More below on “History’s most profoundly humane insight/discovery”. A stunning new theology that was “his greatest contribution to the history of human ideas” (James Robinson).
Ongoing eruptions of the totalitarian impulse across Western liberal democracies, (illustrations) Wendell Krossa
This below from Michael Shellenberger’s “Public” site on the assaults on liberal democracy from the government and judicial branch in Brazil where, in a serious corruption of his judicial position, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been leading Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s persecution of political opponents, such as former president Jair Bolsonaro.
“Exclusive: New files show Brazil’s Supreme Court illegally used social media posts to frame pro-Bolsonaro protesters as insurrectionists: High court’s misrepresentation of January 8, 2023 riot as a “coup” is central to Lula government’s plans to stay in power”, David Agape, Eli Vieira, Aug. 4, 2025
https://www.public.news/p/exclusive-new-files-show-brazils
Comments from article:
“Political opinion (has been) effectively treated as a crime…. reports (on a demonstration by political opponents) did not show evidence of criminal activity and wrongdoing, but instead focused on protesters’ political speech and loyalty to Bolsonaro…. Moraes had expanded judicial powers to target political opponents… Moraes, the same judge who, twenty months later, ordered the shutdown of the social media platform X in Brazil for 40 days, and is now world-famous for banning journalists and opposition politicians from social media.”
Some are pushing back, like the former Justice Mello, and others, protesting that what Moraes has done in politicizing his judicial responsibilities…
“The body responsible for judgment cannot be the same one producing the evidence,” he said. “This represents an unconstitutional takeover of prosecutorial functions — a distortion typical of authoritarian regimes, where the law is weaponized as a tool of revenge.”
Other comment:
“In practice, the State is granting or denying freedom based on citizens’ ideological views,” he said. “That is incompatible with the Constitution, which upholds equality and prohibits all forms of political or ideological censorship.”
Comments of others in response to Moraes’ overreach:
“The Constitution does not grant it the power to control people’s ideologies. Citizens are free to think as they wish — even to oppose democracy itself. What the law allows is only the repression of specific criminal acts…
“Under Moraes’ authority, Brazil’s judiciary has become politicized to advance the goals of president Lula and his political allies…the Brazilian Supreme and Electoral courts, far from upholding free and fair elections, have undermined basic civil liberties, the Constitution, and the rule of law. By using political speech as a basis for incarcerating protesters, the courts justified arrests and prosecutions, manufacturing the appearance of a “coup.” Moraes’ continued prosecution of Bolsonaro, in coordination with president Lula, for this manufactured allegation, represents a major threat to democracy.”
(End of article quotes)
The same is occurring in Germany, Britain, and Canada with, for example, “Online Harm” bills that under “concept creep”, and ill-defined limits, now permit state overreach and prosecution of the political opinions and speech of opponents. This is also part of the ongoing Woke Progressive assault on liberal democracy, all the new eruptions of the old impulse to totalitarianism.
These from Wattsupwiththat.com
“New Study: Heatwave-related deaths have been declining in recent decades”, Kenneth Richards, No Tricks Zone, Aug.4, 2025
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/04/new-study-heatwave-related-deaths-have-been-declining-in-recent-decades/
Quotes:
“A 2018 study involving 305 locations across 10 countries (1985-2012) affirmed “a decrease in heat-mortality impacts over the past decades,” as “heat-related mortality [fractions, AFs] decreased in all countries.”
”The real risk is cold exposure. Since the 1980s humans have been 20 times more likely to die from exposure to excessively cold temperatures than to excessive heat.”
This from the article above…
“Cold weather kills far more people than hot weather”, The Lancet, May 20, 2015.
“Summary: Cold weather kills 20 times as many people as hot weather, according to an international study analyzing over 74 million deaths in 384 locations across 13 countries. The findings also reveal that deaths due to moderately hot or cold weather substantially exceed those resulting from extreme heat waves or cold spells.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150520193831.htm
There is the growing Chinese threat to our democracies. But this may be more treacherous- i.e. the inside threat from the “liberal”/leftist sector within our democracies. The totalitarian impulse that leftist Woke Progressive elites have unleashed against populist pushback for liberal democracy is the real “great threat to democracy”, a claim of threat that leftists project onto populism.
“Rogue spy agencies behind global war on democracy: House arrest of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro echoes attempts to incarcerate Trump and presidential candidates in France and Romania”, Michael Shellenberger, Aug.4, 2025
https://www.public.news/p/rogue-spy-agencies-behind-global
“Supreme Court Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, he has ordered the house arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro…
“This is not the first time that judicial activists around the world have sought to incarcerate and otherwise prevent a nationalist populist presidential candidate from participating in a democratic election. From 2021 to 2024, activist Attorney Generals, District Attorneys, and judges sought to incarcerate Trump on multiple trumped-up charges. In Romania last year, a European Union court prevented a right-wing populist presidential candidate from competing in the election. In France this year, a criminal court convicted the conservative populist presidential candidate. And in Germany, governing parties have openly called for banning the main conservative populist political party.
“But behind all of these different reasons are deep state operatives, including ones working for intelligence agencies opposed to the nationalist and populist policies that those candidates support. In the U.S., the evidence is now overwhelming that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the CIA, and the FBI worked together to frame Trump as controlled by Russia….
