Buddhist monk comes back to life after 3 days [Christian propaganda]

[Guest guest]

[WARNING: This is Christian Propaganda to convert you.]

By Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu

 

The Remarkable Testimony of a Buddhist monk in Myanmar (Burma) who came back to life a changed man!

Introduction

 

The story that follows is simply a translation of a taped testimony from a man with a life-changing story. It is not an interview or a biography, but simply the words from the man himself. Different people react in different ways when they hear this story. Some are inspired, some skeptical, a few will mock and ridicule, while some others have even been filled with rage and anger, convinced these words are the ravings of a mad man or an elaborate deception. Some Christians have opposed the story simply because the radical and miraculous events described herein do not fit their feeble image of an Almighty God.

 

We were first made aware of this story from several Burmese church leaders who shared it with us. These leaders had looked into the story and had not found any suggestion of it being a hoax. It was with this in mind that we decided to step out and circulate the story. We do not do so for any monetary gain, or with a motivation of self-promotion. We just want to let the story speak for itself, and invite Christian believers to judge it according to Scripture. If God wants any part of it to be intended for His glory or to encourage His people, then we pray His Spirit will work in the hearts of the readers in those ways.

 

Some people have told us they think the monk in this story never actually died, but that he just lapsed into unconsciousness, and the things he saw and heard were part of a fever-driven hallucination. Whatever you think, the simple fact remains that the events of this story so radically transformed this man that his life took on a complete 180-degree shift after the events described below. He has fearlessly and boldly told his story at great personal cost, including imprisonment. He has been scorned by his relatives, friends and colleagues, and faced death threats for his unwillingness to compromise his message. What motivated this man to be willing to risk everything? Whether we believe him or not, his story is surely worth listening to and considering. In the cynical West many people demand hard evidence of such things, evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Can we absolutely guarantee, beyond doubt, that all of these things happened? No, we cannot. But we feel it is worth repeating this man's story in his own words so that readers can judge for themselves.

 

My Early Years

 

Hello! My name is Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu. I am from the country of Myanmar. I would like to share with you my testimony of what happened to me, but first I would like to give some brief background information from my life growing up.

 

I was born in 1958 in the town of Bogale, on the Irrawaddy Delta area of southern Myanmar [formerly Burma]. My parents, who were devout Buddhists like most people in Myanmar, named me Thitpin [which means 'tree' in English]. Our lives were very simple where I grew up. At the age of 13 I left school and started working on a fishing boat. We caught fish and sometimes also shrimp from the numerous rivers and streams in the Irrawaddy area. At the age of 16 I became the leader of the boat. At this time I lived in Upper Mainmahlagyon Island [Mainmahlagyon means 'Beautiful Woman Island' in English], just north of Bogale where I was born. This place is about 100 miles southwest of Yangon [Rangoon], our nation's capitol city.

 

One day, when I was 17, we caught a large number of fish in our nets. Because of the many fish, a large crocodile was attracted to us. It followed our boat and tried to attack us. We were terrified so we frantically rowed our boats toward the riverbank as fast as we could. The crocodile followed us and smashed our boat with its tail. Although no one died in this incident, the attack greatly affected my life. I no longer wanted to fish. Our small boat sank because of the crocodile attack. We had to go home to our village that night on a passenger boat.

 

Not long after, his employers transferred my father to Yangon City [formerly spelt Rangoon]. At the age of 18 I was sent to a Buddhist monastery to be a novice monk. Most parents in Myanmar try to send their son into a Buddhist monastery, at least for a time, as it is considered a great honor to have a son serve in this way. We have been observing this custom for many hundreds of years.

 

A Zealous Disciple of Buddha

 

When I turned 19 years and 3 months old (in 1977), I became a normal monk. The senior monk at my monastery gave me a new Buddhist name, which is the custom in our country. I was now called U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya. When we become a monk we no longer use the name given to us at birth by our parents. The name of the monastery I lived at is called Mandalay Kyaikasan Kyaing. The senior monk's name was called U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [u Zadila is his title]. He was the most famous Buddhist monk in all of Myanmar at the time. Everyone knew who he was. He was widely honored by the people and respected as a great teacher. I say he "was" because in 1983 he suddenly died when he was involved in a fatal car accident. His death shocked everyone. At the time I had been a monk for six years.

 

I tried hard to be the best monk I could and to follow all the precepts of Buddhism. At one stage I moved to a cemetery where I lived and meditated continually. Some monks who really want to know the truths of Buddha do things like I did. Some move deep into the forests where they live a life of self-denial and poverty. I sought to deny my selfish thoughts and desires, to escape from sickness and suffering and to break free from the cycle of this world. At the cemetery I was not afraid of ghosts. I tried to attain such inner peace and self-realization that even when a mosquito landed on my arm I would let it bite me instead of brushing it off!

 

For years I strived to be the best monk I could and not to harm any living being. I studied the holy Buddhist teachings just like all my forefathers had done before me. My life proceeded as a monk until I got very, very sick. I was in Mandalay at the time and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. The doctors did some tests on me and told me I had both Yellow Fever and malaria at the same time! After about one month in the hospital I was getting worse. The doctors told me there was no chance for me to recover and discharged me to make arrangements to die.

 

This is a brief description of my past. I would now like to tell you some of the remarkable things that happened to me after this time...

 

A Vision that Changed My Life Forever

 

After I was discharged from the hospital I went back to the monastery where other monks cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and was lapsing into unconsciousness. I learned later that I actually died for three days. My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating. My body was prepared for cremation and was put through traditional Buddhist purification rites.

 

Although I faded away in my body I remember my mind and spirit were fully alert. I was in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous wind flattened the whole landscape until there were no trees or anything else standing, just a flat plain. I walked very fast along this plain for some time. There were no other people anywhere, I was all alone. After some time I crossed a river. On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this. At first I was confused and didn't know it was hell until I saw Yama, the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous cultures throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had a number of horns on his head. His face was very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the king of hell, the Destroyer."

 

The terrible, terrible lake of fire

 

The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire? He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why he is in hell."

 

I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied, "This is the one you worship: Gautama [buddha]." I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell. I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?" The king of hell answered me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God."

 

I then saw another man who looked like he was wearing a soldier's uniform. He had a large wound on his chest. I asked, "Who is this man?" The king of hell said, "This is Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar." I was told, "Aung San is here because he persecuted and killed Christians, but mostly because he didn't believe in Jesus Christ." In Myanmar the people have a common saying, "Soldiers never die, they live on." I was told that the legions of hell have a saying "Soldiers never die, but they go to hell forever."

 

I looked and saw another man in the lake of fire. He was a very tall man and he was dressed in military armor. He was also holding a sword and a shield. This man had a wound on his forehead. This man was taller than any person I have ever seen. He was six times the length between a man's elbow and the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm out straight, plus one span of a man's fingers when he spreads out his hand. The king of hell said, "This man's name is Goliath. He is in hell because he blasphemed the Eternal God and His servant David." I was confused because I didn't know who either Goliath or David were. The king of hell said, "Goliath is recorded in the Christian Bible. You don't know him now, but when you become a Christian you will know who he is."

 

I was then taken to a place where I saw both rich and poor people preparing to eat their evening meals. I asked, "Who cooked the food for these people?" The king of hell replied, "The poor have to prepare their own food, but the rich people get others to cook for them." When the food had been prepared for the rich people they sat down to eat. As soon as they started a thick smoke came up. The rich people ate as fast as they could to ease their consciences. They were struggling to breath because of the smoke. They had to eat fast because they were fearful of losing their money. Their money is their god.

 

Another king of hell then came to me. I also saw a being whose job is to stoke the fires beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot. This being asked me, "Are you going into the lake of fire too?" I replied, "No! I am only here to observe!" The appearance of this creature stoking the fire was very terrifying. He had ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand that had seven sharp blades coming from the end. The creature told me, "You are right. You came here just to observe. I cannot find your name here." He said, "You must now go back the way you came." He pointed me toward the desolate plain that I had first walked along before I came to the lake of fire.

 

The Road of Decision

 

I walked a long time, until I was bleeding. I was hot and in great pain. Finally, after walking for about three hours I came to a wide road. I walked along this road for some time until I came to a fork. One road, going off to the left, was wide. A smaller road went off to the right hand side. There was a signpost at the fork saying that the road to the left was for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller road to the right was for believers in Jesus.

 

I was interested to see where the larger road led so I started down it. There were two men walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried to catch up with them so I could walk with them but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't catch them up, so I turned around and went back to the fork in the road. I continued to watch these two men as they walked down the road away from me. When they reached the end of the road they were suddenly stabbed. These two men cried out in great pain! I also cried out when I saw what happened to them! I realized the bigger road ended in great danger for those who traveled down it.

 

Looking into Heaven

 

I started walking down the believers' road instead. After traveling for about one hour the surface of the road turned to pure gold. It was so pure that when I looked down I could see my own reflection perfectly. I then saw a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a white robe. I also heard beautiful singing. Oh, it was so beautiful and pure! It was much better and more meaningful than the worship we have in churches here on the earth. The man in the white robe asked me to walk with him. I asked him, "What is your name?" but he did not answer. After I asked his name six times the man answered, "I am the one who holds the key to heaven. Heaven is a very, very beautiful place. You cannot go there now but if you follow Jesus Christ you can go there after your life has finished on the earth." The man's name was Peter.

 

Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed me a place to the north. Peter said, "Look to the north and see God create man." I saw the Eternal God from a distance. God spoke to an angel, "Let us make man." The angel pleaded with God and said, "Please don't make man. He will do wrong and will grieve you." [in Burmese literally: "He will make you lose face."]. But God created a man named anyway. God blew on the man and the man came to life. He gave him the name "Adam". [Note: Buddhists do not believe in the Creation of the world or of man, so this experience had a significant impact on the monk].

 

Sent Back with a New Name

 

Then Peter said, "Now get up and go back to where you came from. Speak to the people who worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell them they must go to hell if they don't change. Those who build temples and idols will also have to go to hell. Those who give offerings to the monks to earn merit for themselves with go to hell. All those who pray to the monks and call them 'Pra' [respectful title for monks] will go to hell. Those who chant and 'give life' to idols will go to hell. All those who don't believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell." Peter told me to go back to the earth and testify about the things I had seen. He also said, "You must speak in your new name. From now on you are to be called Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu ["Paul who Came Back to Life."].

 

I didn't want to go back. I wanted to go to heaven. Angels opened a book. First they looked for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book, but they could not find it. They then looked for the name I had been given when he entered the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya) but it wasn't written in the book either. Then Peter said, "Your name is not written here, you must return and testify about Jesus to the Buddhist people."

 

I walked back along the gold road. Again I heard beautiful singing, the kind of which I have never heard before or since. Peter walked with me until the time I returned to the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder didn't reach to the earth, but stopped in mid-air. On the ladder I saw many angels, some going up to heaven and some going down the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter, "Who are they?" Peter answered, "They are messengers of God. They are reporting to heaven the names of all those who believe in Jesus Christ and the names of those who don't believe." Peter then told me it was time to go back.

 

It is a Ghost!

 

The next thing I was aware of was the sound of weeping. I heard my own mother cry out, "My son, why did you leave us now?" I also heard many other people weeping. I realized I was lying in a box. I started to move. My mother and father started shouting, "He is alive! He is alive!" Other people who were farther away did not believe my parents. I then placed my hands on the sides of the box and sat upright. Many people were struck with terror. They cried out, "It is a ghost!" and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

 

Those who remained were speechless and trembling. I noticed I was sitting in smelly liquid and body fluids, enough to fill about three and a half cups. This was liquid that had come out of my stomach and my insides while my body was lying in the coffin. This is why people knew I had indeed been dead. Inside the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet fixed to the wood. This sheet is placed there to retain a corpse's liquids, because many dead bodies release much fluid like mine did.

 

I learned later that I was just moments away from being cremated in the flames. In Myanmar people are placed in a coffin, the lid is then nailed shut, and the whole coffin is burned. When I came back to life my mother and father were being allowed to look at my body for the very last time. Moments later the lid of my coffin would have been nailed shut and I would have been cremated!

 

I immediately started to explain the things I had seen and heard. People were astonished. I told them about the men I had seen in the lake of fire, and told them that only the Christians know the truth, that our forefathers and us have been deceived for thousands of years! I told them everything we believe is a lie. The people were astonished because they knew what kind of a monk I had been and how zealous I had been for the teachings of Buddha.

 

In Myanmar when a person dies their name and age is written on the side of the coffin. When a monk dies, the monk's name, age and the number of years he has served as a monk are written on the side of the coffin. I had already been recorded as dead but as you can see, now I am alive!

 

Epilogue

 

Since 'Paul who came back to life' experienced the above story he has remained a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Burmese pastors have told us that he had led hundreds of other monks to faith in Christ. His testimony is obviously very uncompromising. Because of that, his message has offended many people who cannot accept there is only one Way to Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite great opposition, his experiences were so real to him that he has not wavered. After many years in the Buddhist monk hood, as a strict follower of Buddhist teachings, he immediately proclaimed the Gospel of Christ following his resurrection and exhorted other monks to forsake all false gods and follow Jesus Christ with all their hearts. Before the time of his sickness and death he had no exposure to Christianity at all. Everything he learned during those three days in the grave was new to his mind.

 

In a bid to get his message out to as many people as possible, this modern-day Lazarus began distributing audio and video cassette tapes with his story on them. The police and Buddhist authorities in Myanmar have done their utmost to gather these tapes up and destroy them. The testimony you have just read has been translated form one of those cassette tapes. We are told it is now quite dangerous for citizens of Myanmar to be in possession of these tapes.

