# #12720 What are Near Death Experiences? NDEs, Purgatory, and Souls - Jimmy Akin Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-answers-live-681348/12720-what-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-purgatory-and-souls-jimmy-akin Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-answers-live-681348/12720-what-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-purgatory-and-souls-jimmy-akin.md Podcast: [Catholic Answers Live](https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-answers-live-681348) Published: 2026-05-16T00:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.catholic.com/audio/cal/what-happens-after-death-ndes-purgatory-and-souls Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.catholic.com/wp-content/uploads/20260515b_165932.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/catholic-answers-live-681348/episodes/12720-what-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-purgatory-and-souls-jimmy-akin ## Resource “What are Near Death Experiences?” This question opens a discussion on near-death experiences and the nature of the soul. The conversation also addresses critiques of NDE content, the concept of purification in the afterlife as described by Father Nathan Castle, and intriguing thoughts on the relationship between soul and brain in hypothetical scenarios. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 00:55 – What do you say to critics of your content on NDEs, who say that it understates the skeptical research in the academic NDE literature? 18:50 – What do you think of the way purification seems to occur in Father Nathan Castle’s afterlife accounts? It would seem that rather than experiencing a “painful” and “fiery” purification as often depicted in pious stories and prayers about purgatory over the centuries, the souls essentially just learn new things and gradually correct their misunderstandings and errors, including needing to come to grips with their past sins and their effects on others. The idea that angels, saints and deceased relatives all get involved at different points along the journey of purification of souls and to help them move to a new level really appeals to me. 36:17 – If two individuals had their brains swapped, would their soul remain in their original bodies? Or if it stayed, how would the mismatched soul/brain experience consciousness? 46:01 – My wife is utterly convinced that all lizards including and especially the dinosaurs used to be dragons and wings were the limbs mentioned in Genesis when God punished the serpent. Note that most modern-day lizards although they do have legs still scurry around on their be… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/catholic-answers-live-681348/episodes/12720-what-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-purgatory-and-souls-jimmy-akin/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-answers-live-681348/12720-what-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-purgatory-and-souls-jimmy-akin.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.