12 Common Characteristics of NDEs and 12 Questions for Skeptics

If consciousness continues after physical death, or apart from our physical bodies, then that constitutes additional evidence for God and life after physical death.  As a Christian, my hope is not in NDEs, it’s in Christ. Likewise, as a Christian, I am not presupposed to the impossibility of the spiritual, if the evidence warrants and if the spiritual is also Scriptural. These principles, I believe, are found in the following two quotes and is the purpose of this article.

“Many NDErs come back and seek to learn more about the God of Light, but others do not. God gives us the choice to seek him or ignore him. It’s also important to note that just because an NDEr sees God does not mean that person knows God or is necessarily right with God. I believe these experiences simply offer the individual a peek into a greater reality, and they are a gift that allows all of us to learn more about who we are in relationship to God.”

– John Burke, Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted, Tyndale House, 2023, p.15

“Brains don’t think, people think.”

– Neuroscientist Dr. Sharon Dirckx, Ph.D, author of Am I Just My Brain? and taken from an interview which can be viewed here. 

In Part 1 of my 3 part articles on Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) I provided an overview of the peer-reviewed evidence from the scientific and medical evidence for NDEs as well as a logical argument for consciousness beyond physical death.  

In Part 2 I looked at verifiable cases of NDEs from medical professionals and concluded with an additional logical syllogism regarding NDE and consciousness.  I only listed five cases, but provided links where one can find thousands of additional examples: (also see Tressoldi, Veridical Near-Death perceptions: a systematic review; Ring and Lawrence, Further Evidence for Veridical Perception During Near-Death Experiences; Key Facts About Near-Death Experiences – Veridical NDES from IANDS; Rivas and Smit, A Near-Death Experience with Veridical Perception Described by a Famous Heart Surgeon and Confirmed by his Assistant Surgeon; Starkman from NY Neurology Association; Pandarakalam, A Search for the Truth of Near Death Experiences; O’Leary, for Mind Matters, Agnostic Psychiatrist Says Near-Death Experiences Are Real; Potts, The Evidential Value of Near-Death Experiences for Belief in Life After Death.)

Let’s now focus on some of the most important parts of NDEs. This includes shared NDEs, scientific evidence, and a Scriptural basis for NDEs. When I say “transcendental,” I mean those NDEs where the patient experiences cardiac arrest, the brain stops working, and yet vividly recalls an event beyond their physical perceptions. They say that they go beyond this world and, when they come back to life, they feel like they return to their body.

As much as some people would like to dismiss these accounts, it is not uncommon, especially since the 1960s and 70s when it became possible to bring back people who have had cardiac arrest (when the heart stops and within 20 to 30 seconds the brain flatlines). It’s important to note that being brought back to life is not the same as resurrection. Dr. Janice Holden has noted that those who have near-death experiences feel like they have tasted death, but it’s not permanent. These experiences happen when the heart has stopped and the brain shows no activity. It’s expected that there would be very little consciousness at this time, yet many who have had a cardiac arrest say they were fully aware. Here’s an example: When your computer crashes or the internet goes down, information still exists but it’s not being received by your computer. It’s a time when you least expect to get information or do web searches. If, after your computer is up and running again, you find your research paper fully written and referenced as if someone else did it while it was down, you would suspect that someone else was involved.

The brain is like a computer. When a person has cardiac arrest and blood stops flowing to the brain, and the brain flatlines (the computer crashes), this would be a time you would least expect consciousness (vivid information) to be present. However, if NDEs are true, and we have evidence of lucid consciousness, we can justly suspect another agency is at work. You would have reason to believe that the brain (the physical part) is different from the mind (the immaterial information part). The computer and brain might have places where that information is stored, but the computer and brain cannot create that information. As Dr. Dirckx stated in the above quote, “Brains don’t think, people think.” Computers don’t experience life or its own existence, people do.

The NDE Experience

Neal Grossman, a professor of philosophy involved in NDE research writes:

“I have been immersed in this research for 30 years or so, and have been incorporating this material in my courses. I have seen the effect that just reading this material has had on the lives of my students. I have seen suicidal impulses dissipate, relationship with family healed, and directionless students acquiring a sense of direction. I have seen students who were motivated primarily by the desires of the materialistic creed (greed, fame, pleasure and power) begin to think seriously about living according to the Golden Rule …”

– Grossman, Neal & Shaffer, David Hafiz (2010) The End of Materialism, Charles Tart, Book Review. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 24 (1):109-124.

As I mentioned in my first article, each NDE is unique – which is not unexpected since we are individuals and our experiences of life itself is unique.  But what is unexpected is how much NDEs have in common, regardless of age, physical ability, education, religious or non-religious background, or culture.  Research shows that those who experience NDEs usually have most, if not all, of the following:

1. Out-of-body experience (OBE): Separation of the consciousness from the physical body
2. Heightened senses
3. Intense and generally positive emotions or feelings
4. Passing into or through a tunnel
5. Encountering a mystical or brilliant light
6. Encountering other beings, either mystical beings or deceased relatives or friends
7. A sense of alteration of time or space
8. Life review
9. Encountering unworldly (“heavenly”) realms
10. Encountering or learning special knowledge
11. Encountering a boundary or barrier
12. A return to the body, either voluntary or involuntary

(Taken from Jeffery Long, Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences, HarperOne, 2010, pp.6-7)

Dr. Jeffery Long MD heads the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF.org) and is the largest NDE study conducted thus far. Dr. Long is not alone in these findings. A recent peer-reviewed study by the New York Academy of Sciences found the same thing, as has research by Dr. Michael Sabom, Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Sam Parnia, Dr. Bruch Greyson, Dr. Pim Van Lommel, Dr. Stephen Post, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, Dr. Anelly M. Gonzales, Dr. Tom Aufderheide, Dr. Elise L. Huppert, Dr. Stephen Mayer, Dr. Anthony Bossis, Dr. Peter Fenwick, and many other medical professionals who have researched NDEs.

Why do those who have suffered cardiac arrest and who recall their NDE all have the same sequences of events including those prior to the popular information regarding NDEs or who had no knowledge of NDEs?  Yet, this is what occurs as various studies have shown. 

