Jesus Personage in Near-Death Experiences

Objective. The near-death experience (NDE) is an altered state of consciousness in which experients generally perceive that they are out of and/or away from their physical body during real or presumed life-threatening incidents and/or near-death circumstances. While this is occurring, experients can also sometimes encounter a presumed deity that usually relates to their cultural and/or religious background. The objective of this study was to explore such encounters with the Jesus personage as commonly occurs in Western NDEs in order to generate thematic elements and determine if such encounters are purposeful. Method. This study qualitatively analyzed 79 such encounters by means of a reflexive thematic analysis with an inductive approach exploring the manifestation, appearance, and function of such a personage. Results. Six themes were generated based on identified patterns in the data. The first theme was that the manifestation and appearance of the Jesus personage can vary greatly, whereas the other five themes were relevant to the personage function toward the experient, which can include interacting on a return to life, conveying an unfulfilled purpose, providing comfort and/or affection, instilling virtues, and divulging theological insight or prophetic revelation. Conclusions. An implication of these themes is that an encounter with the Jesus personage can result in beneficial effects by increasing the experients’ desire to live and enhancing their psychological wellbeing. Additional research is needed to explore exactly what occurs when experients from different cultures and/or religious backgrounds encounter other presumed deities and personages, and whether an analysis of such encounters generate comparable themes with the possibility of similar beneficial effects.