No afterlife experiences

Near-death experiences are just that: “near-death experiences”. They are experiences of this world, not experiences of the hereafter. The experience of a tunnel, for example, is also well known. Everyone knows that you are “on the other side” when you walk through this tunnel. After that, there is no turning back. This explains that you are still in this world and by no means “dead”.

Experiences are real

You never have to underestimate people’s experiences. The experience is there. However, how these experiences are interpreted and named is something else. For example, if someone has a near-death experience that they describe as “heaven” or “hell”, this is an interpretation. The interpretation often depends on one’s religious beliefs. People look for familiar words with which they can categorize the experience. That is understandable, but it does not “prove” anything.

On YouTube and in books, people sometimes try to prove ideas about hell or heaven with the help of such extraordinary experiences. That is pointless, because firstly they are experiences of this world and secondly they are interpretations. Such interpretations exist all over the world, and are colored locally.

In his book “Endless Consciousness”, Dutch doctor Pim van Lommel describes these phenomena. He carefully examined the available studies and came to the conclusion that around 25% of all people have an experience at least once in their lives that can be attributed to near-death experiences. He himself had no such experience when he wrote this book. It was only later that he had such an experience.

The experiences are real. Many people experience such things. What this means is a topic in itself and not necessarily what people themselves describe. There are several attempts to explain these unusual perceptions. In his book, Pim van Lommel takes a methodical approach and gradually examines various scientific explanations for the experiences. Much can be recognized, but not everything can be fully explained. This is also quite normal from a scientific point of view. However, this does not mean that inexplicable things are “therefore” of divine origin.

The visible and invisible world

When Christians write to me, it is often because they are unsure what these things mean. What is dramatically narrated and possibly even presented as a video seems authentic and therefore “true” to many. However, from a sober point of view, one must also keep open the possibility of presenting interpretation as objective truth.

If you look it up in the Bible and see how you can classify it, you might find the following:

Creation consisted of visible and invisible things. Both the visible and the invisible are real and part of creation:

“He [Jesus, the Son of His love. Col 1:13] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn before every creation.

For in Him the universe is created:
the one in the sky and the one on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
be it thrones or dominions, principalities or authorities.
The universe is created through Him and for Him and He is above all,
and the universe exists together in Him.”
Col 1:15-17

So what about near-death experiences, extrasensory perceptions, déjà vu, astral travel, thoughts of reincarnation and more? These are all extraordinary experiences that are not normally visible. Anyone who experiences this has perhaps only glimpsed the invisible world, which is also part of creation. Likewise, occult perceptions and special abilities can simply be attributed to this invisible part of creation. There is no reason not to accept this. But you don’t have to run after these phenomena.

Invisible is not “divine” just because they are special experiences. Those who lose themselves in this, as if it were the ultimate wisdom, lose themselves in creation and therefore do not know the Creator any better. Some derive their insights from anti-divine, i.e. satanic, origins. You can also think such things. In fact, I have met several people who I have asked specifically where they got their powers from. Some things were “just there”, while for other things they had to tap into “invisible forces and powers”.

Perhaps it would be more sober to say that people can have these experiences because they are part of this world. When Taoists or yogis have such experiences after decades of meditation, but certain drugs immediately lead to similar results, one may wonder what exactly is happening. Is it particularly spiritual to pay attention to these things, or have you simply lost focus on God Himself and become lost in creation instead of seeing the Creator?

Time and again I get the impression that people are impressed by these experiences and even derive a change in attitude to life from them. I’m happy to leave it at that. It is therefore not of a spiritual or divine nature when this happens. You may just have experienced something that you never thought possible before, but which is part of this world. It doesn’t have to be “higher”, “more important” or “better” than what you usually experience. It is perhaps just a variant, an extension, of perception.

The importance attached to such experiences is often greater than what they actually are. But that also has to do with how we have seen the world up to that point. Perhaps we only recognized the visible in this world until we suddenly also experienced the invisible. This should not surprise us, because both are part of the creation in which we stand.

In my opinion, occult powers, extrasensory perceptions and many phenomena can be easily assigned to this invisible realm of creation. They are thus suddenly demystified.

Classification of experience

Some people are particularly proud of what they have experienced. However, if I want to categorize such experiences, I personally like to follow the Bible. It does not exclude such experiences, but sees them as part of the world. For example here:

“[when He, God] raised Him [Christus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the midst of the heavenly ones, exalted above every principality and authority, power and dominion, even above every name that is named not only in this eon but also in the one to come. He subordinates everything to Him, at His feet.”
Eph 1:20-22

Paul recognizes many spiritual realities here, which he calls principalities, authorities, powers and dominions. Christ, however, has been given a position far above this. Everything is subordinated to Him.

When I want to categorize extraordinary experiences, I think of these verses and understand that Christ is enthroned above all these invisible elements. I can also ask myself: why should I bother with intermediate stages, as if this were the highest experience, when I am already blessed “in Christ” (Eph 1:3), who is above all?

Experiences of the dead

Dead people do not live. This is the sober realization that can be found in the Bible. Those who are dead are not alive, and an afterlife as a “place of the living dead” is not described in the Bible. Neither on earth (“Zombies”) nor in a fictitious afterlife (“Kingdom of the Dead”). The testimony of Lazarus, who was dead for a whole 4 days (1 day longer than Jesus!) is therefore impressive. We read about this in John 11:

“When He [Jesus] had said this, He cried out with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!”. Then the deceased came out, his feet and hands wrapped in burial cloths and his face covered with a shroud. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go!”
John 11:43-44

We learn nothing more. Lazarus reports nothing from these four days, as he was dead. We do not read anything in the Bible about him or other resurrected persons from the dead, according to which they would be in an “afterlife”. They were not. They were simply dead. They had no experience to report on. Today, these people would have been asked immediately about experiences in the afterlife. But that was not an issue there. It is not an issue in the Bible. If you want to justify this from the Bible, you first have to project it carefully into the Bible before you can read it out. There are no reports in the Bible about an alleged afterlife and YouTube videos don’t convince me. I like to remain sober and let the statements in the Bible stand in their own context.

Near-death experiences are so called because people assume they are about to die. That may be a possibility. Anyone who has already suffered brain death, no longer has a heartbeat and sees themselves hovering over the operating table and can hear every word the doctors are saying and has had these statements confirmed later by the same doctors (I have such first-hand reports), is having a very special experience. However, this person was not dead. However, it was “close to death” and perhaps the situation could not be explained medically in every respect. That’s OK. However, it is pointless to speculate wildly about what happened.

Do near-death experiences provide insight into an afterlife? No. The consolation of the Bible is real, but does not lie in projections onto an alleged afterlife. In the Bible, we are comforted by the resurrection, as with Lazarus (John 11:23-27).