Near Death Experiences

On Sunday The Rev. John McKee Sloan was elected the new bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Here is the news from The Episcopal Church online . Good fortune to "Kee" as he is known, and to the Church in general.

I read something about a person's "near death experience" recently and it got me to thinking. You always hear about such experiences from a Christian perspective, but what about those of other religions or no religion who almost die. What do they see. CECW (conventional evangelical Christian wisdom) would tell us that they would not see the same bright light of God and feel welcomed and at peace and all the different things you hear about.

Since the Muslim religion is the "suspect religion" de jour, I thought I would start there. Seems when they have a near death experience, it is much the same as Christians.

Here is the experience of a Muslim woman and also the story of "Muhammad's Journey to Heaven."

Let's see, now who else do the evangelicals say is condemned...oh yeah, gay and lesbian folk, even if they profess to be Christian. So here are some gay and lesbian near death experiences to ponder.

Both of these links come from one source, near-death.com, where you can find a wealth of information about near death experiences of Hindus, Buddhists, Native Americans, Jews, athiests, celebrities, children and more.

My conclusion is that we all experience nearly the same thing when we die or almost die, part of which is based on memory and the experiences we have had, part of which is based on physiology and what is going on in the body with neurotransmitters and other chemicals responding to changes in oxygen levels and temperature and such, and part of which is coming from the not fully understood realm of our common source, which, if you really think about it, would have no reason to treat any of us any differently, or put one group above any other group, and would "welcome each person back" whether it is through a spiritual embracing of a "spirit" or/and a physical re-joining with the chemicals that make up the earth.

In other words, we all return to that from which we come. And that should be enough to make anyone look at death, not with fear, but with a yawn, realizing that it's just another step in the journey.