Paradox of the afterlife

kw: book reviews, spiritual speculation, heaven, near-death experiences

A few years ago Eben Alexander, M.D. wrote Proof of Heaven. I haven't read it. Now he follows up with The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife. As I was reading, the words of an old slave spiritual song often came to me: "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't a-goin' there." Opinions on the subject cover a full spectrum. Some disbelieve any kind of afterlife. Some believe everyone "goes to heaven" after they die, and even the range of opinion among religious people starts near the "everyone goes" end and runs along to those who would say, "few, very few" are heaven-bound.

To clear up one matter at the outset: No map is provided in the book. It is about some of those who claim to have tasted heaven, trying to put all their memories into some kind of map. The nearest thing to a map that the author presents is a metaphor from ancient writings of Persia: A conical hat with levels. Sort of like the pointed hat of a witch or wizard … or a dunce. Though each level is smaller than the one below, this small size represents not the size of the realm at that level, but its similarity to the level on which we all find ourselves in our quotidian lives. The true extent of each higher level is supposed to be many times greater than the one below. There's no telling how many levels there are. Familiar sayings about "seventh heaven" have no bearing on it, and none appear in the book.

The book's point of view is entirely what I would call Natural Religion. God is at best vague and formless, more frequently referred to as "the Divine", and in one section near the end, as an all-encompassing entity so that all are eventually subsumed into "God's body". There is no personal God, no Savior and no need of salvation in Dr. Alexander's system.

The seven chapters of the book are very loosely arranged around seven "Gifts": Knowledge, Meaning, Vision, Strength, Belonging, Joy, and Hope. The Appendix describes a kind of meditation using sound as a way to approach the kinds of experiences reported as Near-Death Experiences (NDE's), without being at risk of death. Perhaps he hopes to discover the "music of the spheres".

The three "big questions" that all children eventually get around to asking, and that are never answered, are

Who are we?
Where did we come from?
Where are we going?

Of course, there is a silly comedy routine in which the reply is

Invaders,
from Europe,
to the New World,
(and answering the implied, "Why?") to take over.

Naturally, the three questions are infinitely bigger than that. Are they answered by answering the question, "Are we really heavenly creatures in some kind of temporary non-heavenly realm?"? In one of the later chapters, the author states his acceptance of reincarnation. Doctrines of the cycling birth and rebirth of souls in human form must cope with the vast increase in human population since the time of Gautama Buddha about 2,500 years ago.

Jokes about "My mother-in-law will probably come back as a mosquito" notwithstanding, it seems curious that, should a soul fail the tests of a human lifetime, it returns as some lower creature—perhaps a cow or a rabbit or a crow—in this same realm, not as a conscious entity in some lower level of the multi-level "hat" the Persians imagined. And how is it that, though there were probably no more than 250 million to 300 million persons on Earth in 500 BCE, the number rose to half a billion by 1500 AD, a billion by 1800 AD, and about 7.2 billions today? The numbers of desperately poor on Earth today exceeds the entire human population in the year 1800. So does the number of those who enjoy at least a "middle class" level of prosperity, with riches that Solomon would have envied (what good are 100 tons of gold if you can't buy an iPhone with it?). Where did all these new souls come from? Did a lot of antelopes and orioles get "promoted"? The number of persons who die every year is roughly half the entire world population of the year 500 BCE. That's a lot of recycled souls going around!

It is nice to imagine we are all going to some heavenly realm, or that we are made for that realm and that it is already all around us if we have our eyes opened to see it. There is a certain element of that latter belief in evangelical Christian teaching. But as a Christian, along with all Bible-believers I must question the implied universalism of the book. Let me just ask you this: would you be comfortable sharing Heaven with Hitler, Stalin and Mao, and a constellation of lesser darknesses such as Jack the Ripper, Vlad the Impaler or Pope Boniface, who "crept in like a fox, ruled like lion, and died like a dog." Hey, how 'bout ol' Nero? God has a Hell for a reason!

From cover to cover, both Old and New Testaments hold out a hope, not of "going to heaven", but of resurrection out of death, a permanent leaving-behind of death in all forms. The Old Testament statements in favor of resurrection are comparatively vague, though Daniel was pretty explicit about it. He stated that all the dead would be raised up, some to eternal blessing, some to everlasting contempt.