If one wishes, they can go to NDERF.org and read the thousands of NDEs recorded by Dr. Long.  These are not posted by just anyone who claims to have had an NDE.  They must first fill out a detailed questionnaire consisting of over one hundred questions.  These questionnaires cover a host of individuals worldwide.  

The very fact that a vast multitude of individuals who have had NDE semilunar events during their NDE speaks volumes as to their authenticity.  There is no reason why someone raised in western, or eastern, or mideastern cultures should have like experiences.  Yet they do.  While they may express their experiences differently, they still have most of (if not all of) the 12 characteristics.  For example, Dr. Long notes that while some may speak of passing through a tunnel, some cultures may express it as ascending from a cave.  What is also interesting is that cultures whose religious identity is polytheism, they speak of “a Being of Light” and not multiple Beings.  And, those who before their NDE who identified as atheists (and would not expect any of this) change their minds regarding an afterlife and God.  For full statistics regarding these 12 see Dr. Long’s book, Evidence of the Afterlife.

As one reads the literature on NDEs they can see for themselves that many of the NDEs are veridical, especially OBE prior to the transcendental aspect of the NDE.  Dr. Michael Sabom, who thought NDEs were “hogwash” prior to his investigation of NDEs as stated:

“There’s a growing acceptance of NDEs, but they’re still hard for many people to acknowledge. Our scientific and medical training is based on material proof — we want to be able to measure something and hold it in our hands. You can’t do that with NDEs or the idea that there’s consciousness outside the brain, but I’ve become convinced that doesn’t make these phenomena any less real.”

Evidence, of course, is not proof.  But good evidence does point to the inference to the best explanation.  

Examples of NDE

As already mentioned, one can read for themselves the thousands of NDEs found on NDERF.org or other like studies. But here are a few that illustrate the point.   I have provided video links for these cases by the NDErs themselves so you can see them for yourself as they tell of their NDE (access video link by clicking on their names).  This is followed by a brief description of their NDE event.  But I strongly encourage you to watch each one for yourself.

One or two such stories is antidotal. Millions of such stories from those who were clinically dead telling the same basic events is data. 

Case #1 – Scott Drummond

Scott is an excellent place to start if you have not heard someone give their NDE testimony. Not only does it reflect the many experiences found on NDERF.org, but his man has no books to sell, nothing to gain, and his humility shines through the interview.  He kept his NDE to himself for a number of years, which is not uncommon.  When he was 28 he had a skiing accident that led to surgery.  During his surgery the nurse made a mistake and he went into cardiac arrest. “The next thing I knew I was above my body watching the operation” he tells us.  He goes on to say that he was not by himself, but “someone right beside me watching.”  He watched as the nurse ran out of the room says that she had killed him.  Finally, the one next to Scott said, “Okay, it’s time to go.”  Scott says, “I remember so vividly  I could never look back . . . the next thing I knew and it was like a twinkly of an eye I was standing in a field” where he could see some unusual trees and beautiful wild flowers.  He speaks of the flowers as “vivid colors.” Although not allowed to look back, he could see “a long ways” in front and to either side of him.  He then had a review of his life “from the day that I was born until I was 28 years old.”  Watching both the good and the bad, Scott, “knew I had to do better with my life. I remember all of a sudden just being so peaceful after it was all over – there was – it was real.  Nothing you know there’s no fake stuff there was no – you didn’t do this or I didn’t do that – I did it.” (Dr. Sam Parnia has some importing comments about the uniqueness of these life reviews which I note near the end of this article.)

You can watch the rest for yourself.  You should look at his eyes and determine if he is lying, or telling you something he experienced which he vividly remembers, and has no agenda in telling you what happened to him.  His story is not unique.  It can be told, in one way or another, by millions of those who have NDEs.  

Dr. Parnia of the AWARE I and II projects does not like to call these NDEs.  He calls them RED (Recalled Experience of Death).  You can watch this 45 min documentary, Rethinking Death , to see Dr. Parnia’s research as well as many other medical professionals.  In this video you can also hear the personal experience on a Medical Doctor and her NDE.

Case #2 – Mary Neal

Dr. Mary Neal, a spinal surgeon, not only appears in the documentary of Dr. Parnia, she also recounts her NDE in the 2023 documentary film After Death (Angel Studios).  She now frequently shares her story (although it took her some time to do so).  In 1999 she was kayaking in South America when she went over a waterfall and was “pinned under 8 to 10 feet of water at the base of a waterfall” for about 30 minutes and died.  During this time she was able to see events going on around her from above looking down on everything as an observer.  She watched as the rescue team finally arrived, unpinned her body, and pull it out to begin CPR.  She says she watched as they worked on her “blue bloated body.”  Her legs were broken, she was in a remote location, and her heart had stopped.  She says,

“It’s peaceful under water, and I was held and comforted by Christ.  And no, I didn’t just think or hope it was Jesus, I know it was Christ just as I would know my husband of 30 years if I had seen him in the grocery store.” 

During this time she says she went somewhere she could only describe as heaven. 

She had a live review “that had little to do with judgment and everything to do with understanding and compassion and grace.  And I was shown the beauty that came out of every heartbreak, every challenge, and every disappointment of my life.”  She was,

“. . . immediately greeted by a group of people or spirits who had known me and loved me as long as I have existed and even as they took me down this beautiful pathway woven together with fibers of God’s love and exploding with color and flowers and the aroma of flowers I could look back at the river and I watched as my purple bloated body was pulled to the shore and my friends started CPR.” 

While in heaven she was told it wasn’t her time, that she had more work to do, and had to return to her body.

Like so many of the millions who have had NDEs, Mary was unconscious with no detectable heartbeat.  Yet during this time she was able to view what was taking place around her, ushered into a place of enormous beauty, greeted by loving beings, in the presence of God (Jesus), had a life review, and was told to return. 

“And when I objected I was given a laundry list of work yet to be done, none of which was desirable, and all of which would challenge me in one way or another.”

