Photo source: Angel Studios.
Posted on 10/23/2023 9:09:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Photo source: Angel Studios.
I’ve just watched a remarkable, riveting documentary that releases in theaters on October 27 – After Death. It’s too bad the famous line from Hamlet has become a bit of a cliché — “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” — since it so perfectly captures what I took away from the film. There sure are a lot more things about reality than are captured by a narrow naturalistic view.
The message of the film, by directors Stephen Gray and Chris Radtke, is extremely well conveyed. It’s beautifully photographed, produced, and enacted, making use of actors and ordinary people who describe what they say happened to them while briefly dead, before being revived in a medical setting. No small number have died, only to be brought back thanks to advances in healing unknown to past generations. Of these, some number offer reports of an otherworldly realm, beyond yet somehow connected to our own. For those who go and come back, there is both joy and grief. Make of it what you will.
We meet doctors who have had the experience themselves or who carefully documented what others have gone through. There are lots of ways to die: A horrific car or airplane accident. A catastrophic health emergency. Attempted suicide by kitchen knife. A drowning. Each of these is followed by seeing visions that often, but I think not always, follow a pattern.
The “dead” person may see the room or other locale where he lies and observe actions by others going on around him. This is “autoscopy” — seeing yourself from outside, and reports of it have in some cases been objectively verified. More subjective (perhaps) are accounts of travel to a heavenly realm to meet loved ones who have passed on, and to meet God. Disturbingly, according to the film, 23 percent of near-death experiences (NDEs) are not of heaven but of hell. “One of the scariest moments in my life,” says one man. (Only “one of”?) “A pit of despair and hopelessness,” says another.
The interviews are fascinating. The subjects describe being, while dead, “more alive than I’ve ever felt,” ““conscious and then more conscious,” immersed in “an ocean of love.” Some are anguished to realize they’ve been returned to our earthly existence, from their true home, against their will. Nor is everyone who comes back necessarily improved by the experience, at least not at first. A man who died with his life disordered felt he went down to hell, then was rescued by Jesus. He wished to share what he learned with others but became, in his own words, a “zealot” who alienated everyone around him. A neurosurgeon recalls talking with a patient who, after being medically dead, recounted details of her autoscopic experience. “As she spoke,” says the surgeon, “I became spooked.” That makes two of us.
The filmmakers plainly wish to give hope for the hereafter, and no doubt with many viewers, they will succeed. But After Death is not a simple vehicle for that. Parts of it are scary and disturbing. While generally appearing to reflect a Christian perspective, the theology here, insofar as it’s articulated, doesn’t clearly match any one recognizable religion. The heavenly imperative seems to be, above all, that humans in their lifetime on Earth should love each other. That makes sense to me, but I’m not sure that it’s an orthodox view, or more of a modern one. Being modern doesn’t mean it’s not true. It’s suggested, also, that these experiences are cross-cultural. It would be interesting to know what people outside the American context report.
One could ask other questions, like why is the information imparted here, while pertaining to ultimate matters, conditioned on something wholly worldly like advances in life-saving medical techniques? And if God is love, indeed an “ocean of love,” and if that figure of 23 percent is meaningful, how can it be that he sends approximately one quarter of humans to hell?
For audiences, there will be much to discuss afterward. For the materialist, in particular, there is a great deal to ponder and to try to explain in naturalistic terms, if he can.
Terrified that he was going to Hell, the professor began to pray, at first fitfully, then louder and with firmness. As he did so, the hostile, encroaching beings screamed in pain and drew back. Finally, the professor, who was still falling toward a glowing and sulfurous pit, called out to Jesus to save him. That stopped the professor's descent and he rose toward light above.
Then, it was days later and the professor awoke in a Paris hospital bed. He was told that he survived only because, by a remarkable stroke of luck, a French ambulance with a doctor and advanced life saving equipment was a few feet from where he was felled by his heart attack. And the professor experienced an unusually complete recovery.
Returning home, the professor quit, enrolled in a fundamentalist Bible college, and became a preacher.
As for what happens to evil people, Hell is considered a one way trip for those who complete the journey. Some believe though that the time will come when Christ and his angels will breach the gates of Hell, vanquish Lucifer and his demons for all time, and liberate the souls trapped there who repent and wish forgiveness.
I try.
I fail miserably as regards the corrupt, the tyrannical, the pedophiles.....
.... but the rest, even those on the left, I try to love. One fellow in particular is Socialist to the point of Communist, but he is a wonderful person otherwise and I love the man.
[[What always gets me about these near death stories is you never hear about people going to hell.]]
I’ve given my testimony several times on this site on ‘going to hell’ in an NDE-
[[Well what about extremely evil people like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Hamas, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, are they going through this tunnel of light of love as well?]]
ONLY IF they accept the same offer by God that is offered to everyone- very likely they will never accept it though- Christ died for everyone who will accept His death- We don’t get to decide though who can and can’t accept Christ as savior- Paul was a murderer and torturer of early Christians, and Christ stopped him in his tracks and asked him why he was persecuting him. He appears to anyone and those that, like Paul, recognize the error of their ways, will be saved-
[[I don’t want to go to a place where I’m breaking bread with Hitler, Hillary where all is forgiven]]
The place you don’t want to go to is where all the demon driven people on earth who never admit their sins end up in-
One thing you can count on is that God uses even evil people for His own purposes, people whose hearts are hardened beyond redeemability- people like hitler and pharoah and other notorious mass murderers- it is extremely unlikely that they accepted Christ even though the offer was certainly open for them to do so
it woudl be much better to be in heaven with violent evil people who one day accepted Christ, even at the last minute- who’s redeemed life is filled with joy and love for others because of the transforming power of Christ, than to be in hell where people remain violent because Christ and the Holy Spirit are absent...
where the people’s anger and violence is multiplied, and who will never accept Christ and will rail against him and his people for eternity- While we won’t see anyone- the terrors of evil will still be present and plague those who willingly go to hell because they reject Christ
“As Khmer Rouge guerrillas they took part in genocide. Now, as Christians, they ask for forgiveness”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3511458/posts
So the Khmer butchers get to go to Heaven but their Buddhist victims must burn forever?
I have watched we deal who went to a really bad place and then came back. They all changed their lives drastically afterwards.
I’ve read a lot of NDE’s from people who went to hell and were revived. Truly horrible. All hell is, is the absence of God. His light, his protection, his love. Without God...the only thing left is hell.
Wow, glad I go to church every Sunday.
He doesn’t send anyone to hell. It’s a personal choice to go there. God created a way out that cost him a lot. If people don’t want to be in God’s presence, he will honor their request (otherwise, wouldn’t rebellious people who hate God in heaven be heaven at all?). He doesn’t send people to hell, but he does honor their desire not to be with him. As for the ages old question — what about those who have never heard? If someone, no matter how remote, has a sincere stirring in their inner being to know who it is that made what they see in the night sky and around them, God will make sure they find out.
Church won’t get you there. Only Jesus will.
“I wish they’d just tell the truth, and say, “I went to the front desk, and they asked me to take a number.””
Did you feel like you were at the DMV? (Hell, IOW)
“As for the ages old question — what about those who have never heard? If someone, no matter how remote, has a sincere stirring in their inner being to know who it is that made what they see in the night sky and around them, God will make sure they find out.”
Or, what about kids brought up by devout parents of other faiths like Hindu, Muslim, Buddha, etc. Out of loyalty or respect to their parents, the children keep the same faith as their parents. How does God get through to them? Honor thy father and thy mother is one of the commandments. Many kids might see taking up faith in God as showing disrespect or dishonoring their parents in those cases.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39 NRSV).
““Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39 NRSV).”
The question still remains in my mind....do these children of parents of other faiths automatically go to Hell when they die? Is ‘not being worthy of God’ the same thing as spending eternity in Hell? So many questions... only one way to find out (to die).
That is a belief that will only bring about eternal death. TODAY is the day of salvation - your name is either written in the Book of Life, or it is not.
God is faithful. He has been known to intervene in the lives of even the most devout muslims, hindus, etc., who were raised in such households. He knows the heart and he knows who wants to know who HE is or if they’re just interested in religion. I’ve read so many testimonies of even jihadis who were utterly devoted to allah, but they knew...something was not right. God knows.
Brilliant man.
.
Not enough. You know just doing that will not cover the price of admission don’t you?
1. Does the Buddhist want to be in the heaven where Jesus is?
2. What does “burn” REALLY MEAN?
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