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5106
Hill, Roy L. Jesus and the Near-Death Experience: Testimonies of the Ascended Christ. White Crow Books, Chapter 10, Sharon Milliman, Pages 249-253, 2017
20
Suggestive Evidence
9
Low Compatibility
universal salvation, no judgment
Sharon Milliman's NDE contains several elements that align with biblical accounts, including the out-of-body experience, encountering divine beings, and experiencing otherworldly realms. The appearance of God as a father figure and the presence of angels showing future events have biblical precedents. The beautiful garden setting and the Light of God could correspond to biblical descriptions of paradise and divine glory. Her deceased brothers appearing as perfected beings aligns with the biblical concept of the resurrection body. The prophetic visions of future turmoil including wars and economic collapse echo biblical apocalyptic literature.
However, the experience contains significant theological elements that contradict orthodox biblical teaching. Most problematic is the explicit statement that she experienced a life review "in which she was not judged," which directly contradicts numerous biblical passages about judgment. The concept that God is present even in those who hurt her, while containing a grain of truth about God's omnipresence, veers into a form of panentheism that blurs the biblical distinction between Creator and creation. The idea that "every part of creation, down to a single cell, was part of God" represents a pantheistic worldview incompatible with biblical theism. The absence of any mention of sin, redemption through Christ, or the need for salvation suggests a universalist theology. While the experience was transformative, its theological framework diverges significantly from biblical Christianity, presenting a more New Age or universalist spirituality that eliminates concepts of sin, judgment, and the unique role of Christ in salvation.
The medical context for Sharon Milliman's near-death experience was a sudden, life-threatening electrocution that occurred at her home. A lightning strike caused a nearby electrical transformer to explode, sending a powerful energy surge through her house and into her body as she stood on the steps, resulting in her death. This non-clinical setting lacked any form of medical intervention or monitoring. The event was instantaneous, propelling her consciousness directly from a normal state into the post-mortem environment without any preceding illness, injury, or medical procedure like surgery or anesthesia.
Her core experience began with her soul floating above her body inside her home, which appeared altered in a burnt-gold light with unfamiliar furnishings and the sound of a 1930s radio show despite a power outage. She was then transported to a beautiful, fragrant garden under a shining orb she knew was the Light of God. After a non-judgmental life review, she was greeted by her two brothers, who had died as infants but now appeared as healthy young adults. God then appeared, resembling her father, and engaged her in a profound dialogue about the necessity of interconnectedness, demonstrating this by revealing the universe as a cosmic rainbow of infinite possibilities and by showing her the divine life force within a giant oak tree. The lesson culminated in her recognizing God in everyone, including herself. Before returning, angels showed her visions of future world turmoil. A significant veridical aspect of Sharon's NDE was auditory. While out of her body, she distinctly heard a 1930s radio talk show playing inside her house. This observation was perplexing and anomalous because the lightning strike that caused her death had also blown the neighborhood transformer, resulting in a widespread power outage. Therefore, no radio or any other electrical appliance in her home should have been functioning. The aftermath of Sharon's NDE was a profound and lasting transformation, deeply integrating the experience's lessons into her life. She fully embraced the understanding of divine unity, recognizing that God is not a separate entity but is intrinsically part of all creation, including herself and every other person. |