Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles Deity Agnostic To Theist

Posted on October 30, 2014 by hechl

This post will relate the story of an agnostic lady who became a Christian and believed in Jesus and his ability to do miracles.

Emily Gardiner Neale was not raised in a religious environment, but as time progressed evidence caused her to change her belief. She said in her book,  A Reporter Finds God, ” I came to scoff but remained to pray”. The emphasis in this post is not meant to be so much about miracles but about the question whether God exists and does he care about us.

Ms. Neale was a journalist during World War Two. After the war she wrote articles which were carried by periodicals such as, Look, Redbook, McCalls, Woman’s Day and Readers Digest. However, her writing was to change to a new emphasis.

In her book,  The Reluctant Healer, One Woman’s Journey of Faith, she says that her neighbor asked for a ride to a local Episcopal church. The neighbor explained that his wife was in the hospital with their sick daughter and he wanted to go to the church to request prayer for the daughter. She provided the ride to the church and was invited to stay for the church service which she reluctantly did.

After a hymn and a prayer the minister explained that Jesus told his disciples to spread the gospel and that healing was part of the gospel. Ms. Neale says, “I was far from sure that he was the Son of God, and I had never pretended to believe in the so-called miracles of his earthly ministry”. (p. 13  Reluctant  Healer).

The minister asked those who sought healing to come to the front for prayer. A lady next to Ms. Neale with a swollen neck went to the front. When she returned the swelling was gone. A young boy, with a mass of warts on his hands, went to the front for prayer, returned and all the warts were gone. Neale says, “I had the uncanny feeling that all this was a dream or I was loosing my mind”. Originally, before this, she had thought of writing an article to show that claims of healing were not true.

She decided to visit other churches where prayer was offered for those with health issues and found that people were being helped. She continued her research and spoke to clergy, families and physicians. In time she accepted the Christian faith and prayed for others. She lead weekly healing services for 10 years at Calvary Church in Pittsburg. She later moved to Cincinnati where she also conducted weekly services. Neale wrote several books about her spiritual journey and answers many question that non believers undoubtedly have. Her books may be available in libraries and used books available on the internet.

David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a prominent philosopher who wrote against miracles. Many today still hold to his reasoning. From his perspective a miracle is impossible because it would be a violation of the laws of nature, which never change, so for him there never could be a first miracle. Clearly from what Neale experienced, there is a God who operates under laws which supersede the laws of nature. Hume also argued that if someone gave testimony of a miracle it would not be believable because a miracle has never happened.

It would have been an interesting event to see Hume and Neale at the same healing service. What would his reaction have been to see the boy with the warts on his hands, before and after prayer. What would Hume’s testimony have been? How would he have explained what he saw? Would he have believed his own testimony ?

The purpose of healing miracles in the past and in the present, was and is, to get our attention to think about God. In past posts it has been explained that Jesus existed and was deity. Also, he died and resurrected so he is qualified to deal with our sin issues. No matter where you are or who you are, you can talk to him. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. (Mathew 11:28).

Thanks for visiting.

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles Deity Jesus’ History Part Three Resurrection Atheism Denial

Posted on September 26, 2014 by hechl

The resurrection of Jesus has been denied by those espousing atheism since he died 2000 years ago.

One of the main reasons for denying the resurrection is the belief that there is no God. Connected to this stance is the belief that there are no living incorporeal beings. This was discussed in the posts about minor gods.

Below are some of the arguments against the resurrection as stated by non believers.

There are those who say Jesus was removed from his tomb and taken to another location so a resurrection could be claimed. This argument however is not valid. The chief priests and the Pharisees knowing that Jesus had said he would be resurrected in three days and that the disciples might remove his body, asked Pilate to secure the tomb. Pilate then ordered the tomb sealed and guarded by soldiers. As related in the scriptures, Jesus was resurrected while the soldiers were at the tomb and so they knew they were in trouble. They went to the chief priests and the priests paid them to lie and say the disciples came and stole him away while they slept. See Mathew, chapter 28. The basic fact here is that Jesus resurrected and has been alive ever since, as is recorded in many places in the New Testament.

