Letter to the Editor: Are OBEs Evidence For Survival? Page: 60
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JOURNAL OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES
surviving stories and legends and beliefs, spoken or written, that
proclaim through the ages that there was some sort of evidence that
this enormous expenditure of energy was for a purpose. A thoughtful
reading of the thanatological literature and of the Bible reveals that
visions of a being of light, and a life beyond that of the physical body,
are not phenomena that emerged in our lifetime.
If anything, we can say that people tended to keep quiet and not
acknowledge their experiences until the surge of evidence that they
were not going out of their minds. We can assert, then, that there is an
abundance of evidence that people have OBEs and NDEs; but Black-
more's contention remains that this does not prove survival. She is
absolutely correct, but is it for the reasons that she thinks? The lack of
evidence, I contend, is for another reason.
As a Swedenborgian, my own special interest in the NDE is not only
my acceptance of it as a glimpse into life after death, but also my firm
conviction that there is a purpose, an order and reason why such
experiences do occur (Rhodes, 1982). Personal religious beliefs do not
lend themselves really to brief explanations, but let me simply assert
that Our Heavenly Father, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, is
running the show far more than we can comprehend. Such things as
NDEs are not aberrations, accidents, or meaningless events. Sweden-
borgians believe that God is meticulously guiding each of us toward a
blessed destiny ("heaven") except to the extent that we choose to reject
that guidance. The OBE, then, is one of the countless ways in which
our God infuses into our minds ideas that can further our development
into full human beings.
In other words, experiences enable us to learn something that will
contribute to our eternal welfare. I believe that the large number of
OBEs of great variety are telling us something, and we should be
paying attention. Just about all of our experiences are provided in
order that we can get a message, and thereby direct our courses and
conduct our lives.
Next, and most importantly, Swedenborgians teach that our God is
so concerned with our spiritual freedom that He will not permit any-
thing that will compel us to believe. We cannot be compelled to love
what is good and true, to love whatever God we believe in. We are
human, and in the image and likeness of God, because of this God-
given freedom. Careful thinking then leads us to the essential point
that God will not compel us to believe in a life after death. He may
hope that we will, and He may give us abundant evidence that there is
a purpose to creation, but He simply will not compel our belief.60
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Rhodes, Leon. Letter to the Editor: Are OBEs Evidence For Survival?, letter, Autumn 1988; East Windsor Hill, Connecticut. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc938075/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .