Study Companion
Ask
Browse
Listen
+
Install
←
Back
Podcast
Near Death Experiences
Open original on relationalconcepts.org ↗
Your browser does not support audio.
↺ Start from beginning
0% listened
Transcript
0:00
Hi, this is Dave DeWitt.
0:06
During the years of teaching, I've encountered many different questions which most groups
0:11
don't tend to answer.
0:13
Today I want to talk about what the Bible says about near-death experiences.
0:19
I'll use the expression NDE sometimes, like most people do to refer to near-death experiences,
0:26
but reveal something about the afterlife or the nature of the human soul.
0:33
The European Academy of Neurology claims they have analyzed participants from 35 countries
0:40
who reported something like a near-death experience.
0:44
They reported that 1 in 10 people have had a near-death experience.
0:50
And Eben Alexander, M.D., wrote, quote, Proof of Heaven, close quote, a neurosurgeon's journey
1:02
into the afterlife.
1:04
Dr. Alexander told about his near-death experiences after coming out of a seven-day coma.
1:15
In 2010, Kevin and Alex Malarkey wrote, quote, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, close quote.
1:25
Five years after he published it, Alex said he made it up to get attention.
1:32
The 2014 movie Heaven is for Real was about a young boy who slipped into unconsciousness
1:39
during emergency surgery, supposedly visited heaven, and met deceased loved ones along
1:45
with Jesus.
1:46
The movie grossed over $100 million.
1:51
Not all NDEs are uplifting.
1:53
A 2016 article for the National Institute of Health entitled Distressing Near-Death
1:59
Experiences, The Basics, reported, Some are deeply disturbing.
2:07
Few people are forthcoming about such events, and they hide, they disappear, when asked
2:13
for information.
2:15
April 17, 2022, Dr. Bruce Grayson, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of
2:24
Virginia Medical School, came out with a book called After a Doctor Explores What Near-Death
2:33
Experiences Reveal.
2:36
That whole thing is the title.
2:38
Dr. Grayson claims, and I quote, I collected about a thousand cases that people had sent
2:45
me about their own near-death experiences.
2:49
They talk about their senses of being so much more vivid in their NDEs, and that gives the
3:00
experience more meaning, more real meaning, more real than this world.
3:07
Most near-death experiences are the same around the world and through the centuries.
3:13
However, how they describe these phenomena is influenced by their cultural background.
3:21
For example, people all around the world will talk about encounters, encountering a warm,
3:27
loving being of light that radiates unconditional love toward them.
3:33
And if you're talking to someone who's raised in the United States, they may identify this
3:39
as God or something, or sometimes Jesus, whereas someone who's a Hindu or Buddhist culture
3:48
will not use those terms.
3:51
What they find makes life meaningful and fulfilling for them.
3:55
All that was a closed quote from Dr. Grayson.
4:01
University of Virginia School of Medicine include the following description, quote,
4:08
comfortable feelings without pain and intense lights, sensations of peace, encounters with
4:15
deceased family, friends, or religious figures, well-being, or complete love, close quote.
4:22
There are a few things we should observe about reported near-death experiences.
4:27
There have been many various medical reasons given for these experiences, hallucinations,
4:33
drugs, body-releasing, pain-killing, and morphins, reduced oxygen to the brain.
4:39
That does not mean these are sufficient explanations, but these are things that may indeed cause
4:46
mind alterations.
4:48
Most people, at least 90 percent, who come close to death and survive do not report any
4:55
such experience.
4:58
The reason for the interest in NDEs, besides $100,000 movies and best-selling books, is
5:07
a supposed connection between them, life after death, and the nature of the soul.
5:14
Note the title of Dr. Grayson's book on NDEs is After, and Dr. Alexander calls NDEs the
5:22
journey into the afterlife.
5:25
No such connection exists.
5:27
The reality is the people telling of the experience did not, in fact, die at the time.
5:36
No one who has died has come back to tell us about their experience, except Jesus.
5:44
The Bible never validates near-death experiences.
5:50
Near-death experiences are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus.
5:55
The most basic thing to notice about NDEs is that they are contrary to the Bible.
6:01
If the Bible is true, they are a false depiction of the nature of the soul and the afterlife.
6:09
NDEs are not about Christianity.
6:12
They do not proclaim a biblical gospel.