Another argument, to try to deny the resurrection, is that Jesus did not really die on the cross but survived the crucifixion and the tomb. This, of course, is fiction. Before releasing Jesus body, Pilate wanted to know whether Jesus was dead. A Roman soldier, to be sure of Jesus death, thrust a spear into his side. Then he was released to Joseph of Arimathea who with Nicodemus prepared his body for burial. See John, chapter 19.  Another pertinent fact is that the Romans were experts at crucifying people so it is doubtful that anyone ever got off a cross alive.

Someone has argued that Marymagdalene and the other Mary and later Peter and John, on the first day of the week, meant to go to Jesus tomb but in fact by mistake went to another tomb that was empty and thought Jesus had resurrected. There was no mistake.When Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus body in the tomb Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting in front of the tomb. So, on the first day of the week they for sure knew where the correct tomb was. Also, the angel appeared at the tomb and one can be sure no mistake was made by the angel See Mathew chapter 27 and 28.

A further issue raised is that Jesus had a twin sibling, and someone else suggested  a brother, and in both cases when Jesus died they got into the act by playing the role of Jesus. My guess would be that that would be impossible given that they were not deity as Jesus claimed to be before his death and was seen to be after his resurrection and ascension.

Finally, there is an opinion that the many sightings of Jesus after his resurrection were due to hallucinations. These sightings, according to scripture, were more than 500. See 1 Corinthians 15:6. How 500 plus people would all hallucinate, the same way, about the same person, at the same time, and at various times, is inexplicable and simply not so. There is no logical reason to believe that the people who saw Jesus were hallucinating or suffered from some mental malady.

All human individuals who founded a religion died and are somewhere permanently buried. The exception to this is Jesus of Nazareth who was resurrected three days after dying on the cross. There is no tomb and there is no dead body, because he is alive.

In reference to Jesus, scripture in Revelation 1:17-18 says,… “do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore….

A lot of changes occurred when Jesus was resurrected. For one, you can talk to him whenever you want. More about such topics in the posts ahead.

Thanks for visiting.

H…….

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles Deity and Jesus’ Pre-existence History Part two

Posted on August 23, 2014 by hechl

Christian scriptures state that Jesus is deity and had a pre-existence before he came to earth.

In the last blog, secular history sources showed that Jesus was a real person who lived on our earth some 2000 years ago for about 33 years. Now we need to determine what scripture says about him and his existence before then.

John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  John 1:14 states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….”  John 1:3 says,  “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”  Isaiah 9:6 refers to Jesus as, “Everlasting Father.” The fact of Jesus’ pre-existence underscores his deity. (This does not rule out the question of creation, evolution, Big Bang etc. That is for another blog.)

There are many prophecies in the Old Testament that were addressed to the people of that time to try to get their attention and to do as God wanted them to . However, there also were prophecies given that reached into the future such as the coming of Jesus to our earth 2000 years ago.

There are some 300 prophecies given in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by the birth and life of Jesus. Some critics have argued that the New Testament writers wrote the New Testament in such a way, after Jesus was gone, to make it seem as if Jesus had fulfilled all the prophecies about him. This would suggest that the New Testament writers were deceptive and that, of course, is not correct. Also, it would further imply that Jesus was not deity, but an ordinary human.

One non believer has argued that there were many other religious figures with the name Jesus so how could one be sure which Jesus is relevant. The scriptures are clear that it is the one in the bible, namely, Jesus of Nazareth. Acts 4:10 says, “…let it be known to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.” For the major part of Jesus’ life he lived in the town of Nazareth. As an aside, it should be noted that Peter in the above statement is talking about a miracle.

