[Goober5000]

Link to article

Todd and Sonja Burpo rushed their lifeless son to another medical center, where he was immediately taken into surgery.  Colton's surgeon estimates that the boy's appendix had ruptured five days before he was properly diagnosed. ... While Colton was in surgery, Todd and Sonja prayed in separate rooms. They thought their son was dying and they blamed themselves.  Miraculously, after a difficult recovery and another surgery, Colton survived. ...

Colton claims that while on the operating table he went to heaven and that he met his great-grandfather Pop. Colton says his grandfather didn't look like the man in the photo in his house, but instead looked like the man in the picture sent months later by his Grandmother, a young man without glasses. ...

One day while Colton was playing he walked up to his mom, and out of the blue asked, "Mom, I have two sisters, you had a baby die in your tummy didn't you?" ... Todd and Sonja had never told their son about the miscarriage Sonja had before Colton was born. After all, it was more than a four-year-old would ever need to know.  Colton went on to tell his mom that she was a girl and, "she looked familiar and she started giving me hugs and she was glad to have someone in her family up there."

It's a bit hard to quote excerpts without slicing and dicing the article, so I recommend reading it at the link.  Very cool and inspiring story of a little boy who visited heaven and came back to tell about it.

[Mustang19]

After years of stories and new details, Todd's friends and members of his church started asking him to write his stories down. They encouraged Todd to write a book, which wasn't something he wanted to do or had any idea how to do.

He remembers praying about it, and he said he would only do it if the opportunity fell right into his lap.  It wasn't long after his prayer that a publisher called him.

Somebody's making money.

[General Battuta]

Near-death experiences are quite common, and appear to those of all religious orientations and persuasions. They share many common features, which has led to the partial but not yet complete description of the neurological reasons for the experience. Interestingly, NDEs lead to profound personality changes, often for the better; moreover, they can be induced in centrifuges to a quite startling degree of accuracy without even placing the subjects in danger of death.

There is nothing inherently mystical about them, but that probably won't stop this kid from selling his books.

[Goober5000]

Perhaps not about NDEs in general, but then how do you explain the kid knowing the details about his great-grandfather and his miscarried sister?

Also, if money was the point of this entire episode, I think they would have rushed the book to market a lot sooner than 7 years after the events in question.

[Black Wolf]

Would be much more impressie if he hadn't been brought up in a christian family, where he'd presumably altready been told what to expect when he died.

Now Colton's stories of Heaven are documented in a book titled "Heaven is for Real."

500,000 copies of the book have been printed and there are now talks of a movie.  Sonja says it's a lot for her small town family but they are seeing their story make a difference in many lives.

It'd be even more impressive if they weren't planning on making a potentially massive amount of money out of it.

Sorry Goob, definitely not convinced.

[EDIT]Too may people posting too quickly.

[General Battuta]

A combination of pre-existing expectations, self-interested parents feeding him information directly and indirectly, bad reporting, and retroactive fabrication on everybody's part, all spiced with a heaping helping of confirmation bias.

I don't think money's the entire point, they probably genuinely believe, but people also genuinely believe Mother Mary was in that toast.

[Mustang19]

Perhaps not about NDEs in general, but then how do you explain the kid knowing the details about his great-grandfather and his miscarried sister?

Also, if money was the point of this entire episode, I think they would have rushed the book to market a lot sooner than 7 years after the events in question.

They only began writing once publishers called them up. There are lots of people claiming stories like this and just because you claim to have one doesn't guarantee a publisher will want it right away.

Also, there are many, many NDEs every year and it would be unusual if none of them had interesting coincidences.

[Nuke]

a shock to that massive fractal of neurons called the brain will no doubt case you to see glowey things. ive had the same effect with leagal and less than legal drugs.

[Rodo]

If that's true then we can all be glad, there is a good place to go after we die.
If not, it's just another interpretation of the unknown.

I find myself believing that whatever we do in life is meaningfull, so bothering about the next step while the current one is unfinished...well, that's not how I like to do things.
I tend to look into the future, but not as much as to be worried about what's gonna happen when I die, maybe I'll think about that in a couple of years

[Kosh]

A combination of pre-existing expectations, self-interested parents feeding him information directly and indirectly, bad reporting, and retroactive fabrication on everybody's part, all spiced with a heaping helping of confirmation bias.

I don't think money's the entire point, they probably genuinely believe, but people also genuinely believe Mother Mary was in that toast.

This. Plus when the Air Force started experinmenting with spinning people around enough for them to blackout many of them had NDE's despite not being anywhere near death. Penn & Teller's Bull**** episode about this actually has footage of interviews with those people describing it. So nothing that can't be replicated.

[Nuke]

no doubt you stop seeing glowey things when your brain activity reaches zero.

[Rodo]

no doubt you stop seeing glowey things when your brain activity reaches zero.

Now that's being absolute!
I take it that you have already considered the possibility of your theory being wrong.

[Nuke]

my theory is that near death != death

[Mars]

no doubt you stop seeing glowey things when your brain activity reaches zero.

Now that's being absolute!
I take it that you have already considered the possibility of your theory being wrong.

I find the likelihood of it being a function of a brain in certain circumstances infinitely more likely than one's soul looking into another realm.

[sigtau]

Like I always said, if I'm wrong in being religious, oh well, it won't matter since I'll be dead anyway.  Otherwise, there's a happy place on the other side waiting for me and quite a few other people.

(inb4 criticism)

[Dark Hunter]

Like I always said, if I'm wrong in being religious, oh well, it won't matter since I'll be dead anyway.  Otherwise, there's a happy place on the other side waiting for me and quite a few other people.

 

As for the article, I'm skeptical, but I'm also open to the idea that it happened. Can't say definitively one way or the other.

I find the likelihood of it being a function of a brain in certain circumstances infinitely more likely than one's soul looking into another realm.

* Dark Hunter questions why it can't be both.

[blackhole]

It's really hilarious how much investment humans put into something that doesn't actually matter.

[Bobboau]

what? their continued existence, I can't think of anything that matters more to me.

I'm impressed that the religious among us have not yet played the "you don't want to believe" card.

[Solatar]

Indeed interesting things can tend to happen with NDEs.  Many of them share similar characteristics, but I haven't found a satisfactory answer to why some people seem to acquire knowledge they had no way of having.  Interesting article Goob, thanks for posting it.

Although I do have to say I'm with Nuke here. I've seen heaven too. 

When my time comes, it comes.  "Fate goes ever as fate must".  Study enough pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon literature and you start liking how they solve the 'problem of death'.

[sigtau]

I'm impressed that the religious among us have not yet played the "you don't want to believe" card.

It's more of a matter that the religious among us know better than that.  We're quite heavily outnumbered here.

Besides, that would be a dick thing to do.  You be comfortable in your beliefs, I'll be comfortable in mine.