What amazes me is how much of the Bible is correct as a base for understanding God. I didn’t find any conflict within the Bible and my near-death experience. Instead, it helped me better benefit from the experience by giving it additional meaning. It was such a relief and a good feeling to know something mankind has placed on that level is truly meaningful. One of the things I mulled over is the age-old debate over evolution or creation, but it is really quite simple. This is what I meant when I said things are unbelievably simple, but yet mankind tries to complicate things, for whatever reason. Maybe we’re not involved enough yet, but it isn’t really hard to understand that God created evolution, so therefore you have both. At some point, science and religion meet.19
During Diane’s NDE, she gained a new understanding of the Bible:
I had read the Bible before my NDE and can’t say I understood it or appreciated it, but during my experience, I had a revelation about it. I read it again after my experience and I understood it completely, no longer through a glass darkly. And not anything like I learned in Bible study. Actually the Bible helped me put my experience into words. It’s all there. You just have to read from a different level of consciousness to see it. I realized a lot of it was about what people back then learned through their own near-death experiences. People haven’t stopped having them, we’re just more vocal about it today. Back then, others thought people who claimed to have mystical experiences were Saints. Today they call us nut cases or try to explain it away scientifically so we don’t cast doubt on their long held beliefs based on a wrong worldview.20
Anne Marie felt closer to the Bible after her NDE:
One day I felt compelled to find a Bible I had been given shortly before my NDE. I had never really read it, wasn’t interested, and thought it confusing. On that day, I opened it blindly to whatever page fell open. The page spoke of the wisdom of God, and how the spiritually immature can read and hear God’s word, but are unable to understand. As I read, the words seemed to be absorbed literally into me, as though I recognized them and knew them somehow. I read for hours, feeling spiritually fed and renewed.
Now, I feel close to God when I read the Bible daily and interact with other believers. Religious organizations will always have conflicts and leaders who are stubborn and rigid. They are human and imperfect, but many people gain a Christ-centered life through organized religion. I was given a short cut, but didn’t recognize it as that until the past eight or nine years. I don’t want to waste any more precious time. No one has all the answers, but if we allow ourselves to be led by His spirit, truth will always be evident.21
What is perhaps the most striking common feature of the NDE as it relates to religion is that people who weren’t openly religious, or not religious at all, prior to their experience, return as unshakeable believers, with a keen living appreciation for the spiritual, invisible realm. In other words, the Kingdom is not reserved only for the religious—as much as the more extreme adherents of every religion would like to us believe.
The Dead Saints come back from their NDEs often focused upon a common, reiterated theme: true religion resides not in doctrines, dogma and denominations, but in our ability to love. The Saints have learned through personal experience that God is infinite, magnanimous, a Being or Presence greater than any single religious institution. That said, people who were Christian tend to stay Christian. People of other faiths tend to remain in them as well, albeit with a heightened appreciation of their core values.
Sometimes, if they were members of some fundamentalist denomination preaching a vindictive, judgmental doctrine, they will make a quick exit and look for a place committed to a loving God corresponding to the God of their own near-death experience. Still, others will consider any institutionalized religion too structured and constricting and will find their way to some alternative, spiritually oriented discipline better suited to their personal needs, beliefs and experiences.
Interpreting the Word of God through a New Perspective
Linda describes how her understanding of Christianity changed after her NDE:
My journey to understand God began in the rugged environment of a Texas childhood that was filled with “rattlesnakes, tornadoes, and hellfire-and-damnation.” My early concept of God was molded by the pervasive, extremist religious community of the Bible belt exemplified by the Southern Baptist Religion practiced by my parents. The wrathful, vengeful God, as taught by my religion, instilled in me a deep fear of God, death and the Afterlife… ‘My lifelong search for a loving God and release from the paralyzing fear of death culminated in a brief journey to Heaven after a debilitating illness. The near-death experience transformed me, showing God is only a loving God, who does not judge and punish. I came to understand the Oneness of all existence which permeates my life with peace and the unfaltering knowledge of God’s goodness… It was not a belief, perception or understanding, but my recognition of Christ came from my new perspective of Spirit.22
This Zen-like recognition came from a new understanding of Spirit, not from words written on paper.
Defining God
The revelations of the Dead Saints put all religions into a bright, fresh perspective. That perspective, I believe, requires us to define in words (as best we can) “Who and what is God?”
John says in 1 John 4:8: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is Love.” 1 John 1:5 helps expand the definition: “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” In Job 33:4 the ancient Patriarch says, “The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
Therefore, from a Biblical point of view, “God is Love, Light, and Life” are simple definitions most Christians and, I believe, most religions are capable of agreeing with. This Creator “God” force empowers all matter, all flesh, and all life. It is described by the Dead Saints as a brilliant, dazzling Light, which would blind us if we saw it with our physical eyes on Earth.
The Dead Saints report there is a “Light that casts no shadow,” a Light that is synonymous with unconditional Love, Life, and God, the origin of all creation, and in Christianity—Jesus Christ.
