So, there was a commercial today for some tv show...

[conuly]

Featuring a woman who had a near-death experience. And she's breathlessly telling us that she was in Heaven, she was there, and it's real.

Which is great, as far as it goes. But why doesn't anybody ever come back from Hell or the equivilant to warn us of the consequences of our behaviour? That'd convince me to change my ways! I mean, it wouldn't, but if I were inclined to believe that these people saw what they thought they saw, then sure, I'd change my ways.

My disbelief in the... objective reality of these people's experiences... right, that - it's not meant to be construed that I think an afterlife is absolutely impossible. I'll reserve judgment until I'm actually dead, how about that?

I just think that, well, supernatural entities are bound to be picky, and restrict the afterlife to those who are actually in a post-mortal state. And some of them are going to end up where the bad folks go. It just stands to reason, doesn't it?

Comments

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

I've seen people have near-death things involving hell on TV before.. Scared them quite a bit. :P

[conuly]

Oh, you have? Well, that's a relief. Here, I thought that the most deserving people just weren't seeing the afterlife!

[feathered.livejournal.com]

My mom was very ill after my brother was born. She had a staph infection that the doctors didn't catch, and as a result had a stroke and was in a coma for several months. She had a near death experience during that time, though it wasn't heaven or hell, really... she saw her father, who had died six months before. She doesn't talk much about the specifics of it, but he told her she couldn't die yet. And she didn't, even though every doctor who cared for her thought she should have.

So I don't disbelieve in those reports, even if I don't necessarily fully believe them either.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Near death experiences can be induced without any risk of death. They accidentally did so when experimenting on accelerating pilots for testing various ways of dealing with the increased gravity of massive acceleration. Spin them and some of them pass out, a small percentage of them (I think about 15%) report experiences remarkably similar to a typical near-death experience after they regain consciousness.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

There was some sort of, probably really crappy, book on the topic of near-death experiences sitting around my classroom at school one year. So I read it. And it included a fair number of people who talked about hell. (One of whom supposedly told a team of people working on him at the hospital to please keep working on him because whenever he quit breathing he went to hell, or something like that.)

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

And some of them are going to end up where the bad folks go. It just stands to reason, doesn't it?

It stands to reason assuming that there is a place "where the bad folks go."

/universalist

[conuly]

Uh. Yes, precisely.

Hm. I wonder - if people who die don't experience anything, did they too have a near-death experience because for them, death is nothing?

[conuly]

I dunno, it seems I miss out on all the hell talk.

[aquamizuko.livejournal.com]

I've seen people have near-death things involving hell on TV before.. Scared them quite a bit. :P

[conuly]

Oh, you have? Well, that's a relief. Here, I thought that the most deserving people just weren't seeing the afterlife!

[feathered.livejournal.com]

My mom was very ill after my brother was born. She had a staph infection that the doctors didn't catch, and as a result had a stroke and was in a coma for several months. She had a near death experience during that time, though it wasn't heaven or hell, really... she saw her father, who had died six months before. She doesn't talk much about the specifics of it, but he told her she couldn't die yet. And she didn't, even though every doctor who cared for her thought she should have.

So I don't disbelieve in those reports, even if I don't necessarily fully believe them either.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Near death experiences can be induced without any risk of death. They accidentally did so when experimenting on accelerating pilots for testing various ways of dealing with the increased gravity of massive acceleration. Spin them and some of them pass out, a small percentage of them (I think about 15%) report experiences remarkably similar to a typical near-death experience after they regain consciousness.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

There was some sort of, probably really crappy, book on the topic of near-death experiences sitting around my classroom at school one year. So I read it. And it included a fair number of people who talked about hell. (One of whom supposedly told a team of people working on him at the hospital to please keep working on him because whenever he quit breathing he went to hell, or something like that.)

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

And some of them are going to end up where the bad folks go. It just stands to reason, doesn't it?

It stands to reason assuming that there is a place "where the bad folks go."

/universalist

[conuly]

Uh. Yes, precisely.

Hm. I wonder - if people who die don't experience anything, did they too have a near-death experience because for them, death is nothing?

[conuly]

I dunno, it seems I miss out on all the hell talk.