What Happens When You Die?

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Faith1960

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I just read and watched this. I wanted some feedback on everybody’s opinions of near death experiences. I’ve always hoped that they were our glimpse into what happens during death, but it appears as though science can explain the events as nothing more than our brain functioning. They can even produce a NDE by stimulating a part of the human brain.

Also, I’m concerned with what was said in the article/video, that there “doesn’t exist a single shread of evidence in a human soul.” With this article and those posted some time ago about the brain and spirituality, are we getting closer and closer to science being able to explain all things spiritual and religious as being nothing more than a product of our biology?

Thoughts?

huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/what-happens-when-you-die_n_1376602.html?ref=science&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D146888
 
Faith1960 said:
I just read and watched this. I wanted some feedback on everybody’s opinions of near death experiences. I’ve always hoped that they were our glimpse into what happens during death, but it appears as though science can explain the events as nothing more than our brain functioning. They can even produce a NDE by stimulating a part of the human brain.

Also, I’m concerned with what was said in the article/video, that there “doesn’t exist a single shread of evidence in a human soul.” With this article and those posted some time ago about the brain and spirituality, are we getting closer and closer to science being able to explain all things spiritual and religious as being nothing more than a product of our biology?

Thoughts?

huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/what-happens-when-you-die_n_1376602.html?ref=science&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D146888
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That would be nice if science can produce a born-again pentecostal experience by stimulating the brain. They could just give that to everyone and we would all be greatly improved.
 
Well, we do have brains so it is not surprising that they are involved in the dying priocess. God uses them to lead us through death. The truth is that science can tell us very little about consciousness. Even when you get into the quantum realm there is more mystery than answer.

“People who reported an intimate experience of God, engaged in religious behavior or feared God, tended to have larger-than-average brain regions devoted to empathy, symbolic communication and emotional regulation.”

open.salon.com/blog/jeffrey_dach_md/2010/03/21/are_atheist_brains_different

“Experiencing an intimate relationship with God and engaging in religious behavior was associated with increased volume of R middle temporal cortex, BA 21. Experiencing fear of God was associated with decreased volume of L precuneus and L orbitofrontal cortex BA 11. A cluster of traits related with pragmatism and doubting God’s existence was associated with increased volume of the R precuneus. Variability in religiosity of upbringing was not associated with variability in cortical volume of any region. Therefore, key aspects of religiosity are associated with cortical volume differences.”

plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007180

And yet because of neuroplasticity we can change these regions of the brain.
 
Even if they proved that NDE was just the dying human head giving it’s owner one last show before lights out— which they haven’t, IIUC---- they would in no way disprove the human afterlife.

Your soul is not independent; it is the soul (life) of your body. Your human body is designed to be alive, so it is no surprise that all parts of it, the brain included, will react in various ways to life leaving them.

We do not have life everlasting because our soul is independent. We will be given life everlasting by our LORD.

ICXC NIKA
 
I’ve seen accounts from people who died and came back to life - not just near-death, but they actually died, as in heart stops beating brain-dead ‘dead’ and were revived. Medical science isn’t capable of explaining away many of these cases as far as I know.
 
GEddie said:
Even if they proved that NDE was just the dying human head giving it’s owner one last show before lights out— which they haven’t, IIUC---- they would in no way disprove the human afterlife.

ICXC NIKA
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Sorry, but what does IIUC mean?
 
Michael_Mayo said:
The truth is that science can tell us very little about consciousness. Even when you get into the quantum realm there is more mystery than answer.
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Funny you should mention this, as I actually watched an interesting episode of Through the Wormhole recently. The subject was “do humans have a sixth sense?” One of the people presenting a theory described consciousness as an awareness of self and being capable of being aware of that awareness of self, and so on, on practically an infinite scale. There was more to it, but the main gist seemed an awful lot like our understanding of the Trinity, and when you consider the fact that we’re made in God’s image, it seems a very appropriate fit.
 
Neildown said:
I’ve seen accounts from people who died and came back to life - not just near-death, but they actually died, as in heart stops beating brain-dead ‘dead’ and were revived. Medical science isn’t capable of explaining away many of these cases as far as I know.
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There is nothing new about these cases. They even have their own acronym, NDE for Near Death Experience. There have been a snowstorm of them since resuscitations became common in the late 1900s.

But how were they known to be “brain dead”? Are EEG leads normally put on one’s head during a resuscitation?
 
