What heaven's really like - by a top brain surgeon

Please note that I don't doubt that the people who have these experiences are sincere. But the question that I find relevant is whether those descriptions harmonize or contradict what we are told in the Bible that life will be like in heaven or not. That is the criterion I use and which all Christians are expected to use.
...but it was mere men who wrote about the experiences of heaven in the bible.. none of whom had been there...
 

...but it was mere men who wrote about the experiences of heaven in the bible.. none of whom had been there...
But those writings are believed to be inspired of God and are held as being infallibly true.

2 Timothy 3:16 ►
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:21
For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Revelation 1
1This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, 2. who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So I guess we have different perspectives. BTW No need to be personally somewhere in order to receive an accurate description of it.
 
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But those writings are believed to be inspired of God and are held as being infallibly true.



So I guess we have different perspectives.
see there's the point.. people who had never been to heaven who were in fact just scribes who copied down a story thousands of years old... are believed without question... yet a man who was able to eplain how his brain worked , and how it was affected and where he found himself in his vision of heaven is roundly being dibelieved...

it makes no sense.. perhaps he should begin his story with ''Once upon a time.. there was 3 wise men.. ''... ... maybe he'd be believed then
 

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see there's the point.. people who had never been to heaven who were in fact just scribes who copied down a story thousands of years old... are believed without question... yet a man who was able to explain how his brain worked , and how it was affected and where he found himself in his vision of heaven is roundly being disbelieved...

it makes no sense.. perhaps he should begin his story with ''Once upon a time.. there was 3 wise men.. ''... ... maybe he'd be believed then

Well, I definitely never accused your brain surgeon of lying about his having had a vision. If he says that he had a vision, then OK, he had a vision. However, I see absolutely no reason why I should allow his vision to nullify the biblical explanations.
 
Please note that I don't doubt that the people who have these experiences are sincere. But the question that I find relevant is whether those descriptions harmonize or contradict what we are told in the Bible that life will be like in heaven or not. That is the criterion I use and which all Christians are expected to use.
I don't doubt that you're also sincere. So how do we resolve this? Arm wrestling?
 
I don't doubt that you're also sincere. So how do we resolve this? Arm wrestling?
No need! Each has a right to an opinion. My biblical posts are for those considering the Bible inspired of God and not to convince those who don't.
 
Well, I definitely never accused your brain surgeon of lying about his having had a vision. If he says that he had a vision, then OK, he had a vision. However, I see absolutely no reason why I should allow his vision to nullify the biblical explanations.
All I'm saying is that if you believe the word of scribes from hundreds of years ago.. who never visited heaven and never claimed to ... then you have to believe the word of someone who says he has !
 
All I'm saying is that if you believe the word of scribes from hundreds of years ago.. who never visited heaven and never claimed to ... then you have to believe the word of someone who says he has !
That assumes an obligation that I don't consider binding. As said, I don't doubt that he had some vision. I simply choose not to consider it a true depiction of what Heaven is like based on my choosing to believe what the Bible tells me instead.
 
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"Trust, but verify" is an important mantra.

I decided to check out Dr Eben Alexander and this is what came up.

The 'Proof of Heaven' Author Has Now Been Thoroughly Debunked by Science​

A new Esquire feature pokes large holes in Eben Alexander's book about a coma that included a trip to heaven, bringing into question the author's qualification as a neurosurgeon (which is supposed to legitimize his claim) and the accuracy of his best-selling journey.
By Esther Zuckerman

The 'Proof of Heaven' Author Has Now Been Thoroughly Debunked by Science

Read on but I'm going to check up on Esther Zuckerman because "trust but verify" should always be used.

Not sure that Esther Zuckerman has any relevant qualifications to comment either for or against Eben Alexander.

Esther Zuckerman is an entertainment journalist whose work has been published by The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Times, Vanity Fair and Thrillist among others. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the author of "Beyond the Best Dressed" and "A Field Guide to Internet Boyfriends."
Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/esther-zuckerman
 
..continued

It was, however, not ordinary earth, for all around me I sensed, and sometimes heard and saw, other entities.

It was partly horrific, partly comforting and familiar: I felt like I had always been part of this primal murk.

