Stephen, through the Holy Spirit, saw both Jesus and God the Father in heaven. Because this event is recorded in Scripture, we know a near-death experience can reveal glimpses of a real heaven. In other words,legitimate near-death experiences are possible and could be used by God as they align with Scripture.
Is it possible for God to give near-death experiences?
It was a vision that God gave the man of heaven, not a near-death experience. That being said, it is not impossible for God to give someone near death, or anyone for that matter, a vision of heaven. However, with the completion of the biblical canon, visions are not a normative experience for Christians.
Can near-death experiences reveal the real heaven?
Stephen, through the Holy Spirit, saw both Jesus and God the Father in heaven. Because this event is recorded in Scripture, we know a near-death experience can reveal glimpses of a real heaven. In other words, legitimate near-death experiences are possible and could be used by God as they align with Scripture.
What does the Bible say about near death experiences?
Question: What does the Bible say about near death experiences?. Answer: A near-death experience (NDE) is when a person is at the brink of death and, upon recovery, reports an unusual occurrence, generally an out-of-body experience or some sort of vision of heaven or hell. Related Topics:
How common are near-death experiences (NDEs)?
The interest has been met by many interviews, studies, and articles about near-death experiences (NDEs). The European Academy of Neurology analyzed participants from 35 countries who reported something like a near-death experience. They found that 1 in 10 people have experienced a near-death experience.
What are Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)?
The University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine defines an NDE as “ a common pattern of events that many people experience when they are experiencing intense threat, are seriously ill, or come close to death. UVA School of Medicine also found NDEs can include the following reported experiences:
What is the boy who came back from heaven about?
The duo recounted the NDE of a six-year old (Alex) who suffered a horrific accident, was paralyzed, and unlikely to survive. While he lay unconscious in the hospital, Alex supposedly visited heaven, saw angels, heard unearthly music, and met Jesus. The book sold more than a million copies. Turns out, it didn’t happen.
What is the closest thing we discover to a near death experience in Scripture?
The closest thing we uncover to a near-death experience in Scripture is Stephen’s martyrdom in the book of Acts. In Luke’s account, we read about a stressful situation preceding death which often accompanies NDEs in the scientific literature:
How many people have been raised from the dead?
Arriving at the Bible, we find scant information about near-death experiences. There are at least ten people raised from the dead in Scripture. Some of those raisings include Elijah raising the son of the Zarephath widow from the dead (1 Kings 17:17–22), the dead man who was raised when his body touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21), Jesus rising from the dead (Matthew 28:5-8; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5, 6), and Dorcas being brought back from the dead (Acts 9:36-41). The interesting thing about these people who came back is the lack of information about the other side. This doesn’t mean they didn’t experience anything extraordinary. But aside from Jesus ’ post-resurrection testimony, we don’t see any statements from people who experienced an NDE in the Bible.
What is materialistic near death?
Despite the popular interest and literature documenting near-death experiences, atheistic materialists have attempted to explain away the phenomena. Materialists believe that matter is all that exists and thus immaterial souls are not real nor is a spiritual realm.
How old was Alex when he was in the hospital?
The duo recounted the NDE of a six-year old (Alex) who suffered a horrific accident, was paralyzed, and unlikely to survive. While he lay unconscious in the hospital, Alex supposedly visited heaven, saw angels, heard unearthly music, and met Jesus. The book sold more than a million copies. Turns out, it didn’t happen.
What is the most authoritative source for information on this life and the life to come?
As in everything else, the Bible is the most authoritative source for information on this life and the life to come.
What are Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)?
The University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine defines an NDE as “a common pattern of events that many people experience when they are experiencing intense threat, are seriously ill, or come close to death. UVA School of Medicine also found NDEs can include the following reported experiences:
Near-Death Experiences in the Bible
Arriving at the Bible, we find scant information about near-death experiences. There are at least ten people raised from the dead in Scripture.
Materialistic Explanations of Near-Death Experiences
Despite the popular interest and literature documenting near-death experiences, atheistic materialists have attempted to explain away the phenomena. Materialists believe that matter is all that exists and thus immaterial souls are not real nor is a spiritual realm.
Fact & Fiction with NDEs
But this does not mean we should accept all near-death experiences. After all, there is big money in so-called “heavenly tourism.” In 2010, Kevin and Alex Malarkey wrote, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. The duo recounted the NDE of a six-year old (Alex) who suffered a horrific accident, was paralyzed, and unlikely to survive.
Biblical Truth Trumps NDEs
As in everything else, the Bible is the most authoritative source for information on this life and the life to come. Near-death experiences are, by nature, subjective events that happen to one person. God knows why they happen. If they are from him, they may be specifically for that individual.
