90 Minutes in Heaven_ A True Story of Death & Life - Don Piper [68]
Their results: About 18 percent of the patients in the study spoke of recollection of the time in which they had been clinically dead. Between 8 and 12 percent reported the commonly accepted NDE experiences, such as seeing bright lights, going through a tunnel, or even crossing over into heaven and speaking with dead relatives and friends. The researchers concluded that afterlife experiences or NDE are merely “something we would all desperately like to believe is true.”1
Conversely, other scholars made conclusions based on their study of 344 people (ages twenty-six to ninety-two) who had been resuscitated. Most of them were interviewed within five days of the experience. The researchers contacted those same people two years later and then eight years after the event.
Researchers discovered that the experiences didn’t correlate with any of the measured psychological, physiological, or medical parameters—that is, the experiences were unrelated to processes in the dying brain. Most patients had excellent recall of the events, which, the researchers said, undermined the idea that the memories were false.
The most important thing to me is that those who had such experiences reported marked changes in their personalities. They lost their fear of death. They became more compassionate, giving, and loving.
The study really proved nothing about the reality of NDE. As had been the case before the studies, one group believed NDE were merely the psychological states of those dying; the other group maintained that hard evidence supported the validity of near-death occurrences, suggesting that scientists rethink theories that dismiss out-of-body experiences.
I have no intention of trying to solve this debate. I can only relate what happened to me. No matter what researchers may or may not try to tell me, I know I went to heaven.
I’ve devoted an immense amount of time to considering why it happened rather than what happened. I have reached only one solid conclusion: Before being killed in a car accident, I remained skeptical of near-death experiences. I simply didn’t see how a person could die, go to heaven, and return to tell about it. I never doubted dying, the reality of heaven, or life after death. I doubted descriptions of near-death stories. These stories all seemed too rehearsed and sounded alike. Then I died, went to heaven, and returned. I can only tell what happened to me. Not for an instant have I ever thought it was merely a vision, some case of mental wires crossing, or the result of stories I’d heard. I know heaven is real. I have been there and come back.
It comes down to this: Until some mere mortal is dead for a lengthy period and subsequently returns to life with irrefutable evidence of an afterlife, near-death experiences will continue to be a matter of faith, or at the very least, conjecture. But then, as one of my friends would say, “What else is new?”
One time I shared my experiences with a large congregation that included my wife’s parents, Eldon and Ethel Pentecost. They’ve been consistently supportive and made great sacrifices during my accident and lengthy recovery.
After the service, we went to their home. At one point, Eldon and I were alone, and he told me, “I was angry the first time you shared your story of your trip to heaven.”
I had no idea he felt that way.
“You finished by saying you never wanted to come back to earth.”
I just nodded in affirmation, not knowing where this was going.
“I didn’t understand it then, but I’ve changed. Now when I hear you talk about heaven’s beauty, I understand a little better why you’d willingly be separated from my daughter and grandkids for a while. You know—you really do know, don’t you—that they’ll join you someday?”
“Without a doubt,” I said.
Eldon’s revelation caught me off guard. He was right, of course. I had the distinct privilege of baptizing my own children and seeing my wife baptized as well. I knew that their professions