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

[DennisTate]

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.

You are correct and I personally take the idea of some sort of Awakening happening even in our time period very, very, very seriously!

2018 outpouring, are you feeling it? I am!

Are you feeling an outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
Edit

1. *
   Yes
   6 vote(s)
   31.6%
2. 
   Not yet..... but I am looking forward to it. I know it is coming.
   3 vote(s)
   15.8%
3. 
   No
   7 vote(s)
   36.8%
4. 
   I do not believe that anything like Acts 2 will happen again until Jesus is here.
   3 vote(s)
   15.8%

Change Your Vote

 

[DennisTate]

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.

True...... and what has astonished me is how an Atheist can seem to have a somewhat more positive near death experience than many religious people seem to have.

Atheist Mellen Thomas Benedict was shocked to find his consciousness outside of his body during his NDE..... He sees this glimmer of light...... assumes that that light being would be somewhat like his favourite professors and teachers so he courageously goes to the being of light and starts asking questions.

This Atheist is shown an explanation for the history of the universe that corresponds amazingly well with chapter thirteen of "Stephen Hawking's Universe" entitled 'The Anthropic Principle.'

Mellen-Thomas Benedict's Near-Death Experience

5. The Void

At this point of my near-death experience, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity. I was in the Void.



I was in pre creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the beginning of time / the First Word/the First vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if I was touching the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness. When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That’s a mind-expanding thought, isn’t it? Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event that created the Universe. I saw during my life after death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.

I am hoping that Christianity will even take several steps toward Atheists and Agnostics because IF... we Christians.... are at least somewhat open to the idea of G-d / HaShem learning and getting better and better and better at creating worlds, and humans and angels and squirrels and penguins over time...... as G-d works and works and works..... and then rests as well...... then this is a bit like the idea of G-d "Evolving" which could fit in nicely with an Adam and Eve pair being created...... and before them millions if not billions of angels.......
one of whom may well have attempted a coup?!

 

[The Gryphon]

Near death experiences are often debunked, as far as I know.

I am one of those that have experienced a near death experience. I know sceptics dismiss them and honestly I don't care. Having experienced so many miracles in my life I have witnessed the reality of G_d working His will on earth. I also do not fear death any longer but look forward to being with my Lord.

 

[DennisTate]

I am one of those that have experienced a near death experience. I know sceptics dismiss them and honestly I don't care. Having experienced so many miracles in my life I have witnessed the reality of G_d working His will on earth. I also do not fear death any longer but look forward to being with my Lord.

Wow!!!!

Near death experiencers do tend to work in the realm of miracles after their NDE.

 

[Zoness]

I am one of those that have experienced a near death experience. I know sceptics dismiss them and honestly I don't care. Having experienced so many miracles in my life I have witnessed the reality of G_d working His will on earth. I also do not fear death any longer but look forward to being with my Lord.

That's fine and good for you, just know (as I am sure you do) that it does not qualify as evidence or experience for the rest of us so we maintain our skepticism. Have a pleasant day.

 

[servantofiam]

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.

If a near death experience draws you closer to another format of faith, then you were never grounded in the faith you previously were professing. To die is to immediately be in the presence of God (Yahweh). So, a near death experience should draw you even closer to God, not to try another path.

 

[Kaon]

Near death experiences are often debunked, as far as I know.

Who debunks them, and how?


I can see the technology being used tomorrow - with certain wave machines - but before, how could one even ascertain enough information to debunk it?

 

[DennisTate]

If a near death experience draws you closer to another format of faith, then you were never grounded in the faith you previously were professing. To die is to immediately be in the presence of God (Yahweh). So, a near death experience should draw you even closer to God, not to try another path.

Good point.... but some of us have a calling on our lives that make it challenging for us to speak in tongues and fall on the floor in convulsions. I have gone through lots and lots and lots of fire tunnels...... and I just walk right through them...... I was told by a gifted Christian woman that I had some sort of "mantle of Cyrus" whatever that is.

