Thousands
of people have related their stories of near death experiences (NDEs), perhaps
the most popular in recent years being told by a pastor (Don Piper, 90 Minutes in Heaven, 2004), and by a
child (Colton Burpo, Heaven is for Real,
2010), neither of which, though
fascinating in their own right, is likely---given the occupation of the first
and the age of the second--- to convince those skeptical of such experiences.
But
now we encounter the NDEs of Dr. Mary C. Neal (To Heaven and Back: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death,
Heaven, Angels, and Life Again, 2011) and Dr. Eben Alexander (Proof of Heaven, A Neurosurgeon’s Journey
into the Afterlife, 2012). Neal is a spinal surgeon; Alexander is a
neurosurgeon who has taught at Harvard Medical School and other
universities.
Neal
drowned while on a trip to Chile; Alexander spent seven days in a coma after
being infected with rare E. coli bacteria that penetrated his cerebrospinal
fluid and shut down the part of his brain, the neocortex, which controls
thought and emotions.
Neal’s
account of her actual encounter with death and entrance into heaven is brief.
Most of her book is about how the experience affected her life, particularly the
manner in which it enabled her to cope with the tragic death of her son years
after her NDE. Indeed, while in heaven Neal is told she must return to earth to
help her family deal with that loss.
Although
Neal was a professing Christian before her NDE (she relates instances when she
believes God intervened in her life), at the time of her NDE she had relegated
God to the back seat of her life. But all that changed after she drowned. As
she approached a great hall in heaven, she felt her soul being pulled toward an
entry as she was “physically absorbed” in radiance, “feeling the pure, complete,
and utterly unconditional absolute love that emanated from the hall.” Now she
wants others to see that it doesn't take a NDE like hers to see that events are
not coincidental, that God has a plan for each of us, and that there really is
life after death.
Alexander,
whose book is to be released this week, describes his pre-NDE spiritual life as
that of a “faithful Christian,” who was more so “in name than in actual
belief.” His skepticism of NDEs changed after he emerged from his seven day
coma: “That dimension---in rough outline, the same one described by countless subjects
of near-death experiences and other mystical states---is there. It exists, and
what I saw and learned there has placed me quite literally in a new world: a
world where we are much more than our brains and bodies, and where death is not
the end of consciousness but rather a chapter in a vast, and incalculably
positive, journey.” Like Neal, Alexander was told in heaven that he would have
to return to earth.
Because
he didn't want his experience to be affected by prior research on NEDs, Alexander
first detailed his own encounter with the afterlife before thoroughly studying the
subject. Alexander is convinced that consciousness exists outside the brain,
that the soul is not dependent on the brain, and that “the reductive
materialistic model is inadequate to explain what we know about consciousness
now.”
Both
authors are passionate about sharing the reality they describe as heaven. Is it
for real? Most definitely it is. But I say that with eyes of faith; I am a believer.
It’s for that very reason that I’m also skeptical.
While I hope for the best, I doubt that either book will change the mind of the
entrenched atheist or seasoned skeptic. Already one scientist has challenged
Alexander. “Even if I granted that his brain had
been shut down — it’s not shut down now. And there is absolutely no way
for him to establish (or even to subjectively know) that he didn’t have his
experience as his brain was coming back online. End of debate, as far as I’m
concerned,” said Dr. Sam Harris, in Skeptiko.com.
We shouldn't be surprised, should we? Didn't Jesus himself warn his listeners, ‘“If
they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone
rises from the dead”’ (Luke 16:31)?
NDEs
can be powerful pointers to another dimension, yet a dimension that in the
final analysis must still be received by faith, a faith placed in the One who created
that place, One who having risen from a real death experience, promised to return
again so his followers can join him in that place.
That
place is more real than this place.
After
all, it’s heaven, I believe.
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