Paul Solomon related principles of this spiritual Light to physics:
The light we see on Earth can be measured in photons. Even from a strictly scientific point view, light is real. At the apparent opposite end of the light spectrum is darkness. Unlike light, however, darkness is not a “something.” Darkness is the absence of light. The absence of light is “no thing,” and we equate it with Fear, Death, and the Anti-Christ (Satan). In physics, there is no such thing as a “unit of darkness.” [Author’s note: Theoretical physics describes anti-matter; an opposite charge to matter, but it is not the same analogy here].
Darkness cannot be measured. Therefore, darkness is not real, not in any physical sense. It appears real, but it is not. It is an illusion. While darkness may serve us well as a point of reference for a source of Light, because darkness has no substance, it has absolutely no power or defense against the Light. The presence of Light simply reveals that darkness does not, in reality, exist.23
Using this principle, we can understand fear is not real. Only Love is real. Only Light is real. Sherree describes the brilliant Light she saw during her NDE:
All I remember is seeing a bright Light that was 1,000 times brighter than the sun and the feeling I had as the rays shone down on me of peace, love, serenity, like I was safe, I was home, and I belonged. It was awesome! 24
Clara experienced the Light as God:
I then consciously let go of the struggle for life and was immediately with the Light. Outside of the physical world entirely; outside of time and space. Seeing not with eyes, but sensing? Enveloped in the Light. I felt unconditional love, peace and joy to an extent that can never be felt or experienced here. I was one with the Light. I was whole. I was home. No bad or evi
l exist there. There is no pain, no hunger, no thirst, no suffering, no struggle, no baggage, no illness, etc. I sensed there were many and we were all one, one with each other and one with the Light in perfect, Holy Communion with the Light. I felt such awe and love and peace and joy. I call the Light God. I love that Light with all my heart and soul.25
Linda experienced God as Christ:
The Light moved over and through me, washing every hidden place of my heart, removing all hurt and fear, transforming my very being into a song of joy. I had thought the love I felt from Christ was complete; yet, the Light toward which we were soaring was the fulfillment of my search, the loving Source of all that exists, the God of truth and unconditional love, the origin of creation.26
The Logos, the Word, & the Light
In John 1:1-5, The Evangelist prefaces his Gospel with an introduction about the Word, the Light, and the Divine Nature within us:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
During my Seminary studies, Paul Solomon interpreted the first chapter John in a manner similar to many Dead Saint testimonials I have read. He interprets the (Greek Logos) or Word, as the “expression” or Christ, so John 1:1-5 could be paraphrased:
In the beginning, God expressed Himself, and the expression of God is Love, and Love is God expressing Himself. The Love that is God expressing Himself was with God when all things were made. Love made all things, and all things are made of Love. In Love is Life, and without Love, there is not Life. It is Love that gives Light and consciousness to all who are born. Love shines out in darkness as the Source of Life and awareness, though there are some who do not know it.
Paul’s paraphrase of John 1:12 concludes:
A gift to those who become aware that it is Love that gives Life and Light is the ability to know themselves to be the Sons and Daughters of God.” In essence, we are all capable of becoming the True Light, the Sons and Daughters of Light, by accepting Christ as the ruler of our heart, mind, and body.
The Divine Nature Vs Our Animal Nature
When we start trying to be “religious,” we often start trying to force our animal nature to behave as though it is not a beast. Our animal nature is naturally “afraid.” It is fearful. But rejecting the animal within is not a path that works, or that can work. A central problem with most organized religions is they deny, even vilify our human, animal nature. Organized religion often rejects the beast and its nature. However, if we reject an animal, we will have trouble living with that animal. If we don’t accept it exactly as it is, even love it, it will rebel to our peril.
We may try to so discipline our mind and body that we obey the “rules,” including ancient, hallowed rules that are nevertheless contrary to our nature. The result is a self-incarcerated, cornered, angry being always ready to explode.
Religions can, and do, have that effect on us. They demand a code of behavior that almost invariably conflicts with our natural desires, yearnings, and appetites. However, there is a divine nature, a consciousness, a spark of life within separating us from our animal nature. This is the uniqueness of humanity! All other beasts, as far as we know, have a nature born of animal, born of the earth and it follows that nature. Unless humanity intervenes, it acts according to its nature. There is nothing wrong with a tiger killing a deer—that is its nature.
There is nothing wrong for us to experience our animal nature in its totality—desires, emotions, expressions. What is wrong is to identify wholly with that animal nature, our beast, as if it were our only real nature. According to Amy, she learned exactly this lesson:
I learned we are here to learn how to Love, Divinely. To become masters of ourselves. To rule our own lower, or denser aspects of self and to bring these forward and upward within, to our highest possibility.27
Areliala’s NDE describes how we can learn to overcome our denser self, and identify with the Word, the Logos, allowing us to graduate Earth University with flying colors:
There was a man or a being that was male who explained things after I had to leave my husband. He explained WE create our own dilemmas as a species. The object is not to create dilemmas, not to get around it, but to go through it as though it doesn’t exist. Our Earth reality is only an illusion. In other words, this reality is a false sense of power we buy into.28
Dealing with the Governing Laws of Judgment, Punishment and Damnation
Institutionalized religions are commonly replete with governing laws relying upon Scripture as their basis for Judgment. In the process God (by whatever name) gets polarized into a wrathful Being verses a loving Being, a God of damnation and punishment vs. a God of love, mercy and forgiveness.
