Orthodox America
Following Dr. Kalousek’s talk, a video tape was shown on the work of a well-known researcher in the field of death and dying, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. It was obvious that Dr. Kubler-Ross had great compassion for the dying, but while she should be commended for her efforts to bring death “out of hiding,” she makes a serious mistake in reassuring her patients that they have no need to fear death - thus depriving them of a last chance for repentance.
In his book, The Soul After Death, Fr. Seraphim Rose points out that the delibrate deception surrounding death and dying is only confirmed by today’s “after-death” experiences and the research of people such as Dr. Moody and Dr. Kubler-Ross whose writings on the subject have reached a wide and receptive audience. Below are some excerpts from Fr. Seraphim’s book which give a clear picture of just what is behind the researcher’s conclusions and their most dangerous consequences.
“The teaching on Life after Death of Dr. Kubler-Ross and other investigators of ‘after death’ experiences today may be summarized in a few points…:
- There is no judgment to come, and no hell. Dr. Moody reports, on the basis of his interviews, that ‘in most cases, the reward-punishment model of the afterlife is abandoned and disavowed, even by many who had been accustomed to thinking in those terms….Dr. Kubler-Ross observes of her interviewees, ‘All have a sense of “wholeness.” God is not judgmental; man is.’ It does not seem even to occur to such investigators…that they are merely interpreting the experiences in accordance with the religious spirit of the times, which does not wish to believe in judgment and hell…
- The purpose of life on earth, and of life after death, is not the eternal salvation of one’s soul, but an unlimited process of ‘growth’ in ‘love’ and ‘understanding’ and ‘self-realization.’
- “After-death and “out-of-body” experiences are themselves a preparation for life after death. The traditional Christian preparation for eternal life (faith, repentance, participating in the Sacraments, spiritual struggle) is of little importance compared with the increased ‘love’ and ‘understanding’ which are inspired by ‘after-death’ experience; and specifically…one can train terminally ill persons in ‘out-of-body’ experiences ‘so that the persons will quickly gain a perception of what awaits them on the Other Side when they die.’ One of Dr. Moody’s interviewees states categorically: ‘The reason why I’m not afraid to die is that I know where I’m going when I leave here, because I’ve been there before.’ What a tragic and ill-founded optimism!
“Every one of these…points is part of the teaching of 19th-century Spiritualism as revealed at that time by the ‘spirits’ themselves through mediums. It is a teaching literally devised by demons with the single clear intention of overthrowing the traditional Christian teaching of life after death and changing mankind’s whole outlook on religion. The occult philosophy that almost invariably accompanies and colors today’s ‘after-death’ experiences is simply a filtering down to the popular level of the esoteric Spiritism of the Victorian age; it is a symptom of the evaporation of genuine Christian view from the minds of the masses of the Western world.”
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