“As such, across the Western world, deep state intelligence organizations, the Left-wing political parties that weaponize them, and the mainstream news media organizations that disseminate their disinformation pose a clear and present threat to democracy….”
I posted the following on my Facebook page, Wendell Krossa
“My posting of articles on the ongoing uncovering of the corruption of the US democracy are to illustrate what is happening across Western democracies today- i.e. the assault on the basic freedoms and rights of all of us and how state agencies (intelligence agencies) are playing a role in this, along with mainstream media as propagandists for Woke Progressive leftism now gone extremist. This is about the freedoms of all of us.”
Also, this was posted on my Facebook site– “A brief explanation of the facts.”
“I saw this data years ago, but it was ignored entirely by mainstream media who exist to demonize the Orange Monster. It matters not what you think of the person. It matters what policies do to real people, especially to the poorest. This explains how the poorest benefitted most from his policies. The previous Office of Management and Budget reports (years ago) showed that the lowest quintile (poorest people) had the largest percentage median income gains under Trump. Overall, his policies in just the three years before Covid led to a $6400 gain in overall median income versus only about $6000 over the 8 years of Obama policies.
“This gives the lie to Nancy Pelosi’s endless rant that he only made the rich richer and all others poorer. Or that that he benefitted from “inheriting Obama’s economy”. No, his unique “lower taxes and decreased regulations” policies produced a unique economic boom for all.
These comments are not a fanboy thing for the Orange Monster, an exaggeration of the evil of the man which I have never believed because it was always so horrendously exaggerated and distorted to become such an endless lie.
I try to maintain an independent focus on the policies of people, on policies that affirm Classic Liberalism or liberal democracy principles, laws, and representative institutions that protect the freedoms and rights of all individuals, equally, that “serve the people” by constantly returning power to the people through decreasing taxes (returning free choice over personal assets to people) and decreasing regulations (getting state elites out of the lives of citizens, respecting the freedom and self-determination of average people).
The evidence of societal outcomes from such principles, laws, and institutions is that they are not fascist or dictatorial, contrary to the projections of woke progressives who went full-frontal totalitarian in using state agencies to censor their opponents as the Twitter Files revealed, along with other recent exposures by Tulsi Gabbard.
The fact some of these news reports are from what have been smeared as “rightwing” news sources speaks more to the fact that there has been a great switcheroo over past decades where the defense of social liberalism appears to have shifted to the moderate right while “cultural socialism” now dominates the left (Eric Kaufman in “The Third Awokening”).
Many of the new forums for news- i.e. podcasts, etc.- are actually often more libertarian or independent even if they are viewed as on the “moderate right” side of our social divide (and often smeared as “Far Right-wing”). But yes, we also maintain caution of the further right as having the same totalitarian impulses as on the mirror left side. Impulses that we all possess.
We all need Classic Liberal/liberal democracy principles, laws, and institutions to protect all of us from our own totalitarian impulses to meddle, control, and dominate others coercively and not persuasively, as in the messy protocols of democracy. We need the constant reminder that we are all equal and all must get the same rights and freedoms couched in our obligation to serve one another, not lord over one another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GCiunvT75U
Discussion of media bias over the past decade or so…
“Legacy media bias exposed and debated, and MAGA heir apparent rumblings, with Bevan and Walworth”, Megyn Kelly, Aug. 7, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJ7mH7mZ1s
Here Kelly discusses with guests how bias has dominated mainstream news media forums especially over the last 10 years or so. Mainstream media has become a form of highly partisan activism (i.e. part of “The Resistance”) that promotes leftist progressive ideology (i.e. woke leftist extremism). And the “journalists” promoting this ideology believe that they are neutral defenders of democracy and truth. The lack of basic self-awareness of their partisan biases is quite stunning.
News media has shifted into a form of venting tribal hatred of the differing other, often presenting what is little more than base vilification of the other side, with smearing, demonizing, and dehumanizing of disagreeing others. We see this in the titles of articles, in the words and terms used. And, as many have noted, there is an element of strong psychological “projection” going on through all this. Mainstream partisan media claim that it’s the other side that is distorting things and threatening democracy. As Dr. Drew said, “Every statement of projection is a confession of doing worse”.
The absence of self-awareness of bias along with the self-delusion of being heroes in a righteous battle against evil enemies would be entertaining if not for the consequences of profoundly distorting facts to support an ideological narrative that results in harmful outcomes for others. Plus the reinforcement of tribal division in society from constant exaggerated demonization of differing others as evil “threats to democracy” or being “Nazis, Hitlers, fascists, racists, etc.”.
I saw this denial of personal hyper-partisan bias in Pres. Obama when he would frame some issue as “I am standing for greater common good and truth while my disagreeing opponents are being partisan ideologues”. Unbelievable level of a lack of basic self-awareness as to personal ideology.
Many (all of us at times) just don’t get their confirmation biases and prefer to hold a narrative/worldview of themselves as heroes defending democracy against evil others/enemies- i.e. all who disagree- and because the demonized others are so irredeemably evil they deserve to be vilified, censored (as we saw on the Twitter files), and even criminalized (as we saw in the lawfare against Trump). Cancelled. Those doing this don’t seem to get how seriously they are assaulting basic freedoms like First Amendment free speech rights. They don’t appreciate that they are unleashing the totalitarian impulse, validating the expression of that impulse with a deformed version of the Hero’s Quest. Such is blinding impact of our belief systems.
