Christianity and NDE’s

In Miracles, Lewis posed the idea that there may be many floors, “different natures, different levels of being, distinct but not always discontinuous” (254).     This can help to describe Biblical visions. Jacob had a dream where he saw “a ladder resting on the earth and reaching up into heaven.” When he awakened, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.”

Today, because of modern medicine’s ability to resuscitate people, we have many credible accounts that emerge from millions of “near death experiences.” As Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, wrote in Proof of Heaven: “I know my biology, and while I’m not a physicist, I’m no slouch at that, either. I know the difference between fantasy and reality, and I know that the experience I’m struggling to give you the vaguest, most completely unsatisfactory picture of, was the single most real experience of my life” (41).

So where does all of this leave you? I know were it leaves me. For me, Alexander is offering proof that one “floor” of consciousness leads to another and to another, as Lewis said. And that knowledge doesn’t contradict my relationship with the Lord at all.