₦airaland Forum

At the moment, Islam is the undisputed champion of intolerance. There's no comparison between the two religions in that category.

We've all heard it. Someone in a coma goes to heaven or hell and comes back to share the exact same information that we ALREADY have.

Well, this boy, now 16, says that his whole story was made up.

[b]Nearly five years after it hit best-seller lists, a book that purported to be a 6-year-old boy's story of visiting angels and heaven after being injured in a bad car crash is being pulled from shelves. The young man at the center of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, Alex Malarkey, said this week that the story was all made up.

The book's publisher, Tyndale House, had promoted it as "a supernatural encounter that will give you new insights on Heaven, angels, and hearing the voice of God."

But Thursday, Tyndale House confirmed to NPR that it is taking "the book and all ancillary products out of print."

The decision to pull the book comes after Alex Malarkey wrote an open letter to retailer LifeWay and others who sell Christian books and religious materials. It was published this week on the Pulpit and Pen website.

"I did not die. I did not go to Heaven," Alex wrote. He continued, "I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible."

He concluded, "Those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the Bible as enough."

Here are a few key background details of the story: Alex Malarkey was paralyzed at the age of 6 when he was in a car wreck. He then spent two months in a coma. He's now a teenager. The book lists him as a co-author along with his father, Kevin Malarkey.

Calling the book a "spiritual memoir," The Washington Post notes that it "became part of a popular genre of 'heavenly tourism,' which has been controversial among orthodox Christians.[/b]"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/15/377589757/boy-says-he-didn-t-go-to-heaven-publisher-says-it-will-pull-book

Dimethyltryptamine. Nothing unusual here. Except DMT of course.

Dewze:
Then you should write up a post that explains why and how the existence of God is meaningless in a world so searching for meaning. It could help a lot people out there in search of an end to this matter.

Does God exist is a meaningless question. God is not a monophyletic grouping.

That's like me asking "do females drive stick shifts in Saudi Arabia." Of course, you're thinking car, but there are people thinking p.enises being shifted by the females who drive them. OK, maybe it's only me thinking it, but you get the point.

Dewze:
Then you should write up a post that explains why and how the existence of God is meaningless in a world so searching for meaning. It could help a lot people out there in search of an end to this matter.

Does God exist is a meaningless question. God is not a monophyletic grouping.

That's like me asking "do females drive stick shifts in Saudi Arabia." Of course, you're thinking car, but there are people thinking p.enises being shifted by the females who drive them. OK, maybe it's only me thinking it, but so what.

Dewze:
Your saying I speak in riddles gives me the impression that what you seek is a debate rather than knowledge.

The men that have made claims themselves heard and believed and some others followed the evidence further until they came to the fullness of truth. So, if you want a debate, I'm sorry, if you want to believe, listen to the ones who make claims, if you want to know, follow the evidence. The op gives you evidence.

Whether there is a God or not is inconsequential. We've been through that numerous times here in this section. God is a meaningless term unless it is first defined. Some people consider the Big Bang event to be what God is. And that's their problem, not mine. I call the big bang by its name, Big Bang. As long as the God doesn't talk, we're good.

The OP is talking about the existence of God. That's a meaningless OP. He doesn't define the meaning of the word God, so he's only deceiving himself. And maybe you.

johnydon22:
most stars especially the blue and red giants are thousands of times hotter and larger than our star (THE SUN) Imagine of any of those fell even the sun itself will be annihilated... imagine a large flaming football falling on a spec of dust...lmfao... the dude that wrote this seriously didnt have any knowledge of the size of stars... he actually thought they were as tiny as they look...

The stars can fall, after eating 5 grams of dried Amanita muscaria mushrooms. You won't believe your eyes, because you won't be using them. These people were not sober. I'm not trying to downgrade their experience, but people should know the truth and make up their own minds.

Believers should know that these people were their own version of our herbalists. In their country. They used the same entheogens for rituals. They spoke with the same beings.

akereconfi:
[s][/s]



Mere assumption. Back up your claim withh facts. We live in the digital age now, stop talking like we are in 60's

LOL. He's a typical African. Don't mind him. He probably knows one or two successful market women somewhere in the whole country, as do most people, and he's now using them to make a general statement about the other millions that sell onions and tomatoes.

