“What did you do with your life?” This is the question that Jesus asks during a life review.UU Even NDE visitors to the gates of Heaven are asked this question.
The optimal answer would be, “I was unconditional love at every moment.” Unconditional love is the repeated request of Jesus to visitors.
We might assume nothing and simply ask the question,
“What was I supposed to do?” The Catholic answer is “To love and serve God in this world, and to be with God forever in the next.”
UU The purpose of our lives is not to seek refuge in Heaven, since sin spoiled the original plan. The original plan continues, even though modified by sin.
The original plan was that we perfect our human lives, so that we may then
“participate in the divine nature of God”, (2Pet 1:4). We bring the spiritual growth gained by mastering life in the created realm, and our conquest of sin makes it that much more gainful. We bring our acquired virtue to our incorporation into Christ, and even Christ will gain in some way from our inclusion into him.
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The NDE answer is similar, but more open ended. To Brad N., his angelic guide said, “Humans are created and come to earth to evolve their soul.” 38
The Catholic understanding of this evolutionary goal is divinity (2Pet 1:4, 1Jn 3:2, Lk 6:40, 16:26; CCC 260, 460, 795, 1988), for the purpose of sharing the life of God. Christ incarnates into humans who grow in love in our fallen world, then rejoin the body of Christ, as Christ. To Dr. George Ritchie, Jesus said, “Have you loved others as I am loving you? Totally?
Unconditionally?”.
Life reviews are usually shown as a sort of movie or hologram, during which the viewer feels the emotions of those he is interacting with.
Rachel F experienced an astounding life review that goes into the reason for our creation which is spiritual advancement. As in every NDE life review, an important part of the learning is to reexamine our moral mistakes. From Rachel’s NDE:
“I briefly hovered over my newborn baby, hoping that she would remember me. Then I was travelling; it felt like I was shooting through a tunnel, but I couldn't see any sides to it. It was dark, but illuminated. I was not alone; I could sense a presence with me. I was tumbling, forward and upward at an unfathomable speed. It felt like wind, throughout me and inside of me. I likened it at to being on a rollercoaster. That rushing feeling, it was wonderful. I felt so light, so free. Simultaneously, I experienced this fully and watched myself experience this with clear vision from a distance. If I concentrate on the memory I can still see myself tumbling.”
“I traveled for some time, until I became aware that I was in a new place. Like a room without walls, without a ceiling, without a floor. I had uninterrupted vision and could see all 57
around me. I was still in darkness, but I did not feel afraid. Again, I felt a presence, and also felt complete trust in this company. A
'movie' for want of a better word, began to play. It was black and white and huge. As if I were staring at a giant screen that filled the whole of anyway I turned. The 'movie' was my life from birth to death, every minute of it, every event I had ever experienced. I watched it and I relived it.”
“I no longer experienced time as I had in my body. It was as if I were projected into a moment, or dragged through time, backwards before forwards, to re-feel and re-understand. I witnessed at this point, the sexual abuse I had experienced and suppressed as a young child, as well as out of body experiences I had at this time and at night when I was lying in my bed. I could see myself flying out of body and I remembered. It was at this point I also saw and recalled a guide that had been with me throughout my growing. While watching and re-experiencing each moment, I found I was now able to experience each event through the emotions of all present at each time.”
“I watched my own poor mistakes and learned from every re-living. I watched myself as a child, bitten by a guinea-pig and in shock, half launch it onto the sofa. I felt shame at this time. Because I felt the fear of the guinea-pig. No one condemned me. I was asked only, what I had learnt. I was comforted at this time. Consoled and reassured. I had learned so much. How big an impact my seemingly small actions had on a large scale. How my choices and behavior rippled through the lives of countless others. How the Love I showed spread like wildfire.VV How the way I mistreated others, deeply hurt and VV The fullness of any act are al causes and all effects. Whatever moral decision we make, we are not its only cause, and its effect is not only upon us. Rachel was given knowledge of this.
The paradox of love is that the greater our love becomes, the fewer are our large failings, and the more importance is given to completing our love in
“small” matters. Spiritual advancement is not only preparing for the next moral event, but making correct failure analysis of past moral mistakes. We 58
affected them and also how that pain, fear and confusion would then impact the lives of others too. In the 'time' I spent in this reliving, I developed a deep gratitude for many things. The experience of life for one. The people and the hearts that had touched my soul in beautiful ways and the fragility of being human. My new found wisdom seemed satisfactory and we were moving.”
“Again, we travelled through the illuminated darkness until I saw a pinpoint of light in the distance. When I saw it, it was like a remembering. I knew where I was headed and I wanted to get there fast. I can't recall if I was moving myself towards it or if I was being 'drawn' to it somehow but it was a 'need/desire'
within me. We moved faster and faster toward this beam of light.
It grew in size in my vision, in intensity. I felt like I was flying.”
“We burst into it. And it was indescribable. It was every incredible feeling that I will never be able to describe. It was immediate peace. Absolute, whole peace all throughout me.
There was no pain, there was no fear, there was no shame. I felt completely accepted. Totally whole and loved. Loved beyond comprehension. Loved in my entirety. Loved with a Love I have not felt here. Loved with the purest love there can be.”
“I felt I was 'home'. I felt I knew this place, this being; It was light. It filled every space of my vision. It had no form that I can recall, which for a long time left me with other questions but it was beautiful, and not blinding in the slightest. It was as if I
'merged' with the light, it absorbed me, I absorbed it.WW We can easily do this in our current live on earth, and we are that much ahead in the reason for our existence, which is spiritual advancement. The reader may read more in Rachel’s book on her NDE.
WW This is sanctifying grace in action. Sanctifying grace is the Catholic idea of salvation which is specifically union with Christ. We are not just lifted into Heaven, we are lifted into Christ, who is Heaven. By sanctifying grace, we are included into Christ, and Christ includes himself into us. The net result is the expansion of the single person of Christ. We do not live our lives in Heaven alongside Christ, we live Heaven as a member of Christ, who will enlarge his 59
became One, completely. In these moments, I learned much.
About our existence as humans, about our planet and what we as a species need to do to resolve its problems, the healing that our planet and us as people need.“
“I was communicating with the light as well as experiencing being within it and One with it. A conversation began, using telepathy, and I was asked if I would like to return.
The absolute truth of my soul is that I felt completely insulted at this suggestion. I was horrified at the thought and felt myself loudly respond, No! There was a pause and I felt a little confused, wondering why this was being asked of me. Again, the same question repeated within me, 'Do you wish to go back?' Again, I said No. There was another pause and then I was shown the baby I had just birthed, lying in the crib beside my body. I was shown much from time to come. Various outcomes that depended solely on whether or not I returned to my body. There would be countless lives that would be touched with this Love if I returned and many that would not know it if I did not.XX I remember taking what can only be described as a deep, soul sigh. A knowing sigh. An understanding.”
“Immediately after seeing this, and holding the vision of my newborn daughter in my 'sight', her possible future if I stayed, I said 'Yes'. I asked for a moment more and I was granted it. I soaked all the love I could into my entire being. It felt glorious. I felt pure and light and whole and loved and loved and loved. In this 'moment' I understood everything: creation, purpose, love, physics, numbers, existence. I was completely at One with all of existence. After this understanding, I shot being to include bread, wine, angels, and even the lion who lies down with the lamb…all within himself.
XX It’s a sobering thought, but how many lives will remain in darkness or an incomplete light of God if we refuse to make spiritual advancement? We are not called as placeholders in this life, but as saints, to become another Christ, for the benefit of ourselves, God and others.
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backwards; it was cold and dark, and I was grieving the light before I even hit my body. ”39
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Life reviews often include knowledge of the role that others had or were to have in our own life. Lynnclaire Dennis was treated to this first hand during her NDE life review: “…the meadow became an amphitheater and I saw every person who played a role in my life. I was greeted by acquaintances, friends, extended family. I realized the depth of meaning we have in every life. I understood each person aside from the labels we assign, and the cubbyholes we place them in.”40
Rene Hope Turner was also surprised that small events in her life actually had great meaning. She learned this during her own life review, Jesus was the reviewer, “He stood beside me and directed me to look to my left, where I was replaying my life's less complimentary moments; I relived those moments and felt not only what I had done but also the hurt I had caused.
Some of the things I would have never imagined could have caused pain. I was surprised that some things I may have worried about, like shoplifting a chocolate as a child, were not there whilst casual remarks which caused hurt unknown to me at the time were counted. When I became burdened with guilt I was directed to other events which gave joy to others. Though I felt unworthy, it seemed the balance was in my favor. I received great Love. ”41
Ranelle Wallace skipped over some events during her life review, she had made permanent correction to these failings and they no longer existed, or were no longer needed for learning. 42
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NDE’s speak of the “Book of Life” (those saved), and books recording each life, and these ideas mesh precisely with biblical descriptions. The apostle John records, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the book.”, (Rev 20:11-12).
“Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”, (Rev 20:15).
One of the most informative life reviews involves a record search in Heaven. Hal’s life was being reviewed and the event is paraphrased here. YY
“They found my life record, which was unexpectedly written old style on hide. It was no larger than a business card. I asked how my entire life could be contained in a few lines of writing.”
“I was told that the writing told of my moral make up and the moral abilities and the damage or limitations done to them by original sin. I was also told that a person always tries to make the best decision according to his or her imperfect abilities, and in this way our choices are made by free will, but are also predictable.”
“I was also told that my free will could make a leap of faith so to speak, and make a decision which was not limited by YY This complete NDE story shows the dimensions or virtues of Christ to be the focus of creation. Human lives, bodies, circumstances are all arranged around the advancement of these incarnated dimensions of Christ, (that’s us). Christ could have remained in fulfilled perfection, but he chose to incarnate, probably knowing of the fall of humanity. Triumph over sin results in a deeper quality of love for Christ through the members of his larger body of Christ.
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my moral resources, and all this was somehow known by God who also reserved the right to arrange the prior circumstances and to distribute the results, to bring about his plan.”43
Karen T had a similar NDE, “I got the impression that these spirit beings had been with me and had helped me plan my life before I was born.ZZ They let me know that I would be able to return to my life, if I chose to do so. Then they showed me through the same screen some future events in my life if I chose to return to it. Some events would definitely occur and some events were possible but not definite.”
Heather V. did not have a life review, but she got a life lesson, “We are each very important to God. Life is hard but it is our proving ground. Each life has meaning to the entire universe.
The love we cultivate on earth, especially for people we have a hard time liking, somehow expands the universe and does some very important things. I felt that there was something at stake, that we have a very important job to do.”
“In this place we go to, [Heaven] we will have lightness, laughter and joy, and our soul family is there waiting for us. Our jobs on earth are to find out how to break through all these illusory walls that we erect. We need to really love each other and love ourselves. I felt as though there was a sense of humor too. It was like a deep appreciation for our lives and even for our failures. We are supposed to learn from our failures and not beat our self up over them. We find a way to forgive and love ourselves because in reality, in the real place of creation, there is only Love. ”44
ZZ Catholic theology does not allow a ‘bank of souls’ in Heaven. However any member of Christ in Heaven is an individual member (not person) of the single divine person of Christ. Every element of creation was once internal to Christ as an idea, which he could have brought to a high degree of development before detaching it from himself, into creation. Such high internal development is attested to in Jeremiah 1:5.
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William F. was given a life review that did not include the usual visual imagery; it was spoken only. William arrived at a gate which appeared to lead into a ‘black hole’, William was about to open it, but was restrained. 45
“My hand went to open the gate and someone else’s hand grabbed my forearm, telling me to 'Stop'. When I looked at the man, I noticed several people whom I recognized but didn’t know them. One man again reiterated that, 'You need to stop'
and continued, 'I’ve been watching you a long-time son and you have made many mistakes.AAA I looked around and panicked. He said, 'You scared?' I answered, 'No, I am not.' He then said,
'You’ve always feared this for no reason then.' I shook my head in agreement.”
“Next, he asked me, 'Do you feel in control?' I said, 'No, I do not.' He said, 'You’ve never had control in anything in your life. It’s a facade. You controlled everything in your life and it ultimately was wrong. I shook my head again and said, 'Yes, you are right.' He then said, 'You are given a choice that many don’t have. God is giving you the choice of going back and fixing the wrongs in your life or you can go through the gate. However, you need to listen and heed these warnings.”
“’First, if you go through this gate all of your regrets in life will torment your soul until you are given another chance. It will feel like an eternity.’ Further, he then told me, 'I still deal with regrets from my past life. If you go back and don’t work on your life to become a better person, you will yearn to be here. If you don’t find happiness in the right ways, you’ll always look back to the feeling you have now at this place and yearn for it.'
AAA This NDE is Hebrews 12:1, exactly, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. This NDE is complex in its wording and ideas, William seems to have controlled everything in his life, rather than allowing God into it. His dealings with his wife are mentioned as having major faults.
