Whatever leads you to God

QUESTION

“Howard Storm started out [in his talk about his NDEs], and it’s in his interviews about his book, that he asked Jesus what is the best religion and the answer that he got was ‘the one that brings you closest to God.’  Now, he is sounding more and more like an evangelist. So are others who are telling us that if you aren’t a Christian, that you will go to hell. Betty Eadie [another well-known NDEr] never said that, so I’m wondering what gives.

“A lot of people are getting upset over the drastic differences in the stories that we are being told, including me.  I have been so depressed

over this, even though I consider myself a Christian, but my husband and daughter are not Christians.  I hate to think that they will go to hell.

“There are a lot of these people on YouTube.  I’m not getting it.”

...Linda

ANSWER

My goodness, dear, you’re exposing yourself to a few people, a few ideas and testimonials, but not the larger picture.  Get the book, “Dying to Know You:  Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience."  That book is the people’s book.  I call it that because it is a summary of what almost 5,000 adult and child near-death experiencers said.  Yes, a lot of them still use the term “God” because that is what we are familiar with in this society. You could just as well use “The One” or “Great One” or “That Which Breathes Me.”

The near-death experience has nothing to do with religion (did you get that?), and everything to do with the way the world really is.  There is a Divine Principle (call it what you will), that is behind and in back of everything. Any great visionary anywhere in the world tells us this, and has been telling us this since records were kept.  What you have been reading in the words of those who shared what happened to them. . . is not gospel for everyone. . . even though there is a common thread that runs through all. Betty Eadie’s books and book tours were financed by an organization or people of her Morman faith.  Look again at Howard Storm. “Whatever leads you to God” is his way of saying “religion” makes little difference, doesn’t matter in the broader scheme of things. What really matters is you and how you live your life, what is in your heart.  You cannot decide for your husband or children or friends. Whatever happens to them will be in accord with whatever is right for them.  The spiritual path is a loner. . . we each walk alone. Take what you can learn from NDEs, from visionaries, from great poets and those who were illuminated, and learn from them.  Read Meister Eckhart or Ernest Holmes or St. Theresa of Avila, or Rumi, or Kahlil Gibran.

Near-death experiencers, each in their own way, bring us snippets, capsules, bits of what they experienced on the other side of death.  No one experiencer has all of it or even a slice of it (contrary to what some claim). What they bring back is a “piece” of a truth, a “something,” they cannot fully describe.  It is up to us in the living of our own lives to “fill in the blanks.”

I hope this helps.  Blessings, PMH