God, Religion, and Near-Death Experiences

In my 2008 book The Philosophy of Human Nature, I raised the question about whether the numerous reports and scientific analyses of near-death experiences (“NDEs”) could throw light on the proofs of immortality and other religious questions offered by thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, and others.

Books on Near-Death Experiences

Since then, books on NDEs and their interpretation have multiplied. Interestingly, many of them have been written by physicians. Life After Life, a best-seller published by Raymond A. Moody, a forensic psychiatrist, has been followed up by doctors who not only analyzed the phenomenon but recount their own NDEs, which sometimes border on the miraculous.

To mention just a few:  Proof of Heaven, by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander; Evidence of the Afterlife, by oncology radiologist Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry; To Heaven and Back, by orthopedic spine surgeon Mary C. Neal. Dr. Laurin Bellg, a critical care specialist, in Near Death in the ICU, brings Moody’s analyses up to date with his own investigations and interviews.

Roman Catholic priests have also offered analyses based on their own NDEs – Fr. John Michael Tourangeau, in To Heaven and Back: The Journey of a Roman Catholic Priest; and Fr. Jose Maniyangat, an Indian Catholic Priest, recently retired, and conducting healing ministries throughout Florida.

Some books focus on children’s NDEs – including I Saw God: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Miraculous Return from Death, and Heaven is for Real, which was dramatized in a film by the same name.

What are we to make of these books, in which medical professionals often risk their scientific reputations, and are subjected to critiques by physicians and scientists who have a variety of physiological and neurological explanations for the phenomenon?

A Skeptic

One skeptical treatment is Susan Blackmore’s Dying to Live. She argues that the near-death experience is merely the product of a dying brain, and does not support the existence of a soul or an afterlife. She emphasizes chemical and biological developments that take place in the process of dying.

NDEs will doubtless continue to give rise to differing interpretations. But whatever the case, do the many different accounts of God and religion in these books give us any special insights that bolster traditional theology?

Supporting Traditional Theology?

We have to say: a qualified “yes.” There does seem to be some evidence of a spiritual element separated temporarily from the body. Numerous cases of clinically dead patients describe in minute detail their own operating-room procedures and see relatives and friends present in other parts of the hospital. Probably the most striking and thought-provoking cases are of persons born blind who during their NDE were able to see, and later described their surroundings, including colors.

But the experience of God is rare and ambiguous. At times, it involves a kind and sympathetic “being of light”; at other times, the presence of Jesus or other religious divinities. Often, the main numinous experience is of angels or a guardian angel.

One strong bit of evidence that something did happen is that thousands of NDEers report no fear of death, and are even looking forward to dying because of their delightful near-death experiences… They’ve “been there, done that.”

However, specifically, for orthodox Christians, do NDEs offer any support for their faith?

One important positive factor is the constant (and quite Christian) message from almost all NDEers concerning the importance of love. The “being of light,” or the angel that accompanies the NDEer typically insists on love as the meaning and purpose of life. This message comes in various forms. Often the necessity of continuing love for family and others convinces an NDEer to return to life when given a choice.

NDEs can also take vaguer shapes. In Dr. Jeffrey Long’s book, when the subject of religion arises, the answers are definitely in the contemporary “whatever” phraseology. For example:

Since I had been told that Catholics couldn’t go into other churches without committing a sin, and that Lutherans thought Catholics were going to hell, I had a very pressing question: “What is the right religion?” The man told me: “They all are. Each religion is a pathway trying to reach the same place.” I saw a mountain, and each religious group was trying to reach the top; they were all trying to get to the same place.

Others follow suit in reflecting a variety of current views:

I didn’t feel that the God I met was of a specific religion.” “I still attend church but now treat attendance as more of a cultural experience than a religious or spiritual experience. Many times I’d like to take over the pulpit and tell people what is really on the other side and that the guilt preached by Christian churches is completely inappropriate.” “I’m spiritual, not religious.” “After my NDE I stopped going to church because I felt that what they were teaching wasn’t accurate. I realized that God is pure love and heaven is not somewhere you go when you die; heaven is here now, on earth.” “I’m not involved in any religion, but I respect everyone and their religion. I no longer look down on people for that aspect of their lives. But I do know that God, in whatever form you choose to believe in him, is real and does exist. But from what I experienced, God is bigger than anything anyone could conceive.”

Some responses, however, are very Catholic: For example, Standing before God, by Dr. Gloria Polo, an orthodontist, who survived a strike by lighting, includes thoughtful deliberations about heaven, hell, and purgatory, as well as traditional doctrines about mortal and venial sins. And the accounts of Frs. Tourganeau and Fr. Maniyangat, mentioned above, are very explicit about doctrines of sin and grace, especially as this applies to the priesthood.

Many near-death experiencers make mention that they were baptized, were Catholics or Episcopalian or Lutheran or some other religion, and maybe had practiced the religion or had fallen away, etc. But the spiritual beings they mentioned did not promote any specific religion – with the exception of the three Catholic NDEers just mentioned, who was very specific about Catholic doctrines, about their own personal dangers of losing heaven, and about how the Lord put them on the right path.

Conclusion

My own tentative conclusion is that NDEs give some “empirical” evidence of a soul, and of a loving God, and an afterlife. But the stories of current survivors, many of which are cited by Dr. Long’s book, mentioned above, are frequently colored by “New Age” religion, or a universalist version of Christianity. In other words, “everybody goes to heaven – and we can’t wait to get there!”