Afterlife tourism? Legitimate apologetics?

The increase of stories of afterlife  tourism to hell and heaven demands that  we address the issues raised by them and determine whether using them is a legitimate apologetics  strategy. Here is a brief blog article on the subject.

Its almost a rash, or even a flurry, it certainly is a phenomena...it's afterlife tourism. You know what I mean ,trips to heaven and hell. they are two a penny at the moment and I think it is a tragedy that the best selling boks in the evangelical world  over the last ten years are this one and similar type stories. the nook I'm thinking of is 'heaven is for real' by Todd burpo and his son Colton's trip to heaven.

There are plenty more both to heaven and hell? Mary K Baxter has a book, film, and a number of TV programmes.

So what do we learn about heaven or hell..

Demons torment people there, surrounding the lake , pushing people back in. There are different levels of hell and it is in the centre of the earth. we learn about the size of the place, and of the demon tormentors and it's entrances.

Jesus has blue eyes,  everybody has wings, God has wings! the Holy Spirit is sort of blue? Jesus  has brown eyes (accounts differ). Jesus is the only one in heaven wearing purple. There is a lot of Italian music playing in heaven (in fact an Italian band according to Baxter ).
The gates to heaven are pearl like and shiny.

Look, I could write page after page of descriptions of both  places taken from these tourism stories. Many of the facts are contradictory amongst themselves. Others (in fact all accounts) in some ways contradict the clear teaching of the bible.
My biggest concern is the amount of time, profile and airspace. Given to these things. There is a whole set of believers that are totally enamoured with this stuff.
I'm  concerned that so many people are gasping, sharing stories, reading the books, telling everybody else, having their faith and facts rearranged by these accounts of visits to heaven and hell.

Here are some things that have been said which clearly contradict the bible

1. Demons are in hell tormenting people. ( no they are not, hell was created to punish them)
2. People are in hell now.  (No one is in hell until death and hades are cast there).
3. heaven is like the new Jerusalem. ( the New Jerusalem is a symbolic description it is described as a Bride the wife of the lamb, the NJ is a symbolic picture of the perfected people of God).
4. People have actually seen God  the father. ( no they haven't).

In the burpo story there are bits of information revealed about his miscarried sister and other facts while he is heaven. do these supernatural facts show the story is true? They might, or they may be satanic deception or they may not be true.... We cannot verify these things. So what is the truth?


These things are not negotiable. Either the stories are incorrect or the bible is. So how should we respond where say Colton Burpos story is that he saw God the father who has wings and this contradicts the bible where it says 'he dwells in unapproachable light who no man has seen or can see' 1 Tim 6v16.

The link below comes with a truth and health warning that what is contained is a massive mixture of tall tales, exaggeration a, lies and a little bit of truth... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HR1sFtFug38

How on earth do we respond to these stories.

A good degree of scepticism!  When extreme financial pressure preceded some of these accounts (Burpo) we can't help but be aware of the need to generate funds. When the stories grow with the telling, getting ever more fanciful (Baxter is an example). When the facts are not independently verifiable or when little facts like the person did not actually die and their heart didn't stop beating (Burpo) become public knowledge we simply have to realise we are not getting courtroom testimony here.
Do not rely on them for information.   I mean it. If we start relying on this stuff to inform us of the details of the afterworld we are in serious trouble.
Do not rely on them for evidence.
These accounts are subjective, often contradictory, the facts unverifiable and  sometimes fanciful. Apart from the fact that some may have some kind of kernel of truth, they still must not be put forward as evidence the faith is true.
Trust Jesus not these accounts.
If we promote, publicise and give prominence to these things we will point people to the wrong place , give them wrong priorities and mislead them.

