Can Science Explain Heaven?

[SecularMotion]

There are those who believe that science will eventually explain everything—including our enduring belief in heaven. The thesis here is very simple: heaven is not a real place, or even a process or a supernatural event. It's something that happens in your brain as you die.

...

Science cannot definitively proof or disprove Chris's theory, but some scientists are willing to take guesses. And these guesses are based, in part, on a growing body of research around near-death experience (NDE). According to a 2000 article in The Lancet, between 9 and 18 percent of people who have been demonstrably near death report having had such an experience. And surveys of NDE accounts show great similarities in the details. People who have had NDEs describe—like some religious visionaries—a tunnel, a light, a gate, or a door, a sense of being out of the body, meeting people they know or have heard about, finding themselves in the presence of God, and then returning, changed.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/235462

[LiberalLoner]

1. I had one of those NDE's, a white-light dream. And it did change me. And

I truly don't believe it was only a fluke of my brain. I really do believe I went to the Light and was held by the Light for a time.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. My mother had one during heart surgery.

She "died" and had to be brought back. It made a profound impression on her.

I think that science will never be able give a definitive answer to the life after death question, simply because it is not in the realm of science. It will always be a mystery, and that is not bad. Life needs some mystery.

[bobburgster]

2. Quite interesting!

Thanks for sharing.

[old mark]

4. Yes. It's called Mythology. nt

[moobu2]

5. Science already explains it pretty well.

Whether people accept that explanation is another thing entirely, a certain number of people never will.

[Toasterlad]

6. +1

[MineralMan]

7. What does science have to do with mythology?

Science does not deal with the supernatural. If it did, it would not be science.

[skepticscott]

8. "There are those"?

Please don't make such a silly attribution without specifics. Who exactly are these people "who believe that science will eventually explain everything"? Please provide examples of people who have made such a claim.

[Liberation Angel]

9. Science is limited by our minds which are limited by our perception

I do not expect man or woman or science to explain the ineffable.

[skepticscott]

11. Then how do you explain

all of the people with limited minds and perceptions who are convinced beyond any doubt that the afterlife exists, and are sure they know what it will be like?

[ronatchig]

10. Reminds me of some wisdom

about the afterlife from my grandfather:

Those who are talking don't know
and
those who know aren't talking:hippie:

[beam me up scottie]

12. Can religion explain Jan Crouch?

[laconicsax]

13. Can Science Explain Leprechauns?

There are those who believe that science will eventually explain everything--including our enduring belief in leprechauns. The thesis here is very simple: leprechauns are not real creatures or even supernatural. It's something that people dreamed up.

...

As far as the article you posted...

According to a 2000 article in The Lancet, between 82 and 91 percent of people who have been demonstrably near death don't report having had such an experience. And surveys show great similarity in the details of what people aren't experiencing--a tunnel, a light, a gate, or a door, a sense of being out of the body, meeting people they know or have heard about, finding themselves in the presence of God, and then returning, changed.

I've had dreams where there was a tunnel, a light, a gate or door, a sense of being out of my body, meeting people I know or have heard about, or finding myself in the presence of God. I guess my anecdotes should speak to the existence of heaven too.

[charlie]

14. This collection of NDEs has been linked to a number of times

http://www.near-death.com

One thing really interesting is the Hindu subsection. The Hindus didn't get the E-ticket ride. What was waiting for them on the other side was... bureaucrats. No tunnel, no light, just paper-shuffling screwups.

http://www.near-death.com/hindu.html