Will near death experience accounts cause Christianity to find common ground with other religions?

[DennisTate]

Would you say this includes ideas about "the Creator"?

Absolutely............. I think that all of us..... .myself included.... tend to think of the Creator as being strangely like us..... ourselves. If we are proud..... we will tend to see the Creator as Proud....... If we are critical and judgemental of others.... .we will tend to see that characteristic in the Creator.

Former Atheist Howard Storm..... was utterly shocked to receive Unconditional Love from the being of light that he met during his NDE...... because he saw himself as no better than the mob of former humans who had became like demons who he met in the first part of his NDE.

Based on the book "Hungry Ghosts" by Joe Fisher I really think that that mob that Howard met sure sounds like the Hungry Ghosts of Buddhism.... that Joe Fisher got the idea of the title of his book from.

 

[Rawtheran]

I am thinking that the answer to this question is Yes.....
because no matter what nation or belief system somebody has before their brush with death they often experience an out of the body experience......... a Life Review..... meeting previously deceased relatives in that out of the body state...... and afterward they tend to fear death much less.


2 Corinthians 12

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven.

3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth), 4 how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Near Death Experiences of people who have encountered the one true God can absolutely help you come closer to God! NDE's for me helped to answer many questions I had about Heaven and brought about many great realizations about God's word. However be sure to use great discernment when reading NDE's because some people tell fake stories in order to preach a certain ideology or to prove that theyir theology is the only right one because "God told them so." There are also many cases where people have encountered Satan during a NDE and this has left them with a false belief in who Jesus really is. If you want great example of real and authentic NDE's I would suggest reading Howard Storm's My Descent Into Death or Don Piper's 30 Minutes in Heaven.

 

[DennisTate]

Near Death Experiences of people who have encountered the one true God can absolutely help you come closer to God! NDE's for me helped to answer many questions I had about Heaven and brought about many great realizations about God's word. However be sure to use great discernment when reading NDE's because some people tell fake stories in order to preach a certain ideology or to prove that theyir theology is the only right one because "God told them so." There are also many cases where people have encountered Satan during a NDE and this has left them with a false belief in who Jesus really is. If you want great example of real and authentic NDE's I would suggest reading Howard Storm's My Descent Into Death or Don Piper's 30 Minutes in Heaven.

Yes... I have read both My Descent Into Death as well as Don Piper's book.

I absolute agree with your idea to be careful... ...... having studied these accounts for 28 years I came to the conclusion that the Life Review part of an NDE puts them into a much, much, much higher category:

Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, Baruch Chapter 6

6] For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls."

Matthew chapter 4 may have been merely an out of the body experience..... rather than a full fledged near death experience... and who does Rabbi Yeshua - Jesus - Issa meet? The Tempter!

Matthew 4

 

[Rawtheran]

Yes... I have read both My Descent Into Death as well as Don Piper's book.

I absolute agree with your idea to be careful... ...... having studied these accounts for 28 years I came to the conclusion that the Life Review part of an NDE puts them into a much, much, much higher category:

Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, Baruch Chapter 6

6] For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls."

Matthew chapter 4 may have been merely an out of the body experience..... rather than a full fledged near death experience... and who does Rabbi Yeshua - Jesus - Issa meet? The Tempter!

Matthew 4

28 years?! My good sir it is I who must ask you for your advice and expertise!

 

[ananda]

Absolutely............. I think that all of us..... .myself included.... tend to think of the Creator as being strangely like us..... ourselves. If we are proud..... we will tend to see the Creator as Proud....... If we are critical and judgemental of others.... .we will tend to see that characteristic in the Creator.

Former Atheist Howard Storm..... was utterly shocked to receive Unconditional Love from the being of light that he met during his NDE...... because he saw himself as no better than the mob of former humans who had became like demons who he met in the first part of his NDE.

Based on the book "Hungry Ghosts" by Joe Fisher I really think that that mob that Howard met sure sounds like the Hungry Ghosts of Buddhism.... that Joe Fisher got the idea of the title of his book from.

Agreed, that sounds alot like an experience of the Maha Brahma deva & of the petas in Buddhism.

