Near Death Experiences (NDE) and Out of Body Experiences (OBE) are two similar events where a person is conscious of being separated from their bodies. Experiences like this have always happened, but because of medical advances they now happen by the thousands.
In the Bible there are visions where the person experiences beyond their physical location, but it is not a true OBE/NDE. When Daniel sees God on His throne or when Isaiah or John experience Heaven, these would seem to be visions. The distinction is that God is viewed directly (which should not be possible for a sinful human) and/or much of what is viewed is symbolic. It is more of a Powerpoint than a field trip. A biblical exception is reported by Paul in 2 Corinthians 14. In this passage, Paul speaks of himself going to Heaven and hearing “inexpressible things than man is not permitted to tell.” Some theorize that this happened after an unsuccessful stoning of Paul. If true, this was a Near Death Experience. Paul refers to what he hears as “inexpressible” which could mean that he has no words to convey it, but he also says that he was not permitted to convey it.
Death normally separates body and spirit. Other, not recommended, procedures seem to do the same thing temporarily. We will get to that later. Since we know so little about the interface of body and spirit, it is hard to medically or theologically explain the moment of separation and why it is possible to do this “before our time”.
Skeptics dismiss NDE’s and OBE’s as illusions created by the brain in distress, usually blaming it on hypoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain. There are several facts that make the hypoxia argument not credible. First, hypoxia makes a person confused not hyper-aware. Many people having a NDE find themselves floating above their bodies and they can recall details of the room or even details outside of the room accurately. This takes us to the second reason it is not hypoxia. People can see and hear without having their eyes open and with no discernable brain activity. It is the soul operating without the body.
Careful recording of the nature of the experience is important before drawing too many conclusions. People tend to under-report NDE’s. The reason is that they fear skepticism or judgment. This is especially true if the experience is bad. Most reported NDE’s are about a beautiful experience of Heaven. Some even come back with a message of universal love and salvation. These collide with experience of many, and perhaps even more than is reported, who experience what is reported as Hell. Obviously, universal salvation is incorrect if some are experiencing “Hell” (I would reserve the word “Hell” for a post-judgment day place. What they experience is technically Sheol–see my other blogs about this).
I believe the ultimate truth about the afterlife and many other things is the Bible. Experiences like NDE’s are interesting and exciting but they need to be tested against the facts presented in the Bible. The Bible itself warns to “not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:20) NDE’s could be seen as a type of prophecy. It is information about the afterlife that gets to us by a different means. But that doesn’t make the information correct. It needs to be tested, because intentional deception is possible.
Who would the deceiver be? I am not laying this on the people who have a NDE. I suspect Satan has ways to intercept this experience and spin it in a way that disseminates false information. On the flip side, I see no reason to conclude that all NDE’s are the “work of the Devil”.
So with a degree of caution, we will examine in later blogs some of the NDEs and OBEs reported in books on the topic to see if there is anything to learn about life after death.
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