A New York Times interviewer asked Megyn Kelly how we can be aware of bias. I would suggest a good hold on the Classic Liberal principles/laws that are related to the basic rights and freedoms for all people, equally. And support for representative institutions that function to actually serve people, not serve state bureaucrats taking money, and therefore choice, from citizens. And a close watch on state agencies to counter the trend of bureaucratic elites to endlessly regulate all details of life (i.e. as in excessive “climate alarmism” regulations that clog up economies and life). Classic Liberalism is about the principles, laws, and agencies that enable us to maintain fairness and freedom for all, equally.
Illustration of Classic Liberalism in practice? Javier Milei transforming former basket-case Argentina and much of what Trump is doing in the US. Leaders trusting average citizens to improve life by protecting their freedoms and rights such as private property rights. That protected freedom unleashes the human motivation to create businesses, jobs, and wealth.
Then contrast that success with socialist/collectivist approaches- notably how Chavezmo ruined Venezuela, one of the world’s formerly richest countries, reducing it to a basket-case disaster. That is what woke progressives (i.e. cultural socialism) want for Western liberal democracies. Increased state bureaucracies meddling in citizens lives to effect domination and control by elites who believe that they know what is best for all others. The most dangerous people in human societies and the real threat to democracy.
Now some more on “History’s most profoundly humane insight/discovery”. A stunning new theology that was “his greatest contribution to the history of human ideas” (James Robinson).
Just below are quotes from the NDE accounts posted on sites like NDERF, Wendell Krossa
The NDE movement offers some of the best affirmation of the central insight/discovery of Historical Jesus on theology- i.e. that God was unconditional love of a transcendently inexpressible nature. That was the “belief” element in Jesus’ use of the “behavior based on similar validating belief”, a coupling that humans have used across history in response to their impulse for meaning and purpose. The behavior/belief coupling operates in this manner- “We ought to live like this because our creator God is like this.” Deity functioning as the most authoritative embodiment of our highest validating ideals, as in “We become just like the God that we believe in”. (Or whatever else that you use as your highest ideal.)
The full illustration of how Jesus used this coupling can be seen in Luke 6:27-36. He sets forth a list of behaviors and then concludes- “If you do this, you will be acting just like God acts… So be merciful like this, just as your Father is merciful in this manner”. Meaning- the best of human behavior reveals the nature of God. Theology based on the best of being human.
But NDEs? Yes, they are the singularly unique experiences in the latest historical phase of human spirituality/religion. Nothing else out there in the history of human experience and knowing gets anywhere near as close to the core theological discovery of the Historical Jesus- i.e. that God was unconditional reality.
But, some argue, they are personal “subjective” experiences. Yes, just like the experiences of the founders of all great religious movements across history, whether Moses, Buddha, Paul, Muhammad, or others.
(The next few paragraphs are a poke at the sometimes arrogance of dogmatic philosophical materialists that they alone are qualified to make the right conclusions, based on their understanding of science, conclusions that they claim are more credible, more rational, than the conclusions that the less-educated make from their intuitions of the metaphysical “spiritual”. And yes, it’s a weak argument for some sort of equivalence. But the “wise” will get my drift.)
Further, let’s not ignore the “spiritual/philosophical” (as in human subjectivity) element that permeates throughout science, notably even in the hardest of sciences- i.e. physics. Sabine Hossenfelder’s conclusion (“Lost In Math”) was that many theoretical physicists regularly cross the science/philosophy barrier to speculate on ultimate reality, according to their criterion of “beauty in math”.
So also in his books “Mass” and “Farewell to Reality”, physicist Jim Baggott noted how much speculation goes on about invisible, unknowable realities (metaphysical) even in hard science. This is true of unproven “multiverse” theory, or the 95% of reality in our cosmos that we can’t see (“dark energy/matter”), and the quantum realm.
Point? Even science has limits and won’t get us to the answers to our great questions on ultimate reality, and its nature, and how that shapes our impulses to meaning and purpose. Those answers appear to forever remain in the realm of speculation on the “spiritual”, despite endless affirmations of philosophical materialists that the materialist TOE answers are just over the horizon.
None of this is to deny the great value of most science in getting the nature and habits of material reality right and overturning irrational religious views of reality and life. This practical outcome of science has resulted in the immense improvement of humanity and all life.
Most human speculation remains guided by “faith” or “belief”, as many term it.
Back to human experiences– Critical to any human experience is to evaluate the content and outcomes of such spiritual experience or belief. The entirety of religious traditions across history, based on the personal experiences of their founders, have missed the insight of Jesus into the nature of ultimate reality as unconditional love. Paul missed it worst of all in his retrograde Christ myth.
A few prophets in the Old Testament had before Jesus intimated the direction that their humane consciousness was pointing to- i.e. to an ultimate reality/deity that rejected the brutality of blood sacrifice for atonement. They were early rejecters of threat theology.
Jesus then made the complete breakthrough discovery and presented it clearly, till Paul’s Christ buried Jesus’ theological breakthrough some two decades after his murder.
And since the time of Jesus, only the NDE movement has gotten that “diamond” discovery of Jesus right. The discovery of Jesus on unconditional deity, now affirmed by the NDE movement, this theological insight has been neglected or outright denied by theologians because it undermines entirely all the conditions of religious traditions. Unconditional deity spells the very end of conditional religion itself. Meaning that the Historical Jesus was a non-religious wisdom sage. His teaching and precepts on common human life and behavior are applicable to all of us, religious or atheist.
