Dying Religions

If you caught a glimpse of heaven, would you choose to comeback to life?

Investigative journalist Judy Bachrach has collected accounts of those who died and then returned to life with lucid, vivid memories of what occurred while they were dead, and the conclusions are astonishing. Clinical death - the moment when the heart stops beating and brain stem activity ceases - is not necessarily the end of consciousness, as a number of doctors are now beginning to concede.

This book is a guide to death and the mysterious world beyond. The rituals, meditations, and exercises are designed to bring you on a journey of discovery through the most profound of all human transitions. Filled with insight and practical guidance, it shows you how to honor family and friends in spirit and discover the life-affirming aspects of every state of existence.

This book follows the story of highly motivated and entrepreneurial twin brothers David and Jason Benham, from their formative years and ventures into professional baseball to their rise as owners of a multimillion-dollar business empire and securing an HGTV reality series.

Contrary to popular belief, death is not a moment in time, such as when the heart stops beating, respiration ceases, or the brain stops functioning. Death, rather, is a process - a process that can be interrupted well after it has begun. Innovative techniques, such as drastically reducing the patient's body temperature, have proven to be effective in revitalizing both the body and mind, but studies show they are only employed in approximately half of the hospitals throughout the United States and Europe.

Ten percent of people whose hearts stop and then restart report near-death experiences. Stories of lights, tunnels and reunion with late loved ones have been relayed - and dismissed - since ancient times. But when Dr Bruce Greyson's patients started describing events that he simply could not dismiss, he began to investigate. In After, he shares the scientific revelations of four decades of research into the dying process. He has become increasingly convinced that dying is less an ending than a transition, the threshold between one form of consciousness and another.

In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans' belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth.

Oftentimes caregivers, friends, and family are unsure of what to say and what to do to comfort the sick and the dying. Midwife for Souls provides specific Catholic insight and highlights the power of prayer as a guide. This best-selling book has been revised to include a new section of inspiring stories and lessons learned in hospice ministry.

Bringing Death to Life shines light onto a subject that is too often feared or avoided in our everyday conversations: death. But the authors of this book suggest that it might be wiser to recognize, understand, and accept death, rather than be frightened of it. When Patricia lost her parents, she experienced a journey of loss and grief, which later became the catalyst for this book.

What do you say to someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease? How can you help someone who knows they are dying or people who have just said good-bye for the last time to someone they love? You want to help, but how can you be sure you aren't doing more harm than good? What should you say about God, heaven, or prayer? Author Patrick Shawn Riecke answers these questions after 20 years of helping the sick, dying, and grieving. You will encounter the best ways to talk with people in what he calls Phase Three - life's most difficult moments.

When Amy Nappa was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV-B uterine cancer, her life and that of her husband's, Mike, changed forever. But they weren't the only ones whose lives were touched by Amy's courageous journey into the waiting arms of her loving Savior. What started out as a private Facebook group intended to keep family and close friends apprised of Amy's medical condition grew to include hundreds, with thousands more reading publicly about Amy daily on social media.

This book is a dialogue between two spiritual seekers - one a Trappist monk and the other a married professional woman. It is two people "stuttering to articulate life's universal questions from diverse contexts and perspectives."

If you've lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend, you've discovered that few people understand the deep hurt you feel. Through a Season of Grief is the first 365-day devotional designed to support and uplift you in the first, most difficult year of bereavement. These devotions offer biblical comfort and practical teaching that will enable you to take steps forward each day toward healing. You will better understand the grieving process and will receive needed encouragement along the way.

We are all curious about the mystery of death. Whether facing our own, assisting a loved one in their last days, or grieving the loss of someone dear to us, we all have questions about dying and what happens to our soul after we depart physical form. In this compassionate and straightforward guide to the spiritual process of dying and what happens after death, psychic medium Salicrow answers the most common questions asked by her clients over her decades of work as a spirit speaker.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s experience begins the night he has chosen to embark on a four-year wandering retreat, slipping past the monastery gates. Alone for the first time in his life, he sets out into the unknown. His initial motivation is to step away from his life of privilege and to explore the deepest, most hidden aspects of his being, but what he discovers throughout his retreat - about himself and about the world around us - comes to define his meditation practice and teaching.

In today's Church, we see the world beginning to filter in as people bend to the pressures of this life. But in the Scriptures, Jesus calls us to do something radical—to come and die. As we die to our flesh, we will live with the eternal reward found only in Him. But what does that kind of death look like? In Come and Die, Pastor Joshua West explores the Scriptures and extrapolates verses to show just what Christ means when He tells His followers to "take up your cross and follow Me". Are you brave enough to accept His call, or will you continue to live this shallow life?

Church congregations all across the United States are searching for the magic bullet, the secret to attracting people, growing their membership and their cultural relevance. They are looking for the right program, or the right environment, or the right features to help bring people back into the pews. With all of this searching for the right answer, they're missing what's right in front of them: Word and Sacrament.

After his father died, Leon Wieseltier began to observe the traditional year-long period of mourning, going to the synagogue three times a day to recite the prayer known as the mourner's Kaddish. Struck by the profound, yet unexpected power of this practice and the poverty of his knowledge about it, Leon began to study the history and meaning of this ancient ritual.

If you’ve lost your identity to belong to a Christian group, this book is for you. Joining, staying, and leaving a Christian cult is a complex and confusing process. Most people do not understand that they have joined or been born into a cult or high-control Christian church because these churches offer a dependable, tight-knit community and a place to belong. Because the need to belong is primal, we are susceptible to joining groups exploiting this need.

Past and present civilizations failed and fail for many reasons, but the number-one predictor of a civilization’s survival is its sense of religion—or lack thereof. So argues David Goldman in How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too). The strength of a civilization’s religion affects its purpose, its fertility rate, and ultimately, its fate, says Goldman—who then argues that, contrary to popular belief, Islamic countries are in the last throes of death while Christian America is in a position to flourish.

End-of-life doula Anna Lyons and funeral director Louise Winter have joined forces to share a collection of the heartbreaking, surprising and uplifting stories of the ordinary and extraordinary lives they encounter every single day. From working with the living, the dying, the dead and the grieving, Anna and Louise reveal the lessons they’ve learned about life, death, love and loss. Together they’ve created a profound but practical guide to rethinking the one thing that’s guaranteed to happen to us all.