God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

  Image by author using ChatGTP I strongly recommend that the reader visit Part 1 of this two-part series, but both posts can stand alone if need be. On the writing platform Medium in particular, there is a lot of “deconstructing”―people rethinking long-held beliefs and tenets, especially about fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity. I’ve been through that process myself, and I’m all for it―to a degree. I’m certainly not the theological fundamentalist that I used to be, but neither have I spun off into New Age or some vague new paradigm. Nor am I awash in doubts or new questions about the nature of God. The way I stay grounded in my faith is to see Jesus Christ as the Shepherd and the Gate to the sheepfold, just as he claimed to be. The sheepfold is the Kingdom. It’s within us, it’s where we want to be, it’s the place of safety and blessing, it’s the place where we have the guidance of the Kingdom to make the most of our lives and to get in tune with the music of heaven here ...

  Howard Pitman’s Near Death Experience, August 3, 1979 I first heard part of this story on www.theedgeam.com web radio station, but I found myself frustrated because the interviewer had to pass on many questions sent in by the listeners as Howard spoke. It interrupted the flow of the story and, in my view, wasted time. So on June 17, 2006, I called him in New Orleans and got the rest of it. I wasn’t so interested in all of his theology, which could be his own interpretation of the Bible, as I was his actual experience. At the time of his shave with death, Rev. Pittman had been a preacher for over 30 years and a foster parent of 32 children besides his own three. His life had been full of good Christian works. He attended a typical fundamentalist Baptist church that likes to emphasize the positive side of the Gospel message, God’s love and mercy. He had also been a policeman in New Orleans, and had attended seminary. Like many fundamentalists, he was laden with theological certaint...