The great fraud of historical religion is that it has never presented to humanity the true nature of God as no conditions love. It has buried that actual reality across the millennia. Because religion depends for its existence on religious conditions backed by an angry God threatening punitive destruction to any not submitting to the conditions set forth by the religious authorities/elites.
Most egregious– The neglect and denial of the central Jesus insight by world religions has left too many people still enslaved to the consciousness-darkening and personality-deforming impact of primitive threat theology. We are now without excuse as historians have done the homework and warned us of the horrific outcomes that bad religious ideas have produced across history as people, incited and validated by the themes of “apocalyptic millennial” salvation religions, have launched apocalyptic crusades like Marxism and Nazism, and others.
We have a litany of horrific outcomes from severely deformed ultimate ideals such as those embodied in threat theology- i.e. tribal gods, dominating lords/kings, and punitive destroying judges- validating the same base impulses in humans. Think again of Harold Ellens’ comments on how bad religious ideas deform human personality and lead to outcomes such as validating violence. Remember his pointed conclusion: “If your God uses violence to solve problems (as in atonement religion) then so may you.”
Back to the NDEs…
Ignore the varied quirky personal details in some accounts as people interpretate and explain their experiences in terms of their personal beliefs. Just note the central thing running through most such experiences- i.e. the experience of inexpressibly wondrous unconditional love. That is the main discovery.
There is no other comparable source in the arena of human experience/knowledge that so clearly affirms the central Jesus insight and contribution to humanity- i.e. that there is no ultimate threatening deity, no judgment, no exclusion of anyone, and no punitive destruction in religious hells. There is only love awaiting everyone. Put that in your background narrative.
Everything else in human knowing and life should be understood and explained in terms of that ultimate reality of inexpressible love. It revolutionizes everything.
And as this site argues- Belief in an unconditional God does not point to irresponsible pacifism in the face of violence and evil in this world. Human development in this world demands full responsibility for actions. In other words- consequences matter.
If people irrationally choose violence toward others, then they must be incarcerated in order to protect others. The most basic responsibility of any state is to protect the safety, peace, freedom and independence of all citizens.
Nothing rings truer of the authentic nature of ultimate love than the feature of unconditional. If “God is love” as in the highest, most transcendent form of love; if God is ultimate goodness and supremely humane, then nothing better defines such goodness and love than the feature of unconditional. It is simply our highest conception of goodness and love and therefore of ultimate truth and reality.
Again, the issue is not whether an experience is “in body” (as in the brain) or “out-of-body”. The truthiness of human experience is not found in the varied personal details or quirks of such experiences. The “truth” factor is found in the content of the experience. If people state that they saw the reality of unconditional love at the core of all, then that is the value of the experience in affirming what Jesus taught.
The NDE accounts below, along with the list of brief statements pulled from other accounts, graphically illustrate what Historical Jesus taught as his singular insight into the nature of God.
And as I have stated before, my position on these personal experiences is that our personal consciousness of ourselves is the most real thing that we know and may be the only “real” thing in the cosmos. I would affirm the physicists, some accused of being too “Woowoo”, who said that the new pyramid of reality has consciousness at the base, with physics on top of that, then chemistry, and biology, and finally sociology/anthropology at the top. Consciousness as the most basic reality of all.
Again, all great movements and belief systems in history are based on the personal experiences of their founders. And the critical issue is not the type or location of the experience- i.e. Moses’ flaming bush or mountain top revelations, Paul’s Damascus road revelations, Buddha under the tree, or Muhammad’s cave experiences. The critical issue is the content of any experience. Does it get us to the highest and most profoundly humane understanding of love as unconditional? If any experience points us to that, then the experience may be considered most true and real.
Other elements that point to the ‘truthiness’ of these experiences:
Consciousness is the fundamental reality and we are essentially one with the larger creating/sustaining Consciousness. We come from that Consciousness. And these NDE people speak of hyper-lucidity beyond the normal daily “awake consciousness” that we experience here, something infinitely more real than our awareness in material reality on this planet. They are experiencing some form of reconnection with the Ultimate Consciousness at the basis of all other reality. And that Consciousness we have long known as “God” is love of an inexpressibly wondrous nature.
As you read through the NDE statements below contrast them with the basic nature of Paul’s Christ myth:
In the following paragraphs I have listed several New Testament (NT) statements on the Christ to set the contrast with the NDE affirmations of Jesus’ stunning new theology. Note how the features of NT Christology emphasize divine threat, judgment, the conditions of salvation religion, and harshly retributive justice ending in the severest punishment/destruction for any free spirits refusing to bow to the threats of salvation religion.
As there are so many of these statements throughout the NT, I will only quote an illustrative sampling.
These contrast entirely with the unconditional love that historical Jesus advocated where there is no judgment, no demand for salvation conditions, and no threat of punishment, etc.
The main features of Paul’s Christ:
Matthew in later chapters states that the Christ will not forgive varied sins and will cast the offenders into outer darkness (hell) where there will be gnashing of teeth, the severest of eye for eye retaliatory vengeance. Where Jesus had stated earlier in Matthew 5, to the contrary, that there should be no “eye for eye” retaliation but instead “love of the enemy” because God does not retaliate but loves enemies, inclusively and unconditionally “giving sun and rain to both good and bad people”.