6:16
Their experiences anyone might have, Dr. Grayson, who I quoted earlier, includes Hindus and
6:23
Buddhists, but several times Jesus said all unbelievers after death are going to a place
6:29
where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, not a place where there's a sensation
6:35
of peace, well-being, or complete love.
6:39
Jesus often included the description that this place was the outer darkness, not an
6:47
intense light.
6:49
Jesus was talking about their ultimate after-death experience, but the implication of the NDEs
6:57
is that after death, all is well for everybody.
7:01
Jesus told a story about the death of two men, a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus
7:07
in Luke 16.
7:08
Whether it's a parable or a historical event, the point's the same.
7:13
Neither had an NDE, but immediately after death, Lazarus was carried away by the angels,
7:20
and the rich man was in Hades where he lifted up his eyes being in torment.
7:25
Although this was not a near-death experience, it was an immediately after-death experience,
7:31
and it was nothing like the majority of the NDEs.
7:37
The human soul is never disconnected from a bodily form.
7:42
In the Bible, the only time human souls are disconnected from earthly bodies is at death.
7:50
At that time, they're immediately connected to another bodily form.
7:56
After this life, people are in a bodily form awaiting a resurrected body, either in the
8:01
presence of Christ or in Hades.
8:06
Their spirit does not float around looking back at their bodies.
8:10
There's no such thing as ghost, disembodied human spirits.
8:15
People raised from the dead never reported an NDE.
8:19
In the Bible, there are some people raised from the dead.
8:22
There was at least some period of time when the Bible says they were not alive, yet none
8:28
of them reported having a near-death experience.
8:34
Visions were not NDEs.
8:37
Ezekiel was given a vision of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 8.
8:43
The Apostle Paul, or someone he knew, was given a vision of the third heaven, 2 Chronicles 12.
8:52
The Apostle John was given a vision of the Spirit in the area of the throne of God in
8:57
Revelation 4, but none of these men almost died.
9:03
Their life was not in danger, and their soul did not leave their body.
9:09
They were given a vision from God.
9:11
They were not experiencing an NDE.
9:15
These were apostles and prophets given revelation from God.
9:19
There's no suggestion in the Scripture that believers were to look for visions from heaven.
9:25
Ezekiel 13 says,
9:28
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy and say to those who
9:34
prophesy from their own inspiration, Listen to the word of the Lord.
9:39
Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit
9:45
and have seen nothing.
9:48
Stephen did not have an NDE.
9:52
In Acts 7, Stephen said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at
9:58
the right hand of God.
10:01
Stephen did not report floating out of his body, having comfortable feelings without
10:05
pain, an intense light, sensations of peace, encounters with deceased family or friends.
10:13
Stephen did not come back from a near-death experience.
10:17
Stephen died.
10:19
What he saw was where he was going after he died.
10:23
This is something other Christians might also experience as they die, but it's not a near-death
10:28
experience.
10:29
It's a death experience.
10:32
In conclusion, if a Christian has an NDE, he or she should treat it as something that
10:40
happens to some people as an unusual dream and unattached to spiritual significance.
10:47
If NDEs are real, and they seem to be real, there are four things to understand about
10:54
them.
10:55
Number one, they're not death experiences.
10:59
People who report having NDEs did not die from the experience, therefore they are not
11:05
connected to the afterlife or the nature of the human soul.
11:10
Two, they are spiritually irrelevant because the Bible does not mention them.
11:17
Three, truth should never be determined from our experience, ever.
11:23
Remember Satan's an angel of light waiting to deceive us, but Jesus prayed, sanctify
11:30
them in the truth, your word is truth.
11:33
And four, the result of NDEs is to deny the messages of the Bible.
11:39
For example, they deny the biblical gospel.
11:43
I've never heard an NDE where someone is told that all have sinned and fall short of the
11:49
glory of God, and they need to repent and receive Christ's payment for their sin.
11:55
It seems to be another attack on the Bible.
11:58
Thank you for listening.
11:59
A longer paper on this subject with the footnotes for the quotes is available on our website
12:05
relationalconcepts.org.
12:09
You can find us on the web at relationalconcepts.org.
12:12
Thank you.
12:13
Stay with us.
12:14
We'll see you next time.
12:15
We'll see you next time.
12:16
We'll see you next time.
12:17