Isaiah 45


For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

5 I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; 6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else.

 

[DennisTate]

If a near death experience draws you closer to another format of faith, then you were never grounded in the faith you previously were professing. To die is to immediately be in the presence of God (Yahweh). So, a near death experience should draw you even closer to God, not to try another path.

The ultimate Cyrus type... is Messiah Yeshua - Jesus who often has more productive NDE conversations with Atheists.... than with His own people if they are swallowed up with guilt, un-forgiveness of others, anger, pride, etc., etc.

 

[DennisTate]

That's fine and good for you, just know (as I am sure you do) that it does not qualify as evidence or experience for the rest of us so we maintain our skepticism. Have a pleasant day.

By 1991 I considered what I had read of near death experience accounts to be sufficient evidence to suggest to the local Pastor of the Worldwide Church of God that he should dis-fellowship me because I could not remain totally silent about what i was finding out.

So your standard for evidence is different than mine because I had been a member of the Worldwide Church of God since 1979 when I was twenty... and before that a co-worker since 1973.... and reading the Plain Truth and Good News since 1972, (when I was thirteen).

i could no longer believe in the Soul Sleep doctrine after reading:
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.)

 

[DennisTate]

That's fine and good for you, just know (as I am sure you do) that it does not qualify as evidence or experience for the rest of us so we maintain our skepticism. Have a pleasant day.

What do you personally think of these details about the "mark of the beast" as shown to near death experiencer Dannion Brinkley back in 1975?

These events have been delayed in our time line but... something like this does sure seem to be hanging over us.

BOX 12: Technology & Virus

The 11th box was gone & I was into the 12th box. Its visions addressed an important event in the distant future, the decade of the 90's (remember, this was 1975), when many of the great changes would take place. In this box, I watched as a biological engineer from the Middle East found a way to alter DNA & create a biological virus that would be used in the manufacture of computer chips. This discovery allowed for huge strides in science & technology. Japan, China, & other countries of the Pacific Rim experienced boom times as a result of this discovery & became powers of incredible magnitude. Computer chips produced from this process found their way into virtually every form of technology, from cars & airplanes to vacuum cleaners & blenders.

Before the turn of the century, this man was among the richest in the world, so rich that he had a stranglehold on the world economy. Still the world welcomed him, since the computer chips he had designed somehow put the world on an even keel. Gradually, he succumbed to his own power. He began to think of himself as a deity & insisted on greater control of the world. With that extra control, he began to rule the world.

His method of rule was unique. Everyone in the world was mandated by law to have one of his computer chips inserted underneath his or her skin. This chip contained all of an individual's personal information. If a government agency wanted to know something, all it had to do was scan your chip with a special device. By doing so, it could discover everything about you, from where you worked & lived to your medical records & even what kind of illnesses you might get in the future.

There was an even more sinister side to this chip. A person's lifetime could be limited by programming this chip to dissolve & kill him with the viral substance it was made from. Lifetimes were controlled like this to avoid the cost that growing old places on the government. It was also used as a means of eliminating people with chronic illnesses that put a drain on the medical system. People who refused to have chips implanted in their bodies roamed as outcasts. They could not be employed & were denied government services." (Dannion Brinkley, Saved By The Light, chapter 5)

 

[Robban]

What do you personally think of these details about the "mark of the beast" as shown to near death experiencer Dannion Brinkley back in 1975?

These events have been delayed in our time line but... something like this does sure seem to be hanging over us.

There is one thing that is not clear,
Rev 13:16,
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,
to recieve a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.

Nothing about computer chip under the skin,
Not mandatory either, but causes,

Like a NWO my way or the highway.


There is hardly a need for a computer chip under the skin,
though could be an option.

Last time I renewed my passport they took electronic thumbprints.

But there are no thumbprints, not that are visible to the naked eye.


There is no stopping the technology train, it is going too fast
but, it is hardly a mark on the right hand or a mark on the forehead.

