Two perspectives on near death experiences

One of the questions we’re often asked is how we explain near-death experiences.

123rf.com/Andriy Solovyov

Josef L., U.S., asks,

Dear CMI,

I’m not really sure how to ask this question, but lately I’ve been thinking of the atheist’s position that when we die, it’s all over.

I’ll confess if there is one thing that sort of makes me doubt my faith, it’s comas or near-death experiences (I do not mean the light at the end of the tunnel type of stuff), such as when people are in a coma or are clinically dead but come back, they often say nothing happened. Also, I think about people who suffer brain trauma and their personalities change. It makes it seem like our consciousness is a function of our physical bodies.

Does Athiesm Require Faith?

"The fool has said in his heart that there is no God." - Psalm 14:1

One day, someone caught the comedian W.C. Fields reading the Bible and asked what he was doing. His reply was "just looking for loopholes."* There are a lot of people who read with the same intention of disregarding any evidence.

There are only three options to explain our existence, one is to believe in God, another is agnosticism which states there may be a God but I haven't found proof. The last is atheism where one will state they know God does not exist. Atheism is not just a non-belief in God but a willful denial of his existence. Agnosticism is where one admits that they do not know if God exists.

Who or What Do You Worship?

by John Grant

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7

One could not help but admire the sleek black upper end luxury car. As I pulled up behind it, the tag caught my eye with its tag number of “OWE DEBT.” I thought, “That says it all.”

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough.

“The cross itself was not the point.”

The Daily Beast : Andrew Sullivan: Christianity in Crisis

Popular blogger says of Jesus: “The cross itself was not the point.”

A British-born writer and prominent blogger, whose views tend to straddle a curious fence between conservative and liberal, is featured in Newsweek’s cover story “Forget the Church, Follow Jesus” (see cover, right) diagnosing the crisis in the Christian church. Andrew Sullivan, who lives with his “husband” in Massachusetts, combines truth and error and leaves Jesus Christ resembling Buddha more than the Christ of the Scriptures.

By citing the reprehensible actions of many who have misused and misinterpreted the Bible throughout history to gain power and persecute others, Sullivan offers the reactionary solution that Christians should be apolitical. He says “the issues that Christianity obsesses over today” are absent from “the original New Testament.” Indeed, he says those issues would “baffle Jesus of Nazareth.” Sullivan, however, considers the “original New Testament” to be only the quotations Thomas Jefferson selected for his personal collection of Christ’s sayings. Sullivan claims the rest of the New Testament was a compilation of fallible recollections and misinterpretations recorded by people who didn’t understand anything Jesus had taught them in the first place.

Does Sullivan include the Old Testament in his “pro-Jesus” anti-biblical assertions? Well, he definitely sets aside biblical young-earth creationism as being among those doctrines that would “baffle” Jesus. He writes, “Still others insist that the earth is merely 6,000 years old—something we now know by the light of reason and science is simply untrue.” As we’ve already mentioned in today’s column, observational science has done no such thing. And as we’ve also already discussed today, Jesus’ own words—which Sullivan claims to revere—confirm the Creation and the Flood described in Genesis 1–11.

Sullivan does acknowledge that many have turned from “organized Christianity” to “embrace materialistic self-help” or atheism, seeing those choices as inadequate and destructive. And he recognizes “The thirst for God is still there. How could it not be, when the profoundest human questions—Why does the universe exist rather than nothing? How did humanity come to be on this remote blue speck of a planet? What happens to us after death?—remain as pressing and mysterious as they’ve always been?” But what does Sullivan suggest to satisfy our thirst for God? He exhorts Christians to follow the example of Christ and St. Francis of Assisi by living lives of selfless surrender, to gain a “vision of holiness” and to “truly transcend our world and be with God.” Sullivan tells his readers, “The cross itself was not the point.”

Sullivan is the one who misses the point. He misses the point of Christ’s death on the Cross because he rejects the overwhelming majority of the inspired Word of God. The need for Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross is rooted in the corruption of man as recorded in Genesis 3. Christ died for man’s sin, but Sullivan’s Christ apparently never heard of guilt or judgment. Jesus Christ—whose example we are indeed to follow—told us He came to seek and to save the lost, to give His life a ransom for many. The concept of being lost, the fact that humanity needs to be ransomed, is explained in the fall of Adam, the rebellion of the first man that brought death into the world.

Sullivan denies the authority of the Bible even as he offers his own diagnosis of the church’s problems. Sullivan himself is a practicing homosexual involved in a same-sex “marriage,” so it is not surprising that he finds much of the Bible offensive. Jesus Himself explained in John 3:19 that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Sullivan mixes truth and error in many ways, such as suggesting the followers of Christ misunderstood His teachings—which they at times did initially—and ignores the promise of Christ in John 16 that the Holy Spirit would guide the Gospel writers to understand all truth correctly.

While there is much that is wrong in the church today, the cure is not to reject the foundational truths of the Word of God and just distill some out-of-context words of Christ into a personally appealing but powerless message. Christians who read Sullivan’s popular blog need to be very careful not to drink in the political rhetoric that might appeal to them and ignorantly imbibe the dangerous errors souring the mix.

For more information:

• News to Note, February 25, 2012
• News to Note, December 17, 2011
• The Crucifixion
• Trading Truth for Tolerance?
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2012/04/07/news-to-note-04072012#one

Do the mentally ill go to hell?

Posted by Jeff Lund on March 13, 2012 at 1:17pm in Religion and the Religious, Atheism and Atheists

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I had a christian tell me last week that according to christian belief, those afflicted with mental illness go to hell. I felt this was seriously out of line and informed the christian of a mental health clinic not far away that would accept his insurance. Of course he won't go because that would almost certainly damn his soul for all eternity. Is this really in their bible?

Reply by John Eisenhauer on March 13, 2012 at 2:34pm
While Bible does not explicitly mention "mental illness" - frankly that concept was foreign to the authors - a fundamental premise of Christianity is that belief is required to be saved.
John3:3-5 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
If the above means that acceptance of Christ's divinity is needed to be saved, what happens to a schizophrenic who believes he's Vishnu (thus rejecting Christ)? Or, what if he believes in Christ because of delusion? Is such a person freely accepting Christ ("born of the Spirit")? Or, what if he is so retarded as to preclude understanding the concept Christ?
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:18 and many other passages are absolute, you believe or burn.
This single point invalidates Christianity. 

Reply by Ron Handlon on March 13, 2012 at 8:52pm
I looked this up and found that 'the Bible does not specifically say whether or not mentally ill people go to heaven. However, there is some biblical evidence that anyone who is not able to make a decision for salvation is covered by Christ’s death. This is similar to how it is commonly believed that children are automatically taken to heaven when they die until they reach the point in which they are able to make a decision for or against Christ.'
This was on a christian site - otherwise, it does sound reasonable... So you can tell your mentally ill christian friend that he can stop worrying... ;>}

My sister is making me go to church, help please?

• Posted by Seth Hunter peterson on January 13, 2012 at 10:00pm
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My 20 year old sister is forcing me a 16 year old, to go to church because I am an Atheist (well humanist),and she claims she knows more on the subject than me. Her words on Christopher Hitchens were "He was just mad at God because he had cancer" and Carl Sagan "Devil Worshiper" I did not mention Richard Dawkins because she might have said something more ignorant....But she is making me go to "find all the answers and restore my faith in God". Do I go? Do I absolutely refuse? (Tried that actually resulted in "your a minor you have no choice"), or Do I "forget" and sleep in? Either way, I need advice also, if she makes me go, do I stand up and point out all the fallacies or do I just sit there and ignore every ignorant word? Edit: and NOW she wants to make me join a Youth Group! Dear Flying Spaghetti monster please guide me with your noodly appendage through this train wreck of crap my sister is making me do!

http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blogs/my-sister-is-making-me-go-to-church-help-please 

New atheist movie 'The Ledge' evangelizes godlessness

 

By Steve Walsh, CNN

Standing on the ledge of a building as a police officer tries to talk him down, a man must make a life-changing - and potentially life-ending - decision: Should I jump?

He’s not suicidal, but he is in trouble. His decision could save two lives, while ending his. It’s the central scene in the “The Ledge,” an independently produced thriller that opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday.

It’s a story of religion, love and revenge that pits a conservative Christian husband against an atheist who has seduced the religious man’s Christian wife.

The film is written and directed by Matthew Chapman, an outspoken atheist  who says it's Hollywood’s first offering to feature an openly atheist hero in a story about religious conflict. His mission is to help create a more positive image for atheism, which he says is often misunderstood and maligned, for audiences who may otherwise not be exposed to it.

“My hope was to make an emotional appeal,” says. He hopes it’s a “Brokeback Mountain” moment for nonbelievers.

Nominated for best drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, "The Ledge" stars Terrence Howard, Liv Tyler, Charlie Hunnam and Patrick Wilson. Despite the all-star cast, one big question around the film is simply whether American audiences will go to an atheist-themed move.

The film is also available via the website SundanceNow.

Public opinion polling shows that the number of Americans who are unaffiliated with any religion is growing rapidly but that only a tiny minority identify as atheists. A recent Pew poll found that 61% of Americans say they are less likely to support a presidential candidate who does not believe in God, compared with 33% who said they were less likely to support a gay candidate.

"This suspicion about people whose only crime is not believing in things until they're proven seems weird," Chapman said. "To me, there is something much more terrifying about voting for someone who accepts things on faith without any evidence whatsoever."

Polls show that Americans are becoming more accepting of gays and lesbians, and Chapman credits movies like “Brokeback Mountain,” released in 2005, with aiding the trend.

Chapman wants atheists to take a page from that playbook.

“The gay movement has a body of work appealing to the emotions of the body it addresses," he says. "Atheists fail at this."

Chapman is a great-great grandson of Charles Darwin and has written books about the wars between religion and science, including "Trials of the Monkey: An Accidental Memoir."

It’s no surprise that a movie with an atheist hero and a Christian villain is already attracting criticism. Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, issued a statement this week taking aim at the film.

“People of faith, especially Catholics, are used to being trashed by Hollywood, but they are not accustomed to films that promote atheism,” Donohue said. "It was the Judeo-Christian ethos of America that accounts for the unprecedented levels of justice and freedom enjoyed by non-believers."

In response, Chapman wrote to CNN that "there are many countries where… non-believers have a far better time of it than in America.” Chapman says his target audience for the movie is Midwesterners who fall somewhere between the religious poles of conservative Christianity and atheism.

"I didn't make the film for atheists, but for people in the middle of the country questioning what it's all about," he said.

While the "The Ledge" draws bright lines between religion and atheism, S. Brent Plate, visiting professor of religious studies at Hamilton College, challenged the notion that they’re opposing forces. "What I'm interested in is the religiousness of atheism," he said.

He has yet to see the film but said he hopes it offers overlapping narratives of how people find meaning in life. "It's very sad that our ability to hold a conversation about certain topics is often reduced (to insults)," he said.

Chapman wants to open a conversation about people who don’t believe in God. Whether filmgoers will see his portrayal of Christianity as insulting is yet to be seen.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/08/new-atheist-movie-the-ledge-evangelizes-godlessness/