Conclusion: Near-Death Experiences Point to Certain Death
In conclusion, near-death experiences point to a reality we must all face: death. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden ( Genesis 3:1-7 ), every person who lived before us has died. Death is one of the unifying realities in humanity ( Romans 5:12 ). NDEs generate immense interest in a world where everyone dies.
Brandon Clay
Brandon Clay is a Christian ( Reformed Baptist ). He earned a BA in history from the University of Texas and an MA in theological studies from Southern Seminary. Brandon is married and has 4 children, one of whom (Knox) is now with the Lord.
What is a near death experience?
A near-death experience (NDE) is when a person is at the brink of death and, upon recovery, reports an unusual occurrence, generally an out-of-body experience or some sort of vision of heaven or hell. There is no specific scriptural support for near-death experiences. Many people use 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 as a biblical proof text of near-death experiences. However, this is taking great liberty with interpretation and makes the assumption that the man (presumed to be Paul) was either near death or actually dead when he found himself in heaven. The passage nowhere states that the man had died or come close to death. It was a vision that God gave the man of heaven, not a near-death experience.
Why is the Bible silent about near death?
Because the Bible is silent regarding near-death experiences, and scientific research has not been able to be performed reliably, we simply cannot accept the legitimacy of near-death experiences on their face value. It would be too strong to state that all near-death experiences are faked, imagined, or Satanic, but there are still serious concerns, …
What does the passage "nowhere" mean?
The passage nowhere states that the man had died or come close to death. It was a vision that God gave the man of heaven, not a near-death experience. That being said, it is not impossible for God to give someone near death, or anyone for that matter, a vision of heaven.
Is 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 a biblical text?
Many people use 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 as a biblical proof text of near-death experiences. However, this is taking great liberty with interpretation and makes the assumption that the man (presumed to be Paul) was either near death or actually dead when he found himself in heaven. The passage nowhere states that the man had died or come close to death.
What is the NDE in the tern?
Scott Rae: So let me just … Dr. Habermas is using the tern NDE as a short for near death experience.
How many evidential cases are there?
There’s 300, at least 300 evidential cases now on record. People think this is twilight zone type stuff and it’s not terribly scientific. Well, the leading researcher who just retired from the University of Virginia was an MD, psychiatrist and extinguished professor of brain sciences so it’s a pretty high level thing.
What is the Calome argument?
Scott Rae: By the way, calome [inaudible] argument for our listeners refers to the idea that the universe had a beginning and therefore must have a beginner.
How many people have near death experiences?
And they estimate that in North America, the UK and Europe alone, up to 30 million people have claimed to have had near death experiences.
What does "I just saw you last week" mean?
And they’re both having near death experiences. Or somebody tells some other kind of information, but they get it from a person who’s irreversibly dead.
Why do we say "measurable"?
So when that’s in the presence of measurable … You always have to say measurable, because people will always say maybe there’s brain waves that we can’t measure.
Who is Gary Habermas?
Dr. Gary Habermas is Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy at the Rawlings School of Divinity, Liberty University. He is an expert on both the resurrection of Jesus and the phenomena of near death experiences. He is the author of more than 150 articles and book chapters on various aspects of apologetics and philosophy.
What does the transfiguration mean?
The “ transfiguration ” ( Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36) is pregnant with theological symbolism. Nevertheless, part of modern religious experience includes reports of two or more individuals seeing an apparition of a dead person or religious figure at the same time. A 1970s study ( N=434) in Los Angles, California, USA, found 2% of the residents had reported a vision of a dead person that was part of the reality of another person (Kalish, 1973). In Seeing the Invisible, a male and female both share a vision of light and then Jesus (case 3015). In Spiritual Encounters with Unusual Light Phenomena: Lightforms, Mark Fox notes that 10 of his 400 cases were shared experiences, including two soldiers in Northern Ireland seeing a light that gradually took the form of the Virgin Mary (case 3008). At the transfiguration, Jesus’ face:
How to sound profound about God?
There are two ways to sound profound about God. One is to study religion, and the other is to have a religious experience. Jesus would have learned something of Hebrew Scripture during his Jewish childhood; later, he witnessed the inspired preaching of John the Baptist. But this secondary kind of knowledge paled in comparison to what must have been a profound spiritual experience of God that transformed his own life and, unknowingly, affected the course of history for the next 2000 years! The Jesus Seminar members were skeptical that Jesus’ primary religious experience occurred at his baptism by John, but they did acknowledge that Jesus, “had visionary experiences on occasion” and they did not rule out the possibility that his “baptismal experience involved a vision of some kind.”
What did St Paul say about Jesus?
