NDEs and religious beliefs in history

Hi all,
That's something that came on my mind recently, the (possibile) correlations between historical religious cults and NDEs. As far as I understand, no religion really matches perfectly with the trascendent NDE experience, yet some cults may be closer to them than others

For starters, ancient cults like the greco-roman pantheon did not feature stuff like unconditional love and empathy in their beliefs. Even the concept of a good, ever pleasant afterlife was introduced later (elysium) and it was reserved for a very restricted nukber of individuals. 90% or so of people would not reach that place. It's curious to notice that this elysium features "eternal day", a bit like the light present in NDEs

Scandinavian religions, like the ones in use during the viking age, favour warriors and heroes. Again, no sign of unconditional love, on the contrary the blessed would have been powerful warriors who won (and killed) against many opponents. Still, Valhalla (basically their paradise) features light and is accessed through a rainbow, as far as I recall.

Judeo-Christian religion delves a bit deeper in the concept of love. The divine is a single entity (a bit like the being of light often seen in NDEs) and it is clearly associated with light and positivity. While the Jewish God is much less forgiving, the Christian one is ever loving of his sons and always ready to forgive. Closer than previous cults to NDEs, I'd say.

Islam is tricky. The roots are shared with christianity and Judaism, but it's main prophet Muhammad was a warrior and conqueror. Under the banner of Islam many countries, including the arabic peninsula and nord africa, were conquered and united. This culture of warriors doesn't match really well with NDEs result, but Allah/God surely is shown as a loving being and also his domain is sunny and full of light.

I don't know much about eastern religions, but until now I'd say that even cults with little to no resemblance with NDE values still always hold one similarity to them: light. Light is ever present when a pleasant afterlife is in question, or in the domain of the gods. Now this could of course be just a purely psychological factor (we are animals suited for daytime activity and naturally fear darkness), but it still makes us think, doesn't it?

What do you think about this topic? Let me know.

What do you think about this topic? Let me know.

 

Until recently (1960's), people very rarely came back from being dead (heart stoppage). I'm sure you'll be aware of the well known historical NDE's (obviously they weren't referred to as NDE's).

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, Raf. Based on the life review, I would say that it most closely lines up with the teaching of Christ who I personally don't have a problem with but then again I don't align his teaching with the teachings of the Catholic church, or any other church, for that matter.

I'm just trying to look for which religions align better with what we gather from NDE research. It also appears that some NDErs gained infos about past lives or awareness of them existing, so I guesss some eastern religions probably share this trait with NDEs

I'm just trying to look for which religions align better with what we gather from NDE research

None of them. By and large (one or two exceptions) religious denominations don't like the consensus message brought back by experiencers ie you don't have to be a member of their Church to get into "heaven" which is understandable.

I certainly don't think NDE's should be the basis of a new religion, just a new understanding that we our here for a reason and life has a purpose. I would prefer to 'shut the fuck up' for a bit now and let somebody else say something, to be honest.

None of them. By and large (one or two exceptions) religious denominations don't like the consensus message brought back by experiencers ie you don't have to be a member of their Church to get into "heaven" which is understandable.

I certainly don't think NDE's should be the basis of a new religion, just a new understanding that we our here for a reason and life has a purpose. I would prefer to 'shut the fuck up' for a bit now and let somebody else say something, to be honest.

Yes, I happened to read the article about NDEs on Conservapedia and it was bible thumping at it's finest. It says that Atheists in NDEs understand that salvation is achieved only through Jesus, which is false. Atheists sometimes become spiritual, maybe theists, but rarely become fervent christian believers.

The NDE message is one of unconditional love, and the beings of light people meet seem to accept everyone equally, regardless of religion, gender, sexual orientation and so on. Also, the NDEs that I've read about in which people asked "what is the right religion" often told of answers like "the one that brings you closer to god" or the likes of it. Gosh between Conservapedia and rationalwiki i can't decide which is the worse one.