Are people who have near death experiences false prophets

[DennisTate]

The "thing" that has always stuck in my mind when reading about these NdEs is that they characteristically do not deal with "the afterlife." They deal only with the few minutes after the person in question has apparently died and before he recovers to tell what he saw. It never gets to the pearly gates or what hell is like, etc.

However, there have been some people lately who have written books about lengthier stays in heaven or hell or somewhere like that...and these are not what NdEs used to mean. These seem to me to violate the term Near death experiences.

I am listening to a Christian near death experiencer right now who does what I think is an impressive job of explaining how the church is soon to recapture the power and the zeal that was there in the Book of Acts.

 

[CherubRam]

I'm concerned near death experiences are deceptions used by the devil to turn people into false prophets here are the reasons why

1. Ndes themselves contradict the Bible
2. The ones who have ndes usually become less religious
3. They also gain psychic powers

The problem with the NDE is that it can be real or imagined. As for the Bible, the translators do not always do a good job translating. As for all that matters, a spirit of discernment is what is required. Are you able to DISCRIMINATE between good and evil?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I'm concerned near death experiences are deceptions used by the devil to turn people into false prophets here are the reasons why

1. Ndes themselves contradict the Bible
2. The ones who have ndes usually become less religious
3. They also gain psychic powers

Not necessarily false prophets, although that's possible. False teachers and prophets often take their 'story' and run with it, for lots of money / power/ of course (like the rapture theory from 1830 something....)

As you noted,
they become false witnesses with false messages.

They may of course repent, make amends to those deceived by them, and not say anything more about the 'experience'.

Like any (or most ) sin, forgiveness should be available upon true repentance.

 

[Arthra]

I'm concerned near death experiences are deceptions used by the devil to turn people into false prophets here are the reasons why

When I volunteered in the local hospital under the chaplain I would visit patients and I happened to visit a man who personally reported to me that he had a near death experience. I was supportive of him and encouraged him to tell me more about it.

He told me he was a carpenter by trade and not interested in religion in the past nor had he studied anything about the supernatural. He said after his experience he was no longer afraid of death.

He described a light that he felt drawn to and that it filled him with warmth and love.

I asked him if he would be willing to share his experience with others as it was beautiful for him.

He replied that he had talked with a man who also had a near death experience and that the man told him not to share it as some would say it was merely a chemical reaction or that they would say it was induced by drugs.

I believe near death experiences are more common than we know of publically or in medical records.

 

[Albion]

Thanks for that information. I wouldn't dispute for a minute your statement that NDEs are more common than are usually thought, but the kind you describe appear to me to be the most common and the least persuasive. That is to say that they MAY show us the process by which the soul moves into the afterlife. BUT they may also be explained by reference to the breakdown of brain function, etc., which is what skeptics usually say.

That is why I have been most interested in the NDEs that are of a different sort, those that involve the person relaying sights and experiences that can be verified but for which there is no explanation of how that person could possibly have known what they reported.

 

[Arthra]

Thanks for that information. I wouldn't dispute for a minute your statement that NDEs are more common than are usually thought, but the kind you describe appear to me to be the most common and the least persuasive. That is to say that they MAY show us the process by which the soul moves into the afterlife. BUT they may also be explained by reference to the breakdown of brain function, etc., which is what skeptics usually say.

That is why I have been most interested in the NDEs that are of a different sort, those that involve the person relaying sights and experiences that can be verified but for which there is no explanation of how that person could possibly have known what they reported.

I don't know from what I've seen what is "least persuasive" but I do know that this man I talked with had very little interest in the after-life or the supernatural or religious experience per se before and the experience changed him.

Since this thread is on the near death experience I'd like to post a video of a person who explains her experience of an NDE from a Baha'i background named Renee Pasarow so we can share her experience:

 

[Albion]

I'm not sure if this point deserves any further explanation, but when I said some are the "least persuasive" (to me), I meant that the usual reply from the "science explains everything" crowd is that the experiences are just brain wave activity, so I am more interested in the reported experiences that cannot be explained away with that kind of answer.

 

[SolomonVII]

I'm not sure if this point deserves any further explanation, but when I said some are the "least persuasive" (to me), I meant that the usual reply from the "science explains everything" crowd is that the experiences are just brain wave activity, so I am more interested in the reported experiences that cannot be explained away with that kind of answer.

What kind of brain activity exists after the brain stops generating waves anyway? Is it like hair continuing to grow from the corpse?

Okay so I looked it up, and this is what I found

............
Dr. Richard Strassman of the University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, for instance, contends that the pineal gland releases the chemical Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which brings on hallucinations, though he wasn't able to reproduce the effect in most of his test subjects when he administered DMT to them. But then again, lack of evidence should never get in the way of a good theory.

Brain Functions Even After Death

 

[Albion]

That's more or less what I was referring to. Many have said that these experiences of seeing light, appearing to meet loved ones,feeling drawn upwards, and so on, are the consequence of neurons exploding, or something like that, which is what happens when the body/brain dies.

I'm not a scientist, but that's the rough idea and I don't discount it out of hand.

HOWEVER, when a person who reports an NDE tells of conversation heard in another part of the hospital and describes rooms, furnishings, etc. in the remoter parts of the building which he or she has never visited in life, I don't know how that can be accounted for. I do not say that I am convinced, but I don't now what the answer can be.