GEddie said:
There is nothing new about these cases. They even have their own acronym, NDE for Near Death Experience. There have been a snowstorm of them since resuscitations became common in the late 1900s.

But how were they known to be “brain dead”? Are EEG leads normally put on one’s head during a resuscitation?
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I don’t know if this answers your question but this is interesting: near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html
 
GEddie said:
Even if they proved that NDE was just the dying human head giving it’s owner one last show before lights out— which they haven’t, IIUC---- they would in no way disprove the human afterlife.

Your soul is not independent; it is the soul (life) of your body. Your human body is designed to be alive, so it is no surprise that all parts of it, the brain included, will react in various ways to life leaving them.

We do not have life everlasting because our soul is independent. We will be given life everlasting by our LORD.

ICXC NIKA
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Could you write about this a little further, please? Also, what about the part of the article which said that this:

“And in 1907, Masachusetts physician Duncan MacDougall claims to have measured the mass of the soul as it exited the body upon its passing–21 grams, to be exact.
Granted, nobody has ever managed to reproduce MacDougall’s findings, and there exists not a single shred of physical evidence as to the existence of the, lets face it, fundamentally unmeasurable soul.”

Wouldn’t there be some evidence of a soul if it truly exists?
 
Faith1960 said:
Could you write about this a little further, please? Also, what about the part of the article which said that this:

“And in 1907, Masachusetts physician Duncan MacDougall claims to have measured the mass of the soul as it exited the body upon its passing–21 grams, to be exact.
Granted, nobody has ever managed to reproduce MacDougall’s findings, and there exists not a single shred of physical evidence as to the existence of the, lets face it, fundamentally unmeasurable soul.”

Wouldn’t there be some evidence of a soul if it truly exists?
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I’d like to know how that figure is not just the lungs collapsing or evaporation from the skin?

I mean… 1907? And no-one has reproduced those results?

ICXC NIKA.
 
GEddie said:
I’d like to know how that figure is not just the lungs collapsing or evaporation from the skin?

I mean… 1907? And no-one has reproduced those results?

ICXC NIKA.
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I know, I thought that sounded kind of weird, but about my question, don’t you think someone would’ve been able to show evidence for a soul by now or am I misunderstanding what the soul actually is?
 
Faith1960 said:
I know, I thought that sounded kind of weird, but about my question, don’t you think someone would’ve been able to show evidence for a soul by now or am I misunderstanding what the soul actually is?
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You might slightly misunderstand the soul.

The soul is not something physical that can be weighed or detected on or off the body. That would make it part of the body.

Rather, the soul is LIFE. All animals have a soul; the Latin word anima means soul. The soul keeps body alive. We have a human soul; this does more than just keep us alive, it generates our human mind; but requires a living human head to do so.

The human soul is not a ghost wrapped in human limbs, it is the life of a human body. It is made for the body, and body is grown for the soul.

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
You might slightly misunderstand the soul.

The soul is not something physical that can be weighed or detected on or off the body. That would make it part of the body.

Rather, the soul is LIFE. All animals have a soul; the Latin word anima means soul. The soul keeps body alive. We have a human soul; this does more than just keep us alive, it generates our human mind; but requires a living human head to do so.

The human soul is not a ghost wrapped in human limbs, it is the life of a human body. It is made for the body, and body is grown for the soul.

ICXC NIKA
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So then where the article says that there’s “not a shred of evidence” of the soul, is that what we are, as Catholics to expect? And does that say nothing about whether one is present or not?
 
Faith1960 said:
So then where the article says that there’s “not a shred of evidence” of the soul, is that what we are, as Catholics to expect? And does that say nothing about whether one is present or not?
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The human soul is not natural, it is spiritual. Science deals in what is natural. I’d no more expect science to find the human soul than theologians to cure cancer.

ICXC NIKA
 
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” (Albert Einstein)

Who says it has to be a glimse of what happens at death OR a biological reaction? One doesn’t nessicarily contridict the other; it could be both! God is the creator, He made us and all that we are. Biology is just one of His finest crafts 😛
 
Tigress said:
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” (Albert Einstein)

Who says it has to be a glimse of what happens at death OR a biological reaction? One doesn’t nessicarily contridict the other; it could be both! God is the creator, He made us and all that we are. Biology is just one of His finest crafts 😛
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Agreed.

Also, [random] Tigress is one of my top favorite animated cartoon characters.
 
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