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One of the last things he said was, 'When you go back, you’ll regain your health. You will have to regain your heart and mind.
You are being given something great, but realize God already knows your choice.' He then looked at me and asked, 'What are you going to do?' I looked at him and said, 'I’m going to go back.'
At that point the feelings consuming me left and I let go of the gate. I heard him say, 'I’ll see you again, very soon.’”
A life review of sorts is in the prophecy of two modern Marian apparitions. Marian revelations, like NDE’s are private revelations. The Virgin Mary’s appearance at Garbandal, Spain from 1961-1965; and at Medjugorje, 1981-present, both include prophecy of a revelation of moral conscious, to each individual in the world. It will be a simultaneous event and all people of any, or no religion will know their standing before God. More than a dozen saints have also foretold this “illumination of conscious”.
The bible also speaks of it in general terms. It will be a life review in some way. 46
Heaven: characteristics and citizens
Thankfully Heaven does not involve sitting on a cloud strumming a harp…unless that’s what you enjoy doing. Heaven is a real flesh and bone, extended family exploring life…and everyone gets his or her own idea of a mansion.
One of the most interesting visits to Heaven was given to Cynthia H., “Jesus and I walked, observing the animals. We walked by a farmhouse, and a woman came out and gave us a loaf of twelve grain bread, fresh from her oven. Jesus and I ate it, and he said it was his favorite kind.” 47
“We continued into another cabin, and spoke with a woman who was sweeping the floor, she said that her husband 65
was out hunting.BBB I was surprised that hunting was allowed in Heaven.”
“A third cabin we entered was my own, it was just as I wanted — cozy, with a fireplace, yarn, and a stove.”
Other descriptions of Heaven or of advanced Purgatory have people engaged in all sorts of arts and sciences. Every meadow, home and person is individually idealized of course.
Sharon M. met her brothers, both of whom had been miscarried by their mother.48 Sharon was not previously aware of these brothers, and it was confirmed by her mother.
We reestablish forgotten bonds within our large Heavenly family, and meet members of our family who were generations past. We may have lived a prior incarnation with these members, this idea occurs in NDE accounts.
The following account of an NDE visit to Heaven could be considered typical for a deep or extended NDE. “I was thinking of a lady that was incredibly happy on earth, and I was certain that she should be around here. Out of the blue before I could finish my thought there she was walking past me only 10
times happier. I just thought of the particular person and right there they appear in front of me.”
“…I immediately recognize them as the apostles, Elijah and David of the Old Testament. I was amazed to see them. It was like you knew everyone for a long time and just forget who they are. In the middle sat someone that seemed to emit such great light it was so bright and powerful that you really couldn't look right at it. I just knew it was Jesus.” 49
BBB Mt 22:30 teaches of no marriage in the resurrection, or presumably Heaven. The likely situation here is that this couple simply wanted to remain together. It is unlikely that any sort of forced and enforced family separation occurs in Heaven. In fact Mt 22:30 speaks only of future marriages in the resurrection, not of existing marriages.
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In NDE accounts Heaven is physical, and is likely the actual and simultaneous resurrection. NDE visitors to Heaven physically see, hear and feel. We assume that Heaven is a spiritual existence awaiting fulfillment in the physical resurrection, but we observe Jesus in his resurrection just three days after death. Anyone joining the resurrection, might do it at this early date also.
Most significant is that the resurrection (of the just) is the literal person of Christ. This teaching is made by Christ himself in Jn 11:25, where he declares his own person to our eternal life (Heaven), and our resurrection. It is a Catholic understanding that both the resurrection and Heaven is the very person of Christ.
Those in Heaven participate in the divine nature of Christ, (2Pet 1:4), but they largely act with a human physicality that retains its limitations. NDE’s have persons of Heaven, walking, eating, studying, playing, learning in ways that they did on earth. There are many exceptions, but God made us human, and even when we gain a divine nature in Heaven, we do not lose our human nature.
Is this what we can expect…to continue doing things the hard, human way? No, the enjoyable human way. The human way is hard because of sin, ego, pride, greed. In Heaven we will have an eternity to enjoy exploring and learning. Start making the mental and willful shift now, and you will be that much ahead later.
Those in Heaven will not lack energy, nor need to repair cells and muscles, yet banquets occur in NDE’s. Loved one’s materialize from light, and move across vast distances at will, yet their usual means of travel seems to be walking. People are recorded working to compose music, they do not snap their fingers and produce it. We will make spiritual communication 67
that needs no words, but if we want to learn a new language, we will have to study it, even in Heaven.