During the ministry of Jesus he criticized the Sadducees for their disbelief in resurrection, so it is clear it was part of Hebrew theology already. The New Testament culminates with a vision of the "New Jerusalem", a holy city, "coming down out of heaven from God". That is, the perpetual dwelling of the eternal people of God is with God on the Earth in this amazing City. And crucially, the writer states there are "a new heaven and a new earth", onto which this city is lowered. Thus, for a Bible believer, while there is some element of the heavenly surrounding the people of God today, the eternal realm is not here now, but will be brought in to replace this one.

Dr. Alexander tells a pretty story. I am sure it gives comfort to many who otherwise have no hope. But we do not yet know whether NDE's manifest something real, rather than being a kind of standard series of hallucinations conjured up in a dying brain. We are told they all contain the same elements, but a little digging around with Google reveals that NDE's are tuned to cultural expectations. The NDE's of people in some cultures are rather terrifying! It's just that most of those reported in English are the experiences of Westerners with Western (that is, neo-Judeo-Christian) cultural expectations. What we do know is that the fear of death is powerful motivation to grasp at anything that might stave off the darkness. This book taps into that enormous market.

Is there reality to near death experiences?

kw: musings, near-death experiences, beliefs

Getting ready to review the book Heaven is for Real, which I reviewed yesterday, I did a lot of extra reading about NDE's. As you might imagine, there is a very wide spectrum of beliefs about what these extraordinary events might mean, or perhaps several spectra. One spectrum is from complete credulity ("They have to be real") to total rejection ("They are all hallucinations"). Another is based on one's own belief system, from "They support my faith" or "They strengthen my faith" to "They are meaningless" or even "They are a delusion by wicked spirits".

Strangely, reading NDE accounts, I didn't find any people who said, in effect, "Yeah, I saw this and heard that and so forth, but it doesn't mean anything to me." Also, quite a number of folks said it wasn't like dreaming, but seemed a much more concrete experience that led to vivid memories.

There are various lists of the common elements of NDE's. The core experience seems to consist of these few elements:

1. Transport to a different place, sometimes "taken" by other persons or entities, sometimes more "automatic", like involuntary flight.
2. Some kind of life review, perhaps having one's life events shown on a screen, or read from a book, or being questioned by an entity who may or may not be sympathetic.
3. A turn in the action, often a kind of interruption, with the understanding that return to the former existence is required.
4. Transport back and reviving.

The transport in item 1 is most often flight through a kind of tunnel, perhaps with a light at the end, among Westerners, while Asians and many Africans more often report passing over some kind of landscape. The transport in item 4 is usually more abrupt, and may be a simple thrusting "downward" or "back".

Many, particularly in the West, report meeting deceased relatives or acquaintances. Others report that all the entities they met were "angels" or some other nonhuman beings. Here interpretation is most prevalent; a person's cultural background determines what the accompanying beings will be called.

The life review might be long or short, comforting or frightening, and seems to have little to do with one's religion. A guilty-feeling Christian or Hindu or whatever is more likely to have an unpleasant experience than a more secure believer. I sought out accounts from a variety of cultures and religions. There is little to generalize, but I did discern a few trends:

1. Christians are most likely to report that they visited "heaven" or "paradise".
2. Jews from a strictly conservative background tend to report the most detailed life reviews, and one case that I read was long and detailed and very unpleasant and scary.
3. Jews from more mystical backgrounds are more likely to report a "garden of Eden" experience.
4. Hindus and Buddhists seldom report a heavenly experience, because the life review takes place before admission to a place they can see nearby. They usually report being sent back before they get a look inside. Buddhist NDE's appear to be quite rare.
5. Muslims almost uniformly consider NDE's as hallucinations, stating, "If you revived, you weren't dead, and only the dead can go to paradise, so you didn't go to paradise." However, there are a few reports of Muslims who had a very strong, heavenly and pleasant experience, who converted to Christianity after reviving.
6. I did not find any reports from people whose background was Shinto or Bah'ai.

I looked and looked, but did not find any records of people changing religions after an NDE, except for those few Muslim reports. Rather, people who had been weakly religious before became more pious in their own religion as a result, while those who were already quite diligent were more likely to exhort others than before.

So do NDE's actually have anything to do with God? I tend to think that NDE's are primarily hallucinatory. A few cases, such as that of Colton Burpo, have aspects that make them seem more genuine, just as there are a few cases of visions or revelatory dreams that seem more genuine (as opposed to a great many reported visions and dreams that are most likely theologically meaningless or even deceptive). As a believer in God, of necessity I believe in divine revelation. But I also believe that genuine revelation is very rare. If all NDE's are given by God for His purpose, it would make sense that they contain a consistent message. Generally, they don't.