Like so many who have had NDEs, she was sad she had to return.  Her desire was to remain in that place she knew was more real than here, all of which reflects what is common in NDEs.  The link above will allow you to view the whole 13 minute TEDx Talk. She likewise is on this NDE panel for the NourFoundation of doctors, researchers, and skeptics and tells of her experience.  If you would like to watch the whole discussion you can do so here: Rethinking Mortality with Drs, Sam Parnia, Mary Neal, Kevin Nelson, and Peter Fenwick.

Case #3 – Dr. George Ritchie

When George was 20 years old and a medical student in the Army, he contracted double lobar pneumonia and pronounced dead for almost 10 minutes.  He found himself walking the hospital halls and as an orderly came towards him the orderly passed through him as though he were not there.  He then found himself in the streets and no one acknowledged his presence.  He returned, and found his body which had been tagged as dead.  Then we saw a great light and was taken to a place where his life was reviewed.  During this time George “met the Christ because I was told to stand up” because “you are in the presence of the Son of God.”  After the review he was told to go back but, “(I) didn’t want to come back . . . I absolutely did not.” Again, something that is common among such NDEs.  

He goes on to say,

“Can you imagine being in the room with somebody who knows every single new detail of your life and totally accept you and totally love you? And that’s the first wonderful thing . . . that the one person I’ve been always taught to judge the quick and the dead was in the Loving Department instead of the Judging Department.”

Again, his account reflects what you can read over and over from those who underwent cardiac arrest, had a NDE, and were resuscitated.  While the link above is a short 2 minute interview, you can listen to an hour lecture by Dr. Ritchie here.  This is important because Dr. Ritchie was president of the Richmond Academy of General Practice and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital.  Clearly a well respected medical professional who risked his reputation in telling his NDE but did so none-the-less often giving lectures such as this one whenever possible. It was during such a lecture that a young medical student, Raymond Moody, attended and was first exposed to NDEs.  Dr. Moody went on the write his 1975 book, Life After Life, filled with such accounts and was the groundwork for NDE studies that have since followed.

Case #4 – Jean Hausheer

Jean Hausheer, when a medical student, was a materialist prior to her NDE.  Around 1977 she had a Jacksonian variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome from an earlier zika virus upper respiratory infection.  She was mistakenly administered “sequential consecutive overdoses of intravenous neostigmine” which caused her to go into respiratory arrest and everything went black.  

From her perspective, she awoke in what she described as a “dark movie theater” where she could view a detailed review of her life. As this “movie” played she could see 360 degrees all at once and could feel all the emotions (both good and bad) of those she saw in her life review.  She also could see the respiratory therapist below her,

“ . . . frantically striving to resuscitate what was in my mind just an empty body shell of a young brunette women below and I really hated that she was so desperately trying to revive something that had nothing living inside of it anymore.  I was really quite frustrated that I could watch and I couldn’t just tell her this and why didn’t she understand that.”

Jean continues,

“The next thing I saw was up and to my right there arose just an amazing incredible beautiful loving ball of brilliant loving light.  It seemed to be expanding larger and larger, and brighter and brighter as I gazed onto it.  At no time did this ball of light make me travel towards it.  Instead, I just instinctively could not wait to travel towards it just by desiring to do so.  The speed of travel was amazing.  The closer I came towards it the purer the love, the stronger my desire to arrive.”

Once Jean realized she was clinically dead,

“an immense level of comfort and reassurance overwhelmed my realization of my own earthly death and I simply could not wait or delay my transit towards the amazing place of pure love and peace.” 

She was greeted by loving beautiful souls.  Once there, she felt she was home and her “arrival was like a huge homecoming.” Jean then explains more about events which occurred to her while there.  She says,

“God dwelt in and among each of us and in all things in this place.  There was complete absence of anything evil or dark or bad. . . things like sadness, or anguish, or despair, or heartache, they don’t exist in this heavenly place. (I was then told to) return.  It’s not your time.” 

Once returned to her body, she heard the emergency team shout, “She’s back! She’s back!”

When the breathing tube was removed she said she wanted to see her father, who was a physician at the same hospital.  Once alone she talked with her dad about what she had experienced, “hoping he wouldn’t think I had lost my mind.”  Instead, he father listened and then shared with Jean that when he was a small boy he fell ill and went into a comma.  He then “spent time with Jesus and other glorified young adults.”  Jean asked her father why he had not shared this with her before and he said that he thought she would not understand.  So he kept it to himself. 

Like so many other NDErs, this event changed Jean’s life.  Not only did it make her more appreciative of others, as well as the various gifts she exhibits, but drew her into a deeper spiritual walk with God and Christ.  In addition to her medical practice, Jean also spends time on the mission field as a medical doctor helping the poor with their medical needs in India. 

(This interview is of three doctors who had all experienced NDEs.  The first was Dr. Jean Hausheer, a Christian.  Then Dr. Anoop Kumar, a Hundu.  And Dr. Peter Cummings, who had been a materialist/atheists and is now searching.  This interview is hosted by IANDSvideos.  IANDS stands for the International Association for Near-Death Studies.)

Case #5 – Vicki Noratuk

Vicki was born blind and had no knowledge of what sight was like, until her NDE. The blind don’t see black, they just don’t see. When Vicki dreamt she saw nothing. Dreams for the blind consist of touch, sound, smell, and taste because for those who have never seen this is how they experience life using their other senses. 

When Vicki was in her 20’s she was a passenger in an automobile that had a severe accident, and as a result was clinically dead for four minutes.  Vicki recalls,

“I knew I was in Harboview Medical Center (Seattle, Washington) and looking down at everything that was happening and it was frightening because I’m not accustomed to see things visually because I never had before and initially it was pretty scary and then I finally recognized my wedding ring and my hair and I thought is this my body down there and am I dead or what?. . . They kept saying we can’t bring her back we can’t bring her back and they were trying to frantically work on this thing that I discovered was my body and I felt very detached from it and sort of ‘so what’ and I was thinking, you know, what are these people getting so upset about?  Then I thought I’m out of here, I can’t get these people  to listen to me and as soon as I thought that I went up through the ceiling as if it were nothing, and it was wonderful to be out of there and be free not worried about bumping into anything and I knew where I was going . . . as I was approaching this area there were trees and there were birds and quite a few people but they were all like made out of light and I could see and it was incredible and really beautiful and I was overwhelmed by that experience because I couldn’t really imagine what light was like.  It’s still a very emotional thing when I talk about this because there was a point at which I could bring forth any knowledge I wanted to have and it was like this place was where all knowledge was and then I was sent back and then I went back into my body and it was excruciatingly painful . . .”

Vicki’s story is not only typical of NDEs, but also among the blind who have NDEs.  Bradly Burroughs tells of his NDE and how that was the only time in his life when he had sight.  Dr. Kenneth Ring’s research shows that about 64% of the blind who have NDE report seeing during their NDE (See: Near-Death and Out of Body Experiences in the Blind).  This agrees with a much larger sample provided by Dr. Jeffery Long, M.D., who notes that increased vision, even among those who have sight, is 64.3%, those that were uncertain were 16.2% and those who said no were 19.4% (see The Science of Near-Death Experiences, ed., John C. Hagan, p.68).

Case #6 – Tricia Barker

The literature regarding NDEs is filled with examples of patients who during cardiac arrest and/or fully anesthetized (even with their eyes taped shut) were fully aware of events transpiring around them and are able to describe what was happening to them, even though there was no measurable brain activity.  Tricia Barker is an example of this.

(The Youtube link of Tricia’s story is part of an IANDS panel discussion where you can listen to Tricia as well as Stephanie Arnold tell of their NEDs).

While in college, during a time when she would have described herself as agnostic, she was in an accident and broke her back.  During surgery her heart stopped and she suddenly became very aware of events around her.  Like many NDErs, she saw and reported events regarding her surgery that she would not have known.  In Tricia’s own words,

“I looked down at the bloody body and I was done with it, you know, that was the end.  But there were two very large angels waiting there . . . And they said, ‘Watch this.” And they sent this healing light into my back through the backs of the surgeons.  And they lit up my body with this light. And I could almost see that the bone fragments that were pressing on my spine were going to be fine . . . and I would indeed walk.  Well, at that point, the monitor flatlined and I didn’t want to look at my body anymore . . . and I left the hospital room . . . My mom had just married someone and this was you know my stepdad.  But I was in college and I didn’t care to know him.  He seemed nice enough.  But I watched him stop and get a candy bar – a Snicker’s bar – out of the vending machine.  And I thought, Oh well, I’ll never get to know him because I’m dead.  And you know, I hope he treats her well.” 

She continued on to have a typical NDE event, experiencing a “beautiful heavenly landscape,” greeted by her deceased  grandfather, followed by a life review,  and then told she had to return.  Once back and in recovery she asked her surgeon,

“‘I died, right?’ You know, how long was I dead?’ And she looked at me and I could tell that she was nervous about this.  She did not want to talk about the fact that I’d died.  And she said, ‘We thought we lost you for a couple of minutes.  You’re fine now.  You’re getting some blood transfusions. Just wait.  You’ll feel a lot better.” . . . it was a long time – so several, maybe a month and a half – before I was able to fully confirm my verified incident with my mother.  But there’s a lot to this story, but my mom is an evangelical Christian and her minister gave me pamphlets how my near-death experience was of the devil, because I didn’t see Jesus. . . You know, God was God to me at that moment.  And so it was difficult for me to open up to my mom.  But at one point, I did ask her.  I said, ‘I felt your prayers on the other side.’ that was something I felt and I said, ‘I know that you prayed for me.  I know that your mom, my grandmother, prayed for me and I did die.  And I know what time I died.  I died at the time that James (my stepdad) got this candy bar.’  And she (i.e. Tricia’s mom) said, ‘Oh that’s really funny because when your dad showed up’ (my real dad showed up to the ER) my stepdad came in right at that time that they both fell to their knees and started praying because they were certain that I had died – my mom and my dad.  And they were overwhelmed with this grief.  And my stepdad walked in and he’s funny and he made a joke and he had his Snicker’s bar. And then they got up and everything was okay.” 

Tricia goes on to note that her mom and stepfather are “health-food-nuts” so for her stepfather to get a candy bar was unusual.

There are millions of such cases regarding NDEs where the NDEr knew things that would not be possible to know, especially when in a state of cardiac arrest. (A few more, if you care to watch them, are the experiences of Deborah King,  John Woodford, Maria Davis, Jim Bay, Joseph Geraci, Mark McDonough, Bill Dolan, and Lorri Brewer.)

Since NDEs happen to millions upon millions of individuals world-wide, there is a very real chance that someone you know has had an NDE while in cardiac arrest. This is research anyone can do by seeking them out and politely listening to them.

NDE Awareness Data

Skeptics sometimes object to NDEs claiming while during cardiac arrest audio functions of the brain may still be active. Therefore, although a patient may not be conscious they still hear what is occurring and are able to form images based on audio perceptions of events around them. Much like when one falls asleep with the television on and form dreams based on what they hear. The main problem with such a contention is that sleep and flatlined brain activity following cardiac arrest are not the same. Additionally, there is no data supporting such assertions. On the other hand there is data showing NDE awareness.

Dr. Michael Sabom, M.D., did a study of those who went into cardiac arrest among those who experienced an NDE and those who did not.  Both groups of patients were asked to describe their own resuscitation as best they could. As Dr. Jeffery Long notes:

“Sabom found that the group of NDE patients was much more accurate than the control group in describing their own resuscitations. Another prospective study of out-of-body observations during near-death experiences with similar methodology to Sabom’s study was published by Penny Sartori, PhD. [Sartori, P. (2008). The near-death experiences of hospitalized intensive care patients: A five-year clinical study. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mullen Press.] This study also found that near-death experiencers were often remarkably accurate in describing details of their own resuscitations. The control group that did not have NDEs was highly inaccurate and often could only guess at what occurred during their resuscitations. Two large retrospective studies investigated the accuracy of out-of-body observations during near-death experiences. The first was by Janice Holden, EdD. [Holden, J.M. (2009). Veridical perception in near-death experiences.  In J.M. Holden, B. Greyson, & D. James (Eds), The handbook of near-death experiences: Thirty years of investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Prayer/ABC-CLIO:185-211.] Dr. Holden reviewed NDEs with OBEs in all previously published scholarly articles and books, and found 89 case reports. Of the case reports reviewed, 92% were considered to be completely accurate with no inaccuracy whatsoever when the OBE observations were later investigated.”