 

[DennisTate]

Agreed, that sounds alot like an experience of the Maha Brahma deva & of the petas in Buddhism.

Wow!!!!

 

[DennisTate]

28 years?! My good sir it is I who must ask you for your advice and expertise!

Thank you....... but the whole experience has been profoundly humbling.

Back in 1988 I was a member in good standing in the Worldwide Church of God began by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. We were convinced that we were the best of the best of the best of the best of Christianity.......... but as I began to study these NDE accounts I had to admit to error after error after error after error on my own part. The first major doctrinal error that I had to admit to was a challenging one because I had interpreted the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation in the light of the doctrine of Soul Sleep but even after reading Life After Life by Dr. Raymond Moody I had to admit that our understanding of the scriptures related to the state of the dead was obviously terribly in error.

We thought that the dead had essentially zero consciousness until their appropriate resurrection. The Dead in Messiah at the fulfillment of I Corinthians 15.... and the rest of the dead at the end of the one thousand year reign of Messiah and his saints over the earth.........
We were way, way, way off on that:

Dr. George Ritchie's Near-Death Experience

c. His Experience of the "Receiving Station"

Jesus then takes Ritchie to another realm and is shown a kind of "receiving station" where spirits would arrive in a deep hypnotic sleep because of a particular religious belief they held to be true. Here there were "angels" trying to arouse them and help them realize, "God is truly a God of the living and that they did not have to lie around sleeping until Gabriel or someone came along blowing on a horn." These are the spirits of people who believe they must sleep in their grave until the second coming of Christ (i.e., soul sleep.)

Strangely enough...... my present condition of knowing that I know essentially NOTHING seems to be a far, far, far, far better place than where I was at back in 1988 when I was convinced that we had the plan of G-d for humanity and the Jewish and Christian scriptures pretty well figured out!

It sure makes it easier to have a more positive and uplifting conversation with people that is for sure!

Back in 1988 I could not have had a conversation like this with my Roman Catholic friends:
Your Purgatory idea seems more accurate than heaven vs hell?

 

[NBB]

And the times where doctors or scientists have collected cases where people saw the doctors operating them when dead, and describe to them after the things they did etc.

I think some scientists think because of this that conciousness keeps going after death somehow, they try to explain it, but we christians know that we have a soul and spirit.

 

[DennisTate]

And the times where doctors or scientists have collected cases where people saw the doctors operating them when dead, and describe to them after the things they did etc.

I think some scientists think because of this that conciousness keeps going after death somehow, they try to explain it, but we christians know that we have a soul and spirit.

Yes... I read about this phenomena way back in 1989 in an article in Psychology Today.

 

[Robban]

And the times where doctors or scientists have collected cases where people saw the doctors operating them when dead, and describe to them after the things they did etc.

I think some scientists think because of this that conciousness keeps going after death somehow, they try to explain it, but we christians know that we have a soul and spirit.

Why were they operating on a corpse?

 

[NBB]

Why were they operating on a corpse?

Some procedure where the patient died and came back... or not a surgery maybe something else.

 

[Robban]

Some procedure where the patient died and came back... or not a surgery maybe something else.

Does that tally in any way with John 11:1-27?

and so on.

 

[DennisTate]

Why were they operating on a corpse?

The 1989 or 1990 article in Psychology Today went into cases of how exactly certain patients were resuscitated after flat-lining. People who reported an out of the body experience...... but had no background in modern medicine were polled and they were amazingly accurate in describing how they were revived whereas people who had a background in medicine..... but who did NOT report an out of the body experience....... were very inaccurate in describing the exact procedures used to revive them.

 

[Robban]

The 1989 or 1990 article in Psychology Today went into cases of how exactly certain patients were resuscitated after flat-lining. People who reported an out of the body experience...... but had no background in modern medicine were poll and they were amazingly accurate in describing how they were revived whereas people who had a background in medicine..... but who did NOT report an out of the body experience....... were very inaccurate in describing the exact procedures used to revive them.

