Proof of Afterlife?

 Do Near Death Experiences Offer Proof of the Afterlife?: Study           by Michael Ashcraft 

"The experiences are remarkable in their universality and at least appear to be a portal to an afterlife, another realm, usually a peaceful Heavenly realm." -UCR's Philosophy Professor John Martin Fischer

[GodReports.com] For decades, scientists sneered at Near Death Experiences—or NDEs—because they didn't fit the empirical-evidence, materialistic model of "hard" science. 

The trouble with that shrug-off is that there are so many NDEs and they are so varied it is hard to blame an overactive imagination, religious fanaticism and grand-standing for all of them. There are too many cases for science to objectively ignore.

A $5.1 million grant to the University of California Riverside now is validating topics that Christians have harkened to keenly for decades: eyewitness accounts of existence beyond the stopped heartbeat.

"Given that NDEs have been reported throughout history and across cultures, and because they appear to be a portal to  immortality, they are of tremendous interest throughout history and currently," says UCR's Philosophy Professor John Martin Fischer, who administers the grant.

Professor Fischer's work surveys and consolidates all credible accounts of NDE. He cites Dutch Cardiologist Pim van Lommel, who after listening to patients relate their experiences after being resuscitated from cardiac arrest, compiled accounts for 26 years and organized them in a systematic way.

"Van Lommel has observed that (the people who experience) NDEs have significant transformational effects," Fischer says on a 2018 Univ. of California, Riverside video. "These individuals have less death anxiety and are more spiritual. They appreciate relationships more, spending more time with family, friends and relatives.

"They are also more compassionate and more attuned to morality and justice," he adds. "The transformations are often profound."

Fischer's work is significant to the Christian community not because every account fits nicely into Biblical orthodoxy (some do, some don't), but because his academic rigor brings scientific backing to the simple notion of an afterlife.