The phenomenon of near death experiences
Many, many people have had a near death experience and have experienced aspects of the afterlife. These accounts are available from websites such as IANDS or www.ndeinsights.com or by simply searching “near death experience” on YouTube. In these accounts people have died or left their bodies, recovered or been resuscitated and returned to tell the tale. This is very exciting in itself but the question it also raises is whether these experiences match the Christian claims about the afterlife?
The first point to emphasize is that what is experienced in near death experiences varies from person to person but there are key themes which are consistent across them. Also, where there are consistencies these do tend to contradict Christian claims about the afterlife considerably. I will look at just two of these here: the concept of a bodily resurrection and the claim that belief in Jesus is the key determinant in the afterlife.
Resurrection on Earth or ascending into heaven?
Starting with resurrection, the central claim of Christianity is that Jesus died on the cross but on the third day was resurrected from the dead. This is then a precursor and a hope for the rest of us. However, after appearing to his disciples after he died (and interestingly teaching them about the Kingdom of Heaven – not justification by faith) we are told he ascended into heaven. This final state of existing in a spiritual place separate from Earth more closely matches our intuitive understandings of what happens when we die: “we go to heaven” – a spiritual realm separate from Earth.
As an aside, when Jesus is asked about the resurrection he replied that the person asking didn’t know what he was talking about and that we will in fact be “like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:29-30). Which would suggest: (i) we continue life as spiritual rather than physical beings; (ii) in a place more similar to a heaven rather than on Earth. But putting this aside for the moment, what do near death experiences teach us?
The first thing they teach us is that in every single case consciousness and a “sense of being” continues (i) apart from and beyond the body; (ii) and without a break in consciousness. Either the body has ceased functioning or the person simply looks down and sees their body, but either way there is no wait for a later “resurrection” or this resurrection being in physical form. Once the initial separation from the body takes place the question then is what is experienced when consciousness continues.
An angry God requiring belief in Jesus?
In many cases it is God or a being of light who is encountered and who gives them messages. In others, it is other people in a spiritual heaven like realm who are experienced and who again often give messages. But in none of these is an angry God experienced or there being a requirement for believing in Jesus’s death to remain or be in these heavenly realms. These aspects are simply missing.
In fact what is universally experienced is overwhelming love when God or a being of light is encountered. This experience of unconditional love is experienced irrespective of what religion the person was when they died. But this shouldn’t surprise us – it is exactly what Jesus tells us in Matthew, that God loves everyone.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
The fact that Christianity doesn’t teach this is because it imported concepts of an angry God requiring sacrifice from the Old Testament and the ideas and letters of Paul – effectively hiding the teachings of Jesus. What Jesus taught in relation to a loving God does match the afterlife evidence, what Christianity teaches doesn’t seem to.
Central message of love
So if belief in Jesus doesn’t seem to be a requirement or key message of the afterlife, what is? In nearly all cases what is emphasized is love. We are loved by God and we need to be more loving to ourselves and others on Earth. Our material achievements do not matter in life reviews carried out in near death experiences compared to whether we have been loving or not in life. Again and again the message is “it is all about love”. And again, it may or may not come as a surprise that this was also the central teaching of Jesus. The spiritual or metaphysical commandments of Jesus were all to do with loving our neighbors and enemies, forgiving, not judging and not being angry. This was for us to enter into the mental and spiritual state of the Kingdom of Heaven now, not later.
So it does matter how we live on Earth. Jesus emphasizes again and again that what matters is following his commandments and not “hearing his commandments but not doing them” or “calling on his name”. None of the near death evidence suggests relying on the concept of a sacrificial death of Jesus is part of the afterlife and nor does this concept match Jesus’s Kingdom teachings. It appears to be a construct created on Earth which drops away when we experience the greater spiritual reality. However, it is a concept that can do damage to us when we are on Earth if it gives us a false view of the nature of God, ourselves and what we are meant to be doing while we are here on Earth.
