Do you think "Near-Death Experiences" (NDEs) are valid or not? What should Christians make of them?

[Curtis]

Do you think that the deceiver can play tricks on a compromised mind? These NDE's always happen those who are facing a serious near death health crisis.

That’s a tautology- circular reasoning - to state thatvnear death experiences only happen to those facing death.

Of course that’s true. You obviously couldn’t have a near death experience until you died and then got resuscitated.

 

[Stumpmaster]

That’s a tautology- circular reasoning - to state thatvnear death experiences only happen to those facing death.

Of course that’s true. You obviously couldn’t have a near death experience until you died and then got resuscitated.

I'm moved to comment that strange things happen when threats to survival happen, at least they have to me. Did my brain concoct a brief scene in which an angel sitting at a desk looking down at documentation spoke to me saying "It is not yet your time", seconds after crashing on a motorcycle at speed into a herd of cows near midnight on a country road, or was my survival paranormal?

 

[Curtis]

There are other explanations. Who do you suppose is waiting in the wings to become the "angel of light" which many who have these NDE's see and hear? He is an opportunist. You don't think the demons can convey "conversations in other rooms and floors, and of accurately describing things they couldn’t possibly have seen from their bed or operating table".....then you are seriously underestimating your enemy.
Deception is his stock in trade and making people believe that the dead are still alive is just a perpetuation of his first lie....to believe him is to call God a liar.
There is a certain kind of 'blindness'......this prompts denial, denial, denial.....(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Would God forbid communication with the dead, (necromancy) if they were really just dead friends or relatives.....?

If you cannot see from the scriptures that there is no immediate life after death, then there is not much more to say....except that you have no idea what the resurrection is all about.

So those who went to hell when they died before resuscitation, were also deceived by Satan?

That would be a very dumb thing for Satan to do - give a false and lying experience of leaving the body and going to hell - since those people thereafter warn people that there’s a real hell to shun, so that people need to get right with God before they die.

 

[Curtis]

I've noticed that these "experts" who speak with authority that these experiences are not real haven't had them themselves.
Reminds me of the "drug experts" in the church who may have smoked a few joints in their time but only succeed in messing up lives.
If you really don't know what you're talking about, maybe you should be quiet.

The little boy who died and went to heaven, who came back having met his sister who died in her mother’s womb due to miscarriage, which Colton Burpo was never told about, nor did the family talk about, is very interesting.

He also met his grandfather in heaven , who died before he was born, and told his father about it - and his father showed him a picture of his grandfather as an old man, and Colton said, no that’s not him - but when he was shown a picture of his grandfather when he was much younger, said yes that’s him.

 

[TLHKAJ]

That is how I see it.....

I disagree with how you have self interpreted the Word of God. He doesn't lie ....throwing out certain verses in favor of a personal interpretation is dangerous.

 

[TLHKAJ]

I'm sceptical of "near death experiences" because my mother used to have them every time she had an anaesthetic at the dentist's (back in the Thirties). She found them highly unpleasant because she wasn't 'near death' at the time - it was just the effect that the anaesthetic had on her brain.
Most NDEs follow a highly predictable pattern: a sensation of travelling down a tunnel, a bright light, a sensation of peace, meeting somebody. Or of floating above your physical body and looking down on it (which was what my Mum experienced). Then you interpret these sensations (usually) according to your prior beliefs. So Protestants will say that they met with Jesus, but Catholics usually meet Mary, Muslims meet Mohammed, etc, etc. Very few people change their beliefs after having an NDE, which I think is strange if they really do come face to face with God.
But having said that, there are some exceptions, and I'm sure that some NDEs are genuine.

Since she wasn't near death, this is just an example of someone misunderstanding what it means to be near death, or actually dying and being brought back.

As I mentioned before, I never traveled down a tunnel and never saw a light and traveled toward it. I was just instantly with Jesus once I left the body ....no hovering or traveling, etc. We are already seated together with Christ in heavenly places. My experience agrees with scripture.

 

[Aunty Jane]

But having said that, there are some exceptions, and I'm sure that some NDEs are genuine.

I have no doubt either that people genuinely believe that they have had encounters with the light and with Jesus and even with relatives.....but believing the delusions of a brain affected by either artificial chemicals or natural ones, is a little foolish.

I had a friend who suffered from Lewy Body Dementia and he had delusions that were so real, he would speak to people who were not there and whilst driving would sometimes alert me to accidents on the road where he could see police and fire engines and chaos warning me to be careful.
He had great difficulty coming to terms with his condition because he saw all those things as if they were happening in real life. When he finally had to admit his condition, he was trained to approach people who spoke to him and gently put his hand on their shoulder...if they were real they were not offended, but if he could not feel them, then he knew that they were not really there. He had to learn to trust others when he could not now trust his own eyes and mind to tell him the truth.

The mind can play these tricks and those who have NDE’s are victims of this kind of chemical reaction IMO. LSD was a drug notorious for producing “trips” into weird delusions. So, with NDE’s seeing what their own religion teaches does not indicate a visitation from God or Jesus. It just indicates a brain affected by chemistry.

 

[Aunty Jane]

I disagree with how you have self interpreted the Word of God.

You are free to do so.

He doesn't lie ....throwing out certain verses in favor of a personal interpretation is dangerous.

God doesn’t lie but satan sure does. He is the sower of the weeds, remember? I have thrown out nothing...I have included many scriptures to demonstrate the interpretation that I have accepted as the truth, and that agrees with what the whole of scripture teaches.....it may be different to what you have accepted as truth, but that just means that you disagree with that interpretation. I have a global brotherhood who all believe what I believe.....so it’s not a personal interpretation.

There is only one truth, but in a world of weeds, it’s sometimes not easy to identify the wheat....

 

[TLHKAJ]

God doesn’t lie but satan sure does.

Exactly. I've seen you make other posts containing false doctrines. I am not even going to entertain more.
Have a nice day...

 

[Aunty Jane]

Exactly. I've seen you make other posts containing false doctrines. I am not even going to entertain more.
Have a nice day...

If you are confident about your beliefs then you certainly have nothing to worry about.
We will all be either the victims or recipients of our own choices. That is the beauty of God allowing us to make our choices, by ourselves....it shows him who we really are, and when the judgment comes, he will either reward us or reject us. (Matthew 7:21-23) We must all hope then, that we have made the right choices for the right reasons.....God knows even when we don’t.

You have a nice day too.....

 

[LouisWilliams]

The evidence for post-mortem survival from NDEs and ADCs (after-death communications) is far, far superior to the evidence for Jesus' resurrection (which, however, is of course far more important). In my experience of witnessing, sharing the most evidential NDEs and ADCs is the most effective evangelistic tool for persuading skeptics, especially educated skeptics. The widespread ignorance of this evidence of posters on this site prompts me to start a new thread on NDEs and ADCs to demonstrate why this is true. So stay tuned for my pending new thread.

I do think if they can at least sway SOME atheists, they have positive points - I mean, perhaps an atheist who hears about a NDE might learn and research more about religion, begin pondering the mysteries of life and death...

 

[LouisWilliams]

I think there may be something to some of them…
An apostle says he was taken to the third heaven and has no idea if he was in his body or out of his body or what the heck, but that he saw things.

That does that mean that there are different layers to "Heaven" or something? For example, the 7 Heavens was part of traditional Christian theology.

This man, at the age of 20, had an experience which changed his entire materialistic worldview:
https://www.amazon.com/Return-Tomorrow-George-C-Ritchie/dp/080078412X

 

[Berserk]

Paul identifies his mystical destination as Paradise in the 3rd heaven. The ancient rabbis also located Paradise in the 3rd Heaven; so Paul simply confirms the Pharisaic understanding on this point. On the cross, Jesus implies that Paradise is the preferred destination of the newly departed.
But what then are Heavens #1 and 2 like? In intertestamental Judaism the 2nd Heaven sounds like a realm of fiery purgation like Purgatory. Just
how many Heavens there are remains unclear, but it sounds like we progress from one level to another.

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