Near death experience of Howard Storm

[Aoi Magi]

Hey everyone. I'm new the forum and wanted to talk about near death experiences. Personally for me information from NDEs changed my life for the better. I think unlike religion, they offer better evidence of the spiritual realms and existence of God. Hoping we can have a civil discussion about it. I'm open to your views and hope we can reciprocate the respect for each other.

I would say the most amazing experiences that I have read was from Howard Storm. He was an atheist confident that nothing happens after life and his life was completely changed after his death experience. I met Howard and listened to his story, and want to share with you all here.

Please read through the short testimonial and let me know what you think so we can talk about it. There is a lot more infomation I can post, but this would be the place to start.

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/no....html

If that is your definition of short, I'd hate to read a long testimonial.

Anyway, apart from the dude claiming to be an atheist, I don't see any indication of him ever being one. The article shows no logical thinking on his part or any attempt at rationalizing the event, if it did really happen.

But NDE, if you actually look into it, is hugely affected by a person's culture and environment, just like other occurrences like alien abductions. Hence I don't see how you can conclude a spritual evidence from it.

[Homeless Nutter]

[...]
Do his medical records say he suffered brain damage? Where's the proof of that?

Did he have this so-called "near death experience"? Then yes - he received some brain damage, due to oxygen deprivation.

[Aoi Magi]

Well, let me repeat myself, then. Brain. Damage. Brains are fragile things.  Is it possible, that I hit my head one day and become an imbecile, who believes in Santa and pisses himself occasionally? Sure. Does that prove existence of a god, or afterlife? Hell, no.

You look for confirmation of your irrational beliefs in things that are ridiculously easy to explain in much simpler ways. I'm sure you like the narrative of "arrogant" non believer becoming a christian and surely it's much less depressing than the reality, that someone lost some of their faculties...

I'm not looking for any kind of confirmation at all, as I explained in my post to Alex that I have no dog in this fight and neither does my faith rely on it. I'm just acknowledging how strange it is for any atheist like you (and most others here) to all of a sudden turn Christian over night, and considering the possibilities of why that would be. Just because I'm thinking out load and trying to have a discussion with you guys about it doesn't mean I'm trying to confirm anything.

Do his medical records say he suffered brain damage? Where's the proof of that?

It is strange only if you don't look at any other factor involving those atheists. Also, being an atheist doesn't mean a person is a critical or logical thinker. And indoctrination can occur at any age due to a plethora of reasons.

If an illusionist like Derren Brown can cause "spiritual" experiences, one should really wonder why others couldn't have had similar experiences through perfectly natural means.

[Ivan Denisovich]

But our brains do weird things when we sleep, too. And yet when we wake up from a dream, we know it's a dream. Staunch atheists don't turn Christians from having a dream.

So far we agree.

Another thing is, why would people who are strong atheists be having dream like visions of God and Jesus in their heads when they are unconscious?

Why not? People can't control what they're dreaming about if I'm not mistaken.

And furthermore, why would they have dreams of God and Jesus being goodness and love?

Again, why not? Dream is not reality.

It seems that first of all, most atheists think that if God and Jesus do exist, they are evil anyway. Or at least uncaring.

I neither know nor I particularly care about what other atheists think about god but for me biblical depiction of god just scream evil. Jesus also isn't a best guy that was written about.

Obviously, something happened to these people that made them change overnight in such a drastic way, from becoming atheists who hate religion to becoming Christians. That's huge, almost supernatural in itself. Can a mere "dream" do that? Could it do that to you?

Why obviously? Why it could not be simple lie? Or means for making profit? I was an atheist and now I'm believer, all thanks to NDE and power of Jesus love. Want to know more? Buy my book.

Now, I'm not saying I believe all this. I have no dog in this fight. My faith does not rely on strangers' personal experiences, and some parts of this story kind of contradict my own beliefs. All I'm saying is the possibilities may be worth an objective look and some consideration. Because it is very strange indeed.

I see nothing really strange in it. Hallucination or scam.

[Mister Agenda]

Well thank you for reading it. For me I used to be a very angry person, and thought about suicide and didn't really believe myself, but wanted to find out what would happen when I died, and this was one of the stories I came across. This was 20 years ago, and my life has been better ever since, and changed my path and understanding about what life is.

---

Welcome to the forum, scoobysnack. If you were thinking about suicide and learning about NDE's helped you decide to keep living, more power to you. I'm glad you lived to come visit us, and I hope you like it here.