I am often asked, 'Was this hell?' but I don't think it was — I would expect hell to be at least a little bit interactive, and this was a completely passive experience.

Dr Eben's Alexander's 'heaven' was filled with music, animals, trees, and colours and was extremely vivid
I had forgotten what it was even to be human, but one important part of my personality was still hard at work: I had a sense of curiosity. I would ask, 'Who? What? Where?' and there was never a flicker of response.

After an expanse of time had passed, though I can't begin to guess how long, a light came slowly down from above, throwing off marvellous filaments of living silver and golden effulgence.

It was a circular entity, emitting a beautiful, heavenly music that I called the Spinning Melody. The light opened up like a rip in the fabric of that coarse realm, and I felt myself going through the rip, up into a valley full of lush and fertile greenery, where waterfalls flowed into crystal pools.

There were clouds, like marshmallow puffs of pink and white. Behind them, the sky was a rich blue-black.

Despite scans showing his brain was not functioning, Dr Alexander had a vivid experience
This world was not vague. It was deeply, piercingly alive, and as vivid as the aroma of fried chicken, as dazzling as the glint of sunlight off the metalwork of a car, and as startling as the impact of first love.

I know perfectly well how crazy my account sounds, and I sympathise with those who cannot accept it. Like a lot of things in life, it sounds pretty far-fetched till you experience it yourself.
There were trees, fields, animals and people. There was water, too, flowing in rivers or descending as rain. Mists rose from the pulsing surfaces of these waters, and fish glided beneath them.

Like the earth, the water was deeply familiar. It was as though all the most beautiful waterscapes I ever saw on earth had been beautiful precisely because they were reminding me of this living water. My gaze wanted to travel into it, deeper and deeper.

This water seemed higher, and more pure than anything I had experienced before, as if it was somehow closer to the original source.

I had stood and admired oceans and rivers across America, from Carolina beaches to west coast streams, but suddenly they all seemed to be lesser versions, little brothers and sisters of this living water.

That's not to denigrate the seas and lakes and thunderstorms that I've marvelled at throughout my life. It is simply to say that I now see all the earth's waters in a new perspective, just as I see all natural beauties in a new way.

In Heaven, everything is more real — less dense, yet at the same time more intense.

More..
Fascinating!
 
I had the opportunity to read the first book "Proof of Heaven" in 2016. I was impressed, but not such impressed that I bought the book.

It seems that Alexander in "Map of Heaven" repeats much from his first book and adds stories of other people.

Thus I looked into the reviews of "Proof of Heaven".
Here is one negative review with solid arguments:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review..._mwn_dprv_BRN44FA0HA9MY1FJS1RK&language=de-DE

And a positive review, which I find interesting too:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review..._mwn_dprv_39SRXPB54KS6YQND48PG&language=de-DE
 
I had the opportunity to read the first book "Proof of Heaven" in 2016. I was impressed, but not such impressed that I bought the book.

It seems that Alexander in "Map of Heaven" repeats much from his first book and adds stories of other people.

Thus I looked into the reviews of "Proof of Heaven".
Here is one negative review with solid arguments:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review..._mwn_dprv_BRN44FA0HA9MY1FJS1RK&language=de-DE

And a positive review, which I find interesting too:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review..._mwn_dprv_39SRXPB54KS6YQND48PG&language=de-DE
good find George... None of us know whether this guy was telling the truth..I think he was... but everyone will have their own take on it.

However the critical review of your 2 links.. clearly didn't read the book .. fully otherwise he would know there was several mentions of no Brain activity..

I'm actually shocked at how many ''scientists' are visceral in their thoughts about this ... why would they be so upset at one man's view of ''heaven'' what does it matter to them ?.. methinks some people doth protest too much, and that makes me suspicious..
 
In my part of the U.S., the welcoming slogan for the state of West Virginia is “Almost Heaven.” I’ve been to West Virginia numerous times, and Heaven has apparently lowered its standards by a lot! No one rushes to buy a book likening the hereafter to West Virginia…

Personally, I think that purgatory must be a lot like the state of New Jersey, so I should be familiar with that…no wonder people talk about “going home!😸

And wouldn’t it be a kick if the Afterlife has a big bureaucratic structure as depicted in Beetlejuice? I’d better get my number so as to begin waiting in line now… 🙀

 
Perhaps heaven & hell are subjective to the individual who believes in such things. I try to keep an open mind but truthfully I don't know if there are such places dead people go to. As far as the Bible goes...I don't believe in that either.
 
