Validity of Near Death Experiences

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WilliamJ said:
If you are interested in NDEs I second the recommendation of reading Embraced by the Light by Bettie Eddie. What I found so interesting about it is that it basically describes a very “catholic” understanding of heaven. Her follow up books, there are two, are extremely consistant and when she is unfolds the subject of Hell, suicide etc it was a visualization of what the church has articulated for years. Bettie Eadie was not a Catholic at the time these events occured in fact she had a predisposition to be anti- catholic. She unfolds intercession of the saints and many other areas that are predominently held by the Catholic Church. I read it before I deployed to Iraq and it was was invaluable in my dealing with mortality as I had a dangerous job there in the military.

The story of the Baptist in the car accident, which incidentally happened only about an hour away from my home here in Texas is only a very small snippet of what Embraced by the Light unfolds. Am I the only one who saw remarkibly consistant catholic description of Heaven in this book? I’m not saying it is on the Vatican reading list per say but it enabled me to see many of the churches teachings from a supernatural perspective. If you want to lose your fear of death, read this book. -wm.
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Your comment is very interesting. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I read her book long time ago, actually ten years ago. I remember her story gave me tremendous comfort at the sudden death of my adopted mother. I don’t remember much details. Maybe I will re-read it, when time allows, to see her point of view, and compare it to our Catholic belief.
 
Years back I read a book by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross as well as articles by her. She was a psychiatrist who did extensive research on NED experiences.

From what I recall, she found that all the actual NED cases, the people experienced similar things. They floated out of their bodies and could see their dead body lying below. They could hear the conversations about them, by the people working on them, as well as their loved one’s, who would be in another room.

They all saw themselves traveling through a tunnel, being drawn toward a bright light. Many experienced their guardian angel, traveling with them. The bright light was a being, for Christians, it was Jesus, for non-Christians, it was God. The being was full of love and compassion and was non-judgmental, especially as many saw their lives pass before them in a panoramic sort of way. In some cases where an extremely shameful act the person had committed came to view, the being was not only forgiving, but sometimes humorous about it.

All, had a wonderful joyous experience, but it transformed their lives. All found religion, of some sort. All, became more loving and compassionate toward people, and all of creation.

The bottom line for me is, who am I, to say their experience was not real?

Jim
 
“I’ve told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.” - Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross died August 24, 2004 at the age of 78.
 
There is a near death exp type book out that is written by a Morman. After a few chapters I had to stop, it was just too much for me. I remember Father Stephen Shier, Intercessors of the Lamb order. A story that makes you straighten up and fly right!
 
One problem in promoting ideas that talk about life after death being all good for all , may be that it can be a subtle promotion for those who are suicidal !

In cultures that have the lie of reincarnation , this too may be a factor in some higher suicidal numbers !

We read in life history of saints how some of them had visits from persons dead long ago, still undergoing purification and coming to ask for prayers !

Well, when one consider that eternity is for ever …and that many of us think little of it …instead spending our time , mostly concerned about our own worldly agendas …at the moment of death and judgement , realising what could have been …with a little of giving in of our will …even many years of purification of prayers for others , out of pure love for them , is not beyond justice !

Had read about a Catholic dentist from Brazil , who too had a near death experience ( forget her name ) somewhat similar to that of the priest’s !

’ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.Outside are the dogs and sorcereres and fornicators and murderers and idolators and everyone who loves and practice falsehood ’ -Rev:22:14 ( i had always hoped to find, in that end part of the book of Rev .- something like - ‘all shall be well …’ )

Well, the narrow path , with fear and trembling , in the midst of the enemy , who is like the roaring lion , is what we have , due to our own doings …

May His Mercy lead us Home !
 
One thing to keep in mind. If God had wanted us to know, he would have told us, like how in the Koran it gives detailed visions of the afterlife. Not so in our faith. All we know is, eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard. I think God didn’t tell us because he wants us to focus on life here on earth. That’s also why he doesn’t tell us how other religions fare, or what happens to the non-baptized- because he has a way he’s given us, and that’s it- he wants us to do our best with that.

I think its a reminder that we need to get to the point where we don’t need to know, just that we’ll be with Him, and He does exist, and loves us very much.
 
That was a very powerful experience she shared, with a lot of lessons to learn from it.
 
i too need to read it again more carefully !

