# How do you die?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 22, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020 "2004-08-22T23:14:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@adam\_neville16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adam_neville16)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/1 "2004-08-22T23:14:38Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/2 "2004-08-22T23:29:08Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@adam\_neville16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adam_neville16)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/3 "2004-08-22T23:40:57Z")
Never heard of Lazarus but I’m not religous what the deal with him?
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/4 "2004-08-22T23:53:55Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/5 "2004-08-23T01:11:52Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/6 "2004-08-23T03:45:09Z")
If you’re truely interested in how humans die, [How We Die](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679742441/104-9538467-4340707?v=glance) 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.
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### Author:  [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-die/261020/7 "2004-08-23T15:04:53Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> 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),
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.
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
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. 😉