Perhaps heaven & hell are subjective to the individual who believes in such things. I try to keep an open mind but truthfully I don't know if there are such places dead people go to. As far as the Bible goes...I don't believe in that either.
Agree here .
 
Perhaps heaven & hell are subjective to the individual who believes in such things. I try to keep an open mind but truthfully I don't know if there are such places dead people go to. As far as the Bible goes...I don't believe in that either.
I think that's possibly the real answer... however it doesn't explain his ''meet'' with his sister of whom he had never met nor seen an image of.. until 4 months after his ''dream''
 
Thank you Holly.
Normally I don't read anything this long, but this time I did because my brother told me of similar visions after he was badly burned when he was 7. He is not religious, yet has no fear of dying.
I, myself, try to keep an open mind about things that can't be proved or disproved.
 
I think that's possibly the real answer... however it doesn't explain his ''meet'' with his sister of whom he had never met nor seen an image of.. until 4 months after his ''dream''
Well, have you considered the possibility that there are entities who have a vested interest in promoting certain ideas and have the ability to impose those ideas on the human mind? My mother was harassed in that particular way at one point in her life. Jesus is described as having encountered such entities.

 
good find George... None of us know whether this guy was telling the truth..I think he was... but everyone will have their own take on it.

However the critical review of your 2 links.. clearly didn't read the book .. fully otherwise he would know there was several mentions of no Brain activity..

I'm actually shocked at how many ''scientists' are visceral in their thoughts about this ... why would they be so upset at one man's view of ''heaven'' what does it matter to them ?.. methinks some people doth protest too much, and that makes me suspicious..
Atheist scientists feel obligated to lash out at anything that they deem supernatural-especially if it indicates the existence of some heavenly realm created by some god. One reason is that such persons have been traumatized by religion during their childhood and have developed a deep hatred of it.
 
Atheist scientists feel obligated to lash out at anything that they deem supernatural-especially if it indicates the existence of some heavenly realm created by some god. One reason is that such persons have been traumatized by religion during their childhood and have developed a deep hatred of it.
Possibly, or it could be that they hate the very idea that a 'layman' could possibly discover something HUGE before them... who knows ?🤷‍♀️
 
Possibly, or it could be that they hate the very idea that a 'layman' could possibly discover something HUGE before them... who knows ?🤷‍♀️
Very true. Also, atheism is pounded into their minds via the government's education system. So they gradually become veritable robots mindlessly supporting the concept of a Godless universe as an indisputable truth.
 
I think that's possibly the real answer... however it doesn't explain his ''meet'' with his sister of whom he had never met nor seen an image of.. until 4 months after his ''dream''
This was what moved me most, since I had a twin sister, who died at three months.

That consciousness exists outside of the brain is certain in my opinion. Otherwise reincarnation wouldn't exist. But I know from a case in my family that it exists. The Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel tells in his book

Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience​

the story of a woman who had no brain activity during a dangerous surgery for a brain aneurysma. Her eyes were covered also but she could exactly describe the instruments used for surgery and the staff.

And there is another story of a NDE in which a man also met his dead sister he never knew.

That Christian scriptures are 2000 years old is no proof for their credibility. Buddhist writings are older, but I won't believe them without proof. The mentioned case of reincarnation which I do not want to tell, gave me credibility. This is what counts for me, of course not for everyone. But I am far away from wanting to convince other people that reincarnation exists.
 
I read a book when in my teens that had a lot of people have a reading by a famous psychic. He almost always said that the person ( normal regular people ) was once someone super famous. like Stalin, or Picasso, or one of the 1000 other famous people of old. I thought hat was pretty weird. Then I studied it from a Buddhist perspective. It is taught by Buddhism and the transmigration of "soul" is controversial within Buddhism.

It doesn't matter to me. There is work to be done now. So whatever your background, or present reality, I can't wait around for "The answer". All this reincarnation is to bring us closer to being a true human being integrated with the universe.
 


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