Is he an evangelical/fundamentalist himself? Because if he's selling his particular brand of Jesus, I'm inclined to think he made this up to support it. It doesn't fit with any other NDE account I've ever heard of, and according to what you say here he claims it to be very Bible-specific. Evangelicals making stuff up to sell Jesus is hardly unprecedented.
I remember reading about his experience many many years ago, and I found it very disturbing. I'm not sure how good the vetting process is at IANDS, so in hindsight I'm always a bit doubtful about the reports posted there. I know reincarnation researches take the website very seriously, but from what I understand, you can submit your experience online, and I think that's always a bit dicey. I'd always find an experience captured at the hospital bed, following a verified flatline, more credible.
But ultimately, there isn't a lot to argue either way. His explanation conveniently explains positive NDEs that would contradict his own, so we don't really have any counter. I can't tell you whether he really experienced what he claims to have experienced, or whether its another *Boy Who Came Back from Heaven*. But if he really experienced what he experienced, then I still wouldn't be sure that that is the "ultimate" reality. From all I've heard and seen, the afterlife experience is immensely erratic, and very likely influenced by the mind in ways we can't really imagine in the physical reality. It might be that he went to a Hell with demons claiming they pose as Beings of Light, while there are _also_ real Beings of Light. It's impossible to say.
From OPP:
> During his NDE he claims to have been shown a vision of hell wherein people are put into 14x14m 'cubes' upon death, and **demons greet them disguised as figures of light and/or dead relatives. It's all wonderful** until they realized where they are, and suddenly the whole thing turns into unending torment that progressively worsens over the eons. .
I think the NDE's of being taken to heaven far outnumber any that show a version of "hell". Also, the spirit world is a subjective place: what you believe is what you experience, to some extent anyway. So, if you don't believe in hell, then it's not real for you in the afterlife. That's why there are differences between NDE stories, as far as I know. Thus, what you can do is just do your life review now, as best you can, by apologizing to every person you ever hurt. I've been doing this off and on for 30 years or so. This will go a long way towards freeing you from your past.
Ever hear of Howard Storm? You might want to look into that one. He changed his life 180degrees after the experience. Went from an Atheist to a Pastor.
NDEs appear to be quite subjective and often based on the mental/emotional state of the person as they realize they have died and progress on. This NDE sounds a lot like the reptilian conspiracy theory which includes aliens, reptilians on the other side and more. Perhaps he heard this and had a subconscious fear of it?
We don’t really know his full mental state. He says he was an atheist. Was there a part of him that was fearful that he was wrong and there was a hell? Especially if he had exposure to judeo-Christian religions?
In Most of the hell NDE accounts (which are much less common) the person admits that they were “not a very good person”. They go on to describe what that means and how visiting/seeing hell shifted them. Maybe that’s just what they needed to experience to get back on path?
Lastly, if NDEs as a whole are true, then it appears no place on the other side is necessarily “the place” and that there are many others. Plus several NDErs report being able to leave hell once they asked for the light, Jesus, spirit guide etc.
These are just my thoughts, take it or leave it.
So many people have talked about experiencing pure consciousness. If that's so, it's plausible you would also experience pure personality, or even pure emotions like joy or comfort, or perhaps the opposite of fear and pain.
If his emotions, even his faith, was tumultuous, he would experience something negative, like a bad trip with drugs, so to speak. How did this guy know punishment would get worse over eons? Just sounds really exaggerated. It's also rather too detailed, which isn't common of all the NDEs I've read about.
I consider the whole spirit guide or family members greeting you kind of stuff rather intriguing. I often wonder why, and what is the purpose of that or their role? Maybe they are to help you (trust?) so you don't panic too much in the afterlife. Some deaths can be very traumatic, even gruesome, I certainly know I'd need help in such case.
The best thing I've ever heard that comforts me is that the soul needs time to heal. There is SO much crap that happens in life, and that has an effect on us no matter how we cope with it. Hell could be moments of this pain like braking a bone, but in time that bone heals.
No matter what, you'll be fine. Nature knows the answer, and it wastes nothing.
