I often jokingly refer to myself as a recovering Catholic when it comes to faith, but that’s fairly close to the truth. I struggle a lot with the formal parts of faith: the rules that feel arbitrary and exclusionary, the lack of accountability on the church’s part for so many grievances. But I do still have faith, and I believe there is a higher power and the world just chooses a variety of ways to honor it. As a fairly facts-based person, I don’t think we can ignore the countless experiences people on the brink of death have. Hospice nurses have even witnessed people who have miraculously “come back” and reported something happening at the end of the line.
Recently, one woman who died for 27 minutes claims she, too, experienced it. According to the Daily Mirror, Tina Hines clinically died after going into cardiac arrest while getting ready to go hiking with her husband, Brian. He immediately began performing CPR until paramedics arrived and took over. During her ambulance ride to the hospital, Tina drifted in and out of consciousness but was stabilized. Upon fully waking up, Tina couldn’t speak, but frantically scrawled on a piece of paper “It’s real.”
Her family began trying to guess what she meant, her husband asking if she was referring to her pain or the hospital. But it was her daughter who guessed correctly when she asked “Is it heaven?” and Tina reportedly just nodded.
After waking up, she confirmed that she feels she experienced a glimpse of heaven, which included Jesus standing before her with outstretched arms. “The colors were so vibrant,” she said. “It was so real.”
Tina even wrote a book chronicling her experience called Heaven… It’s Real — How Dying Changes Living, and has remained steadfastly faithful that this is what she saw in her almost final moments.
Historically, near-death experiences have been recorded for centuries with Heraclitus, Democritus, and Plato, all writing on “revenants,” people who died then recovered. Scientifically, new near-death experience research indicates that 15% of people who have had cardiac arrest revivals report having a spiritual experience. The most common description they shared was seeing their body from above, traveling down a long, dark tunnel toward a light, and experiencing total peace and detachment.
While it may be a different experience for each individual, I think that lines up well with spending an eternity in a space you personally believed in. Guess we’ll all find out some day.
