Protestantism

» HeadZenCards - The Bible Speaks Of...

1 Sam. 18:25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but a HUNDRED FORESKINS of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

18:26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired.

18:27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and DAVID BROUGHT THEIR FORESKINS, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Back in the good old days, providing a sign meant doing some killing. You had to work in order for your signs to mean something. It meant trading the foreskins of your dead enemies for some man's daughter.

The wonder is who was the sicko who went around to the dead bodies collecting foreskins. Back then, I reckon you had to be sure not to kill your enemy in that area of the body so as not to disturb the foreskin.

Nowadays, we take our signs and wonders to mean seeing the light and the tunnel on our way out.

From www.godisimaginary.com:

Many Christians find the phenomenon of Near Death Experiences (NDEs) to be proof that "God" and the "afterlife" exist. As described in this article, an NDE contains these characteristics:

The sudden awareness that one has had a 'fatal" accident and not survived.

An out-of-body experience. A sensation of floating above one's body and seeing the surrounding area.

Pleasant feelings, calmness.

A sensation of moving upwards through a tunnel or narrow passageway.

Meeting deceased relatives or spiritual figures

Encountering a being of light, or a light (possibly a religious figure, i.e. Jesus, God, Buddha)

Being given a life review

A feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by a reluctance to return

Things like heart attacks, near-drowning and severe loss of blood can all trigger near death experiences.

NDEs have been experienced by thousands of people and have been widely cataloged in a variety of books. Many of these books are "spiritual" or "religious" in nature.

What is not mentioned is that there is a drug called Ketamine that produces all of the elements of an NDE when it is injected into normal, non-dying people.

In other words, an NDE is a natural, chemically induced state that the human brain enters.

The trigger for an NDE is lack of oxygen to the brain and body.

If you read scientific papers like these, you find that there is a completely chemical and completely non-spiritual reason for the features of every NDE.

Is this a direct proof that God is imaginary? No.

However, it is a direct proof that the NDE (which many people use as "indisputable" proof that God and eternal life exist) has no supernatural meaning.

We can scientificaly prove NDEs to be chemical side-effects rather than "a gateway to the afterlife" as many religious believers claim.

-- posted by HeadZenCards