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Neurosurgeon: proof heaven exists

The Giant Noodle

The Giant Noodle

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Read and see if YOU think its proof :shrug:



.....His chances of survival close to nil, Alexander fell into a seven-day coma. His brain went completely inactive.
But this, he says, was just the moment he witnessed heaven.
"I had no body awareness at all. I was just a speck of awareness in kind of a dark, murky environment, in roots or vessels or something. And I seemed to be there for a very long time—I would say years,” Alexander said in a recent interview.
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Read more: Accomplished neurosurgeon Eben Alexander says experience during coma gave him proof heaven exists - NY Daily News
 
Also did they use MRI or fMRI to establish "proof" that heaven was somewhere in his brain? Otherwise not sure what has neuroscience has to do with it really.
 
i only trust TWO men that wear bow ties and this guy is neither of them, peewee edward herman and Bill Nye the Science guy
the rest of them are loons!!!!!

creepy, shady loons!
 
I think the guy is just trying to sell books.

From a philisophical standpoint: There is only one think that could destory my faith in God, it is proof there is a God.
 
while I do believe we transition to something else after death, I am skeptical of "death memories." if there was true brain death, how were memories being written to the hard drive?

I suppose the obvious answer is that the memories were contained in the soul. if so, where are soul memories when one suffers from severe elderly dementia?

but in a world where every day becomes night, every night becomes day, every spring transitions to winter and back, and the entire universe cycles, I'd be surprised if we were the anomaly with a definite and eternal start / end date. there's probably something else but I'm not sure anyone alive has seen anything other than the doorway.
 
This isn't a new occurrence. NDE's are one of the least understood phenomena in the world, and most who experience one do become religious afterwords.

Maybe he is just trying to sell a book (and his personal experience is not proof of anything) but regardless, this is not a new thing.

Spriggs05 said:
Has anyone else in the world had a dream? He had Bacteria eating his Brain that could cause hallucinations.
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That would be difficult if his brain was inactive, unless the mind transcends it.
 
Helix said:
while I do believe we transition to something else after death, I am skeptical of "death memories." if there was true brain death, how were memories being written to the hard drive?

I suppose the obvious answer is that the memories were contained in the soul. if so, where are soul memories when one suffers from severe elderly dementia?

but in a world where every day becomes night, every night becomes day, every spring transitions to winter and back, and the entire universe cycles, I'd be surprised if we were the anomaly with a definite and eternal start / end date. there's probably something else but I'm not sure anyone alive has seen anything other than the doorway.
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Well, if the brain is how one interacts with the world, and the brain is damaged or diseased, then naturally one's interaction with the world would be negatively impacted even if the self is wholly intact.
 
Republic Now! said:
This isn't a new occurrence. NDE's are one of the least understood phenomena in the world, and most who experience one do become religious afterwords.

Maybe he is just trying to sell a book (and his personal experience is not proof of anything) but regardless, this is not a new thing.



That would be difficult if his brain was inactive, unless the mind transcends it.
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I don't get this spirtual stuff :doh
 
Most people who have had near death experiences have similar story's to tell but they keep quiet because they fear they will get responses like many of the post in this thread so far, nobody likes to be called a nut. I don't care what people think of me here or IRL so I will tell you my story. Years ago I was in a motorcycle wreck and resuscitated as I laid in a pool of blood on the highway. I have two distant memories of this event. First was a feeling of laying in absolute darkness in the fetal position when a long dead relative appeared and said, "take it easy you are going to be alright". My other memory is vivid picture of the accident scene from about 50 feet above. I can still see the ambulance, the people standing around, my motorcycle on the ground, the pickup that pulled out in front of me off in a ditch and my body laying there looking extremely broke with people in white uniforms working on it. Ever since I have not feared death a bit, I look at it as some transition not the end.
 
Objective-J said:
i only trust TWO men that wear bow ties and this guy is neither of them, peewee edward herman and Bill Nye the Science guy
the rest of them are loons!!!!!

creepy, shady loons!
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Pewee is kinda creepy himself but Im with you on Bill Nye
 
Quag said:
Pewee is kinda creepy himself but Im with you on Bill Nye
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what?

a guy masturbates in a porn theater one time and he is creepy!?

;)
 
Republic Now! said:
This isn't a new occurrence. NDE's are one of the least understood phenomena in the world, and most who experience one do become religious afterwords.
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I'm not convinced by that claim (not that it really matters in the context of determining the true casue). Maybe many of those who interest the experiences as a spiritual thing gain or strengthen their faith on the basis of it but how many people experience them without reaching that conclusion, maybe without even talking about it?

