Near-Death Experiences and the Bible:Â Parallel Messaging
By Douglas Charles Hodgson (www.o-books.com)
Consider some of the larger existential questions in life. What happens when we die? Is there an afterlife? Do we each have a soul or consciousness that survives and transcends the death of our physical body? Or does our mind or life force just disappear into the void of nothingness when our brains stop functioning? Is there a God/Source/Creator? Is there a heaven? What is the purpose and meaning of our lives on earth? And do we each have a mission or task to accomplish during our stay here? Will we be judged based on rewards and punishments? Or will we be assisted in the eternal process of increasing our spiritual consciousness through reflection, awareness and purification with the help of higher beings as we review our lives? Are there universal laws that underpin the workings of the universe? These are all fundamental metaphysical questions in the sense that they cannot be answered by an objective study of material reality. They are largely beyond human senses, experience and understanding.
Eastern and Western religions have emerged over millennia to help answer some of these questions and provide a divinely revelatory framework for ethical and moral conduct. They form an integral part of many people's lives. Whatever we identify with God and whatever name we give to Him, the scriptures reveal the mind of God and the essence of His message or universal precepts: the Word, Law, Dharma, Teachings, Way, or Path (as the situation demands). The various religions and belief systems, such as Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, etc., have evolved from a variety of common and unifying fundamental principles and virtues. Underlying this religious diversity is a profound and liberating transcendent spiritual unity insofar as certain divine attributes and virtues are recognized and shared across the religious spectrum, such as unconditional love and kindness, compassion, material and spiritual charity and service, belief in one God, detachment from the material world and its delusions, courage, steadfastness of faith, gentleness, humility, living according to the so-called “Golden Rule” (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), patience, peace, purity, serenity, admission of fault, self-control/moderation, justice, simplicity, honesty, wisdom and understanding, etc. These religions also warn against certain types of behaviors and dispositions, such as anger, aggression, greed, fear, hatred, theft, lying, pride, excessive indulgence, faultfinding, violence and murder, deceit and slander. In general, these religions acknowledge the eternity or transcendence of the soul consciousness/mind/life force that resides in each of us. These religions offer followers the tools to become better people and a path to salvation (or, in some cases, enlightenment, awakening, or self-realization).Â
Near-death experiences transcend time, ethnicity, culture, geographical region, and religion. Near-death experiences have had a profound and life-changing effect on those who have experienced them. Near-death experiences involve people who have been resuscitated after being declared clinically dead by medically qualified personnel, as well as people who have come very close to death. Near-death experiences have particularly influenced the way people who have experienced them perceive more clearly how we should live our lives and what is our purpose or mission in the earthly plane of existence. They have also profoundly changed their outlook on death and the afterlife, as the fear of physical death has disappeared. They reject as human error the conclusions of scientific materialism and reductionism that only matter and what can be perceived by human sensory perception are real, and that consciousness depends only on a functioning human brain. However, consciousness is eternal and exists both inside and outside the human body, just in different vibrations and forms of energy. Many near-death experiencers state that what they experienced was completely different from a dream or hallucination, much more real than anything they have experienced in their waking earthly consciousness, and that they can vividly and accurately recall what happened even after many years. The spiritually transformative nature of near-death experiences reaffirms the importance and value of the religion's core teachings of unconditional love, compassion, charity and service, and goodness.
While some of the messages of near-death experiences and concepts coming from beyond the veil are beyond human understanding and experience, many of the revelations are surprisingly clear, logical, and easy to understand. This latter category includes messages that are very similar to those found in the scriptures of Eastern and Western religions. Near-Death Experiences and Scripture: Parallel Messages focuses specifically on these messages and seeks to identify surprising and mysterious synchronicities between near-death experience messages and ethical recommendations found in various religions. Each chapter in the book begins with a commentary section, after which relevant near-death experience descriptions and observations are juxtaposed with quotations from relevant scriptures of various religions to show the parallels, and often identity, of their respective messages.
Near-Death Experiences and Scripture: Parallel Messages is intended to illuminate to the reader the mutually affirming and corroborating nature of the revelations brought back from the afterlife by NDErs and the fundamental precepts and ethical counsel contained in scriptures representing diverse cultures, geographic regions, and historical eras. For example, it explores the interconnectedness and oneness of all things, reincarnation, karma, the universal law of attraction, the absolute ultimate reality of the spirit world compared to the relative illusory reality of the earthly realm, the NDE observation that all religions are futile attempts to express the importance of the so-called “Golden Rule” in everyday life, and the illusory nature of the limitations of time and space experienced in the earthly dimension compared to the higher spiritual realms. Where necessary, the book also illuminates differences, such as the contrast between the reward-punishment based outlook of judgment of the Abrahamic religions and the non-blame, non-punishment, self-evaluative review of life, as well as the difference between the religious faith, hope, and trust experienced by many NDErs and the conviction and proof of the existence of God and heaven.
This book also aims to give comfort and reassurance to those who are scared or anxious about the inevitable death of the physical body. It is to reassure them that their eternal souls were created by God and that a beautiful afterlife (our true home) awaits. It is to reveal that there is much more to existence and reality than this life on earth and our physical bodies. It is to reveal the purpose of our existence on earth, our observations and revelations regarding God, the Source and Creator, Heaven, and universal metaphysical knowledge, understanding, positive and negative energies of various kinds. And finally, it is to reveal that each of our souls, unique to the universe, is a beautiful and eternal unfinished work, constantly evolving towards communion with and absorption into the Light.
Book link: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/o-books/our-books/near-death-experience-sacred-scripture
Near Death Experiences and Sacred Scripture: The Parallel Messaging by Douglas Charles Hodgson is available at www.o-books.com and wherever books are sold.
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