Most significantly, he describes his after-death communication with Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 15:8) and states frankly that the Gospel he preaches did not come from humans but was communicated to him by Jesus from beyond the grave ( Galatians 1:11-12, Galatians 1:15-17 ). Paul both acknowledges and encourages the religious experiences of others ( 1 Corinthians 12:8-11; 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 ). He describes an out-of-body experience in which he is taken to the third level of Heaven ( 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 ). While he says that others have the ability to heal ( 1 Corinthians 12:9 ), his letters do not tell of healings; in fact, Paul writes that he was not even able to heal himself ( 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ). Contrast Paul’s own words with the stories about him in the Acts of the Apostles in which it is claimed that he performed miracles and even raised the dead ( Acts 20:9-12 )! Unfortunately, Jesus was not so lucky as to have control over his own writings.
Is the Gospels a pure Jesus?
The Gospels are not “pure Jesus.” Instead, they are a mixture of mythic lore and supernatural miracles, intermingled with his genuine words and religious experiences. Nevertheless, as a liberal Christian, I take comfort in the continuity of religious experience from Jesus’ time to the present. Jesus knew God, and my belief is that the difference between Jesus and the rest of us is not one of difference but one of degree.
Was Jesus’ resurrection a visionary experience?
Most modern liberal theologians hold with St. Paul ( 1 Corinthians 15) that the resurrection of Jesus was a visionary experience (Jesus raised up by God in a spiritual body rather than a physical body). The empty tomb does not solve the dilemma, since no one saw Jesus’ body rise spontaneously or be removed by others. A treasure-trove of after-death communications from ancient times to the present RERC files can be produced that resemble the appearance stories of Jesus in the Gospels, but this topic is to huge to cover here.
Did Jesus have psychic powers?
The Gospels relate several episodes in which Jesus exhibits psychic powers, namely, his telepathic ability with the “woman at the well” ( John 4:4-42 ), and two cases of precognition, one regarding the miraculous catch of fish ( Luke 5:4-7) and the other, the fish with the coin in its mouth to pay the Temple tax ( Matthew 17:24-27 ). In A Measure of Heaven, Vince Miglorie analyzes reports (N=787) sent to the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS) website of which 24% were individuals who did not have a life-threatening condition. In other words, they had religious experiences similar to a near-death experience, but they were not dead or near death. One of the after-effects reported was an increase in psychic ability. While 75.5% of the clinical death group reported the development of healing and psychic abilities, the non-life-threatening spiritual experience group reported a 61.9% increase. The existence of reported psychic abilities is not proof of psychic powers which are notoriously hard to validate. Nevertheless, Ralph Hood, Peter Hill, and Bernard Spilka note that inevitably, surveys of paranormal experience and mystical experience are highly correlated (Hood et al, 2009).
Was Jesus a faith healer?
We know Jesus was a faith healer because his cures were contingent on the person’s “belief” or “unbelief” ( Matthew 13:54-58 ). Also, the Gospels tell plainly that some of his exorcisms were not permanent ( Matthew 12:43-55 ). The Jesus Seminar acknowledged that Jesus was a faith healer and an exorcist and considered some of his cures genuine; of course, examples of the supernatural healing, such as Jesus’ reattaching a severed ear ( Luke 22: 50-51 ), were dismissed. Unlike the descriptions detailing the crude resuscitation techniques of Old Testament prophets Elisha and Elijah ( 2 Kings 4:32-35, 1 Kings 17:17-23 ), the Gospels do not describe Jesus’ method of resuscitation of near-death experiencers ( Luke 7:11-17, Matthew 9:18-26, John 11:38-44 ). The Jesus Seminar did not consider any of his resuscitations genuine.
How many times was Ayer married?
He was also something of a libertine, often seen clubbing in London and New York, and was married four times. All of this made his claim of having a near death experience so extraordinary. In 1988, at the age of 77 and just about a year before his (final) death, Ayer came down with a serious case of pneumonia while traveling in the United States.
Where was Ayer born?
Ayer was born in 1910 in northwest London to a Jewish mother and Swiss Calvinist father. After graduating from Oxford, he gained fame as a philosopher at the age of 26 from a philosophy book he published. He served in British intelligence during WWII, and afterwards taught at both Oxford and London University.
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Did Ayer have an afterlife?
And he was absolutely sure there was no God and no afterlife. That is, until he briefly died – and had a supernatural experience he couldn’t explain. [See also: 10 Nobel Prize Winners on the Compatibility of Science and Faith] Ayer was born in 1910 in northwest London to a Jewish mother and Swiss Calvinist father.
Who was Alfred Jules Ayer?
via acts17.net / ChurchPOP. Sir Alfred Jules Ayer was one of the 20th century’s most prominent philosophers and atheists. He was an advocate of logical positivism, which claimed that all non-empirically verifiable claims, including religious ones, were meaningless. And he was absolutely sure there was no God and no afterlife.