You people make it sound like this is the only man who has seen visions of hell.

hellandjustice.com/near_death_experiences.htm

ha! ha! ha! isnt the XI commanandment “thou shalt not kill”

What i want to know is who did he kill?
and how did he get away with it?

peace&love – JC

The good (albeit a little touchy) discussion aside, I’d like to point out that Neatorama’s coverage of all things religion is quite varied. Like ted, a long time reader btw, noted, we’ve covered FSM, intelligent design, the boy Buddha, etc. In many of those posts, we’ve been accused of being especially anti-Christian. And now, we’re accused of exactly the opposite. Hm.

You’re merely parroting what you hear from other people you agree with, rather than having any ACTUAL medical training or experience to back up your claims.

I am friends with two people who have had Near-Death Experiences, and they will tell you that they were certainly NOT hallucinations or dreams. They don’t even like talking about them because of the severely negative reaction many people give them, such as the ones you all have given regarding Mr. Storm

You guys are no different than any average bully…unspeakably arrogant and so certain that you have the right answer and anyone who DARES to think otherwise is simply an idiot.

I agree that religion has caused many, MANY of the worlds problems. But is it really religion, or men who claim to be religious and become drunk with power and a desire to force their religious views on others?

You are all missing the point. Religious people have been the source of more GOOD works in this world than bad works. You just don’t hear about it in the press because good news never sells.

Please take a broader look at this issue and stop being so closed minded.

Or maybe, just maybe, God is too big for one religion. You’re very closed minded.

Oh, we Christians love them, too, (we don’t want anyone to end up in hell) but why give press to false religions?

There is no difference between God and a god; they are both supernatural deities that exist and are perceived by individuals to have powers. Your beliefs in God are just as strong as the beliefs in the Hindu or Roman gods (yes, there are still communities in Greece that believe in Zeus and his minions). Everyone has a right to believe in what they choose, and no particular religion is ultimately correct.

The study of NDEs (near death experiences) is fairly common, with much research across different religions, sexualities, and social environments. It turns out, that individuals from other parts of the world have imagery from their own deities – in the same manner that Christians have imagery of Jesus. Mohammad, God, Allah, Great Spirit, etc. are all the same in NDE experiences depending on your social environment and religious upbringing. This leads to the scientific research that finds a strong correlation between the cause of a near-death situation and the crucial experience prior to the experience to incite such near death imagery (e.g. heart attack after a car crash).

There is nothing different about the post that varies from the NDE accounts of children, gays and lesbians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, or Native Americans. That leaves the perception to most others that the implied ‘neat’ fact is the ‘conversion’ of an atheist to Christianity. And yes…there is an indirect bias. There are plenty of articles that are better suited and more interesting than the story presented.

For more research on the topic, instead of proposing facts from blind assumptions, I highly recommend

http://www.wikipedia.org

and

http://www.near-death.com

but it does support Christian bias to bring out the “conversion” of someone as a “neat” post. There are plenty of neat NDE

Maybe because there is only one God (there’s a difference between God and a god.)

I’m always amazed when a post comes up on Neatorama that has an even slightly positive tone toward Christian; all the haters come out blasting the site for its pro-Christian bias. How is an article about an atheist having a near-death experience Christian propaganda?

Get over yourselves. ”

Monotheists feel they have the monopoly on god(s).

Consider the impasse of a one god universe. He cannot go anywhere for he is already everywhere. He cannot do anything for the act of doing presupposes opposition. His universe is irrevocably thermodynamic, having no friction. So he has to create friction…

This question has as equally a valid answer from either Christian or Atheist camps, and in fact I find the answers given about this particular “What If?” to be pretty good reason to grant every world religion, as well as science, a great deal more respect.

“Where’s the love for the Muslims, Buddhists, Hinduists, Scientologists, Pagans and Atheists?”

The only true love for these things can be given if the same love is given for all.

That’s pretty awesome.

But you would have to expect it ruffling some feathers due to the bad state the world is in b/c of religion right now. A lot of people are pissed at religion, and for good reasons – please, Neatorama, just don’t start posting things like “Darwin’s bedside confession” and “Proof of the Ark!”

Pretty lame to say that Alex is taking the “Neat” out of Neatorama for that one post.

The afterlife (and its existance/non-existance) is an interesting topic in my opinion, regardless.

Christians- Learn to be more tolerant of people who dont believe in your God. Ever think that maybe all gods are really just manifestations of *your* one God and that the bible is NOT the direct word of God but just a bunch of stories written by some dudes who wanted to teach a lesson to others? No, I doubt it, you dont seem to see much beyond what your leaders tell you to see. If you have I’m impressed.

Either way, if anyone’s looking for a non-religious investigation of the afterlife I highly recommend “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife” by Mary Roach…it’s lighthearted and fun but at the same time covers a lot of interesting aspects about afterlife possibilities and the soul’s existance/non-existance.

There’s nothing wrong with being an atheist or having religion, just have some freaking conviction.

God and religion evolved through man’s quest to answer the unanswerable questions around him. (at least unanswerable to the intellect of prehistoric man). Why is the sky blue? Why are leaves green? What’s the purpose of my existance? Why does shit stink? If you lack the intellect to actually scientifically explain those things (aside from “the meaning”) then the trip to think that there’s some sort of creator behind it all isn’t a long trip at all.

We aren’t born with an inherent knowledge of god or creator, we are taught that from our environment. Just as you can teach someone God exist you can teach someone that the world was created over the course of two days by a creature known as the Hoxim who’s also responsible for the creation of the Rocky Road ice-cream flavour.

We are however born with instincts and while some of thosworld around us none of those instincts carry the knowledge of some sort of creator.

Heck, some religions don’t even have the idea of a creator but of a creation (i.e. not a divine nor extraterrestrial creature behind it all).

It just smacks of the old “I was lost but Jesus saved” me mumbo-jumbo. It would have been a far more interesting story if he had come back and pursued some other religion with less of a history of “miraculous” conversions.

I see this “quest for knowledge” as one to find security, meaning, and a way to escape fears and sadness such as are associated with being at the mercy of nature, the deaths of loved-ones, and realizations regarding one’s own mortality. There’s no reason to assume this is somehow “inherent knowledge of a creator”. Belief in things greater than ourselves are expedient; is expedience really a satisfactory reason to believe in something (apologies to Ovid for borrowing his crass sentiment)? To put this another way, humans don’t seem prone to believing in deities that aren’t somehow expedient. They either worship to appease, or they worship to obtain favors. Humanism and atheism are the only belief structures that believe in an explanation simply because it seems to be rational, even if no good can be obtained or bad can be avoided by holding those beliefs. Every other belief structure caters to human insecurity and egotism.

If you ask me, which you did, I would say god evolved because man didn’t have the scientific knowledge or knowhow to explain certain phenomenon. Also, the thought of dying and life being over is pretty depressing, so the idea of having a place to go after death is comforting.

If I believed in a god, my god would be clear in defining religion, and wouldn’t let people create so many and then kill each other in her name.

I’m not here to debate if god exists though. I spoke up because I don’t like people being insulted or talked down to based on their beliefs.

What’s important regardless of what you believe is tolerance. I am a tolerant atheist. I don’t believe in god, and this belief isn’t because of how religious people behave. I don’t mind when people are religious. I do mind when they become hateful, violent or ignorant, which may or may not be linked to/caused by their religion. And I do mind when they shove their beliefs in other peoples faces. I am not going to tell anyone to stop believing in god. I will tell them to stop saying things like “god hates fags.”

I haven’t noticed a lot of fundamentalist Christian posts on here. There are certainly posta about archaeology that is Biblical, but nothing too wild. I have learned about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and some of the opposition to Intelligent Design from this site, so I’d have to say representation is pretty fair.

I think general consensus is that most near-death experiences are hallucinations. That’s a unique and neat hallucination to have, though, if he actually exerienced it. Possibly, he has embellished the story over time.

This reminds me of the South Park where Cartman goes into the future a la Buck Rogers, and finds the Atheists at war over what to call themselves: The United Atheist League, etc…

Maybe fundamentalist atheists are just as crazy as fundamentalist others.

If not for this inherent knowledge, there would be no religions. It is a basic need encoded into our DNA by the creator, just like seeking food and shelter. Think of it this way; if there is not a god, how did a need for a god evolve into the human pysche?

Think about this statement, seriously… You are taught religion. People are taught different religions. If your statement is true, why are there different religions?

Re: Christians are non-violent

Yes, the teachings say turn the other cheek, but in reality through history, many wars have been started in god’s name.

If they open up their mind to even a possibility of a god, then they have to accept the fact that they cannot live their life as they choose, but instead have to live by rules that find them favor with said god. And one thing an atheist cannot stand is living by rules. I have yet to meet an atheist that was not very liberal in their behavior and attitudes. Even sometimes to their own detriment or health…

Most atheists I have talked to personally have latent guilt about something in their past, had a past history of religion, and turn their back on that religion to deal with said guilt. It is also why most so vehemently lash out when confronted by that religion; it reminds them of the guilt feelings they carry, and ultimately, the dire spiritual consequences of their decision.

No one is born an atheist. We are born with an inherent knowledge of our creator. People choose to turn their backs on god thinking they are “enlightened”.

I don’t see how a news story about this guy is any more than that. The article itself seems written from an outside point of view. It’s not the reverend who’s written this. I think the reason this was posted was because it had those frightening details.

Posts on Neatorama are varied enough where everyone finds something they can enjoy, but just because someone puts up a post that doesn’t happen to match with the beliefs of others doesn’t mean you should go and deride them and everything else to do with it.

Make your own decisions about life, but realize that other people don’t have to experience the world according to some set standard.

“Why don’t you show yourself? You supposedly made us and want us to believe in you, right? Why the big mystery? You’re also omnipresent, right? Why don’t you show yourself to all of us at once and have a personal discussion with us? You can pick the date and time, we’ll all stop what we are doing, I’m sure.”

And will someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but by my understanding of Christian teachings (I was one, once), people are not judged and sent to their eternal rewards until the 2nd Coming of Christ, when the living and dead alike stand before the Lamb and have their names read from the Book of Life (or not, and they’re sent to the Bad Place). Before that event, there is no judgement, the dead are just dead. Funny how a preacher-man would be ignorant of the very Scripture he preaches on, unless it was all just a testimonial ruse.

Stick to what you do best Neatorama and leave the religious preaching out.

And this is just another heavy-handed fundamentalist preach-piece. If I wanted to make a cool million, I’d dramatize a conversion testimony to validate Christian magical thinking and write a book too. Just as Christians tend to call folks who lose their faith “weak” and say “s/he wasn’t a True Christian ™ to begin with” when someone grows out of superstition, I have to say I’m extremely skeptical that this guy was EVER an atheist to begin with. The story is just too formulaic.

…Right. because devout athiests become ministers all the time, and he had this planned out for years as a clever ruse. Moron.

As a poster before said: the guy was in pain, hallucinated, remembered his religious upbringing from childhood and, whoooosh, there you have the ‘religious’ experience.

On the other hand, if I was to become a minister and wanted to appear interesting (and you have since there are a lot of ministers vying for your attention) then I’d also create such a nice horror story with Jebus as the savior in the end. People like that. Especially those religious people that generally seem very scared about everything.

I hope this post was an exception. Otherwise I want to have ghost stories from all religions. Not just one.

And for m-hawk:

“somehow all the atheists seem to be anti Christianity, not anti-Muslim/anti-Buddhist etc.”

I’d like to say that I am an atheist, and I’m as anti-muslim as I am anti-christian. Buddhism a slightly different matter, since it’s more of a philosophy than a religion, but I don’t believe any of the metaphysical claptrap attached to that group either.

I think you’ll find that most western atheists tend to lay into Christianity more than any other religion because it’s the one that they hear the most about, and come into contact with the most often.