No need to compare ourselves to others

What About Near-Death Experiences?

A number of years ago I developed an interest in a phenomenon known as Near Death Experiences or NDEs. Here is an explanation of NDEs from a book titled “Evidence of the Afterlife” by scientist and medical doctor, Jeffrey Long along with writer, Paul Perry:

“Near-death experiences (NDEs) are events that take place as a person is dying or, indeed, is already clinically dead. People who have NDEs are called near-death experiencers (NDErs)…. I considered individuals to be ‘near death’ if they were so physically compromised that they would die if their condition did not improve. The NDErs studied were generally unconscious and often apparently clinically dead, with absence of heartbeat and breathing. The ‘experience’ had to occur at the time they were near death. Also, the experience had to be lucid, to exclude descriptions of only fragmentary and disorganized memories.”

I read a number of accounts of NDEs. You have probably heard of this type of occurrence. There have been, I suspect, at least a half dozen best-selling books telling the accounts of near death experiences in the past 10 years, or so. A couple of these stories were even made into movies. (I saw a couple of the movies and they weren’t very good, but the movie theater popcorn was still outstanding!)

Dr. Long is a radiation oncologist and scientist. His book with writer Paul Perry details the findings of his research. He has interviewed and surveyed thousands of people who have had near death experiences. I found his book to be a particularly interesting treatment of the subject because it is not based on one person’s experience, it has to do with over a thousand experiences. He writes of his book that it “presents the remarkable results of the largest scientific NDE study ever reported using this methodology.”

Some Christian theologians seem to think the accounts we get from people who have had NDEs are valid and other Christian theologians appear to be more skeptical. The fact that so many academic studies have been done on the subject (not just by Dr. Long but many other researchers, as well); thousands of reliable known cases exist; and the tremendous similarities in the experiences that are reported by NDEers leads me to think there is validity to them.

Yes it’s true that I am biased, but I’ll tell you a secret: So is everyone else on planet earth.

Dr. Long provides details of many “converging lines of evidence” regarding NDEs in his book and states that he has come, as a scientist, to the conclusion that: “There is life after death.”

I am not writing this to suggest that a Christian needs this type of scientific evidence to validate the truth of life after physical death here on earth. I believe the Bible to be truthful, accurate and authoritative regarding the reality of life after death. However, as I have read, studied and learned through the course of my life, I find it interesting and satisfying when what is discovered in science validates the Word of God.

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL

God can make a way where there seemed to be no way

I really like liberty. I hope we can keep it.

Saving the little bunny rabbit

I saw our dog, Lucy, bolt toward our fence. She was incredibly quick and I immediately noticed Lucy was pursuing something. In a time span of less than 2 seconds I could hear a little critter making the pathetic sound of an animal that realizes it is in mortal danger.

Running toward Lucy I shouted, “Let it go! Lucy, let it go!”

She did.

The critter was a very young, very small baby rabbit.

At that point, instead of running less than a foot to slip in between the slats on our fence and right out of the yard—away from the dogs—the little bunny stayed in our yard and ran under a bush.

Lucy and now Finley, too, looked and sniffed vigorously under the bush. But while Lucy and Finley were on one side of the bush, the little rabbit ran out from the other side of the bush, across our patio and under some other bushes.

Lucy and Finley figured it out, ran to the other bushes and in a few seconds Lucy had the little rabbit again.

This resulted in more pathetic cries from the little rabbit and more yelling from me. “Let it go! Lucy! Lucy, let it go!”

…Come to think of it my cries were sounding more and more pathetic, too.

We were able to shoo Lucy and Finley into the house and I found the little bunny huddled in the corner of our outside basement door stairwell.

I picked up the cute baby rabbit and carried it over to the church. I thought, “Let me get Nadia’s advice on what to do with this little one.” I did not want to leave it in our yard which, as you now know, is patrolled by rabbit-sniffing dogs. Nadia loves animals and is very good with this type of challenge.

Nadia looked at the poor little creature, listened to my story and said, “Hmm, I don’t know what to do.”