Jesus was the real human nature of the divine Son of God. He could move across the universe at will, but he walked the length of Israel. He could have created silver coins, but he chose to work for them as a carpenter. He had divine access to all knowledge and ability, but usually did things the human way.
This seems to our mode of operation in Heaven, based on many NDE’s that record activity in Heaven.
Both Catholic doctrine and NDE accounts speak of Heavenly beings tasked by Christ with the operation of creation.
The bible lists nine such Heavenly orders of beings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Archangels, and Angels. An account from the IANDS website (which does not reveal contributor’s names) is as follows: CCC
“I remember learning about the jobs of angels. They count everything, births and deaths. I learned different areas of heaven are assigned for different areas of earth life (animal lives, water, medicinal advances people are making), and angels oversee it all. ” 50
From this same website, we read another account of a Heavenly being who operates creation. This one is certainly in CCC Heavenly principalities participate in creation and maintenance of our world. Just like the bad angels, there exists bad principalities, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, (Ep 6:12). This explains how original sin is propagated in our world; these fallen principalities carry on their assigned task of creation, but now with selfish, or limited desire.
To this day, creation comes from Christ and heaven perfect, without flaw.
The evil principalities which were banned from Heaven continue their work in exile, and their now flawed actions of creation distort Christ’s perfect creation as it enters into the realm of creation.
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the highest league of workers, she appears to be Wisdom herself, as written of in the biblical book of Wisdom.
“A female voice told me that what I create is mine. I then looked at the direction where this voice was coming from and I saw her. She was consciousness itself. She was like a huge orb of white light with many hands going in and out of her. She was like billons of conscious minds put together”.51
Ancient NDE’s
The first known NDE was recorded by Plato, at the conclusion of his book, “The Republic”, written 380 BC. It is the story of the warrior Er, who was killed, but twelve days later on his funeral pyre he rose, dodged the flames and climbed off of it to recount his afterlife story as follows.52 All narrative in quotations, are Plato’s paraphrasing of Er’s account of the afterlife.
Er was shown openings in the sky, from which good people ascend and descend. He is also shown openings in the earth from which some people are released after punishment
[Purgatory]; others may never be released from this netherworld.
Judges assign individuals to the heavens or the underworld, and gather the good on the right and the evil on the left. Those leading a wicked life on earth enter into these subterranean pits. Each person wears a symbol of their deeds.
The judges told Er to report all that he witnessed, as a message to mankind.
Some interpretation is needed for the reminder of Er’s afterlife tour. In Heaven, Er sees people choosing their next life and “returning” to earth. This would now be interpreted as Christ choosing the next partial incarnation on earth.DDD Er sees DDD When Christ incarnates directly, Jesus results. When Christ incarnates indirectly by giving form to nothing, creation results. Creation results when 69
Heavenly beings and powers, who he labels according to his own culture as “the Spindle of Necessity”, sirens and various powers of heaven according to Greek religion. Perhaps in 10,000 years the orders of Heaven will then have a translation which future humans will find so remote, as to declare it “inaccurate”.
Er observed those arriving in paradise, in a description that could be from the vision of a saint, or a modern NDE. Those newly arriving, “…seemed to have come from a long journey
[either earth life or Purgatory], and they went forth with gladness into the meadow, where they encamped as at a festival; and those who knew one another embraced and conversed, the souls which came from earth curiously enquiring about the things above, and the souls which came from heaven about the things beneath.”
Christ donates his own selected attributes to give form to a core of nothing.
Every tree, animal and atom was once a part of Christ. Thought, emotion, logic, animals, humans, angels all first had existence as selected attributes of Christ in Heaven. In Er’s NDE, he observes Christ forming newly created people and animals. It is not a matter of people becoming animals (as told by Er), but of the single divine person of Christ creating animals from his own person, and “sending” them to earth. Christ may make creation directly from himself, or via nature and biology, or both. If he uses nature, he first creates nature from himself and sustains it from himself.
Er observes people (that is created dimensions of Christ), choosing powerful lives on earth, that face the dangers of egoism, greed and tyranny.
