Jesus supposidly was the only person to have resurected from the dead but I’ve heard of people whose heart stopped which is how I think you die and then start beating again. Is it possible to die and then come back alive again?
If your standard for death is asystole (cessation of heartbeat), thousands have come back from death. If the brain fails to receive a supply of oxygenated blood for more than 3-5 minutes, then you’re as dead as a can of beans. Check out dive reflex for numerous cites of people brought back from the edge.
On the Biblical end, have you ever heard of Lazarus?
Never heard of Lazarus but I’m not religous what the deal with him?
Lazarus was a brother to Mary and Martha, Jesus was fond of them all. According to scripture, he was 4 days in the grave before Jesus’ arrival in Bethany.
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. John 11:43,44 KJV
John 11 up through verse 44 is the full story.
A couple of other resurrections elsewhere in Scripture, too: Elisha brought the dead only son of a widow back to life (it’s somewhere early in II Kings), Jesus brought a little girl back from the dead. I vaguely remember someone dying and Peter or Paul bringing him back to life somewhere in Acts, but I could be mistaken.
If you’re truely interested in how humans die, How We Die is a sensitive yet informative book. It covers both the physical sequence of events and the social and psychological aspects.
I recommend it to anyone who understands that none of us get out of this alive.
And then, many years after his death, a dead man (slain with the sword, IIRC) was thrown into his tomb. When the man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, he came back to life.
It was Paul. He preached for, IIRC, 5 or 6 hours. The young man was sitting in an open window. He dozed off, and fell out the window. I’ve always wondered whether Paul took that as a warning to not be so long-winded. 