NDEs and God

Coming from an unchurched background, I doubt that I would have developed an interest in NDEs if my father had not had one! He died from a heart attack when I was an eleven-year-old and he was in his late forties, His partner was a competent nurse. When dad had unexpectedly recovered, she called us children and stepchildren to his bedside, at dad’s request. He had never spoken to any of us, to the best of our several memories, about anything “religious”; consequently, what he told us came as a bolt out of the blue.

“I want you to know”, he said, with a happy smile, “that there is a God, and that life continues after death. Don’t fear death.”

He went on to describe how his spirit had floated out of his body and that he had entered through a ‘curtain’ into a different world where he had travelled down a dark tunnel and then met with a bright light, who was God. Nowadays that might sound mundane, but not in that era (mid-1950s) - and not coming from my dad. He was ‘old school’, afraid of nothing and a hard disciplinarian – as a kid you did what he said without asking questions. He was also totally honest – if he said there was a God who you would meet after death, you’d do well to believe him!

Dad was still frail from the heart attack, so once he informed us about the afterlife, he dismissed us without further ado.

Dad lived around a further eighteen years and never spoke again to us about his NDE, but my curiosity had been set on fire. Dad was a man whose absolute honesty was proven when his business went insolvent owing many thousands, but even though legally bankrupt and under no legal obligation under Rhodesian law to repay the debts, dad began another small business (without a partner this time) and slaved away for years, until that great day when he had totally repaid all of the debts incurred by his previous failed business. Even as a youngster, I recognised him to be honest and honourable. Thus, when dad declared there was a God and that life continued after death, I knew it to be true and I wanted to know more.

Many who face dying fear the moment of death, but NDErs testify that it was neither scary nor painful and many did not even know they had crossed that barrier. This had been dad’s experience. He had simply and painlessly entered the afterlife, leaving his body behind. My loving wife Brenda and I were at his bedside around 18 years later when he finally died and this time did not return.