Atheists: a forgotten minority

Atheism risks being lost in the shuffle amidst other fights for social and cultural inclusion.
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Alistair What is hurtful to society at large are the religious groups, to which you obviously belong, trying to impose their way of life onto others. These groups like to preach tolerance and love on one side,… more
ByEric Murphy February 06, 2012
he struggle for social inclusion is being fought on many fronts at the moment, and one group that tends to take a backseat is atheists. Of course, the other groups seeking inclusion deserve all the attention they get, especially because the direction is not always toward progress. Washington state is about to legalize gay marriage, but Minnesota is seeking a constitutional ban; we have a biracial President, but one of his potential opponents frequently uses racially coded language, and bigoted laws targeting Hispanics have recently been passed in states like Arizona and Alabama.
Atheists don’t face the same discrimination as these groups — they aren’t violently bullied, and they don’t live in segregated neighborhoods or go to segregated schools — but they still do deal with a significant social stigma. A college campus in a big city is a relatively more nonbeliever-friendly place, but that isn’t true everywhere. Most atheists know that the best they can usually hope for if they mention their atheism in public, especially to older people, is a polite, “Oh,” followed by a slow nod and a quick, awkward end to the conversation. Atheists are often pressured into self-censorship; besides potentially making social situations awkward, they don’t want to have to defend or explain themselves every time it comes up.
But there are worse consequences as well. A 2006 University of Minnesota study found that atheists were the most distrusted minority group in America. The study’s 2,000 participants rated atheists less likely than Muslims, recent immigrants and gays and lesbians to share their vision for American society. Out of 535 members of Congress, only one has publicly said he does not believe in a god and didn’t say so until 2007. Being “openly atheist” still has significant negative consequences in America, and it shouldn’t.
I’m convinced that most of the public disdain for atheism is due to misconceptions and bad examples. One misconception based on poor reasoning is the idea that because atheists don’t believe in a god, they have no system of morals or are moral relativists. On the contrary: most atheists apply some form of humanist philosophy, formally or informally, meaning they focus on human concerns using human values while rejecting supernatural concerns and religious dogma.
As the International Humanist and Ethical Union says, “Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities.” This should not be interpreted to mean that the humanist can do whatever he or she wants. Humanism is not hedonism, and religion does not have a monopoly on compassion and empathy.
In fact, a report called “World Public Opinion and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” showed in 2008 that those with no religious preference were more likely to support an “unequivocal prohibition on torture” than members of major religions (torture is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
The assumption that atheists have no values or are amoral can also prevent those who have serious doubts about the existence of a god from calling themselves atheists. Mistakenly thinking that rejecting one’s ethics and conscience is necessary for atheism can be scary and daunting, so people hedge their bets, call themselves agnostics and become firmly noncommittal about the existence of a god.
In addition to seeing atheists as immoral, religions as institutions might interpret atheism as a competitive threat — something that threatens their “market share,” so to speak. Older generations may also associate atheism with the old Soviet Union, which actively oppressed religious expression. The above factors help explain in part the dirty looks society still gives atheism.
But some of the problem comes from atheists themselves. Often, atheists feel a missionary zeal to convince others that there is no god, and this is especially true in the media and popular culture. The general public’s experience of atheism is frequently contentious arguments featuring Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens or Bill Maher, all of whom are capable of coming off as smug and harassing. Atheists seeking converts will bring up brutal wars waged in the name of religion and mock the idea of a “bearded man in the sky,” which I highly doubt is anyone’s true conception of God. The word “atheist” becomes a synonym for “annoying contrarian” in the minds of many people as a result.
Arguments about the existence of a god have their place, but they are separate from arguments for the wider acceptance and tolerance of atheists and atheism in society. Despite the contentious public perception of atheists, I suspect most are perfectly willing to live and let live. Atheists may privately think religions are wrong-headed (and vice versa), but there can be space for both.
We live in a cultural moment where social inclusion is expanding. People are realizing the intense emotional and sometimes physical pain that the harassment and exclusion of gay people causes. Cultural diversity in cities and universities has meant that social discrimination against minorities has been slowly decreasing, especially among younger people, even if progress lags woefully behind in areas like housing and employment.
Atheism should be a part of these movements, too. No one should be afraid to identify themselves as an atheist, and no one should face dirty looks or other social consequences as a result.
mndaily.com