"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2Cor:4:4) I do not come to you as one who is unschooled in the "alternative" spiritual practices, of which there are many, which compete with christianity for the prize of our human souls. The Norsemen, those rugged pirates who plundered much of the ancient world in their sleek ships, called their heaven "Valhalla", and Odin was their God. Even before the Vikings, the Greeks in the time of Homer recognized many Gods, those spirits who populated their myths, and whose influence captured many cultures down through the centuries. The Romans, who were virtually pagan in their beginnings, eventually adopted Greek culture as their own, establishing majestic buildings and monuments to their panthion of dieties. Many of those "gods" still bandy some considerable influence, though not so much by their rituals and worship, for many of our days and months are named after them. Thursday is a name derived from the diety, "Thor", and Saturday, a day which honors "Saturn". January is derived from "Janus", and so on. Famous cities bear the name of those same Greek gods, such as Paris and Athens. Those myths, incidentally, were not purely a fabrication, but spoke of actual persons, supernatural beings, all of which is explained in the section; The Angelic Conflict, but we will not examine that fascinating subject here. This section is dedicated to one purpose, to focus on the question of what is fact, and what is fiction. The stake which we have in discovering the truth is high, the highest of all, for our souls hang in the balance, that immortal life force which animates the flesh. All of us have a soul, and the day will come when it will shed this body of corruption and move on to the next dimension. The burning question which will be answered to your satisfaction herein is; What is the next dimension? You may suppose that, since I am a christian, the answer will be the same dull line you may have heard many times. Well, think again! I have some surprises in store for you, as you will soon discover. The first chore, as I see it, in winnowing through the hundreds of religions, spiritual sects, supernatural events and claims of redemption, is to isolate the few beliefs which have merit. Mind you, there is only one true path which stretches before us, leading into the next life, but several of the false paths are not easily explained away. The millions of adherents some of them have are proof enough of this fact. Rather than address these beliefs by name, I will identify the chief charactaristic which is the basis of their faith, as all "religions" fall under one of just a handful of premises. REINCARNATION was one of the supernatural phenomenon which captured my imagination when I first began seeking a serious answer to "what happens to me when I die?". Many of the eastern religions believe that this is the path into the place beyond time, beyond this existence. They all weave different rituals into their own unique form of faith, but reincarnation is where they invest their faith. How do I explain, or discredit this belief and turn you to christianity? Well, one widespread fallacy which doesn't require much explanation is the claim that we come back here as a worm, or a cow, or some other animal or bug. This defies the most simplistic principles of nature. Are we to accept the fact that instead of advancing to a higher plane we return here as a creature without a soul? Do we retreat to a lower state, or move up to a higher one? Ofcourse, the practitioners of this concept will swear that their sacred cattle, or birds, bugs, et al, DO have a higher consciousness! But most of them have been hammered with this idea from childhood, which is why they defend it so vigorously. I say, bullcrap! C'mon guys, this idea just has too many big, ugly holes! For example, if I were here as a cow, but still possessing my current mental faculties, would I be content to eat grass and otherwise live in filth? Cows crap down their own legs, sleep in their own excrement, drink and eat contaminated food, and then they copulate right out in the open. Does this state of being suggest a higher form of existence to you? Well, if it does, you may as well toddle off and forget anything else written here, because none of it will rub off! As human beings we have an unfortunate tendancy to fall into the "herd mentality". If a bunch of people gather all over the world and murmur in their candlelit rooms, and smile and utter profound words, there must be something to it! We get interested, or curious, when someone else is interested. It's a chain reaction thing. But what is there of real substance and value to the things people practice? Reincarnation is a clever invention, because there isn't really any way, except for the Bible, to prove it doesn't exist. It has crowd appeal. It's painless and simple. There is no effort involved, you just die and come back again. Who cares how many times you come back? If this is the answer to our question, we'll just work things out as they come! Right?" There are also many unusual events in history which seem to lend credence to the reality of reincarnation. Bridey Murphy was the hot book when I was seeking answers. She was a middle aged housewife from somewhere who was hypnotised and returned to a former life. She named places in Ireland, and people that had long died and were forgotten. Some enterprising chap dug into the story and actually found that the people and places did exist. There's just one crack in the concrete, folks, and that being that there is a detailed explanation, all documented, how these illusions are created and presented, and why. If you stick around long enough, and read enough on this site, you'll get all the facts. The most populated religion on earth is Mohammadanism. It is based upon the Tora, or Old Testement, and worships the God of Abraham. Mohammad was a prophet who, one day, got on his horse and launched into heaven. There is a rock, which coincidentally happens to be on the very site where Solomon's Temple was built, which supposedly has the tracks of Mohammad's horse, left in the stone as he left earth for the last time. Yet another popular form of worship, and self-realisation, is astheticism. This is the