Paul, in Romans, established the basis for submitting to his atoning Christ myth, by repeatedly warning of the “wrath of God” and coming judgment and destruction. He continued those warnings throughout his other letters. He threatened eternal condemnation for unbelievers in Galatians 1:9, and divine destruction in Galatians 6:8, among other similar statements.
He warned of wrath and destruction in his Thessalonian letters (his earliest writing)- “Lord Jesus will come in blazing fire to punish with eternal destruction and exclusion all unbelievers”.
The NT crescendo of threat theology peaks in the gore of Revelation’s presentation of divine wrath, exclusion, and destruction, notably in the vivid portrayal of the Christ with enraged eyes of fire, a sword coming out of his mouth to slay enemies and the resulting bloody robe, followed with the “rod of iron to rule with eternal totalitarianism”, all expressed in the summary statement that the Christ is “trampling out the fury of the wrath of God”.
Now look at the stunning contrast with the unconditional love that was presented by Jesus and is affirmed in the statements below from NDErs. This unconditional love, nonreligious love, gets to the heart of the contrast between Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ.
These quotes from scattered NDEs give the sense of the dominant and all-permeating presence of love and that it is stunningly inexpressible unconditional love. This is what Historical Jesus presented two millennia ago. These statements are mainly from the NDERF site which has hundreds more.
“Each one of us is loved deeply and unconditionally by a totally loving God.”
“’God is love’ becomes profoundly understood in the depths of our being.”
“There is no judgment… There is no punishment, no reward. We judge ourselves. In the life review we must feel the effects of our actions on all others we have encountered. Their feelings become our own.”
“I felt the presence of pure love. This is very hard to describe. Everything made sense: God exists, God is love, we are love, and love creates all that is… I was surrounded by pure love. I was warm and comforted.”
“I know love is all there is and that God loves all… deeply and equally.”
“God loves us all infinitely.”
“Love was everywhere. It permeated the afterlife. It was incredible.”
“I know the being I met was composed in its very atoms of a substance I can only call love and that substance created, or was a force or power, like electricity is here. Love is the only word I have.”
“It was total love. Everything is love.”
“I felt pure love and tenderness and the feeling of safety.”
“Everything was love.”
“Love is the root of all… love is everything.”
“We are here for that purpose… life is to learn love.”
“Love was everywhere. I felt it through and through.”
“During the experience everything was love. I was love. The Light was love. It was awesome.”
“The feeling of lightness was truly incredible. It was such a relief to be outside my body… A place of pure love, glowing ethereal beauty. Things were vividly alive with energy. There is no religion there- no separation based on religion.”
“I was enveloped in love, complete and unconditional love and compassion, as if I was the most precious of children. I encountered a very powerful but totally loving Being.”
“There is no judgment… (It) was simply existing within a love beyond mortal understanding.”
“I felt peace, tranquility, happiness, joy… I felt safe, sure, in unity with everything, a part of something immense.”
“It was so calming and filled with love. It was a thousand times better than the love you experience on earth.”
“Our purpose in life is to love.”
“As I approached the Light, I felt myself unfold like a flower, although I had no body. The love I felt was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I was enveloped by this light and felt one with everything, all seeing, all knowing. “God is love”- the love was like an energy that connected every molecule in the universe.”
“I was free of the body, free of the stress of a physical existence. I no longer felt fear or loneliness, or emotional pain. There are no human words to describe this. It was a total immersion in God’s love, in his light, in the presence of God himself- immersed in God… only pure love and infinite wisdom, untold forgiveness and acceptance.”
“When you are out of your body you are pure love.”
“God does not judge us… All I felt was his total acceptance of me with absolutely no judgment at all. He is all love, completely love, and he showered that love totally on me and through me. I felt so complete and whole.”
“We come into this world to gather experience.”
“We are meant to contribute love to the world in one way or another.”
“Each one of us is loved deeply and unconditionally by a totally loving God.”
“I felt God as an all-encompassing presence- complete, total, and unconditional love in its highest form. I was surrounded by God’s unconditional love, which was so much greater than human love. I was given the knowledge that God is real and loves me unconditionally. He exists and is real and he is love.”
“I came to realize that God is more loving and caring than I could ever imagine.”
“The entire encounter was about God, the ultimate power of God and God’s forgiveness. The message was- Love is the greatest power in the universe.”
“Love was everywhere. It permeated the afterlife. It was incredible. I was loved unconditionally despite my faults and fears.”
“All of it was unconditional… no judgments whatsoever attached.”
“I was loved, and it was unconditional. We on earth have no concept of true love.”
“A love so great and peaceful, it enveloped my whole being.”
“Love and energy is what the other side is based on.”
“It is unconditional love.”
“The bright white Light was complete and total unconditional perfect love.”
“I felt total love, unconditional love. Absolutely no fear at all.”
“The entire experience was one of unfathomable love.”
“Love is all that is… the word love is only the closest word we have. It’s not really accurate but I cannot do any better with our language.”
“We are here for that purpose… life is to learn love.”
“Love was everywhere. I felt it through and through.”
“All is love and everything is love.”
“Unconditional love and forgiveness is what the universe and life are all about.”
“Love is the most powerful, permeating feeling. I learned that love is everything, the oneness that binds us all together. God is in every one of us as love.”
“Love is what life is all about.”
“I felt the love of God is in each of us and that love is unconditional.”
“I felt I had found the eternal fountain of love and I was splashing around in it. The overwhelming vibe from the Light was love. It felt like love was the glue holding everything together.”
“God is not about religion or rituals. No human can ever love with the love I felt in that Light. It is all-consuming, all forgiving. Nothing matches it.”
“Death is love.”
“Everything is love.”
“God’s love is pure and unconditional. This came through very clearly.”
“I was safe and surrounded by love that I could not even fathom.”
“I was wrapped up in the indescribable bliss I felt from head to toe. It was not like love on earth. It was intensified by a trillion. It makes you happy times a trillion.”
“God is love. It is beyond words. I have not seen that kind of love in this life.”
“Love is all there is.”
“God is love and everything that exists is because of the pure unconditional love. I was surrounded by pure love.”
“A feeling of overwhelming love.”
And so on in thousands of these experiences.
Now a few of the fuller accounts from NDERF:
Peter N near-death experience, after a serious motorcycle accident. These quotes from Peter’s account are pulled from his much longer and detailed explanation.
“My sense of ease and of peace was of a type that I had never known prior to this state. It really did feel as if I had cast off something, which could only be described as sheer weight. I had a sense of completeness of self that I had never known before. Such peace that here it would be unbelievable. Compared to there even the most at ease among us is nothing but a twitching struggling creature feigning a sense of peace. I also became aware that I seemed to have lost my sense of time; everything had a sense of magnified immediacy that is just not possible to describe…
“I was lying, suspended, drifting in nothing but light. Everywhere around me was light. There was nowhere that was not light. Light as far as I could see. Light, I knew, further than I could see. This light was very bright but in no way at all did it hurt my sight. This light had a singular property that is indescribable in the extent and scope of its sheer magnitude. The singular property of this light was one of absolute love. This love was utterly unreserved, completely unbounded, and utterly infinite in its scope.
“This love was possessed of a personality of which I could feel with every fiber of my being flow into me, through me, touching every single part of me. There was no part of me that was not touched by this love. There was no part of me that was not to its completely essential core utterly permeated by this love. I know of no sensation ever given to me that in any way approaches the extent of the sensation freely extended to me by this being without reservation. This being, this light, was total love.
“Within that, total love there came also the knowing of the intelligence and wisdom of this being for I was bathed and permeated by this also. The extent of the intelligence and wisdom of this being, of this light, was utterly indescribable other than to call it infinite. This intelligence and wisdom was of a magnitude that knew that there was nothing that was out with its compass. It knew there was nothing of which it was not aware, that knew there was nothing that was out with its scope.
“As someone sitting here trying (and failing) to write about the un-writeable I have no option but to drop the pen and say that in the extent of its power and its magnitude without limit this being was awesome in its beauty. There are no words that can describe this being and its sheer magnificence in its magnitude. However, it has to be said, that all of this, all that it was capable of, all that it did, all that it gave, could be reduced to its essential quality, all of it was poured into this one quality without reservation: it was sheer unalloyed love absolute. And this indescribable beauty of it moved through every part of me as if I were being permeated by the very shining itself…
“Suddenly, almost instantaneously, on this light exploding, coming into being around me, my sense of expansion of self-rocketed to unbelievable proportions, it was as if I had just suddenly exploded outwards in all directions; I could not identify where my ‘self’ was. (This happened very, very quickly on this light coming into being.) It was in this state that I first became aware of wave upon wave upon wave of love moving into and through me from every spatial direction imaginable. I became aware of love coming into being inside me and radiating from me in wave upon wave upon wave without remission, and directed at, I knew not what.
“Then I became aware of the presence of a being of a power, magnitude and intelligence that was utterly indescribable and that was this light that I now knew to be here. (What I am trying to indicate here is that on first finding myself ‘inside the light’ is that I ‘exploded’ in size to unbelievable magnitude and that, in terms of having an identifiable ‘form’ I just completely disappeared. Literally, I became one with what that light was, strange though it may sound it was as if I in some way became the light, I was completely merged with it. That lasted I do not how long, it could have been twenty seconds, it just as easily have been for eternity.
“Once that ‘having no form of my own’ ended it was like I re-formed into an identifiable form ‘out of the light’, as though I was extruded from it, though I was still in the light and still experienced myself to be, psychologically, massive in size, but I had ‘regained’ an identifiable form. Sorry, I’m finding this extremely difficult to put in words. It was like, briefly, becoming the light itself, and losing form because of that, then, once that part was over, reforming again but still being left in the light.)
“Then it came upon me that I knew I was inside this being and it inside me. We were merged so that there was no separation – and yet I also knew that I existed, as did it, as a discrete entity…
“I transmitted (communicated) my thought-feeling sense of reverence and thankfulness to this being. It was not necessary for me to do this as it already knew. It did however thank me for this with more love, which I knew it would not have withheld anyway. I surrendered myself to this being, I wanted to be open to this being, I wanted to be so close to this being forever. We united in mutual love. I could not begin to describe the comprehensiveness of this union. There is no union like this in ordinary existence between people on Earth.
“This is love expressed with no barrier of any form between the direct experience of the love of the other which is now not other. The sensations generated by union in this condition are beyond belief in their scope and in their subtlety. Again, it is only explainable by metaphor. I remind the reader of the ‘one, two or three instruments’ analogy. Here was an entire philharmonic orchestra composed of millions upon millions upon millions of instruments.
“I have mentioned before that communication here is by direct transference of thought-feeling to the extent that thought and feeling are not separate facets of a communication. I have also mentioned that this is an incredibly subtle form of communication system. Likewise, I have mentioned that the whole is conducted in a fashion which can (with the limited means available to me for description) be compared to the unfolding of a musical score which is literally being played as it is constructed and that there is never a mis-note or dis-chord played as it is constructed.
“I have also said that (to use the musical analogy) the range of ‘instruments’ available and the tonal effects possible because of that are beyond comparison with anything known to us here. I have also said that out of the communications of individuals, a single meta-communication arises out of the multiplicity of the individual communications and all are placed in a situation of communicating with the meta-communication too. It should be borne in mind that all of this happens as a synchronicity. This is not of the nature of a (wordy) linear discourse, as we know it.
“That meta-communication seemed always to be played out (or land at, if you like) a single unifying theme; that unifying theme was always love. This was not a dominating constraint – to all it was always most welcome, most held in high regard – this is, if you like, the culminating point of all communication in this place – love. This, if you like, is the living essence of the harmony among the ‘stars’ (those beings, lights, whatever they were): this communication system that always culminates (though it is an ongoing process and hence does not end) in never-ending love.
“It is impossible to describe the subtlety of this type of communication system. However, for what I am trying to describe here it is very important to realize that this system is so dynamic and so subtle that a single communication for a single individual can contain thousands of strands all playing on each other instantaneously and always culminating in love. Thus, it should be realized that from a single communication many things can be transmitted within (if one likes) that unifying theme.
“As I first became aware of myself within this being of light (after I had ‘re-formed’) and its communication to me of absolute love (and of all that I have written of above) it was made clear to me as part of that ‘initiating’ communication to me that ‘we’ were now to take part in a ‘judgment’. This was made completely clear to me. This did not worry me in any way whatsoever. (When I say ‘judgment’ I would very much underline that there was no prospect of any kind of condemnation involved in this.) I felt so at ease, so nurtured, so wrapped and rapt in the care and concern of this being for me that I knew it would never ever do anything to harm me. I knew that this being was not human.
“This being I knew was so unspeakably far above the human that it is impossible to qualify or quantify it in human terms. I knew this being to be utterly powerful yet that I was to be ‘judged’ in no way concerned me at all. In fact, I welcomed it. I welcomed this because I knew that this being was total love. This being despite its magnitude and its power I knew without question was completely benign. There was nothing that this being would ever do to me to harm me – ever. This being was in fact – of its own essence born of the extent of its intelligence and of the sheer depth of its wisdom – incapable of condemnation. To be ‘judged’ by this being is to be exposed to its total love for you.
“As this being, this light, conjoined me in and with its love, and I returned mine to it, so that both merged together so that neither existed except the two in the one I knew (it did let me know) that it was ‘looking’ for something. It was feeling its way through and around me (though I stress it was also it in me, or me in it) searching for that upon which ‘judgment’ could be made. This needs some qualification.
“It has to be realized that this ‘judgment’ is not a matter of the sole-discretion of this being. This ‘judgment’ is still conducted within the parameters that I have attempted to describe above of the communication system there. This ‘judgment’ is one in which that individual who is being ‘judged’ is utterly and intimately involved in their own ‘judgment’.
“I have since having had this experience read of some other accounts of this part of the death process and have read that some people actually see images or aspects of their lives played out for them, as if a ‘review’ was being made. This did not happen to me. Yet I did know that I was being ‘judged’, or rather that I was participating in a ‘judgment’. I knew that this light, this beautiful being was ‘sifting through me’. Looking for something, gauging something, vibrations, frequencies, taking them into its love, knowing the whole.
“This did not feel intrusive, I was happy for this being to ‘look at me’ in this way, I welcomed it, and loved it for this thing. And I knew that it was on this thing that ‘judgment’ was based. This is ‘judgment’ based on the essence of you within an intimacy that would simply be impossible on any understanding we have in ordinary life. This ‘judgment’ has as its basis the answer to a single question that would translate to something quite precise – ‘What is, was, the essence of your love?’ If you like, in a summative sense of the whole, what vibration, or frequency, did your love resonate at? Wave after wave after wave of love washed through me from this being – and I returned this to it. Then there was what I can only describe as something like a pause, it was clear that the ‘judgment’ was over.”
Bobbie NDE:
“The greatest emphasis of this experience is love. You are so totally engulfed with a love that does not exist in our physical world. No matter how deep a love you feel for your children, it does not compare with this love. This love is the purest, truest, deepest, totally unconditional love that you could ever imagine. It knocks your socks off. When you receive this love it is not comprehended with your mind. It is felt by your soul. And that immense feeling of this perfect love shoots straight into your heart, as a feeling that you experience. It can bring your soul to its knees. It is totally overwhelming in the best way imaginable.” Etc.
Will S NDE:
“I saw a light in the distance. At first, it appeared to be moving slowly towards me; then I was suddenly being drawn towards it. In an instant, it was fairly close to me and began to intensely glow; like burning magnesium, only ten times brighter. The light had gorgeous golden, almost yellow, tendrils swirling around it. The color at its core was pure white. As the light hovered in front of me, I could hear a high-pitched ringing sound. I experienced the most profoundly overwhelming, astonishing, indescribable feelings of unconditional love, peace, joy, understanding, and acceptance.”