The Science of Near-Death Experiences, ed., John C. Hagan, p.66.

Long’s own investigation of 617 NEDs showed 97.6% of NDEs with OBEs “descriptions were entirely realistic and lacked any content that seemed unreal.” (Ibid., p. 67). 

If NDEs are simply audio perceptions like dreams, or recalling what they had seen in a television show where actors pretend to preform medical resuscitation during cardiac arrest (which is highly inaccurate), then we would expect all those who had a cardiac arrest incidents to equally or somewhat equally describe accurately what occurred during their resuscitation.  But this is not the case.  The data shows that those who had NDEs (and OBE) accurately described events that occurred, which provides credibility to their NDEs.  This data simply cannot be ignored. 

(c.f. Patients Recall Death Experiences After Cardiac Arrest, NYU Langone Health, Sept. 14, 2023; Lucid Dying: Patients Recall Death Experiences During CPR, NYU Langone Health, Nov. 7, 2022;) 

Shared NDEs (SNDE):

One of the fascinating aspects of many NDEs are “shared NDEs”.  As with Deborah King (linked above) or the other NDEs shared above, some of these “shared NDEs” are verified by those around the person.  The NDErs can recall events that they should not have known, as with Mary Neal observing those who retrieved her body after 30 minutes underwater and what the rescuers were wearing.  Or what was transpiring in the ER or OR.  Or, down the hall from a candy vending machine.

But there are also times when death comes, and those around their loved ones see things that they normally would not see.  In these cases, there are times when the living, see a light in the room, or a being they take as an angel, or a mist rising from the body of their loved ones (I personally know of someone who, along with their sister, both saw “a mist rising” from their father at the moment of his death).

I know that such cases are not convincible to materialists because they are by nature spiritual.  But if one spends time with hospice workers or those who deal with end of life patients they will find several example of shared NDEs, not only with family members, but medical professionals.  For example, Hospice Nurse Julie has posted some on her YouTube Channel (such as witnessing an angel in a dying woman’s room, and other paranormal events where she makes it clear that she is not claiming that because of these one should believe in an afterlife.  Just that this is a very common event among those who are dying.)  Likewise, Dr. Christopher Kerr, a hospice physician, gave a TedTalk titled “I See Dead People: Dreams and Visions of the Dying.” British researcher and neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Peter Fenwick, discuss this very thing regarding Deathbed Visitors.  Dr. Jeffrey Long likewise notes such shared NDEs (The Science of Near-Death Experiences, ed., John C. Hagan, p.64).  An article in the National Library of Medicine entitled “Shared Death Experiences: A Little-Known Type of End-of-Life Phenomena Reported by Caregivers and Loved Ones.” 

One astounding SNDE is that of Jeff Olsen and Dr. Jeff O’Driscell. Olsen had a very serious car accident which claimed the lives of his wife and infant, leaving only his 7-year-old and himself alive. Olsen was badly injured (loosing a leg and almost severing his arm as well).  He went into cardiac arrest and during his NDE saw his deceased wife telling him he could not join her and he needed to go back to raise their son.  What makes this such an amazing NDE is that while Olsen was in the emergency OR, Dr. O’Driscoll and a nurse both saw the apparition of Olsen’s wife. 

While these SNDE seem fantastical to those of us who do not daily deal with the dying, such are not as uncommon among those who do. Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD along with 26 other physicians write of their events in the book, Physicians’ Untold Stories: Miraculous experiences doctors are hesitant to share with their patients, or ANYONE! As does Dr. Laurin Bellg, MD and her book, Near Death in the ICU: Stories from Patients Near Death and Why We Should Listen to Them.  It is possible that all these clinicians are lying and are risking their careers and reputations, but it seems far more likely that they are telling of events they witnessed. 

Science of NDE

“Whatever I have up till now accepted as most true I have acquired either from the senses or through the senses. But from time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.”

– Rene Descartes 

Dr. Eben Alexander III, neurosurgeon and former atheist until his own NDE, correctly noted:

“But the mystery of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics—which says the observer’s mind is intricately involved with the physical reality being observed, i.e., that consciousness is fundamental, not an illusion created by the physical brain—drove many of the brilliant founding fathers of quantum mechanics, including Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, Louis Debroglie, Sir James Jeans, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and Albert Einstein, into mysticism as they sought deeper understanding.”

The Science of Near-Death Experiences (2017) ed., by John C. Hagan. Note: All articles in this book come from the peer-reviewed Missouri Medicine: the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association from Sept/Oct 2013 through July/Aug 2015

The science of quantum mechanics argues against consciousness as illusory activity created by and within the brain, and argues for consciousness as a separate, non-physical, immaterial reality.  As Maxwell Planck, who is considered the father of quantum physics, said:

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”

– Planck: Read quote here

He also stated:

“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. 

We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”

Planck: Read quote here).

I have already referenced the various peer-reviewed papers and studies above and in Part 1.  Additionally, one can read an article by Dr. Michael Sabom discussing the science of NDEs as presented in the International Journal of Philosophy (2019), On Defining Near-Death Experience. Also, one can read online Dr. Jeffery Long, Near-Death Experiences Evidence for Their Reality, Missouri Medicine (2014, Sept-Oct).

But I would like to add the following by Dr. Sam Parnia, who headed both AWARE and AWARE II studies and is director of research into cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the NYU Langone Medical Center.