How come women aren't allowed to drive vehicles in Saudi Arabia? The official constitution of Saudi Arabia is the holy Qur'an.

Did the prophet foresee the invention of the motor vehicle?

Dewze:
Men will make claims, God will give facts. Follow the evidence.

Why are you speaking in riddles?

Sameera, aren't women supposed to remain silent in Islam? Why aren't Muslim men here defending you?

mrmetoo1:
What are you saying? Permanent residents qualify for anything, who disputed that? What I'm saying is international students too get financial aid well. I thank God you said "guess" you don't know. We all can "guess" whatever story makes us sleep better

Really? I didn't know that international students qualify for aid. My close friend in college was an international student, and his father paid his tuition with cash wired directly to the school. He was always complaining about how lucky I was.

I was under the impression that an income verification letter from a sponsor is required before the student even travels abroad.

mrmetoo1:
I see a lot of assumptions here, then I'm sorry where did you guys see the Gucci or Chanel? I've been seeing that story around but I've just decided not to comment. I've looked at the picture she's in a store and I don't see Gucci anywhere so how do you guys know it's a Gucci store?

Then you're totally and absolutely wrong that financial aid is meant for only citizens. When you ask me if I think she's on scholarship, my simple answer is why not? As long as she's bright she might be eligible.

Permanent residents in the US qualify for almost anything. Is the girl a resident or an international student? That is the million dollar question. My guess, she's paying CASH.

sameera025:
As muslims we are taught not to judge who will go to heaven or hell. It was quoted that a prostitute went to heaven for feeding a hungry cat and a muslim man went to hell for maltreating an animal. Islam teaches that if you commit suicide you will go to hell. If you kill you will go to hell. So.. As a muslim to get into heaven you shouldn't do either one.

Good answer. Just one more small question, in the Qur'an or observed Hadiths, are there any exceptions to the killing rule other than obvious self defense?

Wait, did the OP just say that girls aren't into money nowadays, or just Igbo girls? .

I must be going mad.

This guy is winging it. He's like a child trying to write a book report without reading the book.

C'mon son, there will be fire outbreaks and accidents? Strange things will happen?

WTF.

Question: according to Islam, do suicide bombers go to paradise or to the torture room?

Well, he did say that the stars will fall from the sky before he comes back. He must have been talking about other stars, and not the one we call our SUN. If the sun falls from the sky, there will only be suya corpses waiting to greet him on the dead floating rock.

Jasperwhizz:
JEHOVAH TAKE ABSOLUTE CONTROL IJN AMEN.

Take control of what, don't you see the headless woman lying in the ditch? Abi, na to make am search find her head?

Dewze:
The universe is the world you see and experience with your material instruments, so we can't for certain call it God. It has a beginning and may as well have an ending, so we can't call it God as He is conventionally defined/described.

I do not know who God spoke to. He may have been speaking to His creatures or other kinds like Him.

It would be fairly basic to want to assume a creator of such magnificence such as the universe would look and talk like human, humans being the closest example/model to adopt for an image of God that man has not seen, but claim to have heard.

The bible was not originally written in English and it was never stated the language God spoke in.

I never said that the universe is God. Believers usually point to the beginning of the universe when they try to justify their beliefs. That's why I was willing to concede that the universe had a point of origin and if God is your term for that point, then so be it.


The personal Gods in organized Abrahamic religions are multi lingual, from what I hear. I used to offer prayers to Jesus myself, although I never heard the man's voice. So what you're telling me is that TB Joshua is lying when he claims that God spoke to him? If not, then which language does God use to communicate?

Dewze:
The op did not say God came from nothing. It said God has always existed, which means 'a state nothingness' has never existed. There has always been something and that something, who/what ever it is, is God.

Got it. So let's get to the talking part. Who did this something we call "God" talk to? It's easy to agree that God exists, if God is defined as whatever precipitated the formation of the universe. Everyone knows that the universe has a beginning. You wanna call it God, fine.

But who did the beginning speak to? That's the foundation of all religions, the talking beginning/God. What have you seen in life which makes you believe that the beginning of the universe is a humanoid being that speaks English?

