Is Hell Real?

Examining Scripture with reverence

Provenance, not a verdict

The source library

Examine where a claim comes from, how deeply it has been reviewed, and what can be reproduced.

76 source catalog entries, not 76 independently verified experiences. Initial content is source-overview level; access and reuse rights remain separate from empirical verification. No licensed full transcripts are available.
Reference

NDERF — research archive

Major testimony discovery source; counts across related archives are not counts of independently verified NDEs.

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Reference

NDERF — data access and copyright policy

Currently declines new outside data-use requests and restricts copying and scraping. Plan around links, original commentary, and separately cleared material.

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Reference

IANDS — personal NDE accounts

Anonymously published testimony collection; seek specific cooperation before importing accounts.

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Reference

IANDS — research and registry

Research hub and potential institutional relationship; qualified-researcher access is not an automatic reuse license.

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Reference

IANDS — index to NDE literature

Useful specialist bibliography for discovering older literature, dissenting papers, and thematic research.

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Reference

UNT Digital Library — Journal of Near-Death Studies

Regional research resource in North Texas; scholarly journal archive with persistent identifiers. Examine item-level rights.

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Reference

UVA Division of Perceptual Studies — NDE research

University research program and entry point to investigators, publications, and research definitions.

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Noeticmap — experience explorer

Existing searchable experience platform. Study navigation and taxonomy; distinguish shared source records from independent corroboration.

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Noeticmap — terms

Review platform and underlying source restrictions separately before any proposed partnership.

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Reference

NDE Archive — project description

Another aggregation and analysis project. Its verification claims require examination; do not inherit them as your own.

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Scientific research

Greyson — The Near-Death Experience Scale (1983)

Foundational research instrument. A score classifies reported phenomenology; it does not establish heaven, hell, or honesty.

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Scientific research

Martial et al. — NDE-C scale (2020)

Expanded research instrument for experience content. Preserve instrument version and distinguish researcher-scored from inferred data.

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Scientific research

van Lommel et al. — prospective Netherlands study (2001)

Foundational prospective cardiac-arrest study. Read methods and limitations before extracting quantitative claims.

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Scientific research

Parnia et al. — AWARE I (2014)

Prospective awareness-during-resuscitation research; track interview stages and denominators.

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Scientific research

Parnia et al. — AWARE II (2023)

Prospective resuscitation research; report test results and denominators together.

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Scientific research

Xu et al. — dying human brain gamma activity (2023)

Physiological research relevant to possible mechanisms; neural findings alone do not reveal the content of an experience.

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Scientific research

Kovoor et al. — cardiac-arrest NDE scoping review (2024)

Evidence synthesis useful for locating primary studies and examining methodological variation.

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Scientific research

Martial et al. — NEPTUNE model (2025)

Neuroscientific explanatory model; label as a model with testable claims, not a settled explanation of every case.

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Scientific research

O’Grady and Varghese — critique of neurocentric models (2025)

Published correspondence questioning explanatory scope. Pair with the model and reply.

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Scientific research

Reply to limitations of neurocentric models (2025)

Authors’ reply in the same debate; preserve article relationships and disagreements.

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Scientific research

IANDS — pleasurable and distressing experiences

Helps separate reported emotional tone from theological claims about destination.

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Reference

Nancy Evans Bush — distressing-experience work

Lists Dancing Past the Dark and related work. Important research lead for distressing experiences, not Christian doctrine.

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Reference

John Burke — Imagine Heaven ministry and podcast

Christian synthesis, books, and interviews. Strong partnership prospect; assess each borrowed case at its earliest source.

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Reported experience

Don Piper — 90 Minutes in Heaven interview

Interview record for a widely known Christian testimony. Separate personal narrative from corroborated medical facts.

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Reported experience

Mary C. Neal — To Heaven and Back

Publisher record for memoir; useful acquisition and rights lead. Publisher description is not independent verification.

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Reported experience

Howard Storm — My Descent Into Death

Publisher record for a distressing-to-positive testimony. One reported event may appear in many later interviews.

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Reported experience

Bill Wiese — Soul Choice Ministries

Author calls his experience a vision. Catalog 23 Minutes in Hell as a claimed vision rather than a medical NDE.

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Reported experience

Mary K. Baxter — A Divine Revelation of Hell

Publisher describes claimed visions; separate visionary literature from cardiac-arrest studies.

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Reported experience

Mary K. Baxter — A Divine Revelation of Heaven

Companion visionary literature; theological and claim-level review needed.

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Reference

Bruce Greyson — After

Researcher’s popular account; distinguish book exposition from individual peer-reviewed findings.

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Reference

Raymond Moody — Life After Life and related books

Foundational popular literature and historical development of the field.

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Reference

Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry — Evidence of the Afterlife

Author-associated book resource; arguments must be traced to study design and original cases.

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Reported experience

Eben Alexander — Proof of Heaven

Publisher record for a prominent memoir. The title is a title, not an evidentiary grade.

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Reported experience

Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent — Heaven Is for Real

Publisher-issued announcement identifying the book; obtain the source edition and account before assessing claims.

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Reference

CBN — testimony collection

Christian interviews and story discovery. Media prominence and production quality do not establish independent corroboration.

