NDE

Well....as you can see I have been away. FAR FAR away in a land unfamilar. My research can take me to the very end of the globe and back again.
Always searching...ALWAYS learningBut enough....Let us consider the NDE (near death experience). There have been COUNTLESS stories of such experiences and MANY of them appear very reliable and accurate.Do they, in fact, prove the existance of God? Of an afterlife?I PERSONALLY had one...AND I can tell you THERE IS AN AFTERLIFE in which TIIIIMMMEEE does NOT EXIST !My soul and Spirit got knocked CLEAN out of my Bod...with the tune of a MACK TRUCK.And I live to tell about it in absolute SANITY !So, to the atheists...what...just IF you are wrong? Which you are.....Then what?Or maybe there are those who can share their experiences.Wise

Yeah, funny things happen when your brain gets cut off from oxygen. Sometimes you see a long tunnel leading to a bright light, sometimes you start posting pictures on nebulae on message boards and calling it proof of God.

I wouldn't think that it will be possible to settle this one. There is, of course, more than one view of this.near-death experience (NDE) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
Here is one paragraph from that site:
"What little research there has been in this field indicates that the experiences Moody lists as typical of the NDE may be due to brain states triggered by cardiac arrest and anesthesia (Blackmore 1993). Furthermore, many people who have not been near death have had experiences that seem identical to NDEs. These mimicking experiences are often the result of psychosis (due to severe neurochemcial imbalance) or drug usage, such as hashish, LSD, or DMT."Personal anecdotal stories are not taken as real evidence for anything, anywhere. They may be used as a starting point for research, however.Are you aware of any controlled experiments in this area that might be able to convince a skeptic? Or is the evidence just useful for the already convinced?

Hey you nasty spammer , spreading your seed of lusty confusions. I'll boil your brain in motor oil, then you'll be slick. You outrageous gonad gremlin, go fill a sarcasm sand-witch.

Actually I'm not worried. If your God is a god of love as you sometimes say I expect to be given credits for both how I have behaved and how well I've used the gifts of mind that I was bestowed with.I think Christians almost all end up saying we can't possible grasp God in our puny human minds so I'm sure you have no clue whether I have anything to worry about or not.If God is as alien as it would appear then I suppose what is true is neither of us knows what might come to us.I'm happy with my bet on the wager and threats aren't going to change my mind.

Ned,
I don't think we have any right to judge your personal situation (Christians). As if we did, we would be hypocrites.

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Hey you nasty spammer , spreading your seed of lusty confusions. I'll boil your brain in motor oil, then you'll be slick. You outrageous gonad gremlin, go fill a sarcasm sand-witch.

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I owe you one, Mike. "He spread his seed of lusty confusions" is so going to be my epitaph.

Note to self:1) Return Mack truck to Shepard's lot.2) Spend refund of deposit on plane ticket to Paraguay.3) Lie low, come up with Plan B.------------------
The bear thought his son could talk in space about the time matter has to rotate but twisted heaven instead.
-Brad McFall

Thank you Mike, that is not a sentiment held by some Christians though.

Ned, Next tIme I have a question about physics and not cell death I'll send it in your direction. Best Brad. & God Bless. Plan B in effect.

NosyNedI am not aware of anything in the way of NDE research,however, there is a fascinating book called Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by Ramachandran, V. S., and Blakeslee, Sandra that shows investigations into the workings of the brain and how damage to different areas yield clues to how ethereal our actual selves are.There are some outrageous behaviours such as people who deny ownership of their own limbs even when presented with irrefutable proof and will put together outrageous stories to mantain a sense of continuity with their denial.There is another one about phantom limb sensation and sex that is out of this world as well.I highly recommend Wise read it since it could make him question the authenticity of his experience.He might just as likely express denial as the people do in the book.[This message has been edited by sidelined, 11-04-2003]

If you enjoyed that I recommend anything by Olvier Sacks (of "Awakenings" fame). "The Island of the Color Blind", "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", "Seeing Voices" etc. fascinating.

I personally think that Wise is a secret terrorist plot to sap America, Canada, and the US of their productivity by starting topics that lead nowhere. ------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."[This message has been edited by Rei, 11-05-2003]

If ones brain is "cut off" from oxygen then HOW could they think?AND see things around them?Wise

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If ones brain is "cut off" from oxygen then HOW could they think?

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Electrical activity (i.e., thought) continues in the brain for up to ten minutes after death, let alone after the brain is cut off from oxygen.It's just not working very well. The brain starts hallucinating.