Near death experiences - what is the light?

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MaryM

Well-known member
Nov 25, 2022
506
301
63
#1
I have read about and heard many near death experiences. I believe each person, I do not think anyone has reason to lie about such a serious, often life-changing matter. I think it is arrogant to dismiss anyone's experience.

What puzzles me is that so many of these accounts say how much they felt a light or presence that was very good and loving. That they felt safe and didn't want to return to this life. These people do not say if they were Christian, they do not identify the light or presence as God or Jesus.

This is something that needs addressing. What could the presence be? As a Christian I feel I need to hear what both Christians and non-believers think. Have you had a near death experience and been able to tell anyone and did it fit your belief system?
 

Subhumanoidal

Well-known member
Sep 17, 2018
4,060
3,173
113
#2
Doesn't have a reason to lie? There have been people who confessed to lying about this. One (a supposed Christian) wrote a book and gained some popularity and made money by lying about it. So it seems fame and money make for a legit reason to lie about it.

Also there's enough contradictions between various stories to see there is no consistency. What people see tends to reflect what they believe. How convenient.

But it's "arrogant" to not believe in this...
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#4
I have read about and heard many near death experiences. I believe each person, I do not think anyone has reason to lie about such a serious, often life-changing matter. I think it is arrogant to dismiss anyone's experience.

What puzzles me is that so many of these accounts say how much they felt a light or presence that was very good and loving. That they felt safe and didn't want to return to this life. These people do not say if they were Christian, they do not identify the light or presence as God or Jesus.

This is something that needs addressing. What could the presence be? As a Christian I feel I need to hear what both Christians and non-believers think. Have you had a near death experience and been able to tell anyone and did it fit your belief system?
Thank you Mary, for your honest inquiry on this subject.
we know Jesus is " the light of the world", so there must be a correlation.
That, and this whole universe we know of seems to be a creation, a construct made for us as it pleased the Father till we complete our individual work and are judged to spend eternity with the Father or the other place if we fail.
blessings:)
 

selahsays

Well-known member
May 31, 2023
2,796
1,484
113
#5
My husband once had one of these near death experiences when his heart momentarily stopped. He remembers seeing a light that he says he was moving towards. It makes sense to me that this light must‘ve been the Lord! ….because it is written:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

- 2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)
IMG_5750.gif
 

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2021
8,310
3,617
113
#6
Near death experiences - what is the light?
Just because there's a light, doesn't mean it's the Lord. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. It could be any number of things.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
60,134
29,451
113
#7
My husband once had one of these near death experiences when his heart momentarily stopped. He remembers seeing a light that he says he was moving towards. It makes sense to me that this light must‘ve been the Lord! ….because it is written:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

- 2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)
View attachment 256170
That is true of believers. Mary said: "These people do not say if they were Christian, they do not
identify the light or presence as God or Jesus."
Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#8
When the earth suit wears out our spirit and soul return to the Father.
I have spoken with over 50 who have had contact with those who have gone before.
blessings:)
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
4,758
2,054
113
46
#9
Very nice Tim. I also think along the same lines as you when it comes to NDEs. Scientifically speaking there’s more research and awareness about this topic now compared to before. Dr. Sam Parnia is a leading researcher in this area and he has concluded that awareness continues.
So it’s nice to see the scientific community catching up to what people have believed for centuries.
 

Bingo

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2019
9,219
4,755
113
#10
#ICAMETOSHARE

"This is a life happening experience, and it can never be explained to adequately
satisfy one's curiosity. This I know from personal experience. Preceding the experience
was a time of great unrest, profound disturbance in my life.
'And the fear of a calamity is a fearful place, and make no mistake... you do not want to be there!


'Three years prior to this I had a personal happening, one night a 'light' from above came upon me,
and I will leave it there. (1996)
'Forward to 1999 when the big fear came about and from there my life forever changed with a commitment
of putting my life in God's care. From a '
spiritual awakening' to a 'spiritual awareness' and this
for the past twenty plus years I have remained with a
'spiritual consciousness'.


'And I stand by this truth...no more...no less.
I came...I came to...I came to believe. God's Spirit is within my life.


