Ex-skeptic discovers evidence for Jesus, NDE encounters

Gary Habermas wrote a chapter on NDEs in a book I've been reading the past few months called Minding the Brain. Interesting stuff, though I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in it personally. Not due to my own skepticism, but simply because we can't systematically study the matter so skeptics will always find some preferable "natural" alternative no matter how veridical the accounts may appear. Reason tends to kick in after the fact, rather than serving to cause a change of mind.

I happen to have studied the NDE phenomenon for 50 years and to have been a member of IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies). NDEs very broadly line up with Scripture. Very few, and practically none of the most convincing ones, are explicitly Christian. It is far more common for a fundamentalist Christian to move away from such beliefs after an NDE than for an NDEr who wasn't a fundamentalist or evangelical to move toward such beliefs. Many NDErs, of course, integrate their NDEs into their preexisting religious beliefs - be they Christian, Buddhist or Hindu. One woman I knew well had two profound NDEs but was an in-your-face atheist (about 15% of atheists do believe in an afterlife). Gary Habermas emphasizes the importance of NDEs as potential evidence for the survival of consciousness and as being broadly consistent with Christian beliefs, but he doesn't fall into the trap of arguing they are evidence Christianity is true vis-a-vis other theistic religions. He is not, moreover, a serious NDE researcher like Bruce Greyson. Bruce Greyson / Author of After, and Expert in Near-Death Experiences

I have literally never heard of the pastor in the linked article - and believe me, if he were involved in NDE research I would've heard of him. When the article says "he’s studied nearly '1,500 cases of clinical death and resuscitation'" it has to mean "he's read a lot of books and articles" (like me!). The negative Amazon reviews of his book suggest he does exactly what Habermas avoids - i.e., cherry-picks NDEs, interprets them through a fundamentalist lens, and force-fits them into his preexisting theology. As broad support for Christianity, NDEs are valuable; as evidence Christianity is true or uniquely true, not so much. As evidence fundamentalism is true, not at all.

I will add: The one really compelling aspect of NDEs - one that no skeptical theory can explain in mundane terms - is the fact that when the NDEr encounters relatives, friends or acquaintances, they are DECEASED relatives, friends and acquaintances 99% of the time. In some well-documented cases, the NDEr didn't know the person was dead. In others, the NDEr didn't even recognize the person until the identity was determined through family photos. In many, many cases, those who were encountered were not those whom the NDEr might logically have "expected" to encounter (meaning they weren't the closest deceased relatives or friends). It is very difficult to think of a mundane explanation for this aspect of the phenomenon.

I have had several (and have written about) what are called After-Death Communications. These follow the same pattern - i.e., it is impossible to predict who will communicate via an ADC and who will not.

Oh, yes, I know - it's all demonic. There - beat ya to it, so save your breath.

HBP said:

Gary Habermas emphasizes the importance of NDEs as potential evidence for the survival of consciousness and as being broadly consistent with Christian beliefs, but he doesn't fall into the trap of arguing they are evidence Christianity is true vis-a-vis other theistic religions.

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Yeah, that was pretty much the contribution the chapter made to the book, which is primarily aimed at countering physicalist theories of mind.