The NDE field is large enough that it now includes bestselling books and major feature films. Over fifty years of research on thousands of cases of NDEs has yielded a rich set of new data that have been subject to multidisciplinary scientific scrutiny by scientists worldwide. Among many characteristics isolated by researchers is the fact that almost all experiencers report a vivid and joyful awareness of a discrete soul or selfhood that has the potential to survive the death of the body. In virtually every case, NDEers experienced the same numinous qualities that I had felt. In many cases they report the experience of a formal life review. And yet, according to premier NDE researcher Kenneth Ring, “Religious orientation was not a factor affecting either the likelihood or the depth of the near-death experience. An atheist was as likely to have one as was a devoutly religious person.”[1]
NDE reports do have variations, but the long list of shared characteristics that have now been assembled by peer-reviewed researchers and which are being reported in a myriad of conferences around the world is leading to the conclusion that the NDE is a more or less objective phenomenon. The life review phenomenon, in my view, is one of the key modalities revealing to us the nature of the soul. Here, for example, is a typical life review account provided by the well-known author and NDE experiencer Dannion Brinkley: [A] powerful being enveloped me and I began to relive my entire life, one incident at a time. In what I call the panoramic life review I watched my life from a second person point of view. As I experienced this I was myself as well as every other person with whom I had ever interacted . . . When the panoramic life review ended, despite the many obvious mistakes I had made in my life, I experienced no retribution—no judgment and no punishment. I was the only judge presiding over my day in court! Given time to assimilate my life in retrospect, I was given the opportunity to know, first hand, both the happiness and the sorrow I had created through my actions.[2]
Scores and scores of detailed life reviews like this one have been documented in the research literature. The reviews are typically led by an angelic or celestial being whose role was to help draw life lessons.[3] Much like Brinkley, subjects report having a “holographic” experience overseen by such benign beings, in which they engage in a vivid reliving of life episodes in chronological sequence (or sometimes in reverse sequence). Another common description compares a life review to watching a movie. Guided at each step by one or several celestial beings, the experiencer will view scenes of their life in a way that can be fast-forwarded, slowed down, or paused in order to focus on a particular detail.
In their life review experiences, NDErs report a clear perception of what it felt like for others with whom they interacted in each life episode. According to Dr. Raymond Moody, the first well known researcher in the field, “The [higher being] presents the dying with a panoramic review of everything they have ever done. That is, they relive every act they have ever done to other people and come away feeling that love is the most important thing in life.”[4]"
Scores and scores of detailed life reviews like this one have been documented in the research literature. The reviews are typically led by an angelic or celestial being whose role was to help draw life lessons.[3] Much like Brinkley, subjects report having a “holographic” experience overseen by such benign beings, in which they engage in a vivid reliving of life episodes in chronological sequence (or sometimes in reverse sequence). Another common description compares a life review to watching a movie. Guided at each step by one or several celestial beings, the experiencer will view scenes of their life in a way that can be fast-forwarded, slowed down, or paused in order to focus on a particular detail.
In their life review experiences, NDErs report a clear perception of what it felt like for others with whom they interacted in each life episode. According to Dr. Raymond Moody, the first well known researcher in the field, “The [higher being] presents the dying with a panoramic review of everything they have ever done. That is, they relive every act they have ever done to other people and come away feeling that love is the most important thing in life.”[4]"
I can only imagine my joy at knowing that I am in heaven, despite my poor life record, because Jesus suffered horrible torture and death nailed to a cross--saving me from the just punishment that I deserve for my sins.
"Oh Happy Day" Edwin Hawkins - Anthony Brown w/ FBCG Combined Choir - YouTube
"Oh Happy Day" Edwin Hawkins - Anthony Brown w/ FBCG Combined Choir - YouTube
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faith
hope
love
love
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