A Critique Of Seventh Day Adventist Teaching On The Sabbath

The seventh day adventist (SDA) movement, which bases its distinguishing doctrine around the teachings of Ellen G. White  (1827 – 1915) asserts that the proper day on which Christians should assemble to worship is Saturday, not Sunday as evangelicals commonly maintain. SDAs will even often go so far as to say that assembling on Sunday instead of Saturday only became a practice adopted by the church in the fourth century A.D. when the emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman empire. Is the SDA movement correct on this point? It is this question that will be the focus of this article.

How To Witness to Mormon Missionaries at Your Door

By far the most common way people come into contact with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, is through speaking with two young well dressed men, wearing a little badge with Elder….. on it. These guys spend two years of their lives usually when they are 18-19 in an allocated area by the LDS Church, working 6 and a half days a week, either seeking to make new contacts or following up with contacts already made, with a view to sharing the LDS gospel and baptizing people into their church. Its a genuine joy for them but sometimes not without its pressures and strains.

Often times Christians see them as annoyances, or lost causes, far too steeped in Mormonism to be worth the time to share the gospel with. Others see them as the perfect witnessing opportunity, enjoying the opportunity to throw everything they know that’s wrong with Mormonism right at them.

This article over the course of 10 points is seeking to show that these guys are so worth the time and effort that it takes to share the gospel with them, and also that it’s not necessarily helpful to see them as targets to which you should throw everything false you have ever heard about Mormonism. I hope this is helpful and I look forward to comments from Mormons and Evangelicals alike.

Stauros- cross or stake

This blogpost is meant to be very specific and will not have wide distribution. For those who are Jehovahs Witnesses or those who work reaching out to them, this will be of great interest.  The Pop Star Prince talks about 'stauros' in an attempt to communicate his JW background beliefs, so there may be a wider audience than perhaps I think.  Most of the material below is not mine, I make no apologies for that, sometimes rather than writing ones own material promoting another persons work is the best way forward. I may condense this into a shorter pamphlet soon.   Enjoy.........!

As is widely known, the Watchtower Society insists that Jesus did not die on a two-beamed cross but on a single-timber "torture stake". I agree with most people that this issue is pretty pointless and amounts only to a historical curiosity. As most Christians of faith would say, "It doesn't matter what he died on; it matters that he died for us". The purpose of this discussion is not to detract from that theological issue but instead to show that this subject is yet another instance of the Society's intellectual dishonesty and failure to represent the sources they quote. It will also provide a fairly interesting survey of what is historically known about the most heinous form of capital punishment in the Roman world.

The principal argument the Society furnishes is a linguistic one: that the Greek terms stauros and xulon and the Latin term crux (which translates stauros in the Latin Vulgate) did not mean "cross" in the first century. If the words used by the Bible writers referred only to a simple single-timber stake, then Jesus would not have died on a stake that had a crossbeam. So where Christendom get the idea that Jesus was put to death on a cross? The Society claims that the early Catholic church imported the cross symbol from neighboring pagan religions as part of its apostasy from original apostolic Christianity and their use of the cross in worship led them to claim that Jesus had in fact died on one. Of course, if Jesus did die on a cross (or was believed to have done so by the earliest Christians), then the use of the cross symbol by later Christians is certainly intelligible. The following quotation from the Society's literature is quite typical:

***w92 11/15 p. 7 The Cross-Symbol of Christianity? ***

How 1 Peter 3:15 Teaches The Deity of Christ

It is a verse that all of us who are involved in apologetics have grown to love and cherish. 1 Peter 3:15 is the New Testament’s mandate for being always ready to offer a rational defense for the Christian worldview. It is unfortunate, however, that we have come to be so familiar with this verse that we miss its full significance, for the text teaches far more than the need to provide a defense of the faith. This is best seen when read in the context of verse 14 which precedes it. Here’s the text of 1 Peter 3:14-16. Take particular note of the underlined text.

“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

Verse 14 in fact contains a quotation (the underlined text) from Isaiah 8:12, in which we read, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.” Verse 15 of 1 Peter 3 continues the quotation into verse 13 of Isaiah 8, but with a subtle change. Isaiah 8:13 reads, “But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.” Compare this to the start of 1 Peter 3:15: “…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” Peter has replaced “the Lord of hosts” from Isaiah 8:13 with “Christ the Lord”, asserting that it is He whom we are to regard as Holy. In so doing, the Apostle Peter has here effectively identified Jesus as being of the same essence as Yahweh, another Biblical proof of the deity of Christ.

The Qur’an, Muhammad and Modern Science: Scientific Miracles or Blunders?

Anyone who has had even a mild exposure to Islamic apologetics will have encountered the argument for the Qur’an’s divine origin based on its purported scientific miracles — that is, scientific assertions contained within the Qur’an which have only been validated by modern science. Out of all of the arguments for the Islamic religion, this is the one which, in my judgment, comes closest to being a real argument. Indeed, this is probably the best they’ve got, and it is frequently a lead argument by Muslim polemicists. Nonetheless, the argument has always appeared very strange to me. If the Qur’an is unrivaled at anything, assuredly it is only in its ability to conceive of a Universe so wildly disconnected from reality.

One problem with the positive Islamic argument is that it can only be falsified if one allows both correct and incorrect scientific statements to potentially validate or refute the Qur’an’s divine origin. If correct scientific statements provide evidence for the Qur’an’s divine origin, then surely incorrect scientific statements provide support for the opposite conclusion. For the argument to work, therefore, one must demonstrate not only that the Qur’an contains specific scientific information that could not have been known by a seventh century Arab, but also that the Qur’an does not contain demonstrable scientific errors that we might expect from a seventh century Arab. Unfortunately, it is usually the case that only the passages that are believed by Muslims to comport with modern science are presented in Muslim polemical literature.

The 'New' New world translation... A review .

The 'new' New world  translation: A review

Known as the silver sword because of its colour, this is not an update it is a new translation. With a new translation philosophy and approach. We will look at various features of this edition and make comments from more than one perspective.

The bare facts

Sturdy but soft grey cover, with the wording inset into the binding and not printed on it. A new WT invented font and crisp layout with even presentation. This is different to the old NWT which originally had uneven and untidy typesetting. Launched with an 'app'  (JW app )which also includes other bibles from the watchtower, this NWT is not just a revision it is effectively a new translation.

Features of the Bible

Full bible with centre references, summary (outline of contents) of each book in advance. At the front is a section of 20 questions  that people ask with colour drawings and short answers. at the rear is a concordance and a glossary of terms. following this the usual various charts and maps with two important (for the JWs) chapters on the divine name in the Hebrew and. Greek scriptures.
Differences to the 'old' NWT.

A Simple Reason Why The Qur’an Cannot Be The Word of God

The Islamic religion claims that the Qur’an, revealed allegedly by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad beginning in 610 A.D., is the inspired and inerrant word of God. Such an assertion, however, is highly problematic, and many, many arguments could be given to convincingly refute it. In this article, I am going to offer one of those reasons, which I perceive to be the most damning. In future articles, we will consider some other serious difficulties with the idea that the Qur’an represents the revealed words of God. My argument here can be summarized in syllogistic form as follows:

Premise 1: Either the Bible is the Word of God or it is not.

Premise 2: If the Bible is the Word of God, the Qur’an is not.

Premise 3: If the Bible is not the Word of God, the Qur’an is not.

Conclusion: Therefore, the Qur’an is not the Word of God.

Incinerated Human Fetuses and Pro-Choice Cognitive Dissonance

Here are my thoughts on the recent Telegraph article where it was recently discovered that some of the aborted fetuses had been used to heat some NHS hospitals.

Twitter accounts worth following

Need I say more...send he man a follow

mo countercultural than a hipsta mo subversive than a armed resista mo fully free from the bourgeoisie than a most bohemian barista #Gospel

— Augustine of Hiphop (@hiphopaugustine) February 27, 2014