Jeff H NDE:
“God showed me what he was. Not a man or woman or any physical form. God is pure love. Pure super bright white light of energy is the best I can explain it. God is everything and everywhere and we are a part of God. God is in all of us, good and bad.”
April W NDE:
“There was a very large presence that was LOVE. It was so big, strong and it was everywhere. It was like the sunshine from the sun in that it could be felt and absorbed because it permeated everything. At that point, I could not think or feel because the love was that BIG. Love dominated everything. Yet, all knowledge, all time, and all being one were still not everything to this experience. The feeling of Love was so strong, it was the energy force that everything ran on. Every inch of millions of galaxies was full of the power of love. It was extreme and too much for me, but I wanted nothing other than to continue this experience and feel the love.”
Frederic R NDE:
“Almost immediately I felt a vertical movement without knowing if it went up (or down) and all the stones transformed into light. I found myself in the middle of a light of an inconceivable intensity. Compared with this light, the sun when looking it in the face looks like a weak electrical light bulb. This light was of a total transparency, to the point that normal light seemed dense and compact in comparison. Because of my feeling I knew without the smallest doubt that this light was God (while I was an atheist…) in the same way as you don’t doubt the existence of the sun when you receive its beams. I couldn’t reason intellectually anymore, I only sensed things. This light was loving me with unconditional love and it wasn’t judging me. It made me totally transparent for myself, I saw the truth about myself without being able to lie to myself.”
And so much more….
Main contradictions between Jesus and Christ (updated March 2025)
Here again is my list of some of the main contradictions that highlight the oxymoronically opposite themes in the messages of Historical Jesus and Paul’s Christ mythology. The point I draw from this? The themes of Paul have shaped Western consciousness, narratives, and overall societies for the past two millennia (conclusion of historians/scholars like James Tabor). The Jesus themes have influenced us to a lesser extent, mainly moderating the harsher features of Paul’s Christ:
(1) Unconditional love (i.e. no sacrifice demanded in Jesus original message- i.e. the “Q Wisdom Sayings” gospel). Versus the highly conditional atonement religion of Paul (i.e. the supreme condition of the sacrifice of a cosmic godman- the Christ).
(2) Nonretaliation in Jesus (no more ‘eye for eye’ justice but ‘love the enemy’ because God does not retaliate but loves and includes enemies- as in sun and rain for all alike). Versus supreme divine retaliation in apocalypse and hell myths. Note Paul’s theology of a supremely retaliatory deity- “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay’, says the Lord” (Romans 12), and his “Lord Jesus returning in fire to destroy all who don’t believe Paul’s Christ myth” (Thessalonians).
(3) Restorative justice (again- no eye for eye) versus punitive, destroying justice.
(4) Nonviolent resolution of problems (again, no retaliation against enemies) versus the violent destruction of apocalypse and hell, and the violent pacification of deity by blood sacrifice for atonement.
(5) Nontribal inclusion of all humanity (“sun and rain given freely to both bad and good people”) versus the highly tribal favoritism toward true believers and the discriminatory exclusion of unbelievers as per Paul’s Christ (Note the ultimate tribal divide illustrated in Revelation as the eternal division of humans- assigned either to heaven or to hell, as per the cosmic dualism of Zoroaster).
(6) Nondomination in relationships (“If you want to be great then serve others”) versus ultimate eternal domination by Lord Christ with his rod of iron totalitarianism (“every knee shall bow… He will rule them with an iron scepter”).
(7) Non-dualism (God as the Oneness of Ultimate Reality that is love) versus eternal dualism (i.e. again, the cosmic dualism of “God and Satan”, “heaven and hell”). Also, ultimate Oneness means no separation of humanity from deity, but all humanity indwelt by God as inseparable from the common human spirit. The real life of each of us, with that divine love defining our true self/person.
And so on…
You cannot mix and merge such opposites in the one and same person- i.e. “Jesus Christ”- as that supremely oxymoronic combination creates such profound cognitive dissonance that you are left with a mental state akin to insanity or madness. And the egregious thing in the mix is that the good elements (i.e. the Jesus insights) are distorted and buried by the primitive and darkening elements in the Christology of Paul.
Applying Christology to Jesus (i.e. the divinizing of a common man over the first few centuries of Christianity) has effectively buried the potency of his liberating insights, notably his stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory, non-apocalyptic God. That truth expressed in his entirely new view of deity, though still present there in summaries of his statements (see Matthew 5, Luke 6), that “stunning new theology” is no longer clearly visible to most people’s minds because the larger New Testament context emphasizes Paul’s retaliatory, apocalyptic Christ. Paul was intent on straightening Jesus wisdom sayings out with his “secret wisdom of the Christ” correcting the ignorant/foolish worldly wisdom of Jesus and his followers, like Apollos (see 1 Corinthians for Paul’s rant against the wisdom tradition of Jesus).
Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy both nailed the contradiction between Jesus and Paul in the bluntest of terms and no one has been as clear and direct since, perhaps because their comments are so offensive to true believer’s sensibilities. Few since have paid attention to their clarifying the stark contrast between Jesus and Paul, preferring instead the religious reformism that tinkers around the edges and gets nothing done, that avoids the central issue of theology- how Paul’s Christology deformed Jesus and his message.
