Near-death experiences confirm faith in God

Dr. Jeffrey Long writes: “When I first realized that over 40 percent of near-death experiencers were aware of the existence of God or a supreme being during their NDE, I was shocked. This was an extraordinary finding! No prior NDE study had asked so many NDErs directly about encountering God in their NDEs, and no other study had reported such high numbers of NDErs being aware of God.

“To put this statistic in context, the percentage of NDErs who were aware of God or a supreme being during their NDE is greater than the percentage of NDErs reporting a tunnel, encountering deceased loved ones, or a having a life review. This new information tells us one element of NDEs happens more often than any of these other NDE elements: awareness of the existence of God.

“It is also remarkable how much near-death experiencers’ belief in God increases after their NDE. Before their experience 39 percent of NDErs believed “God definitely exists.” At the time they shared their NDEs with the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF), an average of twenty-two years later, 72.6 percent of the NDErs believed “God definitely exists.”

"To put this another way, there was an 86 percent increase in those who believe God definitely exists after their NDEs.

“In my research, I found that NDErs generally experience the heavenly realm in three different ways, with some overlap: (1) as an overwhelmingly beautiful place; (2) as a boundary between life and death; or (3) as a meeting place with God, spirits, or deceased loved ones.”

Jeffrey Long with Paul Perry, God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (HarperCollins e-books, 2010).