In a February 7, 2024 Dr. Parnia was interviewed by Steve Paulson, and made some interesting comments about NDEs which clarifies several misconceptions regarding NDEs. Dr. Parnia then goes to the science of death and NDEs. The interview was from the NourFoundation and titled: Rethinking Mortality: Exploring the Intersection of Life and Death. At the 34:24 mark Dr. Parnia provides a brief history and perspectives of NDEs:

Paulson: So, let’s talk about extraordinary experiences that some people report after they’ve died after they’ve had a cardiac arrest uh the the reports of I mean I’ll just anecdotally say that you know the the the stories of you know floating out of the body looking down from the top of the operating room you know seeing the doctors you know working on the body overhearing the conversation sometimes seeing the white light going through the tunnel in extraordinary cases meeting dead relatives uh you know you know what are often called dear death experiences I know you don’t like that term and we will come back to that in a moment but what’s going on there?

Dr. Parnia: So you know again if we look back in history so think about it for thousands of years life and death seem very black and white very clear your heart stopped you were dead that was it, end of question, let’s go and do whatever we need to do.

CPR was discovered in 1960, and then you had a group of people who would otherwise be dead who were being brought back to life again and more and more people around the world start to apply this. By the mid 1970s so only about 15 years after that, a book was published that um had the testimonies particularly of 50 people, it was 150 but really 50 people in detail, who had had come close to death for whatever reason and they were describing similar very profound experiences, as you alluded to what we now understand. If we fast forward to this day is that, and they you know Raymond Moody wrote a book and he called it a near-death experience, there were other terms actually a French philosopher who had been interested in this 100 years previously actually called it “imminent death experience” um and others called had different names for it but for better or worse the term near-death experience has stuck uh in the popular mind.

What we now understand, and I’ve been engaged in this research now for more than 30 years actually, so starting from those questions I developed my own line of research I’ve carried out the largest studies in the world with 25 major medical centers in hundreds of patients, and then I’ve looked at testimonies from thousands of people through these years. So there’s a lot of work that we’ve put into this and I’ll address what happens.

So from the perspective of the doctor scientist looking at the person who’s died they look like they are absent there is nothing there. Interestingly now from the perspective of the person who’s died there is a fascinating experience that develops. So from their own perspective they may be aware of what’s going on and then suddenly their heart stopped and they lose awareness. As we know normally do but yet paradoxically what they tell us, and I want to emphasize these are not anecdotes! We have millions and millions of people around the world who don’t know each other who are saying the same thing. And what they describe is that in that sense even though the doctors thought they were dead, from their own perspective not only were they not dead as in they were not annihilated. Their consciousness, their selfhood, continues but it becomes sharper than usual more their thinking becomes clearer than usual and their consciousness feels vast . . . it’s almost like their consciousness has been held back and suddenly in death the shackles are removed and it becomes vast.

And the other things that occur in this situation for them is that they’re able to suddenly understand so much more than they could. So they’re able to, for example, watch doctors or nurses trying to save them. They also recognize that they’re dead. They say I think I’m dead I think but I feel fine and at that same time they’re gaining visual and auditory knowledge of what’s happening to them. But it’s not in the way that we see things like oh this is how I’m looking directly. They describe 360 degree vision so they can see and understand everything it’s almost like their thoughts are like a flux, and it’s penetrating it’s a bit like I analogize it to like electromagnetic waves that is able to penetrate and is gaining information that way and is released. What they then talk about which is absolutely fascinating, so again 360 degree vision, and then what I find absolutely remarkable is the ability to recall everything that they have done in their entire life!

So with all respect to you and and our audience members here, I hope I don’t offend anyone, if I were to ask anyone to recall their entire life they would struggle maybe an hour, 45 minutes would be done. But yet how is it that in death somebody is able to recall every minute detail is being processed. So millions of pieces of data are, that’s how they describe it, are being processed and that includes they describe experiencing and reliving all their intentions, their thoughts, their emotional states, and the situations they found themselves in . . .

Paulson: Wait you’re saying all, I mean that’s that you know if someone’s lived 80 years, I mean every moment of the 80 years?

Dr. Parnia: Right, that’s that’s exactly what they say that they’re able to relive and re-experience all of it in an instant!

So that’s what I’m saying is you know the way people talk about near-death experiences it really does a disservice. Like, oh it’s like your life just flashes past you like some sort of movie. It’s not like that at all. It’s your entire life is being relived and re-experienced as if you’re there again. But what’s fascinating is that they are not reliving it in a chronological way, that you and I might think like a movie, like oh that was that evening 10 years ago when you and I were chatting at the New York Academy of Sciences and you know we did this and we said that.

They’re reliving themselves in the context of how they conducted themselves and whether what they did was right or wrong. So they’re judging their own actions because they’re reliving it. And, importantly, they’re reliving it not just from their own perspective but from the perspective of other people they interacted with! So, for example, if I say something tonight that, goodness forbid, may have offended you. In my death experience, I will relive this, but I will feel what you felt – so if I hurt you I feel the exact same pain, and so I understand that that was awful and I feel humiliated at what I have done. You see that’s how again these are what they say.

This “reliving” is a common occurrence among NDErs, and is universal regardless of where we live or our culture. This same finding is listed in the various works of Greyson, Long, and van Lommel. Dr. Parnia continues (at the 41:03 mark):

Dr. Parnia: (What) millions of people have said consistently, they don’t know each other, some is from a village in the Middle East, somebody’s from from a little town in England, somebody’s from in the US, somebody’s from India, somebody’s from China, they have no idea and they don’t talk to other people, because they’re ridiculed, so they live with this little secret. But because I’m studying them, and thousands of them, I’m astonished at the the consistency of what they say. And, the other things I do want to highlight, which are important, is that in that state um they also relive what they have done which they perceived to have been good and so those states that were of help to others it gives them immense joy. And so, they themselves judge the quality of their life based upon moral and ethical principles.

And again, I just, if you don’t mind, I want to emphasize this point too – it’s not based on what they thought was correct, because you know how we are we do all sorts of stuff and then we blame other people and we justify why we did things. In death, they evaluate themselves based upon how true that was, irrespective of how they may have Justified it in their life.