I really thought I would get more wisdom than that. But, in all fairness, I didn’t have any wisdom up my sleeve, either.

We decided, after pondering the matter with great deliberation, to let the little one go under some bushes in the front yard. This is an area where our dogs never go. And it was not very far, hopefully, from the bunny’s mama.

The little bunny was grateful. I know this is true because about a half an hour later it sent me a very kind and lovely text message. Rabbits, in the wild, are not very smart about staying away from dogs but they are getting tremendously sophisticated when it comes to technology.

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL

What about virtue signaling?

Choose to be grateful now

Apologize and be willing to extend forgiveness, too

The primary identity of Christians

Defeating yourself in an argument

Jesus is our ultimate hope

Impromptu road trip to LaSalle County

Do not depend on U.S. broadcasting orgs for spiritual truth which affects your eternal destiny

Friday Report from Dan and Rachel - July 10, 2020

My hypocrisy was showing

I love this faithful church

I like when it pops!

For Christians, hatred is not justified

WHY DO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT DEFENDING THE FAITH?

I was recently asked what it means to defend the gospel and is it really necessary for Christians to defend the gospel?

My hope is that this will be a helpful response—and who knows? Maybe even an interesting response—for my friends who are believers:

There is a sense in which it could certainly be argued that Jesus doesn’t need anyone to defend Him. And the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ will endure forever, whether any Christians ever stand up for it, or not.

God never stands in need of people. It’s one of the benefits of being God.

However, there is a verse in the Bible from which knowledgeable people who speak of defending the gospel are typically deriving the idea. The verse is found in 1 Peter 3:15. It says…

“…but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…”  (NASB)

The word “defense” in this passage is the Greek word “apologia” which gives us our English word “apologetics.”

Apologia has to do with defense. In the biblical Greek usage it can mean a verbal defense in a court of law. The field of Christian apologetics is a very deep, thoughtful, intellectually sophisticated category of theology which involves a reasoned explanation and defense of the Christian faith drawing from theology, philosophy, logic, history, archaeology, and science.

Some of you may be familiar with Ravi Zacharias, who passed away recently. Ravi was, among other things, a brilliant apologist for the Christian faith.

There are people who want to know if the Christian faith can be defended or justified from the standpoint of intellect and reason or is it just a religious belief system that must be accepted with no basis in careful thinking or reason. I can testify from personal experience that I came to a point in my early adult life in which, even though I was already a Christian, I needed to know that Christianity was not just a blind leap of faith. The fact that Christianity could stand up to hard questions and penetrating scrutiny was an important discovery for me.

An aspect of Christianity that sets it apart from other religions is that Christianity welcomes questions and investigation. Christianity makes claims that certain events happened in human history and these events can be investigated. We can know with a reasonable degree of certainty whether they are true, or not.

Whether a person knows the word “apologetics”, or not, if a person is providing sound answers to the fair questions of people who are seeking and wondering about the truth of the Christian faith that person is engaging in apologetics, a reasoned defense of the faith.

Followers of Jesus are called, in Scripture (1 Peter 3:15), to be prepared to give a defense of the faith.

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL

Why I Cannot Endorse or Embrace Marxism

I have seen numerous references to Marxism and Marxist ideas, lately, in the news and online. Marxism is an economic and political theory, based on the writings of Karl Marx, although in many respects it is a worldview that goes beyond economics and political theory. As a “worldview” Marxism holds, as true, a number of important and wide-ranging ideas about the nature of reality.

Because of what I have seen and heard lately I have felt led to share some thoughts about Marxism. In particular, I am concerned about Christians and their understanding, or in some cases their embrace, of Marxism. This is not something I would normally talk about or write about but, as I mentioned earlier, I honestly feel led to do so.

Marxism and Christianity are two fundamentally different views of reality. The previous sentence is critical when it comes to the basic point I am trying to make. Not only are Marxism and Christianity different views of reality they are, ultimately, incompatible worldviews.