Wondering about heaven

kw: book reviews, nonfiction, faith, heaven, near-death experiences

A friend loaned me a book and asked me what I think of it: Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. I am quite puzzled how to evaluate the book and the story. I have read about NDEs (near-death experiences), and had reached the conclusion that they primarily reflect a person's interpretation of hallucinations experienced by a brain under extreme stress.

I also have a view of the Bible's teaching concerning what happens when we die. In brief, that a body is required to enter God's heaven, and the glorified body of a saved person is not conferred until the day of resurrection. As Paul wrote, "The dead shall be raised incorruptible." (1Cor 15:52) From where do they rise? From the pleasant section of the "waiting place", called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. That pleasant section is probably what is referred to as Paradise in the New Testament, and as the Garden of Eden (distinct from the one in Genesis chapters 1-3) by some Jews. OK, that has been my doctrine.

Prior to learning these things, even though I was raised Christian, I was unsatisfied with the cartoon image of "heaven" as a bunch of clouds on which people in white robes played harps when they weren't flying around with their wings. Many Christians accept the Swedenborgian teaching that the dead become angels, though I understand from the Bible that angels and humans are different creations of God, and not to be confused. When I heard from some that in God's kingdom there is work to do, which had nothing to do with harps or wings, it seemed right to me.

Heaven is for Real narrates the story of Colton Burpo, who was just four years old when he nearly died of a ruptured appendix. At various times in the weeks following his recovery, called "miraculous" by doctors and nurses who had not expected him to live, he said things that surprised his parents a little, but they did not immediately take them into account. Then one day, as they drove past the hospital, Colton was asked, "Do you remember this place?" He answered, "That is where the angels sang to me." Now his parents took notice. Some of his experiences, which came out gradually over a period of months—his parents took care not to "lead" him with their questions—include:

• He saw his father in one room "praying" (Todd was actually angrily demanding of God why his son was being taken from him).
• He saw his mother in another room, also praying.
• He went to a place "full of colors".
• He not only saw Jesus, he sat in His lap.
• Part of the time he was there, Jesus was teaching many children, and Colton did homework along with them.
• He met his great-grandfather, "Pop",who had passed away 27 years earlier.
• Colton said Pop had really big wings. His own were very small, which disappointed him.
• He met his sister, who had died before birth. She didn't have a name, because Todd and his wife had not named her ("yet").

I was astounded by many of the things I read, and cried often. I was particularly struck by a few of these things:

• When Colton was shown a picture of Pop, taken at age 61, he said, "He doesn't look like that!" Later Todd got from his sister a picture of Pop as a young man. Colton recognized it right away as the man he had met in heaven.
• Homework, and the teaching of children. Now that makes sense to me!
• Colton's parents had not mentioned the miscarriage his mother suffered a year before he was born. They didn't even know the lost baby was female.

Did Colton really experience heaven? I will not try to shoehorn these things into my own belief system. I must assume that Colton and his parents are not trying to deceive anyone.  Some might say all this was some kind of devilish deception. I am certain it is not.

Prior to reading this book, I had been thinking about heaven and paradise, and wondering if there are any "holes" in my understanding about them. Of course, I dare not assume I have complete knowledge of anything, particularly matters such as these about which the Bible leaves a lot of things unwritten. When Paul wrote of an experience of the "third heaven", he stated that it was not possible to speak about many things seen there. (2Cor. 12:1-4)

In particular, I remember reading several times the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, where John saw "the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven." (Rev. 21:2) From this and related passages, I have understood that God's eternal kingdom will be on earth, centered on this holy city. There are also passages such as 1Pet. 2:5, "You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house", and particularly Eph. 2:19-22, "You are no more strangers and sojourners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in Whom all the building, fitly framed, grows together into a holy temple in the Lord, out from Whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in spirit." These passages have led many good expositors to conclude that the many-colored precious stones that adorn the holy city represent the transformed and glorified people of God. That the city is not just resided in by God's people, but composed of them, "built up together". Thus Jesus said, "I will build My church", meaning the people.

If this is in any way true, the constituents of the holy city are in heaven before the built up city descends to the Earth in the end times. I conclude that neither I nor others have definitive proof of the doctrines I have held about heaven and paradise. Some folks think they are now the same (and a few have very detailed doctrines about this), others think they remain different until some time in the future.It certainly seems that at least some saved folks who have passed away are in heaven, and maybe it is nearly all or all of them.

Perhaps Colton saw paradise, and interpreted it as heaven. He never says he was told he was in heaven, but he did see Jesus there (most emphatically). As to how much of what Colton reported is true and how much is interpreted, God knows, and I do not. I must leave it there.