Near Death Experiences
One of my blog posts about a boy who claimed he had an out of body experience, visited "heaven", and returned to his body to live again, stirred my thoughts toward how common these near death experiences really are.
Stephen Hawking recently announced he believed heaven to be a fairytale. And of course, people came to heaven's rescue, to proclaim just how real heaven is, and how ludicrous it is for him to claim such a thing. One of the respondents to the article linked above, argued that if he (Hawking) would visit this website, then he would be a believer.
I searched for the NDERF, or Near Death Expereince Research Foundation, on TA, but the search returned no results. Thus, I present to you a website ran by a medical doctor and an attorney (apparently members of larger "International" organizations) who present these stories as measurable data to support the belief in an afterlife.
To start off, I'd like to ask: With no way to verify the veracity of these accounts, even being related first-hand, how can this be presented as support for life-after-death?
Tags: Death, Experience, NDERF, Near
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on -
Hitchens deals with NDEs in this video. Fast forward to 59:00 to listen to him rip it apart.
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Permalink Reply by Akshay Bist on -
wtf! the video autoplays -.-
Sucks for people with a limited download plan
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Permalink Reply by Brandon on -
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject; if the autoplay video has kept you from responding, would you consider messaging me?
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Permalink Reply by Jacob LeMaster on -
Rabbi Wolpe would make hell of an atheist sometimes.. lol
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Permalink Reply by oneinfinity on -
"To start off, I'd like to ask: With no way to verify the veracity of these accounts, even being related first-hand, how can this be presented as support for life-after-death? "
it can't
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Permalink Reply by Atheist Exile on -
The final chapter (The Amniotic Universe) in Carl Sagan's book, "Broca's Brain", offers his theories on what's happening during OBEs and NDEs. He postulates that memory of the birth experience is "implanted in our earliest memories and occasionally retrieved in such religious epiphanies as the near-death experience". The blissful peace and calm some people report could be an invoked memory of floating in the womb or of being gingerly swaddled in a soft blanket and caressed. The urge to approach "the light" could be the remembered sensations of exiting the birth canal. The commonly reported OBE of rising up out of oneself and traversing the room from above could be the postpartum memory of the doctor or nurse lifting you away from your mother.
An article about The Amniotic Universe is available here.
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