One point that struck out is where she mentions how everytime she criticised a priest, a demon would attach to her !

Since each of us too hold the common priesthood, acccusing others unjustly , without the motive to correct , in charity and holding onto accusing resentful thoughts may all be ways to ‘give the devil a foothold’ as we have been warned by St.Paul -‘do not let the sun set on your anger …’ !

May God help , to remind us all , how the time we spend on dwelling on such be better spent , interceding - ’ Lord have mercy '…

Blessings !
 
Yes, we need to pray for priests, instead of allowing their faults to annoy us. We too have faults and shortcomings, and sin in our lives.
 
mschrank said:
Hmm. Interesting distinction indeed.

The problem with NDEs is two fold.
  1. They cannot all be reduced to the “dying brain” hypothesis. Studies exist that show NDEs happening when physiologically they cannot be said to happen- when the brain is not showing the activity thought necessary to produce the subject’s experience.
  2. They are incredibly contradictory. Some say there is a God, some just see light. Some report being judged, others no judgement. Some say they see loved ones, others not. Some report something close to Christian belief, others are very new agey, and a few are completely off the wall (increases in non-western cultures).
So, it’s not “just the brain”, but on the other hand, people don’t see the same thing. So what are they???

I guess this is just another one for the 🤷 bin.
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I agree with this statment.

Certaintly NDE have some ground to them. As mentioned, some of these experiences occur when the Brain is simply dead. These people claim to have out-of-body sensations and that they hear/see what is going on around them. They support these claims by “remembering” tools of surgery, conversations, and which doctor did what, all occuring while they are legally/scientifically, dead.

That being said, NDEs do often contradict eachother. Some encounter Jesus, others encounter just “light”. Judgement occurs for some, and not for others. I haven’t heard much talk of Purgatory, and many seem to think they can just walk into heaven.

Personally, I don’t think these experiences are entirely spiritual or entirely psychological. I think theres a combination of both pyschological and spiritual phenomena occuring.

Divine Revelation tells us that judgment by Christ must take place and that Purgatory exists, so NDEs that say nothing of Christ, judgement, or Purgatory appear suspicious to me. Perhaps the Evil one is playing a role here in creating confusion over NDE to confuse the religious conscience of humanity. Ambiguity is certainly a danger to faith. Perhaps the controdictions come from some the pyschological conditions and not the spiriutal ones.

Perhaps those spiritual conditions are the Evil one’s last temp to deceive, or perhaps they preparation for the impending judgement. Perhaps there is an area of subjectivity that occurs for each souls relationship with Christ is different. It’s hard to say.

I just feel the NDEs, Mystical experience, and morality are concepts that **can become **subjective in themselves. I feel that these concepts require fidelity to Divinely revealed Truth to judge validity, authenticity, and the source.

Private revelations of heaven, hell, and purgatory appproved by Mother Church seem rather different from NDEs. something to ponder.
 
I read “Life After Death: The Evidence,” by D’nesh D’souza last year. He does a good job in showing the scientific evidence, but also the evidence of God and life after death.

One story he told was about a woman who ended up in the ER operating room for a heart attack she suffered. During the operation, the woman died and had an out of body experience.

This is from my memory so the details might not be exact but its basically accurate.

She saw herself floating up through the floors of the hospital and outside. She saw that on the third floor of the building on an outside ledge, there was a yellow sneaker with specific markings.

When she was brought back to life, she told her doctor and nurses about it, and they looked at her with skepticism and told her about the medical reasons that this was really the anesthesia that caused her to have this experience. Well, she asked, why don’t you go see if that sneaker is out on the ledge as I saw it? So, the nurse and doctor got a maintenance worker to go with them up to the third floor and look outside at the specific ledge the woman had described. They actually had to lean out the window to see the sneaker for it was not visible otherwise The maintenance man retrieved the sneaker and it was exactly as the woman had described, with all the details.

Jim
 
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I think NDEs are real. There may be some who make them up but they are made up in imitation of the real ones that have generally the same characteristics: awareness of being out of one’s body, the tunnel passage into the light, a life review and the return. Some have a round trip to the inferno. They all bear the same message that learning to love is what life is all about, growing in love of God and neighbor, How we are with our neighbor is how we are with God. These are the teachings of Jesus, and so, support NDEs as true experiences.
They are a great Mercy too, to wake people up to thinking about their eternal destiny
 
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