Here is a movie re-enactment of a man's miraculous story.He was stung 5 times by box jellyfish and lived...or rather, died and then came back to life. God revealed Himself to him in his last hours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL6CiFfvNgk
(4 of 6 parts - although there are 2 extra parts)
I found this video fascinating and is food for thought :) He came to NZ one time and shared his testimony in Auckland at a Promise Keepers meeting I attended, very cool...I found the movie re-enactment on youtube.
Wow! I have been doing alot of videos lately...? LOL. I remember cool ones as I go along and I want to share them with people!
Check it out!
DB
Yep, morphine is a heck of a drug.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be unsurprised to know that I am skeptical of near-death/out-of-body experiences.
I think he probably did experience something, as you would expect when your brain is shutting down, but the rest is pure fantasy. The tunnel, the white light, the life flashing before his eyes - it's all so cliche! Very common among Christians.
Of course, other cultures have other cliches that apply during near-death experience.
I can't help but wonder at the inequality of allowing this particular atheist to (almost) see the face of God, while the rest of us don't - wouldn't that be a bit unfair unless everyone got that opportunity when they 'died'?
He's a good speaker though.
Hey Matt,
ReplyDelete"You'll be unsurprised to know that I am skeptical of near-death/out-of-body experiences"
I'm not surprised :)
But it is pretty amazing don't you think that after being stung 5 times by a box jellyfish that he was out of there within hours?
Why have a vision like that? He didn't even believe in the christian God.
"but the rest is pure fantasy"
That is an absolute statement there EPM... I think it is still quite probable that what he saw was real.
"I can't help but wonder at the inequality of allowing this particular atheist to (almost) see the face of God, while the rest of us don't - wouldn't that be a bit unfair unless everyone got that opportunity when they 'died'?"
Knowing atheists like you though Matt (no offence intended), after being stung by box jellyfish you hear voices...you would think you wre just imagining it...true? Yet he believed and obeyed.
Matthew 20:1-15
If you have a Bible around, let me know what you think of this passage. It was quite revolutionary for me when I grasped the meaning of it.
God is more than fair to each one of us. We all should be dead and wiped out in our sin. In His mercy He shows himself in different ways to us all. If He shows Himself more to one person and less to another...He is not being unfair since God has already been more fair to each and everyone of us sinners by giving us a second chance.
There is also a verse in the Bible which I must look up and read the context because I may have got it wrong, it says something like...to whom much is given much is expected. Like me, I have a huge blessing being brought up in my Christian family. So God expects more from me... scary but rightly so.
I'll check up that verse when I get home :)
"He's a good speaker though."
I'm glad there was something you liked about it. LOL
DB
Luke 12:48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
ReplyDeleteEPM, have you been given much? How often have you heard the gospel?
How often do people wave off pointers to God saying "That can't be true, there must be a natural explanation".
I say have an reasonable open mind and follow the evidence where it leads. Anthony Flew did this and now he is a deist.
Flew said: "My one and only piece of relevant evidence [for an Aristotelian God] is the apparent impossibility of providing a naturalistic theory of the origin from DNA of the first reproducing species ... [In fact] the only reason which I have for beginning to think of believing in a First Cause god is the impossibility of providing a naturalistic account of the origin of the first reproducing organisms." (Wiki)
He also said "Since the beginning of my philosophical life I have followed the policy of Plato's Socrates: We must follow the argument wherever it leads." (wiki)
(I think his arguement against a Christian God is that He is not good...of course I disagree with him).
If people always reject the supernatural even if there is no rational natural explanation...how will someone ever believe in God? It would be only believing what you want to believe and rejecting the pointers.
Even if God spoke to someone and quoted scriptures verbaly to them on their death bed, if they were always looking for a natural explanation then no way would they listen to it.
Ian McCormack listened to it and put His faith in God. Yet you accuse him of dreaming, so my logical conclusion would be that if you experienced that, you would think you were dreaming aswell...to be consistant).
(don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to be gullible, but be reasonably open).
Atheists can call me closed minded if they like, since christians accept life after death and a realm beyond creation I think that is being quite open minded.
I hope I make some sense :)
DB
Hope you don't mind wading through those long comments :)
ReplyDeleteLong comments are no problem at all mate!
ReplyDelete"Don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out" is something my dad used to say. I think he's right, I accept things where there's a good reason to accept them. I see no reason to give the God of the Bible special treatment just because His advocates are more vocal in my part of the world than any other faith-based proposition.
If I were to move to India I would be equally skeptical of their tales of reincarnation (some of the case studies can be quite compelling if you're not careful, btw). I assume you don't have a problem with me casting a critical eye on the possibility of reincarnation though?
Anthony Flew accepted a God of the Gaps, in essence though, didn't he? A shame really because research into abiogenesis is yielding some very promising results; did you know that organic matter is very common in the universe?
Did you know that organic matter has been shown to spontaneously form amino acids?
Really fascinating stuff.
Back to the jellyfish....
If I got stung by a poisonous animal and then got stuck with a armful of antibiotics and anti-venoms and my brain was shutting down and I was possibly going to die then, no, I wouldn't lend much weight to anything I experienced during that time; why is that an unreasonable thing?
I've taken Magic Mushrooms and been convinced that a cat was talking to me. Should I be 'open-minded' and think that maybe the cat was talking to me? Or should I acknowledge that I wasn't in my right mind and the mind can play tricks on you when there's chemical imbalances in your body?
Your thoughts?
Cheers,
Hey Matt!
ReplyDelete""Don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out" is something my dad used to say. I think he's right, I accept things where there's a good reason to accept them. I see no reason to give the God of the Bible special treatment just because His advocates are more vocal in my part of the world than any other faith-based proposition."
LOL, I'm not asking you to be so open minded that your brain falls out!
I'm trying to say that Christianity gives good reason to believe it. Or I would not believe it.
Just because you hear more about christianity and less of others does not mena you can say "I havn't searched all view points so I cannot accept this one". Matt, if you come across an apple and understand that apples are real. You wouldn't then say "other cultures say apples aren't real but only pears". Follow the evidence. I am trying to give you some. Please don't wave everything off as "it must have a natural explanation". Like the burnt mountain, water from the rock, prophecy, our universe etc...
In the Bible a donkey spoke to a man :) maybe the cat had a message for you! God can use anything He likes but we have to make the move.
I am fascinated by the content of his visions and dreams. Did the cat make sense to you?
"The tunnel, the white light, the life flashing before his eyes - it's all so cliche! Very common among Christians."
Very common among christians? Christians see the same or similar visions...isn't that more evidence that what they are seeing is real?
I'm not saying that all are :) I like to ask questions too.
Catchya,
DB
What did you think of that Matthew scripture? Interesting story.
ReplyDelete