denial of worldly luxuries and physical pleasure. People seem to find something godly and noble in this spartan lifestyle. Ghandi was on very famous asthetic, who also practiced non-violence. So, these are a few of the major players in the "Soul Bowl", which will you believe? Oh yes, I mustn't neglect to mention our own Hollywood on the roster. Our celebs are renouned for their weird adaptations of many ancient beliefs, and they do relish a novel pursuit to fill their leisure time. Most of them, however, are so bizarre that they hardly merit a serious glance. Here's a thought for you, as you cast about in search of a belief, something to hang your spiritual hat on. Not one of these religions, or diciplines, can expain away Jesus Christ. Some of them even recognize Him as an "eon", which I won't bother to explain. Yet, the Bible has an in depth explanation for every single one of them. The problem is, you must invest some time in Bible study under a qualified minister to learn all the answers. You can take it from me, the Father of Skeptics, that only one belief is flawless. I have found the faint sniff of a flaw now and then in the Bible, but they always led to proof that the Word of God is the real McCoy. There are always answers to the apparent conflicts in scripture, but they are only found through deternined study. For the longest time, I was devoted to finding out why I SHOULDN'T be a christian! But each time I followed a scent it led to a completely logical explanation, not some esoteric nonsense that could not be explained to my satisfaction. The hard part to get around is the faith. Unless you want the truth bad enough, you'll fade in the stretch. It's there, but you have to dig, and keep digging. I liken the early christian life to the prospector. He's seeking the Mother Lode, and he has traversed the rugged wilderness for years looking for it. When he finally comes to a spot that looks promising he can only find out if it's there by digging. Some men just quit before they find gold. Others find it but go right past, not aware of what it looks like in raw form. Darwin the Ditty Bopper Please forgive me, folks, I just couldn't resist punching a big hole in the most popular fallacy on this planet! Ofcourse, I refer to evolution. I find it particularly humorous that I have been accused in the past, by ardent advocates of this fairy tale, of believing in something corny. In fact, I can explain any aspect of my faith, but I can ask questions for hours that even a lifelong evolutionist cannot answer. Funny thing about people who have invested their entire existence in a lie; They expect you to accept, with absolutely no evidence, that what they believe is right, but refuse to accept the factual, point-by-point argument you offer in rebuttal. I know, I know, it isn't nice to poke fun at someone just because they believe something completely stupid. But for those who believe in evolution, IF you have an open mind, or I should say, a logical mind, I can PROVE that evolution is a farce. As I stated in the beginning, this isn't for hardcore adherents to these things, because I have laid these facts out for die hard evolutionists before, and they cling to their convictions, no matter what. Even using scientific, factual evidence will not budge them. I suspect that this isn't always because they have an unwavering faith in every case, sometimes it's because we just don't like to be proven wrong. Well, in this case, your eternal existence is at stake, and I suggest that you listen up VERY carefully! All of creation, or..excuse me, nature, is based upon the law of cause and effect. Check it out. Any science book will tell you this is true. There are certain realities that smply cannot be ignored, they are known as "self-evident truth", because even a third grader can see they are true by the use of logic. This law states that everything in existence is the effect of a greater cause. It further states that an effect becomes a cause when it generates an effect of it's own. You might also call this "chain reaction". My first example, as proof, which demonstartes that evolution is false is as follows; In the womb one organ of a fetus which grows to a state of completion is the eye. When the fetus emerges the eyes are fully developed and operational. Go find an ophthalmologist, or look up the eye on the internet. You will learn that the human eye is the most precise "instrument" for measuring light in existence. It's response time is measured in nano seconds (millionths), and no other object is capable of measuring light in such infantesimal degrees. There are hundreds of facts about this amazing organ which further validate that it is the perfect design for light measurement, reflection and refraction. Yet, it develops in a place of absolute darkness. This phenomenon defies the law of cause and effect, that is, it proves that the CAUSE of the eye is not light, so what is it? One fellow I used to work with offered the explanation that fetuses, in the beginning, had no eyes. They only came about as the necessity for an eye dawned on the mind of man, and that necessity transmitted a signal to the womb, and presto! the eye was concieved! Well, if the mind has that kind of control, even subliminally, over our development, why are human bodies fraught with so many prevailing weaknesses and vulnerabilities? There are many "necessities" that the mind has overlooked, if you know what I mean. My second question to this guy was; "OK, suppose that's true. What attribute of man transmitted the necessity for a BRAIN?" Evolutionists believe that we all came from a one celled ameba. At what point did that bit of protoplasm aquire the power of rational thought? The law of cause and effect states that rational thought is an effect of a GREATER cause. No effect can be its' own cause, something greater has to produce it. No effect can produce something greater than itself. All these, and thousands of other facts, point to the reality that there is a vastly superior intellect. Nature, and all of existing space and matter, demand a designer, for the chain can only go so far back to the origin before it reaches a dead end. At some point, a creator had to initiate, set in motion, the whole of the universe. [ HOME ]