Death Bed Experiences and Near Death Experiences with Dr. J. Steve Miller. Episode 32

Science + Research
Written By Liz Entin

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“And then we make hypotheses concerning, okay, what could have caused this thing to happen? And then we find ways to test these hypotheses. Or we say, what would the afterlife hypothesis - What would that predict? So with Dr. Michael Sabom, for example, you're looking at his patients. And he's he's saying, well, the afterlife hypothesis would predict that if these people were actually coming out of their bodies that they could describe their resuscitations accurately. But a naturalistic hypothesis that says there is no afterlife ... that the brain cannot separate from the mind, that hypothesis would predict that they could not know what was going on in their resuscitation when they're experiencing clinical death.”

J. Steve Miller, PhD spent his life questioning and investigating what happens when we die. Is there an afterlife? He now even teaches a class on death and dying, including deathbed visions. He finds the class fascinating, including the fact his students are incredibly diverse. There are students from many religions - Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, as well as atheists.

Near Death Experiences - NDE’s as evidence of an afterlife

Dr. Miller had been raised a Christian, and religion was incredibly important to him but he wanted clarity on what was true before believing anything. He realized he did not want to just believe. He began to question everything - was the Bible true? Evolution? And as a very curious person, who had a philosophical mind, he dove in. He discovered a book on Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) called Heaven is Real - an allegedly true story about a boy who died and went to “heaven.” While Dr. Miller was skeptical, he did not know this boy and his family - he did not know if they were honest, so he couldn't count this book as evidence, but what fascinated him was the introduction by an NDE researcher, Dr. Jeffrey Long. Dr. Miller had no idea there were scientific researchers and academics studying this phenomena. Dr Miller was so fascinated at the time, that he decided to go into academic research as well on these topics.

He explored many different world views, from religions to atheism to research behind afterlife evidence. He read everything from the Bible and Torah to Richard Dawkins and Bertrand Russel. You can’t be sure of anything, and he wanted to see where the evidence lies.

He delved into the actual research on NDE’s. He knew personal stories of people he had never met were fairly meaningless in terms of evidence, but the research was another story. He found Dr. Jeffrey Long, Raymond Moody, cardiologists Dr. Michael Sabom and Dr. Sam Parnia.

Dr. Michael Sabom study on NDE’s

There was a fascinating study conducted by Dr. Sabom on people who reported coming out of their bodies during NDE’s. During this experiment Dr. Sabom took groups of cardiac arrest patients who had been resuscitated, those who reported having an NDE and floating out of their body and those who did not. He asked them all to describe what their resuscitation was like. If they did not claim to have watched it, during an NDE floating above their body, they were to report what they imagined it would be like. There are a lot of theories, often based on TV and movies, about how a resuscitation would work. The people who had not reported NDE’s, did not accurately describe their resuscitations, while those who reported NDE’s did. This was the expected outcome if the afterlife hypothesis was correct.

The Afterlife Hypothesis

Dr. Miller, in his own research, uses an application of an analytical and logical method for studying a scientific hypothesis, which he shares in his book. Overall, he takes the hypothesis, “there is an afterlife.” Now taking the above study, if that hypothesis were to be true, what would be the outcome? People who reported NDE’s would accurately report what occurred in the hospital room. Those who did not, would not be able to accurately report. And if he took the hypothesis “there is no afterlife. Consciousness is created by a brain,” what could you expect to happen. That neither groups, those who reported an NDE vs those that didn’t would be highly accurate in describing their resuscitation. There would be no difference between either group. He applies that same analysis to many different afterlife research studies.

Dr. Miller was also amazed to learn that people he knew had NDE’s. A minister at his church shared one experience, a relative had a shared death experience, and his own wife had an accurate death premonition dream.

He also was impressed with the consistencies of NDE’s. This is something the researchers always discuss as well. Among some of the consistencies are the power of NDEs - that everyone comes back profoundly changed. That people describe them as “realer than real” and remember them vividly years later.

Mark Twain Dreams of his Brother’s Death and Stories of Death Bed Visions

Dr. Miller shares some remarkable and evidential stories he has learned about. A family friend had a shared death experience where they woke up feeling an intense pressure in their chest, he felt as if something had fallen on it. At the same time his father passed from a heart attack. A young man had a terrible infection. But he was young and the doctors finally declared him in the clear. Suddenly in his hospital bed it seemed he saw someone and the man stated, “No. No I don’t want to go with you.” He then died shortly afterwards.

Along with sharing further stories of deathbed visions and near death experiences, apparently Mark Twain dreamt of his own brother’s death. Mark Twain was not the kind of person to be into religion or spirituality of any sort. He had a very detailed dream of his healthy, young brother’s death, down to the type of coffin he was in and the suit he was wearing. He woke up at first horrified and then very relieved that to was just a dream. Not long afterwards, his young brother was unexpectedly killed and the details all matched Mark Twain’s dream - down to the type of coffin and suit.

Along with deathbed visions, Dr. Miller also discusses crisis apparitions and terminal lucidity. Crisis apparitions are when someone dies unexpectedly, and “visits” a loved one at the time. There are variations of this, such as a loved one will somehow receive a message that their loved one who passed is in trouble or that they are okay. In terminal lucidity, a person who has been very sick and non responsive for a ling time, even with a non-working brain will suddenly become mentally present right before they die. This even includes people who have had strokes or brains that are not working from brain cancer. So where is this sudden consciousness coming from.

Overall, Dr. Miller is an incredibly thorough, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and intelligent man who has dedicated years to examining this topic of afterlife evidence with a focus on Near Death Experiences and Death Bed Visions. To hear about his thought process and some fascinating stories, check out this episode.

Learn more about J. Steve Miller : Website | Books on Amazon

What we talk about in this episode:

- The top researchers on NDE's: Dr. Pim Van Lommel, Dr. Sam Parnia, Raymond Moody, Dr. Jeffrey Long, Dr. Michael Sabom

- Apply logic and assess each bit of afterlife data and evidence

- Deathbed Experiences - when people see deceased loved ones or other beings at the time of death

- Shared Death Experiences (SDE's)

- Crisis apparitions - when people who have just died visit an unknowing loved one

- Mark Twain predicted the death of his brother in a dream

- Why oxygen deprivation to the brain doesn't explain NDE's

- People he knew and trusted who have had NDE's and SDE's

Books by Dr. J. Steve Miller
Near Death Experiences: As Evidence for the Existence of God and Heaven
Deathbed Experiences as Evidence for the Afterlife

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Liz Entin
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