Anglovel:
Same way an american "expert" claimed over the weekend on FOX that Birmingham (in the UK) is a "Muslim-only city" where non-Muslims "don't go."

Steven Emerson told the channel that in London "Muslim religious police" beat "anyone who doesn't dress according to Muslim, religious Muslim attire".

Fox News has a different audience than CNN. Their viewers are openly anti Muslim, anti immigration, anti Obama, anti black people, you name it.

He was only saying what his audience wanted to hear.

duni04:
Lets not even stray off topic. 2000 Nigerians died less than a week ago and we were all busy sending marriage proposals to Buhari's daughter. Now that the west is trying to draw some attention to the massacre, we're screaming conspiracy cos of a silly typo. How else do u define foolîshness?

You don't listen too well, do you? US media is in business to make money. They're not interested in integrity or philanthropy and only publish stories that increase their ratings. It isn't the intention of CNN to draw attention to this crisis. It's just another sensationalized story that will distract people long enough so that Nielsen Soundscan will be able to log the viewer for the ratings.

duni04:
If in this day and age u believe there's a grand conspiracy to keep Africans down, then u have no business living in a first world country. Pack ur bags and come back home and live amongst people that share ur belief that they're condemned to ignorance cos they're African, like the lot here on nairaland.

Grand conspiracy? It was a conspiracy, during the Civil Rights era, but it has become more of a cultural phenomenon now.

Ije004:
Where do you live? I want to shake your hand

I live in the hood in Atlanta. Population demographic is 100% black around here. That's how I figured out that unseen forces have been trying to indoctrinate black people about Africa.

Africa is bad, but the whole continent of Africa doesn't look like a village as the media would like people to believe. They're afraid of the possibility that black Americans might want to contribute. That's why they always describe the continent as a lost cause, so that black Americans can immediately become discouraged from doing anything to help.

Who wants to help people that live in mud huts, and walk around half naked on unpaved roads? Its discouraging. They would need too much help.

Care is taken by the US media to not give out the impression that Africa is making ANY sort of progress in any area.

Most African Americans have never set foot in Africa. The western media is trying to keep it that way for some reason.

The amount of misinformation that the average black American believes to be true about Africa is ASTOUNDING.

90% don't even know that Africa has separate, independent countries. They think it's one huge country with bush and wild animals everywhere. They're the victims of a very precise campaign of propaganda which began during the Civil Rights movement when 100% of black Americans were united against white oppression.
The plan was to keep them here in the states while maintaining the status quo.

Lisaflex:
she wasn't touched, she jes woke up n knew dt der was sm1/smtn in bed wt her....N yes, sm1 cn be so frightened dt d person cnt mv a muscle

It isn't fear that causes the person to become immobile. It's the lack of muscle response that naturally accompanies sleep. With the exception of smooth and cardiac muscles which work on their own, our brain doesn't activate motor neurons during sleep. That way, you can't walk around while sleeping and set your house on fire unconsciously.

Sometimes the brain activates the motor neutron inhibitory process when you're only half asleep. That's when most sleep paralysis occurs. You feel paralyzed because you ARE. But you're not supposed to be aware of it.

IMO, that's why we are able to use our skeletal muscles in dreams. They are literally paralyzed in this reality.

Iboga, the entheogen used by Bwiti tribesmen in Gabon, produces the same effect without putting the subject to sleep. That's why they can communicate with their ancestors and remember the entire conversation and experience when they become "sober."

US news is like Nigerian blogs. They report stories that they think their audience want to hear.
It's all about ratings. The higher the ratings, the more money they charge for ads. They're like a used car or mama put business. Profit is the only concern.

Faith can be a dangerous thing. That's why it must be based on objectivity.

I know little about manufacturing automobiles. I can change my own oil and tires, but that's about it. But I believe, by faith, that a brand new 2015 Ford Expedition will crank up if I insert the correct key in the ignition. I believe this even though I haven't the slightest clue what the metallic key is doing or how it is connected to the engine. My faith is based on several observations in everyday life. A random Christian and Muslim will both reach the same conclusion.

But whenever the topic of God comes up, people tend to assume another kind of faith, the one which doesn't require the assistance of observations.

That's the kind of faith which we are being compelled to reexamine.