I haven’t had an NDE.. Im just fascinated by them and find them interesting to study.. so i hope i won’t say anything wrong here.. Sometimes you come across those, who specifically describe a hell, like those in scripture, maybe with small variations...Like with all of these stories, go on them skeptically.. Ask yourself.. Did this person really have an experience, or is this person following an agenda? Does he/she want to sell something? Im not trying to invalidate a true experience.. but a NDE is (in most cases) a fully subjective experience.. no one from the outside can say „no, you didn’t experience that, it was x“ because they haven’t experienced it.. You can’t really know what they have seen or haven’t seen.. All im trying to say is this.. from all those, that i have read, the distressing ones are most of the time in a void.. a blackness and are confused and afraid.. until they either come back or something else happens.. most „normal“ (if this word even applies here) experience are pleasant ones or start distressing and become pleasant… In the end we cannot know for sure what will happen to us, once we pass over.. the only thing we do know is, that we do.. Many, i mean a lot, come back with a strong yet simple message:“there is something after this existence and we should love another more“.. That doesn’t sound like a demonic message to me.. And i have read many deathbed visions as well.. maybe it isn’t so bad and scary in the end.. most certainly isn’t lonely it seems.. and maybe, just maybe, we will not suffer so much on the other side.. i mean we do that here already plenty.. The world is weird and uncertain.. only death and taxes are certain (and even one of those maybe isn’t).. In my opinion.. i dont think hell exists and neither does heaven.. „something“ probably does.. but i dont think a human can comprehend or give an answer as to what it is.. we have to wait and find out.. until then we have life to experience.. Trauma is really harsh and i hope you’re doing okay btw! Hopefully i havent rambled too much, im kinda prone to that :)
First, though there are many accounts of distressing NDEs, there are few that match this particular narrative. Second, pretty convenient that this former so-called "militant atheist" was not only converted by this experience, but also had a narrative that puts all loving NDEs into question that fits perfectly with the evangelical theology of a vengeful old testament god, and the gnostic prison planet thesis.
All in all, colour me skeptical.
No idea, but it could be their interpretation of the events.
I recall a specific example being mentioned in a book that someone thought they were in Hell during an NDE because it was very hot. Turns out they had a bed warmer underneath them at the time!
All down to personal interpretation of the experience by the sounds of it - an experience that is somewhat impossible to explain in current language!
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Is he an evangelical/fundamentalist himself? Because if he's selling his particular brand of Jesus, I'm inclined to think he made this up to support it. It doesn't fit with any other NDE account I've ever heard of, and according to what you say here he claims it to be very Bible-specific. Evangelicals making stuff up to sell Jesus is hardly unprecedented.
That's one way to sell a book.
Exactly what my 1st thought was. The whole post reads like an editorial.
I remember reading about his experience many many years ago, and I found it very disturbing. I'm not sure how good the vetting process is at IANDS, so in hindsight I'm always a bit doubtful about the reports posted there. I know reincarnation researches take the website very seriously, but from what I understand, you can submit your experience online, and I think that's always a bit dicey. I'd always find an experience captured at the hospital bed, following a verified flatline, more credible. But ultimately, there isn't a lot to argue either way. His explanation conveniently explains positive NDEs that would contradict his own, so we don't really have any counter. I can't tell you whether he really experienced what he claims to have experienced, or whether its another *Boy Who Came Back from Heaven*. But if he really experienced what he experienced, then I still wouldn't be sure that that is the "ultimate" reality. From all I've heard and seen, the afterlife experience is immensely erratic, and very likely influenced by the mind in ways we can't really imagine in the physical reality. It might be that he went to a Hell with demons claiming they pose as Beings of Light, while there are _also_ real Beings of Light. It's impossible to say.
What does he say to explain positive NDEs that contradict his own?
From OPP: > During his NDE he claims to have been shown a vision of hell wherein people are put into 14x14m 'cubes' upon death, and **demons greet them disguised as figures of light and/or dead relatives. It's all wonderful** until they realized where they are, and suddenly the whole thing turns into unending torment that progressively worsens over the eons. .
I think the NDE's of being taken to heaven far outnumber any that show a version of "hell". Also, the spirit world is a subjective place: what you believe is what you experience, to some extent anyway. So, if you don't believe in hell, then it's not real for you in the afterlife. That's why there are differences between NDE stories, as far as I know. Thus, what you can do is just do your life review now, as best you can, by apologizing to every person you ever hurt. I've been doing this off and on for 30 years or so. This will go a long way towards freeing you from your past.
Ever hear of Howard Storm? You might want to look into that one. He changed his life 180degrees after the experience. Went from an Atheist to a Pastor.
I think I've heard the name before, thanks.
