Why? CF, obviously not all who allege an NDE truly encounter a Being of Light (BL). Some are either too sick or too disoriented to distinguish their hallucinations from real spirit contact. Others may be lying to gain attention. That's all I'm saying. The only way to make allowances for liars and the deluded is to focus on the pattern of identifications of the BL.

As for your second question, the party that greets the NDE patient varies in its make-up (discarnate friends, relatives, etc.). So we have no right to assume that the same Being of Light shows up for everyone. For example, many do not experience this Being of Light as brighter than the sun. The Being's varying radiance may already point to many different light beings associated with the greeting party.`

In atheist Howard Storm's NDE, the Being of Light (Christ) implies that He manifests to non-Christians under different identities and symbols, though He is in fact the historical Jesus of Nazareth. According to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, the historical Jesus did not go around publicly proclaiming Himself the Messiah. Rather, He waited for His disciples and honest seekers to make that discernment for themselves. Thus, Peter is the first disciple to acclaim Jesus as the Christ and does so late in Jesus' public ministry(Mark 8; Matthew 16). But Jesus notes that "flssh and blood" has not revealed this to Peter. In other words, Jesus Hiimself never previously told Peter that He was the Messiah. I believe the Risen Lord follows the same practice with most decent non-Christians. But as one study shows, Jesus does reveal His true identity to atheists who are ready to handle it. This does not mean that the Being of Light is always Jesus. That probably depends on the percipient's religious orientation and level of spiritual development.

Don