[Mister Agenda]

Before his near-death experience, Howard Storm at http://www.howard.com was a Professor of Art at Northern Kentucky University, was not a very pleasant man by his own admission. He was an avowed atheist and was hostile to every form of religion and those who practiced it. He often would use rage to control everyone around him and he didn’t find joy in anything. Anything that wasn’t seen, touched or felt, he had no faith in. He knew with certainty that the material world was the full extent of everything that was. He considered all belief systems associated with religion to be fantasies for people to deceive themselves with. Beyond what science said, there was nothing else. But then on June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, Howard Storm’s had a near-death experience due to a perforation of the stomach and his life was since forever changed. His near-death experience is one of the most profound, if not the most profound, afterlife experience I have ever documented. His life was so immensely changed after his near-death experience, he resigned as a professor and devoted his time attending the United Theological Seminary to become a United Church of Christ minister. Today, Howard Storm is presently happily married to his wife Marcia and is Pastor of the Covington United Church of Christ in Covington, Ohio. During his past time he has maintained his passion for painting but now, unlike in his past, he paints with a God state of mind which raises his paintings to a whole other level. On this website Pastor Storm shares a unique look at his paintings and the effect Jesus Christ has on his daily life and on his paintings. The following is the account of Pastor Howard Storm's near-death experience reprinted by permission.

Sounds like a right cunt, doesn't look like his alleged NDE changed him very much at all -- assuming he's not lying about it to massage his market, which seems to be the case.

"Paints with a God state of mind"? Nothing says art like preconceived constraints. The dumbfuck clearly doesn't understand art or spirituality.

The testimonials that I would like to hear would be from people who know him and can tell us what he was really like before his experience, and if he's really changed. It has no bearing on the nature of NDE's, but does bear on whether he really had one or is just marketing a book.

[Old Baby]

Every atheist I've ever really known can be put into one of two categories.

1. Person who does not believe for rational reasons.

2. Person who does not believe for emotional reasons.

The first part of this NDE testimony describes an individual who fits into category #2.

People who are driven by their emotions really all go in the same category, whether they wear the label of theist, atheist, anti-theist, etc. Their methodology for determining what is most probable is not based on evidence or rational thought, but on emotion and subjective experience. That's why I don't find the testimony of Christians who were saved from atheism very compelling, and ultimately why I'm not persuaded by Howard Storm's experience.

[Homeless Nutter]

Any religious freak can pretend to have been an atheist, in order to gain attention and propagate their beliefs. Why doesn't god turn Hawking, Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, Jillette and other renown atheists into raving Jesus-whores? Do you know how much money ANY of those people would make, if they turned christard all of a sudden? Every christian would buy Dawkins' next book - and suck his d*ck too - if he did that.

But noooo... It's always some c*nt nobody knew or gave a sh*t about before he/she suddenly, miraculously became an outspoken "ex-atheist"...

[Excited Penguin]

Ok, so it might not have been a dream, who knows, but in any case I think it was something close to a dream. Whatever it was, subjective experiences like that don't prove a thing. Until a few decades ago everyone thought lucid dreams didn't even exist and were a mere curiosity reported by some dreamers until some people figured out a way to communicate with a lucid dreamer while he was dreaming and study his brain activity while he was doing different things in the dream. Incidentally, the same activity was reported as if they were doing those things while awake. But notice none of this demonstrates the reality of the dreams' worlds' beyond the dreamers' minds. The same will be for NDE's, I reckon, if they're ever explained.

[Catholic_Lady]

Another thing is, why would people who are strong atheists be having dream like visions of God and Jesus in their heads when they are unconscious?

Why not? People can't control what they're dreaming about if I'm not mistaken.

And furthermore, why would they have dreams of God and Jesus being goodness and love?

Again, why not? Dream is not reality.

It seems that first of all, most atheists think that if God and Jesus do exist, they are evil anyway. Or at least uncaring.

I neither know nor I particularly care about what other atheists think about god but for me biblical depiction of god just scream evil. Jesus also isn't a best guy that was written about.

Yes, it is a possibility but just seems unlikely that atheists would "dream up" visions of a good and loving God whom they want to be with, when they normally tend to feel hostility towards the idea of God and think He would be evil/uncaring if He did exist. It just adds to the weirdness of the whole thing I think. I certainly couldn't imagine it from any of you.

Obviously, something happened to these people that made them change overnight in such a drastic way, from becoming atheists who hate religion to becoming Christians. That's huge, almost supernatural in itself. Can a mere "dream" do that? Could it do that to you?

Why obviously? Why it could not be simple lie? Or means for making profit? I was an atheist and now I'm believer, all thanks to NDE and power of Jesus love. Want to know more? Buy my book.

Now, I'm not saying I believe all this. I have no dog in this fight. My faith does not rely on strangers' personal experiences, and some parts of this story kind of contradict my own beliefs. All I'm saying is the possibilities may be worth an objective look and some consideration. Because it is very strange indeed.

I see nothing really strange in it. Hallucination or scam.

I still find it very unlikely that they'd all be straight up lying. Just knowing you guys here and how hostile you are towards religions and the idea of God, I would think it was very strange for any of you to turn your backs on that for the sake of writing a book and hopefully making money.

And even stranger still what this guy did. Not only did he write books about it (he could have just done that and stopped there), but he went as far as to quit his job and go to seminary school, become a pastor, and dedicate his life to Christianity. Could a strong atheist put on this whole charade??

Honestly I'd believe it was a somehow extremely convincing hallucination before I believed it was all a lie.