First draft prepared in May 2026.
“Near-death experience” is a term used to refer to something that is experienced by a person who was expected to die, but didn't. In many of these cases the person has had sudden severe trauma such as might occur in a car-crash, or cardiac arrest. In other cases the person has been undergoing major medical treatment such as heart-surgery. The person is unconscious and to the people around them they appear to be already dead, or to have symptoms (such as no heart-beat / pulse) that imply that the unconscious person will die imminently. Thus the condition of the person is not merely the unconsciousness of sleep or concussion and is described as “near-death”.
After regaining consciousness the person tells of what they experienced during the time of unconsiousness when, to other people, they appeared to be already dead or about to become dead.
It is common, apparently, for these survivors to report:
It is possible that some of the reports are made-up after the event but in some cases the survivor has been able to provide information about things that happened during the time of unconsciousness and that they would not ordinarily be expected to know. For example, the survivor might be able to describe the people (e.g. medical staff) who attended to them while they were unconsious, and the conversations that occurred.
Even if some of the reports are fictitious, there are credible reports that attest that such experiences do genuinely occur for some people. Various attempts to explain the experiences have been offered. It is possible that such experiences could be caused by more than one thing. For the purposes of this article I shall assume that the experiences are genuine and consider only the implications, from a Christian perspective.
The term “near-death” has been coined because at the time of the experience, the condition of the person was such that some normal bodily functions had ceased and the person was belived to be already dead, or on the cusp of death. However, the label might be unhelpful because the person was clearly not sufficiently close to death to die, and their normal functions resumed and they regained consciousness; this being so, how near to death were they, actually?
To the extent that the out-of-body experiences are genuine, they imply that human consciousness and perception is not strictly associated with the physical body. This is consistent with Christian notions of a soul.
The reports of a pleasant experiences and of interactions with deceased relatives or with God are often understood to mean that after death all will be well, and that there is nothing about death to be feared. This understanding is not wholly consistent with Christian ideas. The bible teaches us that after death there is judgement, and that judgement will lead to one of two outcomes ... a good outcome (“heaven”, whatever or wherever that is) or a bad outcome (“hell”, whatever or wherever that is). According to Christian ideas the outcome is determined by whether or not the person was redeemed by Jesus Christ. Moreover the bible is usually understood to claim that most people will end in hell and that only small proportion of people receive the better outcome.
The bible also conveys the idea that there is a deceiver — Satan — operating in the world and that this deceiver is a spiritual creature with immense power. We should consider, therefore, that this deceiver is able to create or influence the so-called “near-death experiences”. Even if the experience really happened (i.e. is not made-up), it would be foolish to assume that the interpretation of it is correct. The bible warns us that Satan can appear as “an angel of light” in order to lure people from the truth. It seems entirely plausible to me that the “near-death experience” could be a deception staged by Satan with the intention that people hearing about the experience will believe that there is no judgement and hence no need to repent nor to trust Jesus for redemption and salvation.
The authors whose writings form the “new testament” repeatedly warned that there would be many imposters and false teachers and that Christians must be continuously cautious. These “near-death experiences” might be staged devilish propaganda. In any-case lessons imparted during such an experience are any more correct or valuable than the lessons imparted by an astrologer, or those imparted via a medium at a seance.
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