Deceived By The Light

There are many accounts of people who have died and came back. Scores of these people were not Christians and yet they saw a beautiful light, light beings, a place that looked like paradise and deceased relatives.

Yet the Christian community has responded to these accounts by saying that these individuals were deceived by Satan during their death experience. They say Satan made it look like people could go to heaven without being a Christian.

I feel that this is a terrible thing to even suggest. How do you explain these experiences?

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

There are many accounts of people who have died and came back. Scores of these people were not Christians and yet they saw a beautiful light, light beings, a place that looked like paradise and deceased relatives.

Yet the Christian community has responded to these accounts by saying that these individuals were deceived by Satan during their death experience. They say Satan made it look like people could go to heaven without being a Christian. How can they say anything else. For to accept NDEs as true, they would have to admit to themselves that all that they subjected themselves to such as fear of Satan, of being led astray was unnecessary. They would have to admit that they were wrong all along. Not at all pleasant and it requires honesty. The idea of NDEs being real may actually be frightening to them..

I feel that this is a terrible thing to even suggest. Of course it is. How do you explain these experiences?

In the early 20th century Cacey said that there would be no more death. He added that it would not happen literally, but that how we see death would change. This is what came to mind when I read stories about NDEs for the first time.

There are too many stories to dismiss them as fantasy or as being chemically induced by a dying brain. Particularly since it has been scientifically proved that consciousness exists independent of the body. After all, we are spirit having a body.

A lot has been written about near death experiences. The best site to read about them is the neardeath.com site. Only yesterday I read again about 'the pattern' which was brought back from an NDE by Lynnclaire Dennis.
http://www.near-death.com/dennis.html

I like the subject of this post Mind's Eye and look forward to what other posters think.

That's a great site Blue... thanks for posting it. I plan to look it over more carefully a little later.

I enjoy the subject of NDE's as well... It has always been a subject of great interest to me. And yes, the dying brain theory has been put out to pasture a long time ago. I have read accounts where folks were dead for days.

I would also like to state right here, that this is not another Christian bashing thread and I hope it doesn't turn into one.

I believe in Christ.. I truly do. But I don't belive in the Jesus that religion teaches.

I believe there is a loving God/Divine Spirit out there. And that Jesus came to tell us about the reality of the spiritual realm. But unfortunately, when men got hold of those teachings and fudged with them and started taking every word literally... the true meaning of it was lost.

Why can't we all rejoice in the fact that heaven welcomes each and every one of us when we die.

Does that mean that someone like Hitler or the 911 terrorists went to heaven and got a big old sloppy kiss at the gates??? I don't know. Maybe not... or maybe they had to go someowhere where they would learn from their mistakes and grow as spiritual beings. Who can say for sure where souls like that go and what happenes to them after they die. I would imagine there would have to be some kind of justice to be served for the truly evil soul.

But I don't think the average person who is a decent human being goes to a burning hell just because he picked the wrong religion or some such thing. Too much evidence seems to prove otherwise.

Maybe all of these NDE's is God's way of trying to set us all straight and get us to drop all of the religious hatred.

[theophilus]

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

There are many accounts of people who have died and came back. Scores of these people were not Christians and yet they saw a beautiful light, light beings, a place that looked like paradise and deceased relatives.

Are you absolutely sure that these people actually died? Not all of the experiences I have heard about describe the afterlife in the same way so they can't all be true. Some have described seeing Hell rather than Heaven.

Yet the Christian community has responded to these accounts by saying that these individuals were deceived by Satan during their death experience. They say Satan made it look like people could go to heaven without being a Christian.

I feel that this is a terrible thing to even suggest. How do you explain these experiences?

Why is it so terrible to suggest such a thing? Are you sure it isn't true? Satan is a deceiver and makes evil appear to be good. The fact that not all death experiences are the same suggests that they are seeing some kind of vision rather than experiencing reality and why can't Satan be the one inducing these visions?

But I don't think the average person who is a decent human being goes to a burning hell just because he picked the wrong religion or some such thing. Too much evidence seems to prove otherwise.

No one will be condemned to hell for picking the wrong religion. Each of us will be judged on the basis of whether or not we lived up fully to what we know is right. We all have a natural tendency to deceive ourselfs as to how good we are but when we face God at our final judgment we will see ourselves as we really are.

http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15258

[innerlight]

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

Yet the Christian community has responded to these accounts by saying that these individuals were deceived by Satan during their death experience. They say Satan made it look like people could go to heaven without being a Christian.

I feel that this is a terrible thing to even suggest. How do you explain these experiences?