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Reference

After Death — documentary

Documentary source to catalog and critique; license clips or link to official viewing rather than rehosting.

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Reference

Alex Malarkey — account retraction

Reported retraction of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. Retain correction context; do not confuse it with Heaven Is for Real.

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Interpretation

Randy Alcorn — Heaven

Christian exposition and questions about the New Earth. Label author inference separately from cited biblical text.

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Interpretation

BibleProject — Heaven and Earth

Visual biblical-theology resource and potential educational partner; attribution alone does not authorize reuse.

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Interpretation

BibleProject — Heaven and Hell series

Thematic teaching and podcast source; document speaker, episode, date, and individual interpretive claims.

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Interpretation

Four Views on Hell — second edition

Comparative theological source with contrasting positions; helps represent disagreement fairly.

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Interpretation

Rethinking Hell — statement on conditionalism

Primary statement of evangelical conditionalism; comparison material, not automatically the ministry’s position.

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Interpretation

Catholic Catechism — Heaven

Official Catholic doctrinal source for accurately attributed comparison.

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Interpretation

Catholic Catechism — Hell

Official Catholic doctrinal source; distinguish shared convictions from tradition-specific teaching.

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Interpretation

Orthodox Church in America — Heaven and Hell

Primary Orthodox presentation to consult when comparing Christian traditions.

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Interpretation

David Bentley Hart — That All Shall Be Saved

Publisher record for a universalist argument. Cataloging a position does not endorse it or imply consensus.

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Interpretation

Augustine — City of God, Book XXI

Historical Christian arguments about final punishment; preserve translation and edition details.

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Interpretation

Augustine — City of God, Book XXII

Historical treatment of resurrection and eternal happiness; source for reception history.

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Reference

Crossref — REST API

Bibliographic discovery, DOI matching, license fields, and publication relationships. Metadata access is not a full-text license.

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Reference

Crossref — Retraction Watch

Correction and retraction signals for scholarly works; editorial review still required.

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OpenAlex — documentation

Broader citation discovery and linked research. Check current authentication, pricing, and dataset terms.

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PMC — article datasets

Approved full-text access routes for eligible scholarly material; retain per-article license.

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Reference

PMC — copyright notice

Free-to-read does not mean unrestricted copying; approved bulk retrieval routes matter.

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Reference

World English Bible Updated — copyright

Public-domain English base candidate. Keep the translation name, edition, and verse wording intact.

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Reference

STEPBible Data

Original-language lexical and morphological datasets; useful for word studies and reference mapping.

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Reference

ESV API — conditions

API and quotation conditions for an optional licensed translation; display permission does not automatically resolve every AI use.

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Reference

API.Bible — terms

Bible-provider conditions include restrictions on training with copyrighted material. Assess retrieval, storage, and display separately.

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Reference

Biblica — publisher AI policy

Translation-owner AI terms illustrate why the project must check each provider and contract before ingestion.

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Reference

YouTube — captions download API

Authorized caption retrieval requires appropriate permissions; public watch access does not create a universal transcript-download API.

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Reference

Supabase — hybrid search

Keyword and semantic retrieval in Postgres; recommended starting point for verses and testimony passages.

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Reference

Supabase — RAG with permissions

Apply access controls to retrieval, including vector search; protect private submissions and records.

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Reference

Lovable — Supabase integration

Official docs warn that multiple Lovable projects sharing one Supabase project can overwrite shared secrets. Give backend ownership to one project.

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Reference

Cloudflare Stream — pricing

Video budgeting basis: storage in 1,000-minute capacity blocks and delivery by watched minutes. Verify again before purchase.

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Reference

Google — canonical URLs

Give each shared case one preferred canonical page, with distinct topic context on the sister site.

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Scripture

Revelation 21 — WEB Updated

New creation, God with his people, the New Jerusalem, and the end of sorrow; attend to apocalyptic genre.

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Scripture

Revelation 22 — WEB Updated

River, tree of life, worship, and invitation; imagery supports textual illustration, not verified photography.

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Scripture

Revelation 20 — WEB Updated

Judgment, the lake of fire, and the devil’s punishment; relevant to claims that Satan rules hell.

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Scripture

Matthew 25 — WEB Updated

Jesus’ teaching on judgment and eternal destiny; interpret within the full discourse.

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Scripture

Luke 16 — WEB Updated

Rich man and Lazarus; preserve context and note debate over how to read narrative details.

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Scripture

John 14 — WEB Updated

Jesus, the Father’s house, and the way to the Father; distinguish translation choices from architectural speculation.

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 15 — WEB Updated

Christ’s resurrection, the gospel, and bodily resurrection; essential to the site’s account of Christian hope.

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 12 — WEB Updated

Paul’s heavenly experience and explicit limits on what is reported; do not invent a modern clinical diagnosis.

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Scripture

Hebrews 12 — WEB Updated

Reverence and awe in worship; a foundation for a careful treatment of holy fear.

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Scripture

1 John 4 — WEB Updated

Testing spiritual claims and the relationship between love and fear; keep both themes in context.

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Scripture

Ephesians 2 — WEB Updated

Grace, faith, and good works; grounding for the proposed evangelical gospel invitation.

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Scripture

Acts 17 — WEB Updated

Examination of Scripture, proclamation, resurrection, and judgment; useful editorial principles.

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