What does science tell us?

After searching the Internet it became apparent that the young girl's near death experience was not the only one. There are many ranging from people saying that they were lifted out of their body so they could see the surgeons performing an operation on them to the extraordinary ones who say they went towards a bright light, saw a deceased loved one or even a divine figure. Whilst these cases are amazing, and in my view point to the existence of life after death, I found a website highlighting the scientific theories of near death experiences refuting any claims of a life after death (I can only assume my teacher believes what they say). For this website pointed out that they have developed a number of theories as to why people have near death experiences. These are;

1) Dying Brain Theory

2) Charles Darwin's Theory

3) Hallucination Theory

4) Temporal Lobe Theory

5) Lack of Oxygen Theory

6) Depersonalization Theory

7) Memory of Birth Theory

8) Afterlife Theory.

I have to admit that when I read the scientific theories behind near death experiences I became saddened. This is because when I set out writing my blogs I really wanted to find convincing evidence that there is life after death. However, because these theories are extremely convincing I find it difficult to believe that many people would reject them and believe near death experiences point to a life after death. At the moment I feel disheartened that the experiences I have been reading about are just examples of what can occur in the mind because of the death process. I am also beginning to think my teacher was right. What do you think? All I know is that I cannot give up on my search so early; I must continue to look on the Internet for any proof, even small that can prove that there is something else that lies beyond the tombstones..........

Religious Views

After my initial excitement from reading the experience of the young girl I thought it would be necessary to see what religion says about such experiences to hopefully find out if my excitement was justified or it was just me being drawn into a story about a little girl with a wild imagination. I thought the best place to find this information was from religious tolerance.org This is because this site provides informative information about religious beliefs. When I entered the homepage I typed in 'what happens after we die' and selected the first option given to me. When read what came on my screen I discovered there is a general agreement among all religions that after death we will experience one of the following: a) Heaven b) Hell c) Annihilation (where everything rots and you cease to be- usually from sceptical, secular religious beliefs) d) Transmigration of the soul (where our soul and spirit are reborn into a human) e) Reincarnation (where our soul and spirit is reborn into anything) When reading this and keeping in mind the story of the young girl I certainly believe my excitement was justified. This is because as religions generally believe there is a life after death I think we should approach the story, not with scepticism but with a mind open to the possibility that the young girl experienced a near death experience proving that there is in fact an afterlife. What do you think? I certainly believe we should!

Girl's experience: An amazing story!

On setting out to see what evidence I could find from the Internet on whether or not there is life after death I began by typing in 'Is there a Life after Death' into Google and selected the first option given to me. What appeared on my screen was an extremely fascinating article As soon as I began reading this article I instantly became immersed into it. This is because it talked about children as young as seven who have had near death experiences to provide evidence that there could be a life after death. The most interesting of the cases I read on this site was one of a seven year old girl who, after being resuscitated because she spend 19 minutes underwater began to draw pictures and describe an accurate description of her own resuscitation! What interested me the most about this case however was that after she had done this she then told the doctor that she believed had to go back to her body because she had to help her mother with her unborn brother and drew a picture of the boy with a red heart (he was born several months later with a heart disease) I found this case so extraordinary and hard to dismiss simply because it was a seven year old girl who was describing this near death experience. I mean how could this child have been able to tell the doctor of her own resuscitation without this case being authentic? And is it a coincidence that her brother was born with a heart disease or did she know he would be because she drew a red heart in her drawing of him? I am feeling extremely excited because I think that I may have found something to point to the existence of a life after death. What do you think? Am I just being drawn into a story, which is of a seven year old child with just a wild imagination or is this really an amazing case to point to the existence of a life after death, which my teacher so readily dismissed? I am going to continue to search more on the Internet to see if I can find more about this topic to try and prove that there is life after death. Wish me luck!

Introduction: Life after Death

Have you ever wondered what will happen to after when die? Or what happens to other people after they die?

I have..........This is not because I have a weird fascination in death or anything. I think this is because when I was younger if anyone in my family died (even my fish!) my parents used to tell my sisters and I that they had gone to heaven to be with God. Now as a twenty year old although I find it hard to believe that my fish went to heaven I often wonder what has happened to the relatives in my life who I was so close to when they died. I wonder whether for example they have gone to heaven and if they have what this place looks like and whether everyone else who dies will join them. I think the main reason why I wonder about such things is because I don't believe that at the moment of death they have ceased to be and they are nowhere looking down on us. This is because I think it makes the world seem so cold and with no purpose. I would rather believe that they have gone to heaven and on to a better place where they can look at what we are doing to make sure we are happy.

But why this topic for my blog? Well.....Although I often thought about what happened to the people who I loved and died the topic of life after death first began to really interest me after I spoke to a teacher about this topic when I was in school. The reason why I remember this teachers comments so many years later is because he told me more honestly and plainly than anyone ever has that there is no life after death and the only reason people believe there is, is because they are scared of death and it is a form of reassurance. His remarks reminded me of a statement made by Sigmund Freud that religion and the beliefs (i.e life after death) is born from man's need to make helplessness tolerable. I guess this is true for some people and I do not intend to say they are wrong. I completely understand that for some the thought of death being the end is simply incomprehensible, especially if they have recently lost a loved one and wish to find some form of condolence in this to help them get through a difficult time in their lives. However, even after all of these years thinking about this teacher's comment I fail to be convinced that there is no life after death and that people believe in it simply because they are scared of death. I therefore intend to use this blog to write about the evidence I find from the Internet researching near death experiences so that I can try to find proof of my belief that there is life after death and that there is something that lies beyond the tombstones when we die.

Is this it?

Is death the end???

Or is there something death?. Is there something more, another life that lies beyond the tombstones?