What the heck... I may as well put in my two bob's worth.
I've had a number of spiritual experiences of various sorts. The night my father died he appeared in my room. He started with an apology for 23 years of cruelty up to that point, we argued and conversed, and at the end he gave this absolutely terrifying scream, and then just disappeared. That was in January 1979. I was an atheist at the time incidentally, and I still remember much of what we said, and in particular the scream. I could also focus on him, or see through him.
There's been three "double whammies" - like a breath going through you in waves from head to foot, very strong, very pronounced and they certainly didn't come from me. Each time, and every time, they were used to highlight a phrase being spoken by somebody else and I still remember those three phrases to this day (even though they all took part starting around Chistmas 1983 and were completed sometime in the following year) for that reason - I don't know how many Protestant sermons or Catholic homilies (call them what you will) that I've heard over the years, and I've forgotten them by and large, but I remember these particular phrases word for word 33 years later.
Other things - demonic interludes like a heavy pressure at night, a sense of peace when some Christians die (very pronounced the night my old pastor died - it went on for a good half an hour), tingles (which I'm a bit cynical about), and events that I think go way over being coincidental.
Then there's the witness of other Christians. I see a Catholic psychiatrist from time to time, originally due to depression, but these days it's more of a chin-wag. He's told me a couple of stories of his own, but about 3 months ago he said to me "Something strange happened last weekend".
He was attending a church at Indooroopilly, a northern suburb in Brisbane. He was at the evening mass when the priest announced that a parisioner had died that morning. It also happened this particular lady was or had been one of the psychiatrist's clients. He continued "She was in the church". He said she appeared to him and seemed to be trying to get his attention. As with my father on the night he died, he said he could focus on her or see through her, but it was definitely her. She seemed to give up after a while, and moved across to the other side of the church. He thought she had some relatives on the other side of the church, so maybe she wanted to see them.
There's been a number of spiritual occurrences, but to be honest, when I read these accounts that someone has visited heaven, I get a bit cynical. There's never any mention of judgment - just all sweetness and light. I remember my father's scream of terror, and he was a World War II vet, and didn't scare that easily. Yet he was terrified to the core.
There's a judgment all right.
