The Christian Faith

By Stan Gudmundson

Peterson, MN

While reading a Christian book, I came across a chapter that didn’t seem to make much sense.  The author thought that near-death experiences were Satanic given that the Bible doesn’t talk about them.    

There are three reasons why I don’t agree.  First, it doesn’t seem possible that we could confine God to a single book, even though divinely inspired.  I don’t think we can completely define and also try to limit God.  Or determine what He can do.  Or is doing. 

Second, I know a number of people who have had near-death experiences, some are or were close friends or relatives.  All but one confirm the existence of a heavenly afterlife.  One, however, ended up in a terrible and very scary place.  Hell, it is called.  Now, he is a very faithful Christian.  Of course.  He was given a second chance.

Thanks to modern medicine, many of us know people who have “died” and have been revived.  We should pay attention to their testimonies. 

Third, the Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:  2-4.  “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know.  God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven.  I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up into Paradise.”

That was either a near-death experience or something very similar, whatever that might have been.  The Bible and near-death experiences confirm an afterlife.  With two very different destinations.

One of my Air Force buddies was an atheist when I first met him.  A few years later, we were again assigned to the same military installation.  Then, he and his family attended church regularly.  He had become a faithful Christian but I never asked him about why he had changed. 

Some time later I told him about a couple of experiences that I had or had heard of.  He said he too, had an encounter with a “being” from another dimension but that he had never told anyone.  He thought no one would believe him and that maybe he might be considered slightly tetched.  He said he had an encounter with the Holy Spirit. 

Still wondering?  Author Eric Metaxas wrote a book titled “Is Atheism Dead?”  It is terrific.  More confirmation that God is. 

Now, you might ask yourself, well, which church should I attend?  There are Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, and many more Christian faiths all pretty much convinced that they have found the correct way to worship God.  Many have a checklist of “must-believes” and “must-does’’ to be a real “saved” Christian.  “Checklist” Christians, in other words.

But the single most important factor in our different Christian faiths is Christ on the cross and why He did that for us.  Everything else is secondary, tertiary, or beyond.

Over my life, I have had opportunities to worship in many different kinds of churches.  Consequently, I have become convinced that no single Christian faith has got it entirely correct.  All struggle to get it right and to worship properly.  But, we are too human.  And Satan messes things up as well.

When in Okinawa, I would go to Full Gospel services.  I was usually the only Caucasian there.  I mentioned this to a Lutheran pastor.  He wondered about the soundness of some of their beliefs and the quality of their seminaries.  Maybe so I said, but of one thing, there was no doubt.  They were reliably Christian believers.  And, one could feel the Spirit in their worship services. 

I also think that our misunderstandings and doctrinal failures are covered in the Lord’s Prayer.  We ask for forgiveness for our sins.  I believe that request covers much more.  I think sins, in His prayer, means asking for forgiveness for our all of our failures, short-comings, errors in how and why we believe and for our human inadequacies, along with our regular sinful behaviors.  A very forgiving God He is. 

So, if your Catholic or Amish child wants to marry a Lutheran, that’s okay.  God will welcome and take care of them.