It's dismissed by Christians and that belief because it goes against their beliefs. They have been told, and believe that only a few will ever make it into heaven. That only those that accept Jesus will make it to heaven. They will not accept that anyone and everyone will go to heaven. Regardless of their acceptance or non acceptance of Jesus and the Christian belief.

So it's easy to see that those that aren't Christian will not see the "real" heaven. That it is a lie created by Satan to sway a Christian from the true path of Christianity.

I was reading a book on people crossing over and seeing the spirit realms from their past lives who crossed over. The guy doing the case stories remarked that of all the people that he has worked with none of them reported to seeing any Religious teacher such as Jesus, Buddha, or Muhammad upon passing. I'm sure it would be dismissed then that they were not in heaven, but were deceived.

Originally Posted by Mind's Eye

Yet the Christian community has responded to these accounts by saying that these individuals were deceived by Satan during their death experience.

Not uniformly, remember. I've seen Christian pastors using NDE accounts to counsel the bereaved. There are plenty of Christians who see this as perfectly valid stuff.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Theophilus

No one will be condemned to hell for picking the wrong religion. Each of us will be judged on the basis of whether or not we lived up fully to what we know is right.

Ah! How nice, Theophilus, to find you saying that, and thereby recognizing the validity of multiple spiritual paths apart from your own.

Very interesting too since this view is actually considered heretical by most these days, ever since Saint Augustine, and that's a long time. It could be seen as a form of the Pelagian heresy, so-called, since you seem to be saying people can achieve what Christians call 'salvation' without what Christians call 'God'. But perhaps you're not, and anyway, I welcome the adult nature of the comment.

Originally Posted by Prokopton

Not uniformly, remember. I've seen Christian pastors using NDE accounts to counsel the bereaved. There are plenty of Christians who see this as perfectly valid stuff.

There absolutley are Christians who believe in the NDE experiences. And it's great that they have an open mind about other things as well. To me, that is the true spirit of Christianity; to know that God is bigger than we are and we cannot possibly know it all through the doctrines and dogmas of the more rigid religions.

Originally Posted by theophilus

Are you absolutely sure that these people actually died? Not all of the experiences I have heard about describe the afterlife in the same way so they can't all be true. Some have described seeing Hell rather than Heaven.

Why is it so terrible to suggest such a thing? Are you sure it isn't true? Satan is a deceiver and makes evil appear to be good. The fact that not all death experiences are the same suggests that they are seeing some kind of vision rather than experiencing reality and why can't Satan be the one inducing these visions?

No one will be condemned to hell for picking the wrong religion. Each of us will be judged on the basis of whether or not we lived up fully to what we know is right. We all have a natural tendency to deceive ourselfs as to how good we are but when we face God at our final judgment we will see ourselves as we really are.

http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15258

I've read a lot of NDE that were very much the same. Although some do differ on certain subjects.

But are we to be so blind that we think that we can grasp the whole of heaven with our limited understanding?

I live in a certain town, in a certain county.... and it's quite big. If I look out of my front door and say that what I see is all there is... does that discount the other views of other people who live elsewhere in the same county??? Of course not; for we have all seen diffrent aspects and places of the same place..... Heaven is as big as eternity. How can anyone narrow it down to a postage stamp sized place and discount what someone else has seen?

Originally Posted by theophilus
Are you absolutely sure that these people actually died? Before reanimation was possible, people were declared dead when there there were no longer any vital signs. Nowadays it is possible to check for brain activity. When there is no longer any, people are pronounced dead. But I concede that in the case of NDEs it can be argued that the people have not died. People are dead when the silver cord is severed but that is a different topic. Not all of the experiences I have heard about describe the afterlife in the same way so they can't all be true. Some have described seeing Hell rather than Heaven. It can be argued on the basis of all the NDE stories that our beliefs in life colour what we encounter after death. If you believe that you will enter pearly gates when you die, Theophilus, then chances are very real that that is what you will find.

Why is it so terrible to suggest such a thing? Are you sure it isn't true? Satan is a deceiver and makes evil appear to be good. The fact that not all death experiences are the same suggests that they are seeing some kind of vision rather than experiencing reality and why can't Satan be the one inducing these visions?

NDErs who experienced a dark place eventually went to the Light. One explanation I have found is that we are so ashamed that we want to hide but after a while we all find the courage to face our 'peers' and 'mentors'. If we go there for other reasons it seems that for a while we ignore the Light which is always present to help us.
The Roman Catholics call this purgatory.

Off topic: Mind's Eye I am a 'she'.

Originally Posted by Bluegreen

Off topic: Mind's Eye I am a 'she'.

Yeah, yeah... I knew that. I just wanted to make sure that you were aware over there.