NDE

There is an interesting article at

http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/near_death_explained

which does not, in fact, explain Near Death Experiences, but does examine and dismiss many of the explanations commonly advanced.

What interested me was firstly the evidence in the first case history and one of the others, that people who were physically unconscious were yet able to see and hear things which actually happened. This seems to confirm that they were genuinely experiencing something which was physically impossible for them to experience.

The second thing was the fact that in the first case history the woman was not actually dead. Unlike a heart attack, where it might be argued that the person did indeed travel towards heaven only to be sent back by a loving God, this lady did not die and was not intended to die nor, indeed, was she at any risk of dying (unless something went catastrophicaly wrong with the medical procedure, which does not seem to have happened).

It seems unlikely, therefore, that God would have taken her soul up towards heaven and then sent it back again, because He would have known the facts of the case and that she was not dead and in no danger of dying.

The implication is that there actually is an existence separate from the body which is as real as our existence in the body and which is not dependent upon religious belief or practice. Whether you have a religion or not, if you eat chocolate you experience pleasure, if you jump off a building you fall down, if you open your eyes you see light. In the same way, whether you have a religion or not, when your body dies you continue to exist and to be aware of your surroundings.

Those surroundings are, at first, physical - the medical team working on your body, the accident scene where your body is lying, whatever. As time passes, however, you move on to something which those who have experienced it describe as "light" and "glory".

Of course, by definition we only have the accounts of those who have come back. Religion assures us - and I firmly believe - that in the afterlife there will be a distinction between those who love God and those who reject Him and the fate of those who reject God is either total and final extinction or unending pain.

It would seem sensible, therefore, to make wise choices during this life, just in case all these reports turn out to be true. During my fortnight in Canada a couple of years ago I saw no bears - no wildlife at all - but there are sufficient reports of bears that had I gone hiking in the woods I would certainly have carried a can of pepper spray. I might not have seen any bears, I might not actually see a bear, but it never hurts to be prepared.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down


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