I've believed for a long time that the death of our bodies is the signal for a transition, not a signal for The End. Because I have a brain, I do not denounce possibilities.

Even for those of us with faith, stories like these are reassuring.

May Dr. Alexander continue his quest...

Although he didn't say it directly, I got the impression he didn't believe in God prior to this experience. It brings up an interesting question: Do nonbelivers witness the glory of Heaven before being sent to the pit of Hell? God's Word says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That includes those who turned from God here on earth.

Late night radio Coast to Coast is hoping to have the Dr as guest. Should be interesting.

These revelations make up the story line of the recent series, "Saving Hope", where a brilliant neurosurgeon sinks into a coma after a serious car accident, and his conciousness roams the hallways of his hospital, while his fiancee desperately tries to find ways to revive him.

This past season ended with a cliffhanger, in which he was apparently about to wake up.

#4, I struggle with these questions, too. If you commit violent crimes, and then later truly convert and repent, will you see the glory of God when you die? Is God's forgiveness and mercy so large and unfathomable to consider that? I am thinking of the one hanged with Christ who asked for mercy, and Christ said that he would be in paradise with Him.

I know the Orthodox Christians say that when you die, it's fixed -- you either pre-enjoy heaven or suffer in hell until final judgment and resurrection of the body.

#4, Alexander has said in other interviews that he was always a believing Christian.

I frequently dream of blue-eyed women but they're on puffy satin sheets.

True believers do not fear death. The only thing most want is to make sure they live to see their children grown and on their own. Not because they fear death but because they don't want to leave them behind without a parent.

1John4:1-3
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

The Scriptures are clear that Christ is necessary for the forgiveness of any sin and sufficient for the forgiveness of all sin. They do not, to the best of my understanding, state that the point of bodily death is the final point to accept that amazing Grace.

I am signing in through the automatic password of FreedomForAll, who recently passed away. I was present at her death, along with others. Excuse my tresspass but I am signing in to share her passing because she loved Lucianne.com & always prayed for all of you & for America.

She was a wonderful person, gifted in so many ways. Her passing, though painful to let her go, was one of the most powerful, incredible experiences I have witnessed, and I have seen many many miracles. There were 3 of us with her at the hospital. We were in the Spirit and had been singing hymns for an hour or so. We all three saw her spirit out of her body. At one point we were singing, "the Father waits over the way..." and suddenly I saw the Father coming and angels with Him. They came to a place that almost looked as though it were across the street. About five minutes later, 2 of us saw a huge, joyous, shouting, cheering crowd coming towards where the Father was & about ten minutes later suddenly she was among them. What rejoicing! She looked like she did in photos from her past. She radiated health and happiness. She was running around, teasing people. After 10 min or so the whole crowd started to ascend and we were left with tears and joy. We loved her, who was passionate and godly, a constant witness to the truth and the love of Jesus. A nurse came and told us that he had seen an angel in her hospital room.

We are believers. We know what is true. Life is eternal. But it was glorious to see it unfold before our eyes.

He could have taken some LSD and had the same experience.

Amen, poster 11. These stories are a dime a dozen; just watch Sid Roth. The obsession with blue eyes is a human thing and so are the puffy clouds. Doesn't mean God shares the obsessions. People in heaven might have white eyes or tiger eyes; who knows? He doesn't need to write a book about proof of heaven, because this was his experience. He's a doctor, not a prophet. I'll take what the Bible says about Heaven. Thank you very much.

#13; Thank you for signing in. My prayers.

Very sad response.

"God, who is eternal, and incomprehensible, and of infinite power, doeth things great and unsearchable in Heaven and in earth, and there is no tracing out of his marvellous works...If the works of God were such, as that they might be easily comprehended by human reason, they could not be justly called marvellous or unspeakable."

OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
Thomas 'a Kempis
(1380-1471)

there are a number of these ''after death'' first person stories. They can be inspiring, compelling, uplifting or depressing - depending upon your personal faith/belief system - or lack of. I cannot debunk them, for all I know these people could actually have been given a ''sneak preview''. But I'm still hanging my afterlife hat on chapter and verse; redemption thru Jesus as Savior and Godhead. If these stories and experiences bring more individuals to the same conclusion and acceptance of Jesus as Kinsman Redeemer, then it's a good thing...

Thanks for sharing, #13.
My brother-in-law who once lay 'dead' on a battlefield in Vietnam has professed nearly that same experience.

As to the afterlife, we see through a glass darkly. It is faith, not earthly revelations, that sustains believers.

An alternate example:

Have you ever been in New Mexico ? How close to the border to you have to get to say you've been there? Does REALLY close count ? Does "wishing" you were there count for anything? Either you were in NM or you were not. Not much room for discussion, is there ?

The fact of the matter is, the brain does odd things as we approach death. To say that some people have "died" and returned is simply fallacious.

No one who has died has ever returned to life (my apologies to those with contrary religious beliefs).

Close doesn't count.

Thank you, #13. Prayers and blessings!

My first husband was near death once, his blood pressure was almost nonexistant. My mother and I were there calling 911 etc. Later he told us that he was floating above his body near the ceiling looking down on all the activity. Even then I thought people with stories like this were nuts but since my second husband died I've seen a lot of very interesting things. I'm much more of a believer now and enjoyed reading this article.

I saw an interview recently with a female orthopedic surgeon who had a near death drowning experience while kayaking. She wrote a book about it, but I don’t recall her name. Her story was very similar to that of a neighbor who nearly bled to death having her foot cut off with a lawnmower at age about seven. I myself fell off a roof and could see myself lying there while floating in the trees above my house. I’m a physician also, and several patients have told me of very similar experiences. So, I think there is something to this, some universal consciousness or something. We will have to wait and see.

I understand the sceptical comments from a few posters. Hard to believe, but after brain surgery, stopped breathing and from then on I have (needless to say) started the recuperative period, my family and me have prayed for God's will to be done and a marvelous glow comes over me that is very, very comforting. I believe it is coming from Heaven and I thank God for it.

My Dad is the most logical thinking, hard-headed realist I know & he is not given to flights of fancy. That said, when he was a very young man he survived a near-fatal gunshot wound. He said that in the hours after the shooting, he did not know where he was, but he was able to look down from "above" & observe the life-saving efforts of the medical team. He awoke the next day a very different person. An orderly who was passing by said, "Nobody thought you would even make it through the night!" Not only did he make it, he was paralized for several months & through sheer force of will & some intense PT, taught himself to walk again. To this day, he has had physical problems related to that shooting - but he became a very religious man & believes that having the out-of-body experience is what changed his life.

He isn't the 1st top neurosurgeon who knows this. Google Wilder Penfield, the great Canadian surgeon-- or better yet, read what Dr. Penfield wrote about his patients.

I don't automatically believe nor automatically disbelieve what is called "private revelation."

St. Hildegard of Bingen had them on and off for over 70 years, and they weren't "near-death" experiences either: they were intense visions that came to her, on and off, through all 5 senses, from age 3 until her death at age 81.

Even she did not consider them automatically worthy of belief, and for a long time didn't know if they were a delusion or a gift.

I admire her sane and balanced point of view. God is capable of giving us visions; on the other hand, the brain itself is inconceivably complex, and capable of engendering convincingly fantastic other worlds.

But I want to ask the doctrinaire atheists this question: why and how would unaided materialistic evolution --- you know, that process totally defined by survival and reproductive fitness --- have given us such powerful, apparently otherworldly, capacities, appetites and drives?

I ask you.