Parnia is not alone in his findings. In fact, all the literature by medical professionals and scientists who study NDEs say the same regarding their research – Long, Moody, Greyson, Von Lommel, Sabom, Ring, Holden, and hundreds of other professional and scholarly researches have all found the exact same results. When studies and research over an extended period of time from a vast variety of samples all produce the same results – it is called science! As Dr. Parnia states later in this interview, “These are not my opinions. These are facts of what people say” from all over the world.

What about some common objections/explanations skeptics raise? These are also raised in this interview (43:30):

Paulson: So let me run through some of the explanations that I’ve heard, uh commonly to explain, uh what are typically called near-death experiences you prefer the term recalled experiences of death but anyway so for instance the body floating up you know what what is referred to as out-of-body experiences you know you can uh stimulate that with an electrode to the brain . . .

Dr. Parnia: That’s not true but people say it!

Paulson: The bright lights the the tunnel of that has been explained by hypoxia . . . you know the the loss of . . .

Dr. Parnia: Am I allowed to say that’s not true?

Paulson: Yes, you please please . . .

Dr. Parnia: . . .But people believe it, some people believe it.

Paulson: There the sense that, uh you know when you’re in coma the the brain totally flatlines the question is, you know, and then you report these extraordinary experiences. You know how is that possible if the brain has flatlined. Or, is it because actually these experiences are sort of being remembered as people are starting to, you know come back online regain consciousness um why is not that a legitimate explanation?

Dr. Parnia: So again you ask wonderful questions, which I appreciate . . . So the the reality of this is that when these people first started to describe these experiences people rejected them, some scientists rejected them, and simply said you’re either fabricating you’re just making up these stories or you’re basically hallucinating.

The issue with the story of hallucination, is that they can’t be hallucinating, and I’ll explain to you why. One, because it’s impossible to tell somebody that you reliving your entire life is a hallucination. A hallucination is something that occurs to people in a live in an awakened state, where other people cannot confirm what they’ve said they’re seeing. So you may say I’m seeing somebody walking up there, and the rest of us would say well that’s not really happening.

So because we’re in an awakened state it doesn’t apply to people who are in a coma, and so on – but nonetheless you or I reliving our life is not a hallucination. Somebody being able to recall accurate details of what was happening during their resuscitation, or conversations, and so on which many doctors have have confirmed is clearly not a hallucination if they’re describing reality.

The other issue with hallucinations which is important to point out is whenever somebody hallucinates, which occurs of course there’s no doubt, um even if the hallucinatory experience feels incredibly real to them while it’s happening, after they recover they realize that it was not as real as ordinary real events in life. That is absolutely always the case!

With the death experienced, and and the recall experience of death, what happens is completely the opposite. So not only are they recalling real events that occurred, or their own life but importantly, when they come back, this is the only situation in life that I know of where they consistently will always say that this was more real than the most real experience you could ever think of.

. . . people have come out with all kinds of theories, what you talking about with theories, but none of them have been able to show or demonstrate this experience. And, I think as we move forward in time what we found is that some scientists started to no longer – sort of reject and say well you’re making this up – and say, Well it must just be a trick of your brain as your brain is dying it’s creating all these wonderful images but again it doesn’t make sense.

This conversation, and I highly recommend watching the whole video, highlights what other scientists have discovered regarding the NDE. At some point we have to recognize that commonality equates to reality. Otherwise, it is simply cognitive dissonance – rejecting something because it challenges our beliefs or values (which any of us can do, and is why it is important to follow the evidence).

There are those who object and claim that NDEs are the dying brain’s attempt to prepare us to accept the inevitable. However, again, the science does not support this hypothesis. In what is called “disinhibition”. Dr. Parnia notes in the interview (around 51:45) that the brain produces,

“a tremendous amount of hormones trying to save a person’s life. It releases steroids and adrenaline so in many cases it can spontaneously restore life again. Your brain is designed to bring you back to life again. At the same time genes that you had that were last active when you were a fetus . . . suddenly become active postmortem. They’re trying to repair any damage that’s occurring. . . “

There would be no reason for the brain to produce a dying delusion while it is doing all it can to regenerate itself. Also see, Recent Report of Electroencephalogram of a Dying Human Brain, by Greyson, van Lommel, and Fenwick. Greyson, B. MD and Stevenson, I. MD, The Phenomenology of Near-Death Experiences, Am J Psychiatry (Oct. 1980). As Dr. Jeffery Long has noted:

“I am a man of science, and as a result I have examined the data from the NDERF study in a scientific way. AT NDERF we explored all of the elements in the NDEs of more than one thousand people, examining consistency among the accounts. In reaching conclusions about these accounts, we follow the basic scientific principle: What is real is consistently seen among many different observations.”

– Jeffery Long, MD Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences. HarperCollins (2010), p.5

“I worked as a scientist trying to prove that the brain accounted for the mind and demonstrating as many brain-mechanisms as possible hoping to show how the brain did so. . . . In the end I conclude that there is no good evidence, in spite of new methods, such as the employment of stimulating electrodes, the study of conscious patients and the analysis of epileptic attacks that the brain alone can carry out the work that the mind does. I conclude that it is easier to rationalize man’s being on the basis of two elements than on the basis of one.” 

– Wilder Penfield, MD, (1975) The Mystery of the Mind: A critical study of consciousness and the human brain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