Some have claimed that perhaps Jesus was merely an individual who was familiar with the prophecies so he just went about fulfilling them. The following prophecies were given hundreds of years before Jesus was born and could not be fulfilled by anyone else. For example, Born of a virgin, Isaiah 7:14, Mathew 2:18-21;  Sold for 30 pieces of silver, Zachariah 11:12-13, Matthew 26:14-15;   Manner of death, Psalm 22:16-18, Mark 15:24;  Jesus resurrection, Psalm 16:10, Mark 16:6;  Born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6. In any case, why would anyone else, other than Jesus, somehow try to pretend they were Jesus and get crucified. And for sure, such an individual would not have been raised from the dead. Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead by God because Jesus was deity and His son.

The question may occur to some, where was Jesus before he came to our planet? As deity he was waiting for the right time to come which he did. John 3:16 explains, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life’.

For more information about the prophecies pertinent to Jesus, you can go to the internet and enter,   ‘365 Messianic Prophecies’.  If you care to read any of these prophesies in total, a modern translation is a good idea. A lot of bible scholars, both believers and non believers, have studied the scriptures, and on a rare occasion may disagree on what a particular prophecy means. As a whole though, without question, the message is clear that Jesus Christ, as deity, came to our planet because he wanted to extricate us from our hopeless state.

In spite of the topics discussed in the various blogs, the main question has to remain the main question, and that is, is there a God and does he care about us? The scriptures as a whole carry the message that God cares. That is why history shows that Jesus, preexistent and deity, came to our earth to die on the cross.

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles Deity and Jesus’ History Part One

Posted on July 13, 2014 by hechl

The purpose of this blog is to share some history about Jesus of the bible. There are people who argue that Jesus was a myth and never really existed. However, very important, there is information in the writings of ancient historians that Jesus did in fact exist.

Those who have studied the limited records of the first century explain that the emphasis in Roman times was mainly about Roman politics and international events, and any events involving Jesus or Christians were not considered to be of much importance. Nevertheless, it will be meaningful to consider some of the significant recorded facts about Jesus and his followers.

A Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus, (b.56 – d.117 ?) wrote a history of the Roman Emporers called the Annals. He wrote, “….Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite torture on a class hated for their abominations, called christians by the populace. Christus from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate….”. Wikisource, The Annals (Tacitus) Book 15:44.

Jesus, Tiberius Caesar and Pontius Pilate are mentioned in the bible in the book of Luke. Luke’s stated purpose was to present an eyewitness account about Jesus.

Pliny the Younger, wrote a letter to the Roman Emporer Trojan in about AD 112 and asked how he might handle those accused of being followers of Jesus. He said they had a practice of meeting before daylight and sang verses as a hymn to Christ as a god. ( This ,of course, was after the death and resurrection of Jesus)  Wikipedia: Pliny the Younger; Epistle Concerning the Christian Religion.

Josephus(b.37 – d.100) , a famous Jewish historian, in his book, Antiquities, in referring to James and Jesus wrote, “…. James the brother of Jesus the so called Christ, ….”.  Quoted from, Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense p.199.

Polycarp (b.69 – 70 d.150-155) was an early church leader who knew the apostle John and was taught by him. During that time he had the opportunity to hear John tell what Jesus taught and did.  This was eye witness information for John to pass on to Polycarp. This information in turn was passed on to the people of his time.  Polycarp died a martyr. He was burned to death by the Romans.

If one takes the time and effort one can find a substantial amount of sometimes small segments of information, other than in the bible, from both secular and religious records to prove that Jesus was not and is not a myth.

Non-Christen historian H. G. Wells regarding Jesus stated,  “Here was a man. This part of the tale could not have been invented”. The Outline of History (New York: Doubleday, 1949) 528

Thanks for visiting.

H….

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles and Minor Gods Part Three

Posted on June 22, 2014 by hechl

In the last post references were cited as to where information could be found about minor incorporeal spirit beings, both good and evil.

The debate about whether there is a God has likely gone on for as long as man has existed, but consensus has never happened. My intent for now is to focus on negative spirits and what conclusions can be made from observing an exorcism (deliverance). This can help in determining whether God exists.

Here are some things one can conclude from watching a deliverance. Harmful spirits can inhabit humans; they can display a variety of emotions; they are intelligent and knowledgeable; they may impact the behavior of their victim because of very negative deeds done by ancestors. This and more can be observed and verified through literature available on the topic.

It would be safe to say that some scenes in movies showing exorcism/deliverance, are somewhat exaggerated. I am aware of one individual who does deliverance and the whole procedure is quite subdued.

As I said in a past post, one Gabriale Amorth and many others, have done thousands of exorcisms in recent years. It would be grossly unfair to accuse them of being deceptive and staging exorcisms day after day, and year after year.

Exorcists do what they do by employing the authority of God and the use of the name Jesus. The use of any other name has no effect. If God sets the victim free then that can be called a miracle.

Again, the emphasis of this post in not to focus primarily on minor incorporeal spirit beings but rather to say that their existence indicates that there is a Supreme Being we call God. The christian scriptures state that the this Being, we refer to as God, created all minor incorporeal entities and everything else.

Some people question whether Jesus ever existed. We will look at this in the next post.

For those interested in reading more about exorcism, a book,  The Rite, The Making of a Modern Exorcist, by Matt Baglio may be useful. Baglio is a reporter living in Rome and has written for the Associated Press and the International Herald Tribune. Publishers Weekly has said, “For anyone seeking a serious and very human examination of this subject, one that surpasses the sensational, The Rite, is absorbing and enlightening”.

If you would like to learn more about incorporeal entities (minor gods) then this is an informative book. Thanks for visiting.

H….

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles and Minor Gods Part Two

Posted on May 26, 2014 by hechl

In this blog the topic is whether there is evidence for the existence of so called minor gods.

One of the questions posed in the previous blog was why do philosophers, scientists and other interested parties not go to where exorcisms are being conducted to learn what is happening, and furthermore, why ignore the literature that is available on the subject. I have knowledge of dozens of books written about exorcism, or deliverance, as commonly termed. The books are written by knowledgeable individuals who provide help to many who cannot get help from any other source. I am also aware of individuals who live in Alberta who do exorcisms so this is not secret information. I am not an exorcist, but I have studied the topic.

The spirit entities I have referred to as minor gods, of course, are not gods, but are either malevolent harmful beings or good helpful beings called angels. For sure these angels are not the scantily clad babies as sometimes depicted.

Two books,  An Exorcist Tells His Story,  and  An Exorcist: More Stories,  written by a Catholic clergyman, Gabriale Amorth, are available for those who wish to research this topic. Amorth has conducted many hundreds of exorcisms over a 9 year period. Amorth in his book,  An Exorcist: More Stories,  says, “I only wish that the many who claim not to believe in what they cannot see could witness an exorcism!” His books undoubtedly are available in your local library or Catholic bookstore.

Another book I found helpful is,  Uncovering the Mystery of MPD,  by James G. Friesen, PhD.  Friesen is a psychologist. In his book he says that in his counselling of clients he encounters malevolent spirit beings on occasion and they have to be expelled.

Several years ago a book became available entitled,  Angels on Assignment,  by Roland Buck. Buck, now deceased, was a minister of a large protestant church in Boise, Idaho. In his book he tells about a series of angel visits he had in the 1970’s. He told his congregation of 1800 about the visits as they occurred. His sermons were originally recorded and are now available for listening on the internet. The book, by Buck, is possibly out of print but may be available in used bookstores or available through the internet.

That there are incorporeal spirit beings may not be in the parameter of the reader’s beliefs, nevertheless, that is what the evidence shows. What is common to all exorcisms is that they all have one thing in common and that is the wording. Somewhere in the procedure the name Jesus or the trinity is used. If not, the victim does not get help. If the ritual is correctly applied and the individual goes free then this would be considered a miracle because God was involved.

Finally, given that intelligent incorporeal entities exist, what brought them into existence? The answer must be that they were created by a Supreme Being. The Big Bang could not have created intelligent incorporeal spirits.