Marxism holds a materialistic view of the world. Materialism involves the idea that matter is, ultimately, all that actually exists. Materialism is “a theory that physical matter is the only or fundamental reality and that all being and processes and phenomena can be explained as manifestations or results of matter.” [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

In an article titled, Marxism and Religion, Marxist Alan Woods writes, “Marxists stand on the basis of philosophical materialism, which rules out the existence of any supernatural entity, or anything outside or ‘above’ nature. There is, in fact, no need for any such explanation for life and the universe - least of all today.” [From the article, Marxism and Religion, Website: In Defense of Marxism, Marxist.com]

Christianity, on the other hand, holds that there is a God who is the creator and Lord of everything that exists. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” [Genesis 1:1]

I won’t go into a long list of theological statements about God and who He is but belief in this God and His existence involves a worldview that is not logically consistent with materialism. The truth of God would indicate that, in fact, there is something more than just the material world.

These few verses from the book of Psalms give an indication of a God who is above and beyond the material world: “The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?” Psalm 113:4-6

It is my sincere desire to write some thoughts here which people would actually take a moment to read (I’m hoping it’s not already too late for that) so I will try to keep this as simple and brief as possible.

The Marxist who correctly understands the real objective of Marxism knows that their highest allegiance must be to the establishment of socialism/communism.

“The aim of Marxists is to fight for the socialist transformation of society on a national and international scale.” Alan Woods, from the article, Marxism and Religion

So the Marxist will tolerate religious believers who come on board to join in the fight against capitalism but, ultimately, the pursuit of the utopian world, which is the promise of socialism/communism—the Marxist ideals—is the first allegiance of the Marxist.

I quote again from the article “Marxism and Religion” by Alan Woods:

“Very often a worker who is still a believer [in God] approaches the movement [Marxism], convinced of its general programme and eager to fight for socialism, but unwilling to renounce religion. What attitude should we take? Certainly not to push him away. Such a worker does not wish to join the movement in order to win converts to religion, but to fight capitalism. Probably, in time he will see the contradiction between his political and religious beliefs and gradually abandon religion. But the question is a delicate one and should not be pushed.”

Notice that the Marxist writer quoted above, Alan Woods, is in agreement with one of the basic points of this article. Woods understands that Marxism and religion (Christianity, in my case) hold contradictory beliefs.

Karl Marx wrote:

“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.”

In Marx’s view religion needed to be abolished in order for people to experience “real happiness.”

So again, the primary allegiance of the Marxist is to the establishment of the Marxist ideals through socialism/communism.

I have a feeling that you know to whom the highest allegiance of the Christian must be given but for the sake of clarity I will write it, anyhow: To the Lord.

“If you can’t be brilliant, at least try to be clear.” [Quote from little-known pastor/philosopher, Dan Marler]

Here is a truth, I think, everyone can agree with: People cannot maintain a primary allegiance to two entities or pursuits. One of the allegiances will ultimately win out over the other one. This is especially true when the entities or pursuits are logically incompatible.

So for the person who aspires to be a Christian Marxist, at some point, this question will force itself: Do you choose your Christian faith or do you choose Marxism? Both worldviews cannot be consistently held and lived by a reasonable person.

By the way, the Christian who understands the genuine implications of his or her faith also understands that allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ must come before everything else. Everything.

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”

Colossians 1:15-16

For the follower of Christ the devotion of our hearts and our primary allegiance must be to the Lord.

I have other reasons for not endorsing or embracing Marxism. I believe, for example, that it holds an incorrect view of human nature. However, I am providing here the issue that would be the main objection to Marxism, for me. My primary allegiance is to the Lord and not to any other worldview.

It is not my intention to stir up trouble or to start mean-spirited arguments. In fact, I hope that does not happen with this post. As I stated at the beginning of the piece, I am writing because I feel led—out of a heart of pastoral concern—to attempt to clearly, respectfully state a position on this matter for those who are followers of Jesus.

Love and blessings to all,

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL