NDEs and ADCs: Their Apologetic Value for Christian Witness

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(13) THE GEOGRAPHY OF PARADISE:

At age 5 Margaret Sauro was misdiagnosed with scarlet fever and was on the verge of death as a result of a ruptured appendix. She suddenly found herself walking hand in hand down a path with a beautiful young woman in a Roman toga. The path was lined with massive beautiful flowers “way over our heads…close together the way a colonial bouquet would be.” Margaret felt an overwhelming peace and the floral fragrance “seemed to permeate my whole body.” Near the path’s end, she heard faint voices, saying, “But why is she bringing her here?” “I don’t know. She knows better.” Margaret was then enveloped in fog and returned to her hospital bed. The angelic young woman looked down, saying, “I’m sorry Margaret, but you have to go back now. It’s not you time.”

Decades later in her 50s, Margaret decided to paint the beautiful lady and the flowers along the path. The next day she went to see her internist about her broken rib. She told her internist about the painting and he asked if she could create a reproduction for him to frame and hang among 10 other pictures in his office. Several weeks later Maria Olivia, another patient, saw the painting among the 10 others and stood transfixed. When the internist asked her what was going on, she replied: “I walked along that path when I was 5 years old and almost died!” 2 independent descriptions of a section of Paradise devoted to 5-year-olds? If so, this is a mind-blowing confirmation of Paradise geography! (report condensed from Molly Cox-Chapman, “The Case for Heaven”)

 

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(14) Dr. Bruce Greyson, a psychiatry professor at the University of Virginia, documents verification evidence from many cases of NDEs in which the experiencer encounters acquaintances not known to be deceased. Here is his summation of the evidence:

"There are three varieties of “Peak in Darien” experiences that may vary in their evidential value. The first variety comprises cases in which the deceased person seen had died some time before the vision, although that death was unknown to the experiencer, as far as could be ascertained. The second includes cases in which the deceased person seen had died at the time of, or immediately before, the vision, thus not allowing any possibility for the experiencer to have learned of the death. Finally, the third type consists of cases in which the deceased person seen was someone whom the experiencer had never known."

For many verified examples of this NDE phenomenon, read:

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2017/01/OTH23_Peak-in-Darien-A-H.pdf#:~:text=Some%20NDEs%2C%20called%20%E2%80%9CPeak%20in%20Darien%E2%80%9D%20experiences%2C%20include,for%20the%20survival%20of%20consciousness%20after%20bodily%20death.

 

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(15) What about cross-cultural cases? In their book ''At the Hour of Death" Drs. Osis and Haraldsson compare 500 American NDEs with 500 NDEs from India. The 2 biggest takeways were (1) that the basic NDE elements were shared in both cultures and (2) that these elements clashed with the religious expectations of both cultures. But the Indian NDEs left them more fearful of death than did the American cases. I know of no NDE case where Muhammad appears to a Muslim, but a few cases in which Jesus appears to a Muslim and a non-Christian Jew.

In the vast majority of NDE cases, the percipient projects a familiar identity on the religious beings because these beings don’t identify themselves. Evidentially speaking, Christianity stands or falls on anecdotal testimonies to Jesus’ resurrection appearances, in some of which the identity of the visionary figure is initially unclear.