In fact, Christ incarnates dimensions of himself into these dangers in our world. Those who successfully master such dangers might be Gandhi, saint Claire of Assisi or her friend saint Francis. These people could have been wealthy tyrants of some sort, but they chose a better life. Christ delegates much of creation to the principalities, thrones, dominions, etc. of Heaven. Er may be observing these Heavenly powers in the act of creating animals and people. It is even possible that Er observes both the good and fallen principalities making their input to creation.
Plato wrote “The Republic” in 380 bc, Er observes people going to some sort of paradise or heaven, yet Jesus was the first man to Heaven, (Jn 3:13).
The people Er observed must have gone to some sort of lower heaven, or a paradise sort of limbo. See also section on “previous lives”, page 33.
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“Some of those arriving in paradise had come from under the earth [Purgatory], and were likewise greeted. And they told one another of what had happened, those from below weeping and sorrowing at the remembrance of the things which they had endured and seen in their journey beneath the earth…”
Er was an enlightened warrior for his day, his new understanding of his vocation did not include pillage, rape or enslaving populations.
“…for every wrong which they had done to any one they suffered tenfold; or once in a hundred years, such being reckoned to be the length of man’s life, and the penalty being thus paid ten times in a thousand years.”
“If, for example, there were any who had been the cause of many deaths, or had betrayed or enslaved cities or armies, or been guilty of any other evil behavior, for each and all of their offences they received punishment ten times over, and the rewards of beneficence and justice and holiness were in the same proportion.”
“I need hardly repeat what he [Er] said concerning young children dying almost as soon as they were born. Of piety and impiety to gods and parents, and of murderers, there were retributions other and far greater, which he described.” EEE
EEE Infant children were (as expected) admitted to paradise. Er’s comment concerning piety to one’s gods, makes a certain sense. To give loyalty to one’s idea of the supreme being (even if limited or erroneous), is to obey one’s moral conscience which is really the final standard of judgment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs on the requirement to obey one’s conscience, (beginning at paragraph 1776), even though it may err.
The god’s were a moral guide which usually contained a moral code that was better than nothing. Obedience to the gods gave a person paradise instead of Hell in the afterlife. Without the gods, heaven and Hell were no longer sought and avoided, and behavior slipped. The Stoics and other religions used impersonal moral ideals, which affected one’s afterlife. An afterlife goal of some sort usually produced better behavior. The God of Abraham, and then later Jesus, were simply unknown to most of the world’s people, for most of history. The idea of a god is not so much false, as it is a 71
Plato was a seeker of moral knowledge and adds his own comments, “Let each one of us leave every other kind of knowledge and seek and follow one thing only, if by venture he may find someone who will make him able to learn and discern between good and evil…”
Saint and Pope of the Church, Gregory the Great records at least three NDE’s. Pope Gregory reigned as pope from 590-604 and his book “Dialogues” records many afterlife revelations including three NDE’s, all of which he felt were trustworthy.53
The first is of a desert monk named Peter, who died and visited Hell, seeing many people in the flames. Peter understood that he was deserving of Hell by his unworthy way of life. An angel interceded in his death and said to him, “Go thy way back again, and hereafter carefully look unto thyself, how thou leadest thy life.” At this, he returned to life. The monk Peter lived his vocation with renewed commitment, giving himself fully to prayer and fasting, as was befitting of a desert monk.
The second NDE is of a businessman Stephen, who mistakenly died and was brought before an unnamed judge at the gates of Hell. The judge told the angels that he wanted Stephen the blacksmith, not Stephen the businessman. Stephen the blacksmith died that same hour, and Stephen the businessman returned to life.
Stephen the businessman did not fully reform and at his second death, he was seen in our third NDE, of a soldier.
Stephen the businessman was generous in almsgiving, but lacking correct chastity. The solder saw Stephen the businessman being pulled toward to Hell by his hips, and pulled up toward Heaven by his arms. The soldier returned to life not knowing the outcome of this tug of war.
distorted and distant idea of God, which all of humanity once knew. God allowed this idea to remain in place, while he restored the idea of gods to its proper form as God.
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During his own NDE the soldier saw three people, (1) Stephen the businessman, who died (again), three years after his NDE (recounted above); (2) Peter a papal steward, who was in Hell (or possibly Purgatory) for excessive cruelty when he punished criminals; (3) A priest who walked over the bridge from Purgatory to paradise, because he led a worthy life.
In the each of the three NDE’s, there is observed a bridge from what is called Hell to paradise, and the NDE visitors observed people crossing over. What is labeled Hell, may actually be Purgatory since those in Hell would have no possible bridge crossing to Heaven.