Thanks for visiting.

H….

 

 

 

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism Miracles and Minor Gods Part One

Posted on May 13, 2014 by hechl

As we all know, whether there is a God has been debated for hundreds of years and has never been resolved. Relatively little has been debated about what we might call minor gods, good and bad. The question of miracles has also been debated without consensus.

Most, if not all, world religions and small-scale belief systems such as New Age, Spiritualism, Wiccan and Satanism have the involvement of minor spiritual entities. It is possible that if a Supreme Being exists there could also be minor spiritual beings, and if there are minor spiritual beings there could also be a Supreme Being.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, after reading some material related to an Anthropology course, my curiosity was piqued when I read about some unusual occurrences that took place in the homes of a particular group of people. This it seemed was caused by an incorporeal force.

As time progressed I did research and gained some knowledge about ideas that were new to me. I read a lot of material and observed what transpired in some of the meetings that were open to the public. To clarify, these meeting were conducted to free individuals of spiritual entities who were making life very difficult for them. No one was forced into this procedure and each was relieved and grateful when the deliverance was complete. What is at first a bit confusing is that these entities are invisible and malevolent. But for sure, I was where the evidence was. If you would like further insight into this procedure, read the gospel of Mark in the New Testament.

What I find puzzling is that atheist thinkers and scientists don’t seem to go to where this evidence is. Why is this? They condemn the belief in spiritual entities because of a lack of knowledge and their conclusions are based merely on their own thinking and not on first hand evidence.

Based on what I’ve read and what I’ve witnessed, my conclusion is that there are minor entities. As best I can tell, those doing deliverance encourage people to see a doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist. If they can solve their problem then, of course, they needn’t seek help elsewhere and that certainly is desirable.

In keeping with the topic of this blog, anyone who is arguing that there is nothing supernatural, God or little gods, should do some serious research both by reading and by talking to those who do deliverance. I have a list of 117 books, and there are others, written about the above topic by educated and sincere individuals. Lack of information can not be an excuse for not having an understanding about minor evil entities.

In the next blog, information will be shared about good entities and particularly about one man who has a very interesting story to tell. Check back before the end of the month.

Thanks for visiting.

H….

 

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Alberta Atheism Theism and Spirituality

Posted on April 13, 2014 by hechl

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Atheism Agnosticism Theism and Pursuing Truth

Posted on March 26, 2014 by hechl

Recently, while thinking about the many views people have about philosophical and religious issues such as, is there a deity, it became clear that were a mature intelligent individual to make a first appearance to our planet, it would be a daunting task to learn and understand all the differing views held by atheists, agnostics and theists. What would be found true and by what means?

All of us have been born into or at least grown up in a setting where there was a belief system, practiced or implied. The question then all of us face is, if we are thinking and care at all, what beliefs are valid, true, and how can we know for certain.

In a graduate course we were required to write what were called “position papers”. In such a paper one is expected to research and bring into play all the facts and arguments supportive of one’s belief on a given topic. A problem inherent in this process is that facts and arguments contrary to one’s, position, but totally valid, are deliberately ignored or denied. This procedure, as we are all aware, can occur in court rooms, legislative houses and anywhere else where there are differing opinions. This also happens in the debates between atheists, agnostics and theists.

In recent years many debates have taken place between atheists, agnostics and theists all in the pursuit of truth. The debaters obviously are knowledgeable and one can assume with a better than average IQ. Nevertheless, they don’t reach a consensus and listeners are left with the task of determining the truth. The question then arises whether there is another avenue to truth. Is there another source of knowledge that could be helpful in our search for what’s valid and beneficial for us? This is not to denigrate all the knowledge we have available to us. For example, we have all benefited immensely from the advances in medicine.

However, as the years have gone by I’ve come to realize that there might be more to know than what comes out of lecture rooms and labs. This perspective will be shared in the posts ahead.

Thanks for your time.

H…..

 

 

 

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