theophiles.org - To Hell and Back

Written by laika

Friday, 08 February 2013 22:10

At The Daily Beast:

Lots of people hit their head and see visions of angels, but what about the dark side? Journeys to the devil’s domain are more common than you might think.

Comments

PineHall - Wondering

|2013-02-10 20:56:58

I tend to be sceptical of these experiences, but I have no good reason why to be sceptical. I can not argue that they did not experienced something. Is it my secular scientific biases that are preventing me from accepting these experiences as actual visits to Heaven or Hell? Should I see them as visions or actual visits? Or should I discount them altogether?

emperorbma

|2013-02-11 11:07:24

There are reasons for and against skepticism with regards to this. Some of the reasons for skepticism are scientific but others are doctrinal. As far as science is concerned, there is a large body of evidence suggesting that purported NDEs are related to Ketamine responses but there is some evidence that that explanation alone is insufficient. As far as Scripture is concerned, on the other hand, we have no basis to make any determination either way regarding NDEs because the Bible doesn't talk about them directly. At best, this is probably a topic a Christian can be agnostic about with good conscience. Doctrinally, all we are required to affirm is the promise of the Resurrection, not any experiences (real or otherwise) of an afterlife by people in this time.

holmegm

|2013-02-11 15:48:30

Certainly we can say that we do not need to either have experiences like these or to read about or believe them.

Scripture is sufficient to tell us what we need to know about what happens after death.

whitemice

|2013-03-12 05:59:49

And it is notable that Scripture tells us very little.

whitemice

|2013-03-10 20:10:46

Yep. I'll take a radical stance - all these experiences are total and complete hokum. They have no more significance than any given dream, and probably less. And lets not talk about the bat-@@@@ crazy stuff that has gone on in some of my dreams.... but I do not really ascribe any significance to them. They are cognitive detritus, encountered by the waking mind. Entertaining, but not worth much contemplation. I could cold boot my Commodore 128 and do a straight memory dump - and there would be values, numbers, even words, fragments of text, right there in the random radiation swirled content of the computer's memory. I could spend months trying to *assign* meaning to them - clearly the universe is trying to communicate something to me! Or I could get on with doing something useful... because if the Universe, God, an angel, or a daemon REALLY WANTED ME TO KNOW SOMETHING I'm certain it would be crystal clear.

These people are either exploitive and nefarious, or just foolish and self-involved.

These are the supposed recountings of someone who we are MEDICALLY CERTAIN, at the time of these experiences - was malfunctioning. Why don't the visions I have with a 107 degree fever or when taking LSD get published and sold in Christian bookstores? There is simply no difference.

whitemice

|2013-03-10 20:16:03

"That is lost to you. It’s not your physical body that has died, but something in you. You won’t be the same again."

Now THIS I'd like to see some study of. It is true? Do the habituations of the person (and let's be honest, we are all VERY habitual) actually change? Can those around them really report specific and consistent changes in behavior that persist over time? Or does (as I'd expect) the person slowly slide back into their same patterns and mannerisms?

Only registered users can write comments!

Last Updated on Friday, 08 February 2013 22:31

Our valuable member laika has been with us since Thursday, 03 April 2008.

Show Other Articles

Housecleaning at the Vatican? (16 June 2013)
How Can You Tell a Fake Jesus? (07 June 2013)
Dino Quiz Controversy May Save School (30 May 2013)
On a Wave of Jubilation* (17 May 2013)
Survey: Provo-Orem area most religious in US (07 April 2013)

Feeds

Make a Donation

Current Poll

Support Us!

Latest News

Latest Journals

3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Popular

Statistics

Who's Online