Evidence for God from Science

Just came across this video. I don't recall seeing it ever referenced here on G&S. It's quite fascinating - but what to make of it, eh? This kid said he visited heaven during a surgery and that he saw his little sister who died in the womb during a miscarriage - a miscarriage his parents had never even told him about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3xItrGOi6Q

Anyone familiar with this?

why do people see heaven when they are about to die and not sometime else? I wonder often? Personally I don't think these things are real but thats just me.

Possibly, God very rarely provides a witness to the truth and reality of heaven. This kid's story and interviews are quite fascinating. When he was far younger (when the story first came out), he came off as be very sincere and geniune, knew impossible things, related them confidently without looking coached or constantly looking at his parents. His dad is a pastor. I saw no theological contradictions in his story. And his story of what he remembered was brief, told in a child-like and simple way. True or imagined, I don't know. But elements of what he related to his parents were unknowable to him. And would a respected pastor try to cook up some scam with his four-year-old son - who it should have been extremely easy to see it was all a lie? I think he was six when they came forward with this. The parents also come across as quite sincere and credible.

But I do know this, anytime someone who was not already a believer says they visited heaven, we know it has to be false - like the brain researcher who we discussed in this forum a while back. That guy, a "previous" unbeliever, talked about seeing all these beautiful colors, butterflies, angelic beings, etc. - said not a wit about seeing Jesus, the very focus of the current and future heaven. And unbelievers don't go to heaven - even temporarily. The Apostle Paul talks of seeing heaven, so we know it is theologically possible.

Out of body and NDE are far more common than we think.
That said I think that WE still process them in a way that makes "sense" to Us so that, every experience will NOT be the same because of social conditoning, age and simply being able to "absorb" what we are "seeing".

I don't know what to think about them, but a pastor of mine many, many years ago (probably twenty or so) said something that I've always thought was helpful. He was talking to an unbeliever who went through an NDE who described all the smiling faces and bright lights, etc. Dr. Turner just asked him bluntly, "Did the thought not cross your mind that the bright light you saw might not have been the fires of hell and the smiling faces and happiness all around you the joy of the demons who knew what your fate was about to be?"

I haven't read Brian's book, but I think I may recall him saying something similar. I also know that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so I wouldn't put it past him to try to trick people into thinking they were going to a place that they weren't. I've seen too many movies where people think they are in heaven only to suddenly realize sooner rather than later that they were wrong. If a story teller can come up with that, why couldn't Satan?

Beyond all that, there's also the possibility that some of those people who we are convinced would go to hell are actually saved, especially if you believe in eternal security. For all its faults, Jesus is pervasive in America. Is it so hard to believe that as children they heard the gospel somewhere and trusted Christ and later got themselves confused?

So, as I said, I don't know how to take all of it. I know I'm not about to build a theology on those kinds of experiences, but I find them interesting all the same. It doesn't seem to me that every such occurrence can be written off as what we go through when the brain is shutting down. It's an open question why more people don't go through it; but it's also an open question why there are so many who don't go through it. On such things, I think it's best to be curious, but make sure we interpret it all in light of what Scripture says. I mean, shoot, we have a hard enough time figuring out the laws of this world. Supposing that ANY of the NDE experiences are authentic, what hope do we have of figuring out THAT world?!?

Hank Hanegraaff's organization, Christian Research Institute, has some fascinating things to say about near death experiences and research related to them:

Near Death Experience Part One:

http://www.equip.org/articles/the-near- ... -part-one/

Near Death Experience Part Two:

http://www.equip.org/articles/the-near- ... -part-two/

Related Articles:

http://www.equip.org/category/near-death-experience/

In fact, I believe that the above links - especially "Near Death Experience Parts One" and "Two" - are such good overviews of the available NDE (secular) academic research, summation of case histories, cautions of interpretation, the New Age/demonic potentials, the authentic experiences God may well have provided some, the Christian perspective (academic and theological), are so good that they are excellent overviews on this subject that are well worth reading. In fact, I think these are important enough that I'm going to also post this in an appropriate section with a easy to search title.

Thanks,
Philip