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In anther early book dealing with NDE’s, the scholar-monk Bede tells of the man Drythelm and his NDE, in Bede’s book, “Ecclesiastical History of the English People.”54 Drythelm died in the evening, and came to life again the next morning, abruptly sitting up on his former deathbed, to the astonishment of the surrounding mourners.
At his death Drythelm was met by a guide who first brought him to a valley in which men and women are hurled from one side of flames, to the other side which is ice. Drythelm was told that the people were deathbed converts, who now needed prayers, Masses and fasts for their release. Their whipsaw Purgatory reflected their whipsaw last minute conversion.
These people had it much better than the next group who Drythelm saw…those in Hell, burned without end in a bottomless stinking pit.
Finally, Drythelm was shown the antechamber of Heaven, which was a paradise of happy people, then he was given a brief glimpse of some level of Heaven, which was even that much more glorious. He was admonished to lead a life worthy of Heaven and returned to life. Drythelm explains all this 73
to his wife, and retires to a Benedictine monastery to lead a life of prayer and devotion.
St. Theresa of Avila had a similar private revelation, her’s was an out of body experience (an OBE not a NDE), in which she writes that while at prayer, she was transported to Hell, to see the place reserved for her, merited by her lax life as a nun. She reformed her life as a nun, and went on to become one of the Church’s great mystics.FFF
Here is the NDE account of British Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort who is remembered today for devising the Beaufort wind scales. Admiral Beaufort fell into Portsmouth harbor in 1795; clothed and booted, and unable to swim, he promptly sank. Writing of it later, “Though the senses were deadened, not so the mind, which considered much — the event occurring now…the awkwardness producing it…the bustle it must have occasioned...the effect on my most affectionate father…the moment in which it would be disclosed to my family, and a thousand other circumstances minutely associated with home were the first reflections. Then they took a wider range, our last cruise…a former voyage and shipwreck, my school and boyish pursuits and adventures. Thus travelling backwards, every past FFF A simple private revelation is one in which God or an agent of God (angel, moral conscious, etc.) reveals himself or a message to the recipient, whose body and locus of awareness remains as it was. During an out of body experience the recipients location of awareness is moved to Heaven, Hell, Purgatory or some other place to receive a vision or message. A near death experience is an out of body experience, triggered by the soul’s loss of the services of the body. During bilocation the body is physically extended in a sort of duplication to some distant location, and this distant location is the temporary new locus of awareness. An apparition is the appearance of some Heavenly being to a person who uses his normal or even enhanced senses to perceive. There are many variations: locutions, sense of God’s will alone, intellect, love, and more. The Catholic church accepts all of these as real, and evaluates each according to its content.
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incident of my life seemed to glance across my recollection in retrograde succession; not however in mere outline, as here stated, but the picture filled up with every minute and collateral feature. In short, the whole period of my existence seemed to be placed before me in a kind of panoramic review, and each part of it seemed to be accompanied by a consciousness of right or wrong, or by some reflection on its cause or consequences; indeed many trifling events which had been forgotten then crowded into my imagination, and with the character of recent familiarity.”
Admiral Beaufort had a solid religious upbringing, but his NDE did not advance to meeting God or a light being of Heaven. He limited his speculation to asking, “…might it not, in some degree, warrant the inference that death is only a change or modification or our existence, in which there is no real pause or interruption?” Standard theology now, perhaps not then.
The first modern NDE might be considered as George Ritchie’s (a summary of which appears in this book). George’s NDE occurred when he was a soldier in 1943; he later became a doctor specializing in psychiatry. Dr. Raymond Moody was inspired by George’s NDE account and wrote a pioneering book dealing with near death experiences in 1975; “Life after Life”, which is still in print.
NDE afterlife accounts occur in all cultures, but for reasons unknown are more frequent in western cultures, or possibly just more frequently reported.GGG NDE accounts from GGG Scientific and psychological study of the near death experience became significant only after 1970, at this point religions were more willing to consider them as real. With the advent of the internet there is now a database of thousands of NDE accounts. There stil exist institutional obstacles, Islam generally does not recognize NDE’s, Buddhism has problems with soul and God as they occur in NDE’s. Christianity does not subscribe to the NDE terms “past lives” and “reincarnation”. China is reluctant to admit to any authority or influence above the state.
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diverse cultures, and for two-thousand years are amazingly similar.