12 Questions:

1. How many examples do we need before they are not antidotal?
2. If these are simply ways in which the brain is coping with death, why would NDEs be so consistent despite one’s culture, religion, age, or education?
3. If NDE stories are more prevalent today, not because of resuscitation advancements but because NDE stories are more accessible (which some skeptic have claimed), why is it that NDE studies have shown that the “same elements took place with the same frequency” in studies prior to 1975 when Moody’s book was written as after when Moody’s book was written? And why would those who have no idea what an NDE is have the same elements with the same amount of frequency? (See Long, Evidence of the Afterlife, p.67.)
4. If NDEs are a product of human evolution, how is the desire to remain in the “afterlife” consistent with survival of the fittest?  And why is it NDErs no longer have a fear of death which would be counter to basic evolutionary survival ?
5. Why, when the brain is the least active to non-active (physically unconscious) when we would expect the least amount of, or no remembrance, do so many NDErs have vivid memories of the events which they maintain throughout their lifetime?
6. If NDEs are imagery, why are they so life-changing and “more real” than anything else the NDErs have experienced including dreams, or drug induced or non drug induced hallucinations? 
7. Why do all NDE have a complete story (beginning, middle, and end) while brain activities such as dreams do not?  (In dreams you can start anywhere and they can end suddenly.  NDEs have a starting point, a life review, and a point of no return where the NDEr is either given a choice to return or told they must return.  More importantly, NDErs have their experience when the brain has flatlined and dreamers have their dreams when the brain is most active).
8. If some NDEs are caused by a lack of anesthesia, as some skeptics have claimed, why is the NDE so different than actual patients who have undergone surgery during “anesthetic awareness”?  NDEs speak of being out of pain and at peace, with no fear, even when viewing the procedures taking place on their bodies with the ability to move around freely before heading to the light; while victims of anesthetic awareness report pain and fear and unable to move.  BTW, anesthetic awareness takes place in only 1 to 3 in 1,000 patients, while the NDE is about 17 to 18 percent of all cardiac arrest cases, which means more people have NDEs than those who experience anesthetic awareness (Long, p. 103).
9. While NDErs interpret the Being of Light differently, why have so many of them been told directly that this Being is Christ, even if they were not Christians (such as Hindus, Muslims, and Atheists)?  Each link will take you to a video of such cases.  
10. How is it that those who were born blind and have never known sight (who dream in sounds, tastes, smells, and touch but not sight) able to see in their NDE and describe what they had seen?
11. How does one explain shared-death experiences which have even been recognized by medical professionals?
12. As Dr. Parnia asked: how is it that in death somebody is able to recall every minute detail is being processed. So millions of pieces of data are, that’s how they describe it, are being processed and that includes they describe experiencing and reliving all their intentions, their thoughts, their emotional states, and the situations they found themselves in? And, we can add, how is it they feel the emotions they caused in others during their lifetime?

The Christian and NDEs:

It should be noted that no one supports all individuals who claim to have an NDE. But they should not be dismissed or ridiculed either. If Christians are people of both faith and evidence (Hebrews 11:1 KJV), then we should follow evidence especially as it relates to Biblical principles of faith (Acts 17:11). While there was a time when many Christians saw NDEs as occultism (and there is an element of such in their interpretations of NDEs), more and more Christian leaders are recognizing (as are medical professionals and scientists) that NDEs are a reality and transcend cultural and religious upbringing, and are a world-wide phenomena (see Light and Death, The Case for Heaven, Imagine Heaven, Imagine God, Near-Death Experiences as evidence for the existence of God and Heaven, Beyond Death, Immorality: The Other Side of Death). They are both a physical and spiritual event and do happen.

However, as a Christian I am instructed not to believe “every spirit” that comes along. Instead, Christians are to “test the spirits” if they are from God or not. This testing is laid out for us in 1 John 4:1-5. False prophets have the ability to produce false visions and tell lies (Ezek 13:9; Jer. 14:14). In the Hebrew Scriptures we are told how to recognize a false prophet. If one gives a prophecy and it does not come true (Deut. 18:21-22), or the prophet leads you to other gods (Deut. 18:20). Peter lists in his epistle how to live and to recognize false teachers (2 Peter 1:1-19). So, we have warrant to test an individuals account against the teachings of Scripture. We don’t believe, or deny, every spiritual event. We test to see of those spirits or encounters leads to or away from Christ regarding His Deity, Lordship, resurrection, and physical return (1 John 2:22; 4:2-3;).

Biblically, each human has a spirit, a soul, and a body (1 These. 5:23). Final physical death would be, according to Scripture, when the spirit and soul leave the body and we are present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8-9). It very well may be that NDEs are spiritual events that occur at that “twilight” just between the separation of the physical and the spiritual. A vast number of those who have had NDEs (and is listed as one of the common events found at the beginning of this article) is that the NDEr comes to a “barrier” where if they cross there is no return.

It is also noted that many of the differences in individual NDEs are really simply ways of expressing what is difficult to explain. John Burk, in his book Imagine Heaven, illustrates how many NDErs feel unable to fully express the inexpressible. He says to imagine we lived in a 2D black and white world and then suddenly experience a 3D vividly colorful world. Once back in our 2D black and while world, how would we express to those around us what we experienced in the 3D color world? So with NDEs sometimes how one expresses things, or how one interprets things, may be limiting and misinterpreted.

Dr. Michael Sabom, who with his Atlanta Study, is a pioneer in the modern study of NDEs, is also a born-again Christian. While a stickler for valid and verifiable evidence, he sees NDEs as part of “general revelation” God gives us (see his books, Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation, and more recently, Light and Death).

Nevertheless, there are somethings that are very common in NDEs which are also Scripturally true.

1. NDErs usually see a great Light, and Christ is called the Light of the World (John 8:12) and that in Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5-10).
2. NDErs claim to feel immense love, and Scripture tells us that God is love (1 John 4:7-21).
3. NDErs tell of increased knowledge during their NDE – that everyone knows them. In Scripture we are told in heaven we “will know even as we are known” (1 Cor. 13:12) and that nothing will be hidden (Luke 8:17).
4. NDErs speak of an eternal family, as does the Bible (Eph 2:19).
5. NDErs feel as though God knows us intimately, as the Scriptures teach (Luke 12:7; Jer. 1:5).
6. NDErs recognize God as being just in His actions, which alines with Scripture (Deut. 32:4; Dan. 4:37).

In his book, Near-Death Experiences as Evidence for the Existence of God and Heaven, Dr. J. Steve Miller lists over 25 comparisons between NDEs and Scripture. Likewise, so does John Burk in Imagine Heaven as do many other Christian writers.

My point is not are all NDEs Biblical, which they are not. But are there commonalities that coincide with Biblical truths, and there are.

Regardless of how we understand NDEs, it is certain that we all will face physical death. Since the evidence shows, and Scripture agrees, that the mind (soul) is separate from the brain (body) it does us well to investigate the evidence and trust our souls to the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ.

For Part 1 click here. For Part 2 click here.