'And make no mistake, many things shared are of a spiritual revelation through power of the air...
and that being...
Spirit of Christ my Lord God.


'Praise God'....I'M Alive...I'M Alive...I'M Alive.........'I Am You...You are I'

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Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,354
9,370
113
#11
Reckon I'll find out what heaven is like when I get there.

Reckon I ain't in a hurry for that right now. ;)
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#12
Those who have the required hunger for the things of God can know here and now.
 

Seeker47

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2018
1,128
962
113
#14
A great post MaryM, thank you for bringing this issue up in such a thoughtful way.

These experiences have been with mankind since our very beginning. This includes not only NDE's but also other experiences that just cannot and never will be explained by our earthly knowledge. Some researchers believe that nearly every human being has had such an experience and that they have found them very profound.

The thing I have found fascinating is the universal nature of these experiences. While they appear to include every race and religion, they all involve common elements, the experience of light being the most universal.

I know from personal history, the bias and disbelief that comes from talking about these very personal experiences. Most of us learn very quickly and tend to keep discussions limited to very few people.

God's manifestation to us is personal and we can only know him because he pursues us. If and when God shows himself in light, celebrate that personal event for what you know it to be.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#15
Ever since the fall in Genesis He has sought to encounter and redeem His own.:)
 

ChrisTillinen

Active member
Sep 16, 2022
354
184
43
#16
Just more or less random thoughts on the subject, mostly the issue of why would non-Christians have positive near-death experiences, why they might not report their experience in Christian terms if it really is Jesus that they encountered, etc.

1. It was not their time for judgement because they returned to life. (Hebrews 9:27) It may be a mistake to assume that their experiences are the same as those who don't return back to earthly life.

2. Isn't this in some ways comparable to a nonbeliever having a positive experience with Jesus during his earthly ministry? I would imagine that he left a positive impression on some people who nevertheless did not become believers, at least not at that time. The encounter with Jesus was not the end of their journey, just one important step along the way.

3. We interpret our perceptions through a lens of prior beliefs and cultural assumptions. That can be the case in near-death experiences as well.

4. Encounters with some kind of luminous being could be encounters with angels rather than Jesus. That may at least change the nature of the experience.

5. I'm also not discounting the possibility of demonic deception in at least some of these experiences.

6. For whatever reason, God has chosen to keep us at a certain distance from him and maintain a veil of uncertainty as part of this life in a fallen world. Whatever those reasons are, should we assume that the reasons are totally absent during near-death experiences? If not, then why should we assume that the purpose of those experiences is to give full clarity and ensure total accuracy?

7. An all-knowing God can have purposes that go beyond the immediately observable effects on a person's life. It would be interesting to study the lifelong trajectory of faith for those who have near-death experiences (rather than what they initially believe about them).

8. Negative experiences may be underreported for various reasons. The person having such an experience may be more ashamed, may be more likely to suppress the memory, etc. Also others may be less likely to pass forward reports of such experiences.

9. Nevertheless, from what I've heard, there is at least a significant minority of near-death experiences that are of a negative or "hellish" kind. I only looked at the abstract, but "A systematic analysis of distressing near-death experience accounts" says "Distressing NDEs represent 14% of our sample". I very vaguely remember that someone found it to be a higher percentage when dealing with patients having cardiac arrest (or something along those lines).

10. There are at least two very different ways to think of what happens during an actual near-death experience. Either it's specifically "designed" by God for the individual's needs and granted by God for that specific purpose or it's some kind of an anomaly, a case of the "normal" course of things in the borderlines of life and death somehow "malfunctioning" so that a person wasn't really "supposed" to experience it. Not that God would make a mistake, but just like the effects of purely physical laws of nature can be sub-optimal and counterproductive for us due to the consequences of the fall, perhaps it's not totally outrageous to speculate that something like that could also have an effect on the "interface" between the natural and the spiritual in some of the near-death experiences. The point here is that if at least some of the near-death experiences are not specifically designed as revelatory experiences for the ones experiencing them, it makes more sense that they would leave the subjects with confusion about what exactly happened.
 

