Is there proof of the afterlife?

timberlandko wrote:

All there is for evidence is what Lamon's daughter says Lamon said that Lincoln said to Lamon. Take that for what you will.

This is the heart of the matter with any of the "evidence" presented here of paranormal experiences--it is all hearsay evidence. It is all an account by an individual who may be either self-deluded, or venal (people do make damned good money out of the credulous with accounts of the paranormal)--as well as that it might be true. Furthermore, as the Big Bird is pointing out here, a great deal of it is at second- or third-hand.

Finally, on the subject of premonitory dreams--people common go through five to six sleep cycles per night, each one of which ends with REM (rapid eye movement, characterized as "dreaming sleep" by sleep researchers). There are presently more than 300 million people living in North America. Even if one assumes only a single dream per sleep cycle, that's more than one and a half billion dreams per night--and therefore, more than five hundred billion per year. When Duke University had a department of parapsychology (they no longer do), the Rhine Center for Parapsychology received between one and two hundred reports of fulfilled premonitory dreams per year. Even if one multiplies that figure by 1000 (and ignores that there is no way of verifying the validity of the claims), 200,000 premonitory dreams out of more than 500 billion dreams each year is not a statistically significant sample--and the figure wasn't 200,000, it was fewer than 200.

These sorts of things represent the classic example of the fallacy of the enumeration of favorable circumstances. Every time some one dreams of disaster, and no disaster takes place, they immediately do not run out to tell the whole world that they dreamed of their own death, yet they still live.

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What could possibly count as proof of an afterlife? If someone tells me he died and came back to report on his afterlife experience, FOR ME that would constitute only a claim, not a form of proof or evidence. But FOR HIM his experience might constitute "adequate" proof. In Science, proof is public; in religious experience it is private.

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strange odor
My mother's nurse friend works in the ICU of the hospital. She said shortly before a person dies there's a strange odor in the room- an odor which isn't present at other times. She thinks this odor is Satan trying to win the soul of the person before they finally die. Also this other woman came to people's bedsides in her village shortly before they die. She also said there's a strange odor present shortly before the person dies- this odor isn't present at other times. What do you think of this? I haven't witnessed this myself because I have never been near a person during their last moments. Has anyone else heard of something like this?

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Re: strange odor

ll333 wrote:

My mother's nurse friend works in the ICU of the hospital. She said shortly before a person dies there's a strange odor in the room- an odor which isn't present at other times. She thinks this odor is Satan trying to win the soul of the person before they finally die. Also this other woman came to people's bedsides in her village shortly before they die. She also said there's a strange odor present shortly before the person dies- this odor isn't present at other times. What do you think of this? I haven't witnessed this myself because I have never been near a person during their last moments. Has anyone else heard of something like this?

I would imagine that there are probaby many strange odors present when someone dies. All of the functions of the body stop working, your bowels release, your body starts to stop processing foods, minerals, etc. I'm sure it possible that your breath may change as your body stops processing as much oxygen. Maybe it develops a different odor because of the other processes that has stopped. I've heard that diabetic people develop the smell of alcohol on their breath if they are low on blood sugar, maybe the same thing happens when you die (or something similar), and their breath filling the room gives off a different odor. Or they crapped their pants.