Here:
http://blog.godreports.com/2012/03/atheist-professors-near-death-experience-in-hell-left-him-changed/
This is the latest NDE to be focused on by the evangelical community. I recently read a book by Eben Alexander III who had a near-death experience that had a profound effect on him. I recommend that one over some of the other similar books out there.
I want to make a couple of points about NDE's in general and then an important one about this one in particular. NDE's are dismissed by the atheistic/secularist crowd as nothing more than brain malfunction, where the more evangelical Christians latch on to them as clear proof of an afterlife. Personally, I don't think NDE's are proof of anything, and as stand-alone evidence they aren't that powerful. But I don't throw in with the absolute skeptics either. Rather, I think of NDEs as similar to any other mystical experience. We should look at them with a skeptical eye but an open mind and heart. I think NDE's are subject to what I have called 'over-belief' (see here: http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-real-adventure.html).
Further, I think the informational content, the real meaty truth, of an NDE can't be found in the minute details of the experience. Something that skeptics often miss is the way an experience can change the way we look at the world. I will explore this in more detail in my Apologetics series, which I plan to continue tomorrow. For now, I encourage the reader to check out Dostoevsky's THE DREAM OF THE RIDICULOUS MAN. There are some experiences that we can't just leap into unaided. We need some kind of shift in perception to 'achieve' them. The first time you look into a microscope at a paramecium, you may see nothing even if you are staring right at it. Then, all of a sudden, the object 'leaps out' at you, and finally you can see. You have to undergo an experiential shift to have the experience. I think mystical experiences, and NDE's probably change the way a person looks at the world. This shifting is the real 'truth' of the experience, or at least the one we should focus on. The relationship between an NDE and it's significance is probably similar to what I spoke of yesterday in my post about divine revelation and the history of science (http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/01/science-and-divine-revelation.html)
I think this is the proper attitude towards these kinds of experiences. But one more point I want to make: why are evangelicals so enamored with this particular story? Evangelicals tend to latch onto the content of the experience, not heeding the advice I give here. But the details of this story seem to contradict some deeply held orthodox evangelical views, particularly the idea that you have to make a decision to commit to Christ in this life if you are to receive heaven. This story fits more with those who believe there will be a chance to repent after death. Shouldn't this bother the Christians who celebrate it? Aren't they usually suspicious of any experience that contradicts a strict orthodox line?
Very good piece. I'm not overly religious I'm more spiritual than anything else. What I can say is that virtually every human society in history had a need to acknowledge something bigger and better. To acknowledge the spirit world. We've gotten away from that being Western competitive societies where sense of entitlement reigns supreme. No one should be forced to be religious but I think a certain human element has been lost.
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