This page contains articles on near death experiences, deathbed experiences, and articles on human nature.
The vast majority of Christian pastors and theologians have taught for centuries that human nature involves a material body and an immaterial soul. At death the immaterial soul is detached from the physical body and continues to consciously exist, think, have the memories, and understand. While studying physicalism (the teaching that there is no immaterial soul, that we are just a physical body) and substance dualism (the traditional idea that we have a material body and immaterial soul or spirit) I discovered the field of study that involves near death experiences. During a near death experience the individual experiences clinical death and the soul begins to detach from the physical body but is later reunited with the body.
Have you ever wondered what happens when we die? For centuries, people who have been clinically dead—whose hearts have stopped beating—and then been brought back to life have told incredible stories about their experiences. These events are known as Near-Death Experiences, or NDEs.
An NDE is a personal experience that can happen when someone is close to death or in a state of medical crisis. We will focus on NDEs where the individual has experienced clinical death (no heartbeat or brain activity). While every story is unique, most share similar core experiences. People often report leaving their physical body, traveling through a tunnel toward a brilliant and loving light, meeting spiritual beings or deceased relatives, and seeing a panoramic review of their lives (a life review). Almost universally, they describe feeling an overwhelming sense of peace, love, and the complete absence of fear.
While most NDE experiences are compatible with a strong biblical faith, a minority of NDE experiences involve unbiblical elements and teachings. The articles below will help introduce you to near death experiences from a biblical viewpoint and also help you to avoid the counterfeit experiences that some NDE experiences bring back.
The theological topics of dualism, physicalism, and NDEs (near death experiences) go together. If near death experiences are genuine experiences, then physicalism cannot be true. NDEs can offer support to the biblical teaching that we are compound beings with a body and soul united while we are alive in this world. Over the coming months I am planning on including a lot of articles on this topic. I am also currently working on completing my dissertation on how veridical NDEs (that is NDEs where the person has an NDE and observers and learns things while dead they could not have know if physicalism were true) offer support for substance dualism.
Substance Dualism
- Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: John Cooper’s Defense of Holistic Dualism
- The Soul After Death: Understanding the Eastern Orthodox Teaching Through Fr. Seraphim Rose’s Work
- The Soul of Theological Anthropology: A Cartesian Defense of Substance Dualism
- The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Biblical Substance Dualism
- The Truth About Your Soul: Understanding Substance Dualism and Why It Matters for Your Faith
- Veridical Near-Death Experiences: Biblical Evidence for the Dualistic Nature of Humanity
Physicalism (Man has no immaterial soul)
- Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: John Cooper’s Defense of Holistic Dualism
- The Critical Problems of Christian Physicalism: Why Substance Dualism Remains Essential for Understanding Christ’s Incarnation
- The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Biblical Substance Dualism
- Veridical Near-Death Experiences: Biblical Evidence for the Dualistic Nature of Humanity
Near Death Experiences From a Biblical Viewpoint
- Are Near Death Experiences Compatible with Christianity?
- Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: John Cooper’s Defense of Holistic Dualism
- Deathbed Experiences as Biblical Evidence for the Afterlife and Human Dualism
- Deathbed Experiences as Evidence for the Biblical Afterlife: Understanding Steve Miller’s Research
- Near-Death Experiences in Children: A Biblical Analysis of Dr. Melvin Morse’s “Closer to the Light”
- The Biblical Truth of Near Death Experiences: How Veridical NDEs Prove the Reality of the Human Soul
- The Critical Problems of Christian Physicalism: Why Substance Dualism Remains Essential for Understanding Christ’s Incarnation
- The Soul After Death: Understanding the Eastern Orthodox Teaching Through Fr. Seraphim Rose’s Work
- The Soul of Theological Anthropology: A Cartesian Defense of Substance Dualism
- The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Biblical Substance Dualism
- The Truth About Your Soul: Understanding Substance Dualism and Why It Matters for Your Faith
- Understanding How Verified NDEs Support the Biblical View of Human Nature Against Physicalist Theories
- Understanding Near-Death Experiences Through a Biblical Lens: John Burke’s “Imagine God…”
- Understanding Near-Death Experiences Through Biblical Eyes: A Comprehensive Analysis of John Burke’s “Imagine Heaven”
- Understanding Near-Death Experiences: A Biblical Analysis of Shaun Tabatt’s book: The NDE Conspiracy
- Veridical Near-Death Experiences: Biblical Evidence for the Dualistic Nature of Humanity
If you have any question or comments please feel free to email me using the contact form or leave a comment on the articles.
