Curious to know

[The Valkyrie]

[Angrboda]

[Losty]

Damn I wish I could have been a test subject in that experiment

[Minimalist]

[Angrboda]

One interesting tidbit is that pediatric patients with NDEs visualize talking to friends and people still alive, in contrast to adult experiencers who are more likely to converse with the deceased.

[Magilla]

Suppose some respected member of this forum had an NDE.
After that they come back here on the forum telling that God exist.
Would you believe them and give up atheism or no thinking that they just had
some sort of hallucination?  

To me, it would prove one thing only, namely that the person thought they had had a near death experience.

Suppose we grant that they did have some kind of experience. It would not tell us anything much. I have no problem with concluding that some people have had hallucinatory experiences when near to death, and that they may have been convinced that the hallucination was something more. But neither I nor they could claim to have reliable information about what actually happened.

We know that the brain does not make accurate recordings of memories, but rather reconstructs past happenings in a person's life. The NDE may be a reconstruction of something well after the person has revived, made up out of a completely physical event, (or maybe nothing at all), into something meaningful. And don't overlook the fact that an NDE is not an experience of death, but one of an uncommon experience in the life of some people.

[bennyboy]

Once again you guys are not answering the question.
I am not talking about people who had an NDE in general.
I am very very specific and ask if one of you which is a respected atheist in this forum would come back in here after an NDE experience saying that he-she was wrong all the way........what would you do?
Change, not change or what else?  

It's possible if someone's brain state and chemistry changed severely, their beliefs would change as well. For example, if my brain suddenly became the same as yours, Little Rik, I'd probably think the same way you do, and believe in God.

If I started hearing voices, and heard them for so many years that they seemed like a central part of my existence, and if thos voices seemed to be teaching me valuable life lessons, I might come to believe that they were voices from God or angels or something.

Most people here would see that as hallucinations of a malfunctioning brain. You might see it as a legitimate religious experience. However, it's clear enough that experiences can be false, no matter how strong they seem.

My answer to you is this: I can't imagine that I would change my view, whatever the experience. . . but I haven't had the experience, so I cannot know for sure.

[IATIA]

If my brain suffered a catastrophic malfunction, the "I" I am now might not be the same "I" any longer and I could not say what the new "I" would think.

[KevinM1]

The doctors used to use ketamine on me as a surgical anaesthetic back in the late 80s/early 90s. Pre-teen me tripped balls on that shit. I mean, dreams of my mom operating on me, giant 3D letters whizzing by my head, a castle on a floating rock in the middle of a storm cloud... Stuff that I still remember because it was so vivid, with sounds and smells and tactile sensations as well as the visuals.

Our brain chemistry is sensitive to changes. It's why things like caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol work. It's why various drugs to modify our mood and depression and focus work. It's how general anaesthesia works. When the brain undergoes trauma, it can do funny things, especially when its chemistry is altered. That's why it's idiotic to think that NDEs contain a mystical component.

[robvalue]

You could change the question to every atheist on the forum suddenly turning up with stories about meeting God. Any stories. I don't care. Evidence or GTFO. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and anecdotes are terrible evidence. Absolutely terrible. For anything except the mundane, they are next to worthless. Even huge numbers of anecdotes are worthless. For mundane claims, sure. For relatively unimportant claims, sure. I'll settle for anecdotes from people I trust. But not for claims regarding stuff not even understood by science. My wife tells me stories about ghosts and other such weirdness. I believe she believes them, but I don't believe her conclusions are correct.

I'd be interested to investigate what exactly has gone on to make all these atheists lose their shit at once. I'd suspect some other explanation. But I simply wouldn't know.

And to prove a point, if all the theists in this forum turned up one day with stories of how they went outside the universe or some shit and saw there was no god, would little Rik believe them on weight of numbers? And become an atheist? I'm thinking no. I'm thinking he'd want evidence, all of a sudden.