The late Rebbe of righteous memory, after his first heart failure or there maybe another word for it,
in any case after coming home again though not without one of those heartmachine things, know what they are called but
cannot find it now.

Anyhow he was at a gathering, connected to the machine which was placed on the floor above with an attendant watching it.

Suddenly it stopped sending blip blips.
the attendant alarmed that the Rebbes heart had stoppedd beating,
rushed down the stairs and stopped in his tracks.

The Rebbe was alive and talking to the gathered.

 

[DennisTate]

Does that tally in any way with John 11:1-27?

and so on.

Absolutely...... I don't know this for certain but the comments in
2 Corinthians 12

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven.

3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth), 4 how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

have me wondering if the Apostle Paul might perhaps have spoken with Lazarus????

Or.... was he referring to himself perhaps after he had been stoned and appeared to be dead at Lystra????

Act 14:19 "....... who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead."

Now I may be wrong but by the time the Apostle Paul wrote Romans chapters 9 - 11 it is possible that he felt comfortable enough with some troubling ideas that he began to explain them publicly....... whereas at the time he wrote 2 Corinthians he just could not bring himself to go into what he had been shown:

Christian Forums

For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; 26 and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 And this is my covenant unto them, When I shall take away their sins.

For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

35 or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

36 For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him [be] the glory for ever. Amen.

If the Apostle Paul himself did in fact have a near death experience..... (or out of the body experience)....... then it is common for experiencers to be unwilling to even attempt to explain what they were shown for around ten years until they somewhat digest the magnitude of the experience.

 

[Robban]

From, (cannot recall) a Sage/s,

Truth never dies.

In our eyes we see death,
a body is buried in the ground

and we must mourn the loss.

But, this is only part of the falsness of our world.

In the world of truth, they are still here as before.

Those who are one with truth do not die, they pass on.

They are still here as before,
they are still working in the world, only more so.


Jacob and Moses never died since truth cannot die,
niether could they.

 

[DennisTate]

The late Rebbe of righteous memory, after his first heart failure or there maybe another word for it,
in any case after coming home again though not without one of those heartmachine things, know what they are called but
cannot find it now.

Anyhow he was at a gathering, connected to the machine which was placed on the floor above with an attendant watching it.

Suddenly it stopped sending blip blips.
the attendant alarmed that the Rebbes heart had stoppedd beating,
rushed down the stairs and stopped in his tracks.

The Rebbe was alive and talking to the gathered.

Do you mean Rebbe Schneerson?

Menachem Mendel Schneerson - Wikipedia

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902 OS – June 12, 1994 / AM 11 Nissan 5662 – 3 Tammuz 5754), known to many as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply as the Rebbe,[2][3] was a Russian Empire–born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and the last rebbe of the Lubavitcher Hasidic dynasty. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.[4][5][6][7]

 

[Robban]

Do you mean Rebbe Schneerson?

Menachem Mendel Schneerson - Wikipedia

Yes.

Rebbe-Master, Torah teacher,

Since the founding of the Chassidic movement the term "Rebbe" has been used primarly to refer to the leaders of Chassidic groups.

Today "the Rebbe" is often a reference to Rabbi Menachem M Schneerson the Lubavitch Rebbe of righteous memory.


Lubavitch, a town in White Russia meaning "Brotherly love"

 

[Eyes wide Open]

No I don’t think they will generally, although I’m sure it will help some, as you yourself have stated. I find NDE’s interesting, I believe the resultant experiences are a reflection of the persons psychology mixed with guidance, much like life really.

 

[Tolworth John]

Jesus free to appear to another people other than the original disciples?

To be pedantic, Jesus does not appear to most people who become Christians, if you mean a visible or supernatural appearance.

But what you have to explain is how did Cghristianity spread across the roman empire and has spread across most of the world, influencing most cultures.

Jesus and the belief in a risen Jesus that has driven Christianity to every place its reached and to be such an influence on society.

Do you know what did this?

The reality and power of Jesus to transform lives did it.
Today if Christians lived as Christian, if they loved as the early church did we would see Christianity changing todays society as dramaticly as it did in roman times.