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Maria, as a result of a heart attack, died in the emergency room of a hospital. While doctors and nurses frantically worked to resuscitate her, Maria experienced an out-of-body event that she later described drifting through the ceiling and outside of the hospital. While outside, she observed a tennis shoe on the hospital’s third-story ledge. Maria proceeded to describe the tennis shoe in great detail: “A man’s shoe, Left-footed, dark blue, with a wear mark over the little toe and the shoe lace tucked under the heel.”
The tennis shoes were found exactly as Maria had described it. What Maria experienced is not uncommon; there have been thousands of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) reported from around the world. These are not isolated cases reported by nut-jobs; these are first-hand accounts attested to by people from wide-ranging occupations, and every socioeconomic class. NDEs are not just reported by the nice little church lady; skeptical scientists and hard-core atheists alike have also reported them. Near Death Experience researcher Dale Allison, Jr. reports that one religiously skeptical woman said that nothing in her “conscious storehouse of concepts” could have prepared her for what she experienced. Another stated, “I was a professed atheist, but after my experience, I know there is [a] God.” Another said that he had never had any belief in the afterlife, but now believes that there must be something after death.
Allison reports that “by one recent estimate, twenty-five million people worldwide have had a NDE.” The phenomenon has also caught the attention of the academic community, as there have been more than 900 articles on NDEs published in scholarly journals. These journal articles, researched and written by some of the leading scientists in their specialized fields, report case after case of experiences that share several commonalities. Near Death researcher Lee Strobel reports that three-quarters experienced the separation of their consciousness (soul) from their body, two out of three encounter a brilliant light that is often equated with unconditional love, more than half describe meeting a mystical being and a heavenly realm, half encounter a barrier or boundary, and about a quarter experience a life review.
In short, there seems to be something profoundly significant going on here; primarily, their occurrences seem to demand more than just a brain and a body alone. The reasoning is quite simple. In many NDEs, not only has the patient’s heart stopped, but all brain activity has as well. Case in point, Strobel reports of a seven-year-old girl named Katie who was found floating face down in a swimming pool.
She was comatose with massive brain swelling and no measurable brain activity. Additionally, she had no heartbeat for nearly twenty minutes. Once her heart was restarted, she was put on a ventilator. After a miraculous recovery three days later, Katie told her doctors that in her out-of-body state, she had followed her family home one night from the hospital. She gave specific details about what she saw, including the book her father was reading, her little brother pushing a toy soldier in a Jeep, and her mother cooking chicken and rice. And all of that with no heartbeat and no brain activity. Her physical body was essentially and clinically dead, and yet her consciousness continued to have sharp and coherent function.
In another case, Strobel reports that a woman who had no measured brain waves, whose heart had stopped beating, and had no vital signs whatsoever was being wheeled to the morgue when she regained consciousness. A short time later, she was able to describe in detail the resuscitation procedure that the doctors had used attempting to resuscitate her, as well as a poor joke that one of them told to relieve the tension. She even described the design printed on the doctor’s ties.
But how can this be? If materialism is correct, and if we are only physical bodies made up of atoms, then how could little Katie possibly experience what she undoubtedly did when her physical body was dead? It seems that there is one, and only one, possible explanation: human beings are dualistic beings created with a material physical body and an immaterial spirit, or soul. It is the soul that is the seat of consciousness, and it is from Katie’s consciousness alone that she, and so many others, have participated in their very own NDE. Of course, the implications of dualism are quite profound.
Namely, if we are dualistic in nature—possessing an immaterial soul—and if it is true that the soul is the seat of consciousness and personhood, then it seems that the death of the body is not the end of the story. Time and again, NDEs yield evidence that strongly suggests that consciousness continues after clinical death, pointing to the existence of an afterlife. Interestingly, many Christian NDE researchers believe that almost every reported experience during NDEs aligns with what the Bible teaches. If this is true, then the mutual corroboration between what the Bible teaches and what people experience during NDEs strongly speaks to the ultimate authority of the Bible. Join us again next time as we investigate just that. Until then, think about the evidence, look deep inside, and answer the question: Is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at: [email protected].
