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Podcast
Near Death Experiences
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Transcript
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Hi, this is Dave DeWitt.
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During the years of teaching, I've encountered many different questions which most groups
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don't tend to answer.
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Today I want to talk about what the Bible says about near-death experiences.
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I'll use the expression NDE sometimes, like most people do to refer to near-death experiences,
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but reveal something about the afterlife or the nature of the human soul.
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The European Academy of Neurology claims they have analyzed participants from 35 countries
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who reported something like a near-death experience.
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They reported that 1 in 10 people have had a near-death experience.
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And Eben Alexander, M.D., wrote, quote, Proof of Heaven, close quote, a neurosurgeon's journey
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into the afterlife.
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Dr. Alexander told about his near-death experiences after coming out of a seven-day coma.
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In 2010, Kevin and Alex Malarkey wrote, quote, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, close quote.
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Five years after he published it, Alex said he made it up to get attention.
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The 2014 movie Heaven is for Real was about a young boy who slipped into unconsciousness
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during emergency surgery, supposedly visited heaven, and met deceased loved ones along
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with Jesus.
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The movie grossed over $100 million.
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Not all NDEs are uplifting.
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A 2016 article for the National Institute of Health entitled Distressing Near-Death
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Experiences, The Basics, reported, Some are deeply disturbing.
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Few people are forthcoming about such events, and they hide, they disappear, when asked
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for information.
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April 17, 2022, Dr. Bruce Grayson, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of
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Virginia Medical School, came out with a book called After a Doctor Explores What Near-Death
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Experiences Reveal.
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That whole thing is the title.
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Dr. Grayson claims, and I quote, I collected about a thousand cases that people had sent
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me about their own near-death experiences.
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They talk about their senses of being so much more vivid in their NDEs, and that gives the
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experience more meaning, more real meaning, more real than this world.
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Most near-death experiences are the same around the world and through the centuries.
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However, how they describe these phenomena is influenced by their cultural background.
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For example, people all around the world will talk about encounters, encountering a warm,
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loving being of light that radiates unconditional love toward them.
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And if you're talking to someone who's raised in the United States, they may identify this
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as God or something, or sometimes Jesus, whereas someone who's a Hindu or Buddhist culture
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will not use those terms.
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What they find makes life meaningful and fulfilling for them.
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All that was a closed quote from Dr. Grayson.
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University of Virginia School of Medicine include the following description, quote,
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comfortable feelings without pain and intense lights, sensations of peace, encounters with
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deceased family, friends, or religious figures, well-being, or complete love, close quote.
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There are a few things we should observe about reported near-death experiences.
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There have been many various medical reasons given for these experiences, hallucinations,
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drugs, body-releasing, pain-killing, and morphins, reduced oxygen to the brain.
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That does not mean these are sufficient explanations, but these are things that may indeed cause
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mind alterations.
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Most people, at least 90 percent, who come close to death and survive do not report any
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such experience.
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The reason for the interest in NDEs, besides $100,000 movies and best-selling books, is
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a supposed connection between them, life after death, and the nature of the soul.
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Note the title of Dr. Grayson's book on NDEs is After, and Dr. Alexander calls NDEs the
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journey into the afterlife.
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No such connection exists.
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The reality is the people telling of the experience did not, in fact, die at the time.
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No one who has died has come back to tell us about their experience, except Jesus.
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The Bible never validates near-death experiences.
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Near-death experiences are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus.
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The most basic thing to notice about NDEs is that they are contrary to the Bible.
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If the Bible is true, they are a false depiction of the nature of the soul and the afterlife.
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NDEs are not about Christianity.
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They do not proclaim a biblical gospel.
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Their experiences anyone might have, Dr. Grayson, who I quoted earlier, includes Hindus and
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Buddhists, but several times Jesus said all unbelievers after death are going to a place
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where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, not a place where there's a sensation
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of peace, well-being, or complete love.
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Jesus often included the description that this place was the outer darkness, not an
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intense light.
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Jesus was talking about their ultimate after-death experience, but the implication of the NDEs
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is that after death, all is well for everybody.
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Jesus told a story about the death of two men, a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus
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in Luke 16.
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Whether it's a parable or a historical event, the point's the same.
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Neither had an NDE, but immediately after death, Lazarus was carried away by the angels,
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and the rich man was in Hades where he lifted up his eyes being in torment.
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Although this was not a near-death experience, it was an immediately after-death experience,
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and it was nothing like the majority of the NDEs.
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The human soul is never disconnected from a bodily form.
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In the Bible, the only time human souls are disconnected from earthly bodies is at death.
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At that time, they're immediately connected to another bodily form.
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After this life, people are in a bodily form awaiting a resurrected body, either in the
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presence of Christ or in Hades.
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Their spirit does not float around looking back at their bodies.
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There's no such thing as ghost, disembodied human spirits.
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People raised from the dead never reported an NDE.
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In the Bible, there are some people raised from the dead.
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There was at least some period of time when the Bible says they were not alive, yet none
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of them reported having a near-death experience.
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Visions were not NDEs.
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Ezekiel was given a vision of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 8.
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The Apostle Paul, or someone he knew, was given a vision of the third heaven, 2 Chronicles 12.
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The Apostle John was given a vision of the Spirit in the area of the throne of God in
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Revelation 4, but none of these men almost died.
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Their life was not in danger, and their soul did not leave their body.
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They were given a vision from God.
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They were not experiencing an NDE.
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These were apostles and prophets given revelation from God.
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There's no suggestion in the Scripture that believers were to look for visions from heaven.
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Ezekiel 13 says,
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Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy and say to those who
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prophesy from their own inspiration, Listen to the word of the Lord.
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Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit
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and have seen nothing.
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Stephen did not have an NDE.
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In Acts 7, Stephen said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at
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the right hand of God.
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Stephen did not report floating out of his body, having comfortable feelings without
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pain, an intense light, sensations of peace, encounters with deceased family or friends.
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Stephen did not come back from a near-death experience.
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Stephen died.
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What he saw was where he was going after he died.
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This is something other Christians might also experience as they die, but it's not a near-death
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experience.
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It's a death experience.
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In conclusion, if a Christian has an NDE, he or she should treat it as something that
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happens to some people as an unusual dream and unattached to spiritual significance.
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If NDEs are real, and they seem to be real, there are four things to understand about
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them.
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Number one, they're not death experiences.
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People who report having NDEs did not die from the experience, therefore they are not
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connected to the afterlife or the nature of the human soul.
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Two, they are spiritually irrelevant because the Bible does not mention them.
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Three, truth should never be determined from our experience, ever.
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Remember Satan's an angel of light waiting to deceive us, but Jesus prayed, sanctify
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them in the truth, your word is truth.
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And four, the result of NDEs is to deny the messages of the Bible.
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For example, they deny the biblical gospel.
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I've never heard an NDE where someone is told that all have sinned and fall short of the
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glory of God, and they need to repent and receive Christ's payment for their sin.
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It seems to be another attack on the Bible.
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Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on this subject with the footnotes for the quotes is available on our website
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relationalconcepts.org.
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You can find us on the web at relationalconcepts.org.
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Thank you.
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Stay with us.
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We'll see you next time.
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We'll see you next time.
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We'll see you next time.
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