhere” and then being summoned back to his body?

Will we experience death differently than Lazarus?

Scripture doesn’t say what became of him while he was dead.

Other scriptures, however, negate that we will “sleep” when dead. (The soul cannot “sleep” anyhow. Sleep is a BODY function; only bodies can sleep.)

We will experience our death differently than he, in that our LORD will not awaken our human bodies to resumed human life and subsequently dying again. When our minds and breathing come back on, we will have everlasting bodies (pneumatikon soma) and begin life eternal.

ICXC NIKA!

 

[Gorgias]

When Lazarus died, but before Jesus brought him back to life, did his soul have some sort of consciousness?

As Catholics, we believe in the “limbo of the Fathers” – prior to Jesus’ resurrection, no one could attain to heaven. Therefore, the righteous who had died were in an intermediate state – the parable of the rich man tells of the “bosom of Abraham” which, while not heaven (i.e., in the presence of God) was a whole lot better than the alternative that the rich man was experiencing!

We might assert that Lazarus had an experience of this ‘paradise’.

When Jesus raised him, was it as though he woke from sleep, with no consciousness of the several days that he was dead? Or was he aware of being “somewhere” and then being summoned back to his body?

GEddie nailed it – as Catholics, we don’t believe in ‘soul sleep’, and have Scriptural backing for our belief.

Will we experience death differently than Lazarus?

In certain ways, yes; in others, no. The experience of the death of the body and the separation of body and soul is one that all who die before the final judgment will experience. In this way, our experience will be like Lazarus’s. On the other hand, those of us who die before the final judgment will not end up in the “limbo of the Fathers” – which no longer exists, due to Jesus’ resurrection. Instead, when we die, there will immediately be the particular judgment – we will be judged, personally, and by Christ. The result of this judgment will either be ‘hell’ or ‘heaven’ (although, if ‘heaven’, then it’s possible that a person may need to undergo purgation (sometimes called ‘purgatory’) in order to be made perfect prior to experiencing heaven).

Hope this helps!

Blessings,

G.

 

[milimac]

The experience of the death of the body and the separation of body and soul is one that all who die before the final judgment will experience. In this way, our experience will be like Lazarus’s. On the other hand, those of us who die before the final judgment will not end up in the “limbo of the Fathers” – which no longer exists, due to Jesus’ resurrection. Instead, when we die, there will immediately be the particular judgment – we will be judged, personally, and by Christ. The result of this judgment will either be ‘hell’ or ‘heaven’ (although, if ‘heaven’, then it’s possible that a person may need to undergo purgation (sometimes called ‘purgatory’) in order to be made perfect prior to experiencing heaven).

Hope this helps!

Blessings,

G.

Thanks for the replies. They are helpful in the case of Lazarus, but what about Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36) who had died and whom Peter restored to life? Did God allow Peter to take her soul out of Purgatory, Heaven, or Hell? Or perhaps the “death” she experienced was not yet complete in some way?

 

[GEddie]

Thanks for the replies. They are helpful in the case of Lazarus, but what about Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36) who had died and whom Peter restored to life? Did God allow Peter to take her soul out of Purgatory, Heaven, or Hell? Or perhaps the “death” she experienced was not yet complete in some way?

Death is death.

However, no doubt, given all the resuscitiations (not resurrections) that appear in Scripture, as well as the recorded “near deaths” of modern times, human life has some kind of “overrun area” for those human beings whose passing is called back.

Scripture doesn’t tell us; but wherever these persons go is not Heaven or Hell, both of which are eternal.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Gorgias]

what about Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36) who had died and whom Peter restored to life? Did God allow Peter to take her soul out of Purgatory, Heaven, or Hell? Or perhaps the “death” she experienced was not yet complete in some way?

Awesome question! I’d never thought about that before!

Here’s my take on it: as GEddie mentions, Scripture doesn’t explicitly give us the answer, and I haven’t seen any magisterial writing on the topic, but there’s no way to be condemned to Hell and “bounce out” again or to be granted entry into Heaven and be “kicked back” to earth. Given that God knows all things, and would have known that Tabitha would be returned to life, we would expect that her particular judgment did not occur until after she died for the “second time”; so, although dead, she wouldn’t be in heaven, hell, or purgatory, but for the short time while dead before Peter’s intervention, she would have (possibly) only experienced the separation of body and soul.

We don’t have anything in Scripture that suggests that this was only a “near death experience” or a “resuscitation”, so I wouldn’t suggest to you that these cases and the case of Tabitha are similar. The notion of an “overrun area” makes me scratch my head, anyway: if we’re talking about a person who isn’t really dead, then there’s no need to posit anything that suggests that the soul has left the body…

 

[GEddie]

Oops.

By resuscitation, I did not mean that bodily death had not yet occurred, as in the modern hospital sense; but as used by some Biblical scholars to refer to dead humans returned to human life (Lazarus, Tabitha, Eutuchus, the guy from Naim, etc).

This is not resurrection, in that the same old human body and life are resumed, unto later, final death. Therefore some use the term resuscitation. My oops.

I agree that an eschatological overrun area is somewhat of a reach, but certainly those who stick their nose into the next life and are drawn back, must go someplace…

ICXC NIKA

 

[wjam]

Thursday, March 27, 2014
Feast of St.Lazarus , Bishop
Listen to Saint of the Day
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.” In their sight Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.

**Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. **Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.

 

[COPLAND_3]

His soul would have gone to Hades/Sheol during that time because that is where the souls of both the saved and unsaved went though they were separated in different parts, the unsaved in punishment and the saved being in a good place. But after the resurrection the saved now go to Heaven and many go through Purgatory on the way to heaven.

 

[Nelka]

If he went somewhere nice like Heaven he would be so depressed returning to his life on earth. Maybe his mind was blank like when you have an operation.

 

[wjam]

Thank you. That is a good enough reply. Verily, we carry the Kingdom of GOD within each and every one of us.
Blessings,

Dr Marshall

 

[GEddie]

Mebbe if ppl are still interested in the topic, we should start a new thread, as it has been almost a year and resuming old threads is discouraged.

In any case, we cannot assume what if anything Lazarus of Bethany experienced. That nothing was written does not mean that his mind was blank or he had amnesia; an argument from silence is just that.

The Gospels, after all, are about our LORD, not Lazarus.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Nelka]

Mebbe if ppl are still interested in the topic, we should start a new thread, as it has been almost a year and resuming old threads is discouraged.

In any case, we cannot assume what if anything Lazarus of Bethany experienced. That nothing was written does not mean that his mind was blank or he had amnesia; an argument from silence is just that.

The Gospels, after all, are about our LORD, not Lazarus.

ICXC NIKA

I always wondered how it felt to be Lazarus due to the fact that John 11:35 Jesus wept.

They must have been great friends.