First, let me say that the contributions to this thread are very profound and thoughtful--as good as any exhanges I've encountered on any website.   Matthew, don't worry about being unable to pinpoint a case history from Atwater documenting an NDE appearance of Muhammad to a young child.   I can seek out her book.  But given the possibility of mere hallucination, it is the larger patterns of religious figures in NDEs that matter and large replicated  studies are needed which ask better questions.  In Ahmed's case, his hatred of his Christian visitors makes it less likely that he would have a healing encounter with Jesus rather than Muhammad.  But this case is obviously far from typical.

So what type is issues need further exploration?  For example, in the Osis/ Haraldsson study, it was found that the Being of Light generally did not identity itself; rather, the perciepients imposed a familiar identity from their upbringing.   Yet I've encountered many cases in which Christ identifies Himself to atheists and other Westerners.   Is there a pattern that determines when the Being of Light does and does not identify itself?   What variables determine this self-identification?  

I would expect the Christian God or Christ to allow Himself to be identified by labels familiar to devotees of other religions.  Mellen-Benedict's "Mandala" epxerience is interesting in this respect.  It reminds me of a famous ancient Greek oracle at Claros.  When the prophetess was asked about her divine source of information, she replied that the divinity she mediates operates under many different names, including Jehovah and gods of  the Greek pantheon.  When the earliest Christians affirmed Christ as the Word (Logos), this simply means the rational self-expression of God as opposed to God in His unknowability.  This perception opens the door to symbolic manifestations adapted to the expectations of other religious traditions.   And as already noted, God initially refused to identify Himself to Moses by a name; instead, God instructed Moses to tell the Hebrew slaves, "Tell them I will be whatever I will be has sent you (Exodus 3:14)."  Later when Israel neglects social justice, God warns that He called the Ethiopians, the Phillistines, and the Arameans out of their lands into a new land just as He did for Israel (Amos 9:7).  Again, the implication is that God has been revealing Himself through the myths and relgious symbols of these traditions as well.   Such insights may have profound implication for what happens in NDE encounters with the Being of Light.

On the other hand, consider just two very typical revelations from the Being of Light to percipients whose NDEs are attended by outstanding verifications:

(1) "Of all knowledge...there is none more essential than knowing Jesus Christ.  I was told that He is the door through which we will all return.  He is the only door through which we can return.  Whether we learn of Jesus Christ here or while in the spirit, we must eventually accept Him and surrender to His love (Betty, Eadie, "Embraced by by the Light," p. 85).

(2) Atheist Howard Storm gains a similar insight from "Jesus and the angels:"

"In our progression towards God we will meet the Dvine Activity of God, who is known to Christians as Jesus Christ.  Poeple who were not Christians must know the Christ as well.  No one approaches God who does not know the mediator of God.  The Christ is the creative action by which the world was created.  The personification of God has been everywhere thoughout all time and space ("My Descent into Death," p. 55)."

Both revelations remove the urgency of establishing a relationship with the Christ of Christianity in this earthly life.  Yet both seem to imply that a bond with Him is essential in the next life.  Storm's revelation implies that people of other faiths may have NDEs in which they experience Christ through the names and symbols of their own tradtions.  But does the Being of Light identify Himself by these other names?  Or do the percipients impose their own identificaitons on the Being of Light?   Those who dislike this teaching will inevitably dismiss this the pericipient's input.  Of course, in doing so, they nudge their position to the murky metaphysical swamps of unfalsibiability in principle.  On the othe hand, Christian apologists who use such revelations to establish the superiority of Christian revelation make it nearly impoosible to set up a decisive test to check out their claim.  The way out of this impasse is more and broader cross-cultural and inter-religious studies of NDEs that ask better questions.  Also, both sides must find creative ways to address the troublesome issues of falsifilability in principle.  

Don

W27--- wow-- you opened a can of religious worms!!
I don't think you wanted such  philosophical answers??? If an infant dies immediately after birth, what do YOU think the infant will experience in the afterlife?  Perhaps a celestial cradle? From that point on, how will that soul be allowed to grow?  Do you think that the young soul will search and find teachers that would instruct the soul to its liking and allow the soul to choose what course of "belief" is most comfortable during it's growth peroid? And what would limit that soul from experiencing many different belief systems until it finds one that is most comfortable and compatable?
If you talk to a child that is dying of cancer, that child may not have a set "religious" point of view about the afterlife. Does that mean that the child will go into a limbo and just idle there? 
In other words, what do YOU think the afterlife will offer you?  I was brought up in a religious belief, but ALWAYS questioned its validity. I couldn't bring myself to beleive that no child could go to heaven or see God's face if it weren't baptized.  I couldn't see my God turning a good, rightous person away because he/she didn't believe in Jesus or Buddha or any other demi god or demi godess. Even though my religion was very strict in its teachings, I didn't believe.  I KNEW that there was more to the afterlife that any conventional religion could teach me. 
Don't think that just because you were brought up in a particular religion, that will restrict your growth in the afterlife. You will ALWAYS for eternity continue to grow in your spirituality and knowing.  You aren't condemed to go to a certain corner in heaven because of your religous belief.  There will come a point in your existance where you will say, "Is this all there is?" and once the question is asked, it will be answered with angelic heralding: "Horay!!! He finally has realizaiton that he is more than religious matter!" And you will grow.   Love Carol Ann

well i belive if consiousness left this physical realm totally beliveing they were gonna go to heaven they would see this they expected to see this if a hindu expected to see the lord krisha ( i know i mispelled it) they would see it. I dont belive everyone is immediatly reenlightened that depends on ones reality i really think all of us are a step ahead of the game and will be able to transcend the lower focus levels and even the higher heavenly planes to get to the sorce im sure those in heaven will wonder if theres more and possibly wink out and join us but that all depends on them but to sum it up its all expectation

Greetings Aras,

Do you know what you  *don't* expect in the Afterlife?  I bet you could narrow down those options pretty easily. 
These times we live in don't give us much encouragement to think out such beliefs, but if you can take some time, you'll find you know what is paradise and what is not. And since the Afterlife has differing areas for differing beliefs, you don't have to match what you've been told in the past; there'll be a place for you anyway.  You could even start a list now so you don't use up some 'heavenly' time later. 
Reportedly, there's a 'reception area' when you first arrive. Perhaps they continue to discuss your options with you.

Betson

Identcat,

Swedenborg has frequently visited Paradise and its Welcoming Center near spectacular parks. He locates this region in the World of Spirits, not in the Heavens.  And he observes that the principle of like attracts like only gradually engages these new arrivals.  Consequently, many of them still eventually wind up in lower hellish planes as their core personality unfolds with all its lusts, preferences, and affinities.

But let me ask you a more basic question.  Why do so many ssume that a Welcoming Center is unique to the so-called Focus 27?  Is it not likely that most Belief System Territories would have a Welcoming Center,  lovely parks, a Healing Center, and a Hall of Knowledge?  A doctrinaire acceptance of the limited explorations of Robert Monroe and Bruce Moen can inflict a false impression on newbies who won't take the time to explore  the variety of insights of the best astral explorers with fantastic verifications.  A humble and open mind is needed which allows the truth to be more complicated than initial impressons and distorted by the inevitable inconsistencies resulting from premature inferences and bogus astral experiences.   The quest is eminently worthwhile, but more complex that we would prefer.

Don