Near-Death Experiences: A Theological Conundrum

I’ve put together blog posts before, that reference NDE’s, but I’ve come to a… let’s say theological realization. This realization puts another angle or spin on problems I’ve discussed previously. Yet, you can still get something out of this piece without that reading as a prerequisite.

First, some background. Some Christians use Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) as evidence of their worldview. Other Christians are more careful.

Because when one uses NDE’s as evidence, you have to cherry pick. Plenty of people have reported in their NDE’s, as I heard in one church Q&A, things considered “unBiblical” at the least. In this church they speculated that what one experieces in an NDE may be an “inbetween state” before saintly resurrection. Which does make sense from a theological perspective if you think about it and may be the best Christian apologetics one could use more honestly.

If someone is experiencing an NDE they are still “tethered” to the earth. They might have an “out of body” experience but don’t go through the “bodily resurrection” expected or promised in scriptures. They therefore experience a “heightened state” in their NDE but not a full transformation that would close the gap between perception and interpretation or give full and clear knowledge.

I’m helping the apologist out here. I don’t necissarily believe this stuff. Yet, people do experience NDE’s and it would be dishonest to cherry pick them only for the more “Christian” elements. If they don’t dismiss them simply as brain synapsis firing they would have to say, “yes, some people report seeing reincarnation in their NDE, or report seeing the deity they followed in their life other than the Christian one, yet these also reflect our earthly imperfections as humans in fully perceiving divine truth. Instead we still percieve things with a gap between perception and the thing in itself”

This could bring the conversation back to philosophical considerations like knowledge, or “how does one know what they know?” and perception. The only other options for the apologist that I know of would be cherry picking or demonization. Demonization would be a form of cherry picking where you accuse the NDE reports you don’t agree with as being “fabricated” or “made up” in comparison to your preferred ones.

Your welcome apologists. I’m resolving your issues 😅 I just wished the theological point is one I had realized sooner. The puzzle pieces were all there, as I was putting together my other blog posts.