What is missing from Near Death Experiences?

[AdDeiGloriamNKU]

Near Death Experience (NDE) stories. I understand why we are drawn to them. We want revelation of heaven, and warnings about hell. We want foundation for our faith. We want to be able to double down on our hope. I think NDEs are the second most popular obsession of Christians, right after End Times prophecies.

My 15 year old daughter died on August 1, 2017 (St. Alphonsus Liguori pray for us.) She is a good girl. She received the Sacraments. I believe she in heaven, and that doesn’t stop me from praying for her soul during my daily discussions with God. I also talk with her and ask her to pray for us.

It is common for someone in my position, the grieving father of a deceased child, to seek spiritual answers. With absolute certainty, I felt an oppression over our house for the first three days after my daughter’s death. It was lifted when we made a choice, an affirmation, that we would praise God in good and in bad, and that we would place our trust in him. I believe that God rewarded me with a vision one week later that affirms my belief that my daughter was with him.

As my wife and I continued our grief journey we were introduced to near death experience stories. I will admit they were comforting. They reported things that affirmed my belief. I would often would use the NDE stories as templates to imagine what my daughter may have experienced.

Then something caught my attention. What is missing from these stories? Where is the Virgin Mary? Where are the Saints? There was Jesus and the angels, so the NTEs were obviously Christian. I started to wonder, “Why not Mary and the Saints?” Did the story teller experience them, but scrubbed them from the story because it would reach a wider audience? Did they not experience Mary and the Saints because it would be an impediment to their faith? Are there any NTEs where the principal experienced Mary and the Saints?

I want to believe in NTEs but I guess they would be in the same category as personal revelation. I’ve had my own mystical experiences. One was during Adoration and the other was during absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I believe in the popular apparitions of Mary. I believe the teaching of the Church on Mary and the Sacraments. How could they be absent during a NTE?

The more I NTEs I read or see (video), the more I scrutinize and see if the message is tailored to a non-Catholic Christian version. I pick up on the absence of Mary and the Saints. I pick up on “Faith Alone”, “Bible Alone”, “Once Saved, Always Saved.” I never hear “Grace”, “Sacraments”, “Church”. I listen to the “life review” as part of the NTE and how that can be perceived as purgatory as the story teller is filled with remorse for their sins and joy for God’s mercy. Even this allusion to purgatory it is told as a personal experience absent any need for anyone else. No need for the Church. The NTE stories affirm “a personal relationship with Jesus”, and nothing more.

Has anyone else noticed what is missing from Near Death Experience stories?

 

[AHapka]

Mary has shown up.

 

[Mythicalbio]

People see what they expect to see, Grace builds on nature. God works with it anyway to direct their lives to him. They usually have the same kind of experience though, so I believe most are valid, even without Catholic elements.

See this to learn more:

NDE's and the after-life reality ~ Bernardo Kastrup, PhD, PhD

 

[Tis_Bearself]

First, I wanted to express my condolences on the loss of your beloved daughter. It’s great that you pray for her as God can apply those prayers at any time and for all we know they might have helped your daughter even during her life on earth, plus if she doesn’t need the help God can use them to help someone else. It is entirely possible, in my opinion, that God would let you know your daughter is all right as I believe God did the same for me with my late mom and husband and a couple other people.

Second, regarding NDEs:

Has anyone else noticed what is missing from Near Death Experience stories?

No, I haven’t. To the extent NDEs take place and come from God, they are private revelations from God to the person receiving them. God may well choose to present information to different people in different ways. We are not really permitted to post unapproved private revelation material here so I can’t post examples or go into detail, but there are plenty of Catholics who have recounted having some kind of NDE or vision involving an angel or saint. It is also believed certain saints on their deathbeds, such as Padre Pio, saw Mary based on what they said at the time of their death.

I do not concern myself with what others see in their NDEs. I do not need someone reporting they saw Mary or St. Joseph or an angel to know/ believe in their presence for a dying person. Also, like I said God structures it for the person. A dying Protestant might be expecting to see Jesus, not St. Joseph; perhaps God is giving them what they best understand and relate to. By contrast, if I have a lifelong devotion to Mother Mary then of course she will be there when I die because I am hoping and wanting to see her. And if she has been with me all during my life, then why would she suddenly not be there when I am dying and need her the most?

I would suggest if God has given you some consolation already in letting you know where your daughter is, don’t bother picking at or worrying about other’s personal unapproved private revelations. They are for that person, not for you.

 

[Sarcelle]

When my cousin lay dying, she told her grieving parents that she saw both Jesus and St. Michael by her bedside ready to take her home.

She was given Last Rites and after that she died.

She was only 11.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Maybe it varies from person to person and/or how far in the journey you get, before you come back. In my mother’s NDE, she only saw her angel and the light. But I’ve read people reporting making it all the way to a glorious city with rivers, gardens and all.

 

[Dimmesdale]

For many years I have been interested in NDEs and other phenomena.

It isn’t always easy to see them from a Catholic perspective though, which is the perspective I have now. There are some qualities of the NDE which seem to whitewash the heavier and harder aspects of Christianity. Some NDErs for example, claim that sin is not real, or that it is downplayed to a significant extent in the experience of Light. Others mention things like reincarnation, or that all of life is “one” without any meaningful distinction, that everything is “God”, essentially pantheism. These things have to be addressed as they are inconsistent given what Christianity and Catholicism teach. So I think NDEs have to be carefully assessed before we jump on board with what a given witness reports, as being true. They may be interesting and fun to read/listen to, but we cannot leave our logical and critical faculties at the door. We absolutely cannot accept everything people report as real, no matter how convicted they might be.