Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Near-Death Experiences As Children Change Lives
KLTV 7 (Tyler, TX) ^ | 11/08/06 | Morgan Palmer

Posted on 11/09/2006 4:41:54 AM PST by KarinG1

"I was putting pebbles in a bucket and I was having a really good time."

Linda Jacquin was just four years old. Playing in the water though she was so young, she says she remembers everything. Including when her foot slipped off a rock and she was caught under the surface.

"I was underwater and I started breathing underwater because at four and a half years old, you didn't know you can't breathe underwater," she says.

What happened next isn't completely clear. But Linda says she began to leave her body -- floating away.

"With a vantage point of being in the corner of the room, I didn't have a body, but it wasn't frightening," says Dr. Pam Kircher, who says she too left her body while gripped in the pain of meningitis. She was six years old. There wasn't the medical equipment to say whether she really died or not. But the experience, she says, was from another place.

"I felt absolute peace and the feeling of being surrounded by God. It was perfect."

But for just a moment.

"As soon as I realized it was me, I was back in my body. So mine was a brief near-death experience, but it was profoundly influential in my life," Kircher says.

Linda recalls the view from above her body: "I saw blond hair floating on water, which was my blond hair. I was perfectly happy where I was. I felt safe, I felt loved, and I didn't want to go back in my body -- back in the place where I was."

Linda spent moments, she says, with her grandmother. Also with Jesus amid colors she says were more beautiful than any rainbow.

"The closest thing that I could say is that it looked like is when light hits an icecicle and it refracts for that brief second, and you see all colors at one time, but they're crystal clear," Jacquin says.

"I can remember how sad my mom and dad were and I could tell how panicky they were and then my gaze went to my brother Bobby. And I said I have to go back for Bobby -- he's going to be in a lot of trouble if I don't go back," she says.

She chose to go back. Others who have a near-death experience say they're powerless to go where they's heading -- only following or being carried. Most also say that they're bathed in warmth and love.

Debbie James has been a nurse her entire career, and is no less fascinated she says than when she first started noticing the phenomenon.

"Some people who had been in chronic pain say I am finally at peace -- it didn't hurt for the first time. So when you hear adults and children say those things, once again you've got to pay attention," she says.

"I don't know exactly what i believe about that in terms of where we go from here and if there's an afterlife and those kinds of things, but I can tell you I'm moved and encouraged by what they tell me."

Kircher says it is true, that she did leave her body all those years ago.

"Those people who have a near-death experience become very spirtual. What I mean by that is that there is something more than this material world."

Those who come back -- they call themselves "experiencers" -- unanimously say those who are allowed to come back from death have a profound responsibility. Many say it is given by God -- and it's to teach and to love.

"The only thing that exists on the other side is love. And if people just did that and had compassion for other people the world would be a lot better place," Jacquin says.

"I really do believe that we're here to learn about compassion and love, and anytime we're not doing that, we're not doing our job," says Kircher.

Morgan Palmer, reporting morganpalmer@kltv.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: moralabsolutes; ndes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: rusureitflies?

http://www.near-death.com/muslim.html

The material here is pretty thin. One anecdotal story, a discussion of Sufism, and a discussion of M*hammed's experience as if it was an NDE.

Maybe they really, really don't want to come back after seeing the bright light.


21 posted on 11/09/2006 5:49:23 AM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1
Two weeks before my grandmother died at 95, she had been in a coma induced by CHF. She awakened on Sunday a week before her departure that Monday and said she saw my grandfather who died in 1959 standing on the other side of a clear river with their daughter who'd died at two days old. She also said she saw "the Lord my God", that there were dirty pots between her and him, and he said she couldn't cross that river until she had them cleaned. There was some friction between some of her children, my uncles, at that time and after she talked with them and they'd made their peace, she said she was ready to go home. I don't know their in-depth discussion, but the uncles fixed their differences.

Some state those experiences are most likely from the degenerating minds of the dying brain, but my grandmother could recite her medications, their formula's, and dosages both before and after her "comatose" period. Knowing brain cells NEVER rejuvenate, I choose to believe what she saw is real.

A first cousin who laughed and made fun of Grandma's experience died within six months of Grandma's death - of CHF.
22 posted on 11/09/2006 5:57:09 AM PST by azhenfud (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: linear
I remember reading a near-death experience of a man who actually experienced it very negatively - it appeared he was on his way to hell. It also changed his life tremendously, he eventually joined the clergy.

I've heard similar stories - not everyone goes through a dark tunnel emerging to sweetness and light. Some describe going to a terrible places. One of the scariest stories I read was from a person who had attempted suicide and failed. They said they found themselves in a place crowded with many other people who were all walking around talking to themselves and banging into each other without paying attention to anyone else. The "nearly deceased" person assumed that because these people were selfish enough to kill themselves - they were also too selfish to acknowledge anyone else that was stuck in this same place.

