What kind of afterlife might we experience?

As I understand it, knowledge may be empirical or metaphysical in nature and by definition, propositions in either may not prove something in the other. But cannot we look at “parts of the elephant” in one for illumination in the other? How can one prove something infinite with something finite?

More specifically, I consider myself Christian, and I also am not a fundamentalist, and I understand that I can try to understand to a point and then must make the leap of faith. That said, how can we as finite humans come to a more complete understanding of life after death for us – not in the fundamentalist sense – but rather what sentience might we, or likely, or perhaps, experience? Put another way, what kind of afterlife might we experience?

Response: Outside mathematics the concept of “proof” is somewhat elusive. We can have evidence that supports a theory and at some point this evidence becomes enough but there are always an infinite number of other possible explanations. As you suggest, we have to look at the whole picture and decide.

John and I believe that our immortality in the afterlife is based on God’s love: rather as a great composer might hear a tune and then write it down, God in His great love gives us Resurrection Bodies in which our true personalities flourish if given in love to Him. Therefore, although we cannot know the details, we can trust God to give us the right experiences.

I know the bible does talk a tiny bit about ghosts and it’s hard to know whether this is just cultural or whether there just might be something behind it. But the central Christian teaching is that we die and “sleep” until the Resurrection: rest in peace and rise in Glory.