Republic Now! said:
That would be difficult if his brain was inactive, unless the mind transcends it.
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That is one of the major flaws in his claims actually. He apparently states that his experience occurred specifically when he was in a coma, with zero brain activity recorded yet he also describes his impression of the passage of time being out of step with "reality" (he perceive the passage of years when his coma lasted a matter of days). The fact is that there is no way of knowing whether his experiences occurred during his coma or during the periods before and after it, when he was not conscious but his brain was still active.
 
Objective-J said:
what?

a guy masturbates in a porn theater one time and he is creepy!?

;)
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Who cares about that its that creepy smile and laugh that makes me shudder!
 
"There is no scientific explanation"

...which is why his subjective experience is not "proof". If the evidence cannot be examined and subjected to confirmation or falsification, it is not proof.

Helix's statement about "hard drive" is relevant here. You need a brain to remember things like sights, sounds, smells, etc. If your brain is inactive, you can't remember anything. Since he is a neuroscientist I would be interested in seeing how he explains that fact away in his book.

Mind you, I am a believer, and I do believe that the soul persists after death. This incident is not proof however, and mak2's statement that proof of God would destroy is faith in God is a cogent observation. With proof, faith is no longer necessary.
 
Objective-J said:
i only trust TWO men that wear bow ties and this guy is neither of them, peewee edward herman and Bill Nye the Science guy
the rest of them are loons!!!!!

creepy, shady loons!
Click to expand...

No, the 11th Doctor is cool.
 
Spriggs05 said:
I don't get this spirtual stuff :doh
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Well, it's not necessarily "spiritual," it's broader metaphysics.

HonestJoe said:
I'm not convinced by that claim (not that it really matters in the context of determining the true casue). Maybe many of those who interest the experiences as a spiritual thing gain or strengthen their faith on the basis of it but how many people experience them without reaching that conclusion, maybe without even talking about it?
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Actually many were atheists or not very religious and become so after.

That is one of the major flaws in his claims actually. He apparently states that his experience occurred specifically when he was in a coma, with zero brain activity recorded yet he also describes his impression of the passage of time being out of step with "reality" (he perceive the passage of years when his coma lasted a matter of days). The fact is that there is no way of knowing whether his experiences occurred during his coma or during the periods before and after it, when he was not conscious but his brain was still active.
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Well, there are other documented cases of experience when the brain is inactive.

Most people who have had near death experiences have similar story's to tell but they keep quiet because they fear they will get responses like many of the post in this thread so far, nobody likes to be called a nut. I don't care what people think of me here or IRL so I will tell you my story. Years ago I was in a motorcycle wreck and resuscitated as I laid in a pool of blood on the highway. I have two distant memories of this event. First was a feeling of laying in absolute darkness in the fetal position when a long dead relative appeared and said, "take it easy you are going to be alright". My other memory is vivid picture of the accident scene from about 50 feet above. I can still see the ambulance, the people standing around, my motorcycle on the ground, the pickup that pulled out in front of me off in a ditch and my body laying there looking extremely broke with people in white uniforms working on it. Ever since I have not feared death a bit, I look at it as some transition not the end.
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This is also a common description, of looking down at themselves. There was a lady who claimed to watch the doctors operate on her while under anesthesia (completely unconscious) and the doctors collaborated her story. Losing the fear of death is another common trait.

You can say they were all liars, every person who has claimed this, and there have been many, but really it's not productive to just blindly deny it.

I wouldn't say it necessarily leads to a dualistic conclusion, as I could argue a materialistic argument which fits it. What it does argue against is the notion that the sum of a person (or the self) is the brain.
 
ChuckBerry said:
"There is no scientific explanation"

...which is why his subjective experience is not "proof". If the evidence cannot be examined and subjected to confirmation or falsification, it is not proof.

Helix's statement about "hard drive" is relevant here. You need a brain to remember things like sights, sounds, smells, etc. If your brain is inactive, you can't remember anything. Since he is a neuroscientist I would be interested in seeing how he explains that fact away in his book.

Mind you, I am a believer, and I do believe that the soul persists after death. This incident is not proof however, and mak2's statement that proof of God would destroy is faith in God is a cogent observation. With proof, faith is no longer necessary.
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I don't believe you can have proof of something so great regardless, even if he literally came down and made his will known in the open public, because there is always another, more simple explanation. This is why fideism is so compelling to me from a theological perspective. In order to believe in a god one would have to want to.
 
How come nobody ever finds proof of Hell when they have near death experiences? :lol:
 
Thorgasm said:
How come nobody ever finds proof of Hell when they have near death experiences? :lol:
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not as appealing a story or as widely reported.

my grandfather had a story like that from when his neighbor was on his deathbed. it was fairly frightening; i have forgotten the details, though. the man was describing what he saw, and was begging for help to escape it. that's a fairly awful way to go.

personally, i think hell is a figurative term to describe the condition we create for ourselves through evil and excess right here on earth. still, that story scares the **** out of me.
 
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