Part of my training as a pathology resident was to learn to perform an autopsy. During my first year of training, I completed nearly 100 autopsies. Since these were performed at a university tertiary care hospital, the cases were complex and once completed, every medical and surgical specialist that was involved with the patient’s care attended our weekly autopsy conference, requiring a great deal of preparation on my part. Although I had other service duties during that first year of residency, everything was centered upon the autopsy service. There was no respite when I left the hospital because my cases were always on my mind.
One evening at home, after finishing my dinner, I was exhausted and dozing. Suddenly, I was startled to see my body below me. An unknown hand held a scalpel that sliced into the skin of my chest wall. My ribs and sternum were opened with a saw and my lungs and heart were exposed. I wasn’t dead. I was still breathing. As I viewed this macabre scene I exclaimed, “This can’t be real. My lungs would collapse if my chest cavity was opened!” I immediately came to my senses. I was having an out of body experience.
Out of body experiences have fascinated researchers for years. Drugs or chemicals, stressful states, and deep trances or meditations are just a few of the possible triggers. Some aver that these experiences are not merely psychological and represent instances when the soul or spirit can actually detach from the body. Is this a foreshadowing of death? What does God say about these interpretations?
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (NASB)
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, His Holy Spirit entered into me and lives within me. All believers in Jesus Christ are part of the Body of Jesus Christ. When I die, my physical body will perish but my soul will be united with Jesus Christ in Heaven and I will be given an imperishable spiritual body.
I may someday have another temporary out of body experience. It was certainly frightening the first time I encountered this. When I die, I will never have to fear the possibility of my body and soul separating, never to be reunited. I will be made whole and complete through faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
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