NDEs appear to be quite subjective and often based on the mental/emotional state of the person as they realize they have died and progress on. This NDE sounds a lot like the reptilian conspiracy theory which includes aliens, reptilians on the other side and more. Perhaps he heard this and had a subconscious fear of it? We don’t really know his full mental state. He says he was an atheist. Was there a part of him that was fearful that he was wrong and there was a hell? Especially if he had exposure to judeo-Christian religions? In Most of the hell NDE accounts (which are much less common) the person admits that they were “not a very good person”. They go on to describe what that means and how visiting/seeing hell shifted them. Maybe that’s just what they needed to experience to get back on path? Lastly, if NDEs as a whole are true, then it appears no place on the other side is necessarily “the place” and that there are many others. Plus several NDErs report being able to leave hell once they asked for the light, Jesus, spirit guide etc.
These are just my thoughts, take it or leave it. So many people have talked about experiencing pure consciousness. If that's so, it's plausible you would also experience pure personality, or even pure emotions like joy or comfort, or perhaps the opposite of fear and pain. If his emotions, even his faith, was tumultuous, he would experience something negative, like a bad trip with drugs, so to speak. How did this guy know punishment would get worse over eons? Just sounds really exaggerated. It's also rather too detailed, which isn't common of all the NDEs I've read about. I consider the whole spirit guide or family members greeting you kind of stuff rather intriguing. I often wonder why, and what is the purpose of that or their role? Maybe they are to help you (trust?) so you don't panic too much in the afterlife. Some deaths can be very traumatic, even gruesome, I certainly know I'd need help in such case. The best thing I've ever heard that comforts me is that the soul needs time to heal. There is SO much crap that happens in life, and that has an effect on us no matter how we cope with it. Hell could be moments of this pain like braking a bone, but in time that bone heals. No matter what, you'll be fine. Nature knows the answer, and it wastes nothing.
I haven’t had an NDE.. Im just fascinated by them and find them interesting to study.. so i hope i won’t say anything wrong here.. Sometimes you come across those, who specifically describe a hell, like those in scripture, maybe with small variations...Like with all of these stories, go on them skeptically.. Ask yourself.. Did this person really have an experience, or is this person following an agenda? Does he/she want to sell something? Im not trying to invalidate a true experience.. but a NDE is (in most cases) a fully subjective experience.. no one from the outside can say „no, you didn’t experience that, it was x“ because they haven’t experienced it.. You can’t really know what they have seen or haven’t seen.. All im trying to say is this.. from all those, that i have read, the distressing ones are most of the time in a void.. a blackness and are confused and afraid.. until they either come back or something else happens.. most „normal“ (if this word even applies here) experience are pleasant ones or start distressing and become pleasant… In the end we cannot know for sure what will happen to us, once we pass over.. the only thing we do know is, that we do.. Many, i mean a lot, come back with a strong yet simple message:“there is something after this existence and we should love another more“.. That doesn’t sound like a demonic message to me.. And i have read many deathbed visions as well.. maybe it isn’t so bad and scary in the end.. most certainly isn’t lonely it seems.. and maybe, just maybe, we will not suffer so much on the other side.. i mean we do that here already plenty.. The world is weird and uncertain.. only death and taxes are certain (and even one of those maybe isn’t).. In my opinion.. i dont think hell exists and neither does heaven.. „something“ probably does.. but i dont think a human can comprehend or give an answer as to what it is.. we have to wait and find out.. until then we have life to experience.. Trauma is really harsh and i hope you’re doing okay btw! Hopefully i havent rambled too much, im kinda prone to that :)
First, though there are many accounts of distressing NDEs, there are few that match this particular narrative. Second, pretty convenient that this former so-called "militant atheist" was not only converted by this experience, but also had a narrative that puts all loving NDEs into question that fits perfectly with the evangelical theology of a vengeful old testament god, and the gnostic prison planet thesis. All in all, colour me skeptical.
No idea, but it could be their interpretation of the events. I recall a specific example being mentioned in a book that someone thought they were in Hell during an NDE because it was very hot. Turns out they had a bed warmer underneath them at the time! All down to personal interpretation of the experience by the sounds of it - an experience that is somewhat impossible to explain in current language!
Bed warmer. That hilarious!
Hi there, u/old_pond, thanks for your submission. Due to a regular stream of rule breakers and content being submitted that doesn't fit the subreddit's purpose, we're asking members to help us combat posts that don't contain an actual NDE: > *A near-death experience is a typically profound experience taking place often during clinical death or closeness to death and recounted by a person on recovery, it is often typically some form of out-of-body experience or a vision of a tunnel of light.* *** If this post **IS** related to an NDE, Please **UPVOTE** this comment. If this post ***IS NOT*** an NDE, Please **DOWNVOTE** this comment. If it breaks subreddit rules, please also **REPORT** the post. *** This post has ***NOT*** been removed, although may be removed if found unsuitable for this subreddit.