 

His fearless testimony has landed him in prison at least once, where the authorities failed in their bid to silence him. Upon his release he continued to testify of the things he saw and heard. His current whereabouts are uncertain. One Burmese informant told us he is prison and may have been killed, while another informant was told he is now released from prison and is continuing his ministry.

[Guest guest]

Wow this is an example of very sophisticated Christian propaganda

 

The person who fabricated this bunch of lies is very clever.

 

And the God he worships is a Terror. He punishes people such as Buddha who never heard of him. Why did this God make people get born in places where they would never hear of Jesus, and then when they died condemn them for not believing in Jesus?

 

Weird. Totally sick.

[Guest guest]

 

By Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu

After some time I crossed a river. On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this. At first I was confused and didn't know it was hell until I saw Yama, the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous cultures throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had a number of horns on his head. His face was very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the king of hell, the Destroyer."

 

The terrible, terrible lake of fire

 

The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire? He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why he is in hell."

 

 

The person who made up this story doesn't really know much about buddhism.

 

Saying that there is no concept of hell in Buddhism is just plain ignorance.

 

Take a look at the page below and you will see that the concept of Hell is known to Buddhists:

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell#Buddhism

[Guest guest]

 

The terrible, terrible lake of fire

 

The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire? He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why he is in hell."

 

I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied, "This is the one you worship: Gautama [buddha]." I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell. I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?" The king of hell answered me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God."

 

Wow! to think people actually believe these sick things.

 

Buddha is burning in a lake of fire forever, because the unfortunate sap just happened to be born 500 yrs before Jesus Christ and didnt know about the christian god. The same Buddha who preached love and compassion for all is now being eternally tortured by satan? lovely religion you have there.

[Guest guest]

 

Wow this is an example of very sophisticated Christian propaganda

 

The person who fabricated this bunch of lies is very clever.

 

And the God he worships is a Terror. He punishes people such as Buddha who never heard of him. Why did this God make people get born in places where they would never hear of Jesus, and then when they died condemn them for not believing in Jesus?

 

Weird. Totally sick.

The Eternal God is clearly written about in your beloved veda and other scriptures. Scripture which buddha denied claiming there was no God.

[Guest guest]

 

The person who made up this story doesn't really know much about buddhism.

 

Saying that there is no concept of hell in Buddhism is just plain ignorance.

 

Take a look at the page below and you will see that the concept of Hell is known to Buddhists:

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell#Buddhism

HE doesnt say buddhism knows no hells, but not a hell in this form.

[nekozuki]

I've gotta know why people of faiths other than Christianity see the exact opposite of what Christians talk about. Very,very few people have mentioned hell in their NDEs. Obviously, you have to do something very, very bad to end up there. And King Yama is not an equivalent to Satan. This story is a hoax, even Christians are upset about it.

[Guest guest]

 

Wow! to think people actually believe these sick things.

 

Buddha is burning in a lake of fire forever, because the unfortunate sap just happened to be born 500 yrs before Jesus Christ and didnt know about the christian god. The same Buddha who preached love and compassion for all is now being eternally tortured by satan? lovely religion you have there.

As written, those who lived before Jesus Christ had to believe in the eternal God which Buddha could have very well done, as God has a different set of history books than we do and He is clearly written about in your own scriptures, scriptures buddha denied.

And buddha can preach all he want I dont believe for one minute that hippie was actually HAVING true divine compassion and love for all. And no, satan deceived him, God torments him. Not that it was Gods will, but he is condemned by his own judgement. God wants all people to return to Him and believe and live eternally with Him.

[Gaea]

 

The Eternal God is clearly written about in your beloved veda and other scriptures. Scripture which buddha denied claiming there was no God.

 

Out of his infinite mercy Lord Buddha taught those people according to their capacity, as did Christ.

[Guest guest]

according to their capacity! You can never teach anything true if you reject the Lord of Truth! You can never teach the path of Light and Life if you reject the Living God in whom is no darkness. Everything begins and ends with the eternal Lord and all knowledge that rejects Him is FALSE!

 

 

Yama is not satan indeed. never said that. God showed this to this monk so he could save many other buddhists. Christ is in your scriptures and by showing the monk Yama, whom they know, God lets them know what is the true path.

[Gaea]

 

according to their capacity! You can never teach anything true if you reject the Lord of Truth! You can never teach the path of Light and Life if you reject the Living God in whom is no darkness. Everything begins and ends with the eternal Lord and all knowledge that rejects Him is FALSE!

