zuker12 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 How does everyone here at ex-christian.net view Near Death Experiences? I'd like to hear your experiences, your opinions, your research into NDEs etc. anything that is related to a Near Death Experience. Most claim the "tunnel of light" experience, with a vision of heaven or something calming, peaceful behind the curtain. Some claim to have visited hell itself, or a sort of a hellish realm, a negative NDE. Positive NDEs are the majority, but some hellish NDEs have been reported. What makes me think is how varied these NDEs are and to what results they lead to, since people don't decisively convert to the Christian faith after experiencing an NDE. I hear some have converted to the Bahá´i faith, and I guess there are other examples. Anyone have more examples of people converting to various faiths because of an NDE? I guess for most it is just simply an experience that takes away their fear of death, but the thing about experiencing a hell is what gets me for the moment. However, how fair is it that some get to taste a terrifying vision of hell while most get to taste the eternal bliss that supposedly awaits us after death? How much skewing of perspectives goes on, if some one religion happens to be the only truth? Why are the visions not consistent with each other, the results, the goings on in the human world today? Some even prophecy bad things to happen in the world according to their visions (though this might be a manifestation of their expectations and not really a prophecy). I've not heard a single prophecy yet come out true that has come from these NDEs and the last one I heard was something vague about the US losing it's position in the world because it's actions are so violent (but this is nothing that you won't hear from the media if you pay even a bit of attention). Some hell vision posited that miscarried babies have their own private realm for growing up (this might sound harsh coming from anyone's mouth but they get a kind of a free pass to bliss) I personally maintain that they aren't really evidence for anything. Subjective experience is subjective experience, that can be altered with our very subconscious desires and fears and cultural expectations. We experience very varied things according to our current situation, be it affected by drugs, meditation, poisoning, or something else. The christian cultural root of heaven and hell is so entrenched in the western world view that is bound to show up in the majority of the NDEs. However, not all NDEs show the same cultural signs, and some experience Hindu gods, some experience an Islamic heaven etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeCycle Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Hallucinations. Seth Andrews of the Thinking Atheist podcast had a caller on his show tell of his friend who had a "NDE." His friend told him that he and the caller went on a hunt to kill zombies. It was very vivid to his friend... The point? His friend was big into zombie movies and many of the zombie games out there. It was a huge interest of his. So what did he "see" when he was near death on his deathbed? Him and his buddy going on a zombie killing spree. I think it's beautiful, honestly. The mind giving you one final thought, one final vision of something you would enjoy and gifting you a "reality" of your dream. Your curtain closes and you're in your own little world with your friend killing zombies, because you've always thought it would be cool to experience. After all, if it's real to the mind, what the world thinks about your little hallucination doesn't matter at all. For some, it's Jesus. For others it's mom or dad or a lost sibling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted April 21, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted April 21, 2014 I view them through the lens of neuroscience. There is nothing magical about a brain in distress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Subjective experience is subjective experience, that can be altered with our very subconscious desires and fears and cultural expectations. We experience very varied things according to our current situation, be it affected by drugs, meditation, poisoning, or something else. The christian cultural root of heaven and hell is so entrenched in the western world view that is bound to show up in the majority of the NDEs. However, not all NDEs show the same cultural signs, and some experience Hindu gods, some experience an Islamic heaven etc. True. Every experience we have is partly what our senses tell us and partly the sense our mind makes of it. In the case of NDEs the whole thing is cooked up in our mind. :-) NDEs do not prove God or heaven any more than any other 'experience' proves something. People dissociate during distress, people daydream, people hallucinate. People attempt to assign meaning and order to an experience which may have no meaning at all. People embellish and distort. Memory is unreliable. People fill in the blanks with baloney in line with their own biases. Trust nothing. :-) jk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skepticalme Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 The fact that fighter pilots experience the same thing when experiencing G-Lok suggest that it is a biochemical process experienced by a biochemical organ. The brain is being deprived of O2. NDE is simply one of the things dying brains go though, except we now have the medical technology to stop dying brains from dying forever. Subjects live to tell about the experience before permenate brain damage sets in. If you believe it is heaven or hell then you can get their by turning hard enough, 10X harder than any sports car. If you can get to heaven in an F-16, then it isn't as supernatural as some hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries256 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Delusions and hallucinations brought on by being in a comatose state, drugs, lack of oxygen, and years of bullshit being crammed into the mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted April 22, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted April 22, 2014 I've never had much use for ndes, myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuker12 Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 http://www.near-death.com This is a resource for NDEs. Looking up more NDEs has made me calmer than I thought! Since the testimonies seem to differ so much, I can now view NDEs as the hallucinations of a muddled, dying brain. However, an NDE does have it's positive effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 http://www.near-death.com This is a resource for NDEs. Looking up more NDEs has made me calmer than I thought! Since the testimonies seem to differ so much, I can now view NDEs as the hallucinations of a muddled, dying brain. However, an NDE does have it's positive effects. Hallucinations can be fun! :-) I've been enjoying one particular recurring hallucination for over 50 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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