This person was revived in the emergency room and said the experience completely opened their eyes and changed their life.

Who knows what will happen after death? Many have their own beliefs, but none of us will know for certain until it happens. And I'm in no rush to find out.

23 posted on 11/09/2006 5:58:55 AM PST by Tokra (I think I'll retire to Bedlam.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Shimmer128
People want to believe in this, so they believe in it. The mind is a very powerful force and can come up with all kinds of visions and experiences that aren't real.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1) Those who have had life after death experiences have been able afterward to describe events going on in the families that they could not have known about at the time. They saw these events as if floating from above. These have been well documented.

2)If this is a dream, then it must be physiologically based, since all report the same "dream".
24 posted on 11/09/2006 6:01:01 AM PST by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Hegemony Cricket

I didn't say it didn't happen, but God is not the only source here, surely you thought of that?????? hmmmm????


25 posted on 11/09/2006 6:01:06 AM PST by Shimmer128 (My beloved is mine and I am his, Song of Sol 2:16)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1
The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience
26 posted on 11/09/2006 6:01:11 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (A vanity post is just a lonely cry for help.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: buck61

no belief in life after death - if there is no cause for belief in life after death, then everything - everything - is meaningless and there is no right nor wrong, IMHO (and in JCHO)


27 posted on 11/09/2006 6:01:22 AM PST by epluribus_2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Revelation 911
"While I have never experienced this near death event in my life I do carry a peace as you describe. It is a peace I have everyday because I love the Lord Jesus Christ and only he gives such peace."

I did. When I "came back into my body", I knew it was because it wasn't my time yet. And even though I was busted up pretty bad, still pinned in the car, I felt strangely peaceful, relaxed. My wife says I was dead for about 4 minutes. She said she was yelling at me to wake up, slapping me in the face- (All she could do because I was pinned in the car) no response. I don't remember any of that, just slipping back into my body.

I can't comment on any light because the car ended up in a deep ditch full of snow, so it was light all around me when I regained conciousness. Then the sound started to come back. My car horn was stuck on, and it stayed that way until the battery died with was only a couple more minutes.

My hip and pelvis was broken, along with some ribs and a puntured lung, 3 vertebrae in my back, collar bone, and internal bruising.
I hurt for a long time after that, but strangely, not at all at the scene.

That strange peaceful feeling however, it is something you just can't explain away or forget. It's really overpowering.

28 posted on 11/09/2006 6:05:10 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: buck61

oops, that last post was supposed to be in reply to buck61 (as quoted)


29 posted on 11/09/2006 6:08:01 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: texas booster

Anything to do with Mohammad (Satan's Prophet) and light is probably how bright the fires of hell are. Islam is Satan's religion- It's the exact opposite of what God tells you.


30 posted on 11/09/2006 6:13:51 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1

Ping for later.


31 posted on 11/09/2006 6:14:35 AM PST by BigCinBigD (Merry Christmas!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: never4get

John 3:16 For God so LOVED the world, he gave his only begotten son...

Can you imagine sacrificing your child, for any reason? And Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, who believe in Him, to be saved.

When we get passed the materialism and self worth, life really is a better place. And death is but a door to a better world.


32 posted on 11/09/2006 6:26:58 AM PST by wizr (Live life with a Passion!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: buck61

Actually, most of the comments directed to me personally were very positive. I haven't gone back to look at the thread. It's 9AM where I live, way past my bedtime. I'll look 'tomorrow'. I believe as you do and carry with me a similar peace that I try to share with others.


33 posted on 11/09/2006 7:09:22 AM PST by KarinG1 (Opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of sane people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Shimmer128

I'm not sure how I feel about near-death experiences but these were children. I wouldn't think that children would have any preconceptions of death, it's hard enough for an adult to really understand.


34 posted on 11/09/2006 7:34:53 AM PST by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Later read/pingout.


35 posted on 11/09/2006 8:34:36 AM PST by little jeremiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KarinG1

My daughter is a trauma nurse and has seen many things. Once, after someone had passed away, my daughter was standing in the hall charting and saw the woman standing outside her room. Obviously it was the woman's spirit as the woman had had spina bifida and had never 'stood up'. I asked my daughter if she told anyone what she had seen and she replied, "No, they would think I was crazy."


36 posted on 11/15/2006 5:13:32 PM PST by mingwah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62
They are probably no more than lucid dreams.

Go ahead...whistle past the graveyard. It's all right.

37 posted on 11/15/2006 5:15:43 PM PST by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson