This doctor, who now says he is a Christian, and who attends an Episcopal church in Virginia, told the crowd that his experience convinced him of the following: reincarnation makes sense, but hell doesn’t; scientists know less than they think they do, but there’s no contradiction between science and religion; and God loves all of his creatures – Christians, Jews, atheists, big-time sinners, etc.
He said:
“I realize that Christ came to show us the eternity of all of our souls,” he said. “It’s all about understanding that gift of love. This talk about coming back to life someday in physical bodies doesn’t really make any sense. It’s all about souls being eternal. Easter is just a confirmation of the real miracle of Jesus coming back. But he was doing that as a gift and … showing us what we all have: eternal life.”
We can KNOW from Scripture that some of what this man purports he learned by his experience is not in line with what God says. Reading this account helps me to understand that, anytime someone makes claims about their personal experiences as they relate to Christianity, it should be taken with a grain of salt and measured by the one, divinely-revealed and authoritative source we have - the Holy Bible.
Hell is one of the few things that made sense to me back when none of the rest of it did. What kind of loving God would force people to abide His Presence for eternity when they want nothing to do with Him?
Bump
I have not read his book, but I see the comments made here. I also see your comments. I agree with you...
“...anytime someone makes claims about their personal experiences as they relate to Christianity, it should be taken with a grain of salt and measured by the one, divinely-revealed and authoritative source we have - the Holy Bible.”
This said, with or without the grain of salt...God does not contradict Himself...never has, never will.
Amen!
The resurrection, and the associated new, glorified body for each resurrected person, is central to Christianity. As Paul wrote, without the resurrection our faith is nothing. Happy Easter.
I recall seeing reports of this man’s claimed experience a while back. He seems to still have major problems with personal ego, because there’s an awful lot of “I think” in there. I don’t doubt that he had some sort of experience that seemed spiritual in nature, which is surprising enough given his state of disbelief prior, but what he describes strikes a false note.
I believe in heaven but I don’t think we can travel there back and forth like we can to Florida
I have read hundreds of near death experiences and I don’t know of any that completely reflected a strict Orthodox Christian worldview. There were usually heresies in there somewhere, most commonly pre-mortal existence, re-incarnation, and the ability to alter your afterlife condition...i.e. get out of Hell. And yes, many NDE’s report the existence of Hell, most notably Howard Storm’s in his book “My Descent into Death.”
At least the Doctor is no longer an Atheist, that is a start.
Absolutely...I've heard these stories time and again and they always end up opposing what God says. Just enough truth in them, or perceived truth to bait and switch.
This guy lost it the moment he said it's his 'experience' was what convinced him that reincarnation makes sense...hogwash on the rest of it as well.
He's doing what so many Christians are today...mixing pagan mumbo-jumbo with Christianity..and unfortunatley because so many Christians do not know what God has to say about these things, they swallow it hook line and sinker....and are then ‘set up’ for whatever further deceptions the enemy of mens souls wants to take them....and he will surely do so.
We indeed live in a society, (Christian and not), ‘who hear with their eyes and and see with their feelings’.....
In case you didn't know, DMT is a psychoactive chemical produced naturally within the brain that is released while dreaming in small amounts. During death, large amounts are released. Every living thing produces it and it is called "the spirit molecule".
Those who have a clear conscience will experience paradise that feels eternal: “heaven”.
The evil will be tormented for what feels like eternity: “hell”.
However, what goes on beyond our perceivable physical world to make it happen is beyond my pay grade at this late hour...
This doctor is not a theologian or a pastor. To expect him to be is missing the whole point.
His point is that he died while he was in the hospital and hooked up to equipment that measured his brain waves. He had an NDE when his brain activity was zero - total zero - and he should know because his life’s work was studying neurosurgery. His brain was completely flatlined and yet he is experiencing this vision or dream or experience or whatever it was.
I’m sure God didn’t choose him for this revelation because He was impressed with his theology. Quite the opposite. God chose him because he was a doctor who understood that if you experience death and can prove that the brain was not at work while this was happening then how can you explain his experience other than being God’s miracle?
Like most new or mostly unchurched believers, this man isn’t fit to be preaching a theological message but he is fit to explain that there is an afterlife and, to many unbelievers, THAT is an important message.
Yes, by all means carefully examine all NDE claims and do not have an uncritical belief in what the man says based on what he says happened to him but do not overlook that he can offer scientific proof that he was experiencing an event while his brain had totally ceased activity and if his brain was not, in any way, participating in his experience then how can this be explained other than the hand of God?
It’s an important discovery and confirms what many of us hope in. Just don’t buy the whole package of theology that comes with it because he probably hasn’t even had time to sort all that out or for the Holy Spirit to impress upon him God’s revelations.
I’m guessing the Apostle Paul didn’t have it all figured out by the time he got to Damascus either. Despite his personal revelation, it probably took years of intense prayer and meditation for Paul to understand the gospel of salvation that he was called to preach. If God allowed time for Paul to understand the theology, I’m willing to allow this doctor to sort it out too. It doesn’t negate the experience he had.
You sound like a Muslim when you say stuff like,” it should be taken with a grain of salt and measured by the one, divinely-revealed and authoritative source we have - the Holy Bible.”
Which divinely written and revealed version are you using? The King James version? The bible you are referring to ... is it the collection of 66 books or the complete collected works to date, or the original old testament bible we took from the Jews?
The official parts of the bible weren’t even decided until 367 years after the death of Christ. Attaching mysticism to the bible is narrow minded in my opinion. I think the magic lies in the stories that were recorded, not the manner and details of the collection.
Anyone who denies the existence of a Hell, is in fact, commiting calumny against Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.
Why would a loving God send his son into the world to save us from our sins, if there was not a counter force known as Satan and the eternal damnation of those who follow Satan?
Asside from the obvious cases of an instantly and totally dead body (nuked, blown to bits, crushed; where recovery would be impossible), you’re not dead until the blood is dead. Oxygen deprivation causes hallucinations; you’re in dreamland. Drugged, if you will. There is no record of Lazarus (4 days dead) telling of his ‘death experience’.
These stories just encourage non-christians and ‘christian’ people that are ‘serving two masters’ (and not realizing that they are trying to do just that), to go on living a sinful lifestyle, thinking that they are ‘good to go’.
But there's a difference between what one may experience and how one interprets it. Remember in the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar was the one who had the dream, but he had no clue what it meant and needed Daniel to interpret for him.
Looks to me like this guy has not/needs to, use the Bible and other Biblically-grounded/mature Christians to help him understand what happened to him.