Ex-atheist shares his Near Death Experience

Howard Storm, UC Berkeley graduate and professor of arts at Northern Kentucky University, was a long-time atheist.  That is, until he nearly died and found himself heading for hell. 

The fog thickened as they went on, and it became gradually darker. Overwhelmed with hopelessness, he told them he would go no farther and that they were liars. He could feel their breath on him as they shouted and snarled insults. Then they began to push and shove him about, and he began to fight back. A wild frenzy of taunting, screaming and hitting ensued. As he swung and kicked at them, they bit him.

Even though he couldn't see anything in the darkness, he was aware there were dozens or hundreds of them all around and over him and that his attempts to fight back only provoked greater merriment. They began to tear off pieces of his flesh, and he realized that he was being taken apart and eaten alive, methodically, slowly, so that their entertainment would last as long as possible. In that wretched state he lay there in the darkness.

So, what do you do when the afterlife you don't believe in turns out to be real, and you are headed for eternal suffering?

Suddenly remembering a prayer from childhood Sunday School class, he said, "Yea though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

To his amazement, the cruel merciless beings were incited to rage by his prayer. They screamed at him, 'There is no God! Nobody can hear you!" But at the same time they were backing away. He realized that saying things about God was actually driving them away, and he became more forceful. They became more rabid, cursing and screaming against God, but in time, they retreated back into the distant gloom beyond his hearing.

Alone, destroyed, and yet painfully alive in this horrible place, he yelled out into the darkness, "Jesus, save me."

Far off in the darkness, he saw a pinpoint of light like the faintest star in the sky. The star became brighter and brighter. As it came closer, he realized that he was right in its path, and he might be consumed by its brilliance.

This was a living being approximately 8 feet tall and surrounded by an oval of radiance. The brilliant intensity of the light penetrated his body. Ecstasy swept away the agony. Tangible hands and arms gently embraced him and lifted him up. He slowly rose up into the presence of the light, and the torn pieces of his body miraculously healed before his eyes.

Now, not all NDEs are like this, but many are.  Of course, this is not objective evidence of the life to come, it is very subjective.  But it seems that at least this atheist approached death very closely and changed his tune. 

Comments

[Skeptic]

I have to say that I am very suspicious (not to mention skeptical!) of these experiences. I've done some reading on them, and they all seem to be different, often according to cultural experience. Plenty of them have no Christian imagery at all, no heaven or hell. It has also been pointed out that these people aren't really dead at all, just "near death." The brain, responding to the extreme condition, could be having hallucinations which have nothing to do with a real death experience (as no one has died and come back to report on it).

I think its foolish in the extreme to draw any conclusions from this. Christians, especially, should rely on faith and not spurious "studies" which prove nothing.

[seeker]

I agree with your skepticism and observations, though the highly subjective nature of these means that you may not be able to dismiss them entirely. That's why the Kubler-Ross book is interesting - rather than one individual testimony, it's a survey.

[Elijah]

Be skeptical all you want. The fact is the man Jesus quoted on hell never misses 12 for 12. See link