John W. Price in Revealing Heaven, writes about Robert, a former Fundamentalist preacher whose transforming NDE cost him his pastoral career. Robert told Price, “I used to tell people to read Jonathan Edwards’ 1741 Sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,29 a puritanical, fundamentalist approach to the Bible. Then one day, Robert had an NDE while in a coma. He left his, floated away and went into what looked like a dark womb, lit up inside by a ball of yellow Light:
I believe I went into the womb of some nature to be healed. It was like my hard drive just got completely erased, and I came back to relearn.30
According to Price, “He rested in a peaceful state that seemed like five-minutes.” When Robert woke up from his NDE, he immediately knew he had believed a “lie that hurt thousands of people. People would fill the churches up to hear this [lie]. I had a very charismatic personality. It seemed the less I preached in love, the more busy I stayed.” 31
Price describes Robert’s return to his church to share his NDE with the congregation: “When he returned to the pulpit, he shared the new insight about a loving and forgiving God. The congregation melted away; his income went down to nothing except for his loving wife, who liked what he had become. I know of three preachers with similar backgrounds who lost their congregations when they switched to talk about a loving God.32
Robert eventually lost his church and his career. He didn’t want to teach about the God of Fear anymore, and now uplifts the God of Love, pastoring the dying through Hospice.
Preachers (of all religions) committed to serving an “angry God” turn the Deity into a Being inspiring only fear. Their congregations are given long lists of dos and don’ts designed to curtail and control their base animal nature. These harsh, rigid sects ban drinking, feasting, dancing, music, card playing, and especially sex. Indeed, anything fun or gratifying to the senses is reviled as a temptation to sin.
I feel it is the attempt to control our base animal nature in order to avoid “sin” that has created the angry God; the judgmental, punitive God who overshadows us in the living of our daily lives. Steve, after his NDE, understands this angry God fabrication or “myth”:
There is a myth that has been circulating for centuries, and just for the record, I used to be one who put stock in this myth. If we are not all good little people and follow God’s word and seek salvation, in the Afterlife, he will condemn us to eternal hellfire and damnation. Contrary to this very popular belief it isn’t a wonderful and loving God who condemns us by any means, but rather by the use of our own free will, we choose to—in a sense condemn ourselves.33
Sometimes Dead Saint experiences shed new light on harsh Christian beliefs, changing their spiritual perspective. Bette was a Sunday school teacher in a fundamental church. After her NDE, she realized nothing was as if she had always believed:
I became metaphysical overnight. It was like osmosis. There were no books. Nothing was even whispered like my ‘knowing.’ 34
The Belief in Punishment
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sp; As far back as 3,500 years ago, patriarchs, priests, and even leaders of nations established punishments based on the laws governing the religion of their day. Judaism meted out harsh sentences for breaking any of the Ten Commandments. Those who broke the Sabbath or committed adultery faced death by stoning. Some Fundamentalist Muslim countries and sects, even today, continue with this literal adherence to Sharia Law (even harsher than Mosaic Law), but adding beheading to the list of preferred punishments—even as more civilized, advanced, largely secular societies have abandoned such practices.
The historical record reveals virtually all past societies worldwide found ways to twist their specific laws of religion to justify wars of conquest, and subjection, enslavement or decimation of the conquered peoples.
Today, some of the governing laws of religions have begun to change. Orthodox Christianity and Judaism at least no longer stone sinners to death—even though the failure to do so is technically a violation of the words of sacred Scripture. As though in compensation, Fundamentalist factions of these religions have re-employed the same harsh, ancient language to condemn individuals for their views on sexual preference, abortion, marriage, divorce, and suicide, judgments which supposedly determine their Afterlife destination.
Do we worship a God of severity, punishment and hate or a God of love, kindness, and mercy? In reading thousands of Dead Saint testimonies, I have never read one, no matter his or her sin, who encountered a wrathful God. EVER.
Sin and the Law of Zen Archery
The meaning of the word “sin” has come a long way from its origins. The principal word in Hebrew translated, as sin is the word chatta’ah and its derivatives chata and chet. The word chatta’ah means to sin, miss the way, go wrong, or incur guilt. The sense of the Hebrew word includes both willfully going against what one knows is right and accidentally going against the Divine order of things. The second most common word for sin in the Old Testament is the word pesha. This word is most commonly translated as transgression, but it is also translated as trespass or sin. The word pesha has a connotation of breaking a rule that has been established.
The Dead Saints Chronicles: A Zen Journey Through the Christian Afterlife Page 33