Or what?

 

[DennisTate]

There is one thing that is not clear,
Rev 13:16,
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,
to recieve a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.

Nothing about computer chip under the skin,
Not mandatory either, but causes,

Like a NWO my way or the highway.


There is hardly a need for a computer chip under the skin,
though could be an option.

Last time I renewed my passport they took electronic thumbprints.

But there are no thumbprints, not that are visible to the naked eye.


There is no stopping the technology train, it is going too fast
but, it is hardly a mark on the right hand or a mark on the forehead.

Or what?

My mentor Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong taught me that the "mark of the beast" was the enforcement of working on the Jewish Sabbath...... and the observance of the Day of the Sun / Sunday by the Holy Roman Empire for 1260 years during the dark ages.

Even now...... if we Christians could plead guilty...... even for the state that we were in when the M. S. St. Louis was turned away from Cuba, then Miami and then Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada we could perhaps set in motion an Artistic Mark of the Beast...... that might delay the real one by many years or even decades..... much as happened in Nineveh when Jonah preached.

 

[Robban]

My mentor Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong taught me that the "mark of the beast" was the enforcement of working on the Jewish Sabbath...... and the observance of the Day of the Sun / Sunday by the Holy Roman Empire for 1260 years during the dark ages.

Even now...... if we Christians could plead guilty...... even for the state that we were in when the M. S. St. Louis was turned away from Cuba, then Miami and then Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada we could perhaps set in motion an Artistic Mark of the Beast...... that might delay the real one by many years or even decades..... much as happened in Nineveh when Jonah preached.

Well, first I don,t hang around NT, have done but not now so much.

Specially the book of revelation, it is like chinese to me at any rate.

But, will say, when I first read about the mark, my first thoughts went to thinking and doing.

Well, have given it some thought and came up with different options,
none of which made any sense to me,

there was always a flaw somewhere.


But, one would have to be blind as a bat not to see what is happening before our eyes.

 

[Robban]

I have never voted for anyone or any party,ever.

"Be careful with the government,
for they befriend a person only for their own needs.
They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them.

But they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress."

(Ethics of the Fathers 2:3)

 

[DennisTate]

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

What do you think of the research related to NDE's?The Institute for Afterlife Research - Dutch Study

 

[ananda]

What do you think of the research related to NDE's?The Institute for Afterlife Research - Dutch Study

It is not incompatible with Buddhist perspectives on consciousness, death, and near-death experiences.

Consciousness is likened to the sparks from a fire (the mind). Even when the physical constituents (brain) - constituents which together fuel the rise of a fire (mind) and its sparks (consciousness) - cease (the brain ceases to function), the sparks still continue to exist independently for a short period of time. This is akin to consciousness existing apart from the body and brain (after death, NDE's, etc.).

Death or near-death can cause the consciousness to separate and experience other realms (though not necessarily only heavenly ones); deep, jhanic meditation in the early Buddhist tradition is said to accomplish the same.

Tiers of heavenly and hellish realms of experience - as seen in Buddhism - can potentially explain the variety of differences among reported NDE experiences, something which is not fully understood (IMO) among many NDE researchers as they seem to assume, or attempt to reconcile various experiences into, the concept of a single universal afterlife (e.g. a single heaven or hell).

 

[DennisTate]

Near death experiences are often debunked, as far as I know.

But it does indicate that they are taken somewhat seriously when publications like Psychology Today will write articles about this phenomena.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/logical-take/201404/is-heaven-is-real-real

 

[Teamo]

Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon, Describes Heaven After Near-Death Experience
Harvard Neurosurgeon Insists He Saw Heaven During Near-Death Experience

 

[Robban]

Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon, Describes Heaven After Near-Death Experience
Harvard Neurosurgeon Insists He Saw Heaven During Near-Death Experience

a
The vid in the link did not work for me,
but I read the text and it made me think think of this great song.
Not so unlike.