Yama is not satan indeed. never said that. God showed this to this monk so he could save many other buddhists. Christ is in your scriptures and by showing the monk Yama, whom they know, God lets them know what is the true path.

 

If Christ is in our scriptures, then our scriptures are blessed by Christ himself. So why worry about where we're going?

[Guest guest]

Oh good lord not another Evangelical, who believes in absolute truth and judgement, and to Hell with all of you for not washing yourself free of sins in the blood of Christ!!!

Man, take it easy, cos your idea of God is an absolute vindictive bastard. I would sooner party down in the depths of your idea of Hell with all the fun and interesting people, deities and whatnot then be stuck in some 'Heaven' with a bunch of judgemental, self-righteous and prudish *%@nts like Pat Robertson and other tele-ban of his ilk. check it, google chick publications and read the cartoons. God of love and understandning and forgiveness? I don't think so my friend, which is why i worship chtulu, [google chtulhu chick] [just kidding I don't worship anything actually, apart from people and nature, which if you think about is all that we do anyway...]

[Guest guest]

 

I would sooner party down in the depths of your idea of Hell with all the fun and interesting people, deities and whatnot then be stuck in some 'Heaven' with a bunch of judgemental, self-righteous and prudish *%@nts like Pat Robertson and other tele-ban of his ilk.

 

Indeed, being stuck in an eternal heaven with the likes of Pat Robertson and all the other tele-evangalists and christian fundamentalists is a fate worse than hell!

[Guest guest]

 

I've gotta know why people of faiths other than Christianity see the exact opposite of what Christians talk about. Very,very few people have mentioned hell in their NDEs. Obviously, you have to do something very, very bad to end up there. And King Yama is not an equivalent to Satan. This story is a hoax, even Christians are upset about it.

 

Not to mention that many Christians and people who were raised Christian have near death experiences corroborating with Hindu and Buddhist beliefs rather than the traditional Christian interpretations.

 

However, if this monk's story IS true, then the authenticity of near death experiences is very much in doubt from what I can see.

 

did the monk ever hear of Christ and the idea that he will be damned to hell if he didn't believe BEFORE ever having the nde? Perhaps this experience was a reflection of his deep-seated fear, and thus, he was given a chance to see that fear realized so he would walk the path that was safest for him.

 

You don't actually have to do something bad to end up in hell though, as there are people who have done a lot of good, who are angry with the world and end up in hell. Hell is more a mental state than anything else it seems to me.

 

I found near-death dot com to be much more enlightening as to the various experiences of people who've "died" and come back. A lot of their experiences seem similar to the Gnostic interpretations of christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

[Guest guest]

that a monk who meditated so much, didn't seem to be remotely enlightened.

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna!

 

All glories to Srila Prabhupada! I offer my humble obeisance unto him!

 

Whoever wrote this must be very creative. Actually, it sounds more like a Steve Speilberg, james Cameroon and other directors put together.

 

If you see, the circumstances, the environment, the depiction of Yama, the road to heaven, the ladder from heaven, angels in white dress, Old man called Peter with a Key in his hands, lake of fire etc

 

all depict, show a cinematic picture. If we look at Hollywood movies/cartoons, these are the objects/people/props they show to visualise hell and heaven and clearly is deifned by limited human thoughts. When I say human imagination, i mean, Christians literally in their movies/cartoons show a ladder with angels going up and down and they show a lake of fire and so forth.

 

Clearly, the components of the story, have been clipped/copied from different movies and cartoons and put together as one piece imaginatively.

 

This is nothing but "creative story writing" we do in school.

 

Haribol!

 

anand

[theist]

If one has no knowledge to present in order to persuade people to your way of thinking then they resort to stories like this or swords and bombs like the Muslims.

 

He seems to have taken inspiration from a story on www.near-death.com about an atheist who had a NDE and came back a theist and even started a church. He also was shown hellish realms. Maybe he ripped off some from Emmanuel Swedenborg's experiences in his visions also. Add some visual descriptions inspired from his reading the Book of Revelations and.. Pesto!.. we have this concocted tale.

 

Those who know God or who are hearing from one who knows God will never have to resort to such nonsense.

 

[Guest guest]

 

Not to mention that many Christians and people who were raised Christian have near death experiences corroborating with Hindu and Buddhist beliefs rather than the traditional Christian interpretations.

 

However, if this monk's story IS true, then the authenticity of near death experiences is very much in doubt from what I can see.

 

did the monk ever hear of Christ and the idea that he will be damned to hell if he didn't believe BEFORE ever