MaryM

Well-known member
Nov 25, 2022
506
301
63
#17
'Near Death in the ICU' by Laurin Bellg MD.
This is the book I am reading that has brought these questions up in my mind.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#18
Just more or less random thoughts on the subject, mostly the issue of why would non-Christians have positive near-death experiences, why they might not report their experience in Christian terms if it really is Jesus that they encountered, etc.

1. It was not their time for judgement because they returned to life. (Hebrews 9:27) It may be a mistake to assume that their experiences are the same as those who don't return back to earthly life.

2. Isn't this in some ways comparable to a nonbeliever having a positive experience with Jesus during his earthly ministry? I would imagine that he left a positive impression on some people who nevertheless did not become believers, at least not at that time. The encounter with Jesus was not the end of their journey, just one important step along the way.

3. We interpret our perceptions through a lens of prior beliefs and cultural assumptions. That can be the case in near-death experiences as well.

4. Encounters with some kind of luminous being could be encounters with angels rather than Jesus. That may at least change the nature of the experience.

5. I'm also not discounting the possibility of demonic deception in at least some of these experiences.

6. For whatever reason, God has chosen to keep us at a certain distance from him and maintain a veil of uncertainty as part of this life in a fallen world. Whatever those reasons are, should we assume that the reasons are totally absent during near-death experiences? If not, then why should we assume that the purpose of those experiences is to give full clarity and ensure total accuracy?

7. An all-knowing God can have purposes that go beyond the immediately observable effects on a person's life. It would be interesting to study the lifelong trajectory of faith for those who have near-death experiences (rather than what they initially believe about them).

8. Negative experiences may be underreported for various reasons. The person having such an experience may be more ashamed, may be more likely to suppress the memory, etc. Also others may be less likely to pass forward reports of such experiences.

9. Nevertheless, from what I've heard, there is at least a significant minority of near-death experiences that are of a negative or "hellish" kind. I only looked at the abstract, but "A systematic analysis of distressing near-death experience accounts" says "Distressing NDEs represent 14% of our sample". I very vaguely remember that someone found it to be a higher percentage when dealing with patients having cardiac arrest (or something along those lines).

10. There are at least two very different ways to think of what happens during an actual near-death experience. Either it's specifically "designed" by God for the individual's needs and granted by God for that specific purpose or it's some kind of an anomaly, a case of the "normal" course of things in the borderlines of life and death somehow "malfunctioning" so that a person wasn't really "supposed" to experience it. Not that God would make a mistake, but just like the effects of purely physical laws of nature can be sub-optimal and counterproductive for us due to the consequences of the fall, perhaps it's not totally outrageous to speculate that something like that could also have an effect on the "interface" between the natural and the spiritual in some of the near-death experiences. The point here is that if at least some of the near-death experiences are not specifically designed as revelatory experiences for the ones experiencing them, it makes more sense that they would leave the subjects with confusion about what exactly happened.
God judges the heart, not the head, He is calling his Own from all kindreds and tongues right now.
Keep speaking to and listening of the Lord.
Religion would keep us talking about Him and not with Him as required.
blessings:)
blessings
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#19
70+ years of experience has reinforced, "O death, where is thy sting?":)(y)
 

Bingo

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2019
9,219
4,755
113
#20
#ICAMETOSHARE

"Make no mistake, an extraordinary and powerful book came to be put in print since
1939...and now over eight decades the book has not been altered or changed from original conception.
'And the phenomenal aspect of this book has been profoundly instrumental (world wide) of changing
and helping to support and encourage thousands of lives that have known pain and suffering, thinking
there was no hope of achieving a better quality of life."

"I have witnessed and I am a witness of how the inspiration of this book has gratefully and most certainly
influenced my life and the lives of many others that have crossed my path in the past twenty-three years.

There are no words available to describe the power of this book! And nothing under the sun shall ever
be
adequately compared to this real life real time heartfelt instrumental book...this I firmly believe!


"Thank God I came to know of Bill W. and *Bill's story...Sept. 28, 1999.
Sadly but also honestly I can relate to the
happenings that were put forth in the Big Book.
From seemingly hopelessness to a new and renewed life...here in the now!


" Yes...#ICAMETOSHARE

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"Amen"