[Elliott Jackalope]

As I understand it, there is a big difference between NDE's and hallucinations. Hallucinations tend to be rather intangible, and vary wildly from experience to experience and from person to person.

This is a subject that I find myself very interested in. You can check out http://www.near-death.com to read about the NDE's of a large number of people. Some are very different than others, but there is a commonality between them that is interesting to contemplate.

I've been agnostic for a long time, but I find myself coming to believe that this reality is a subset of a larger reality. One of my favorite quotes from one person's NDE was when they asked the question of the angelic beings they encountered "what religion is the right one to follow". The answer? "Whatever one brings you closest to God".

[adam_az]

This is a subject that I find myself very interested in. You can check out http://www.near-death.com to read about the NDE's of a large number of people. Some are very different than others, but there is a commonality between them that is interesting to contemplate.

And all suspiciously similar to the archetypes and ideas we have all been exposed to our entire lives. What a shock!

[js1138]

I find this debat rather boring because I had an out of body experience many years ago, at age 10, while having surgery under ether. My own memories are of a much more vivid experience visually. I was floating through space, seeing the entire universe from outside. Actually it was more like I was the universe.

It never occurred to me to attach religious significance to something seen while my brain was drugged.

[Zack Nguyen]

You might consider the words of Christ in John 14:6 - "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

[churchillbuff]

One of my favorite quotes from one person's NDE was when they asked the question of the angelic beings they encountered "what religion is the right one to follow". The answer? "Whatever one brings you closest to God".

sounds like New Age

[BreitbartSentMe]

I've also heard that NDE's of people who attempt suicide (and fail, obviously) are often very different that the normal NDE's (not nearly as positive)

[spodefly]

At summer camp when I was 13, I was training to get certified to dive. This particular day we were swimming in a pond, with snorkels, goggles, fins and an inflatable vest, following a nylon string/rope anchored along the bottom of the pond in a random pattern. You would follow the rope, move to the surface, clear the snorkel, breath, then go back down and follow the rope some more.

Somehow, I got my foot caught in the rope. It was at the last of my breath when I was turning to head up to the surface. I don't remember much about the panic that I went thru when I couldn't reach the surface. My swim buddy apparently tried to help, but inflated the vest (CO2). So I couldn't go back down to free myself or make it to the surface. I passed out. The last thing I remember is looking up to the surface, seeing the greenish light, and trying so hard to reach it.

Next thing I know I was at home, sitting on the floor in the living room. I was sitting where the sun would shine in the late afternoons during the summer. My mom was in the kitchen cooking pork chops, although I didn't actually look over to see her. There was a slight smoke in the air from the cooking, and the sunlight from the window made a clearly visible beam onto the floor in front of me. I could see tiny lint specs floating in the sunlight just in front of me. My dad was on his way home from work, and we would be eating soon. My little sister was already sitting at the table though I never actually looked over to see her there. I felt happy, and comfortable, and safe.

I awoke on the dock with several camp counselors looking down at me. My arms were over my head. My first words were, "damn rope." I spent a couple of days in the camp infirmary. The rope left a scar around my ankle that I have to this day. I have no idea how my foot got caught in it, especially around the swim-fin I was wearing.

The memories of being at home, the details of the tiny lint pieces floating in the air, the sunlight beaming in thru the window, the smell of the pork chops cooking, the feelings, sensations, etc., are more profound than almost any other memories I have from that age.

The mind does weird things when it is dying. And fortunately, they are not at all unpleasant.

[Quix]

It is rather interesting, though, the vast number of folks who are atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems etc. who MEET JESUS THE RISEN CHRIST in their experience.

There are some who evidently don't.

The amazing thing is how many do--many who had never even heard of Christ.

[GrandMoM]

....VERY INTERESTING SITE!

....bookmarked to read more later. Thanks

[lonestar]

There was a man in my hometown who had a NDE and he went to hell. He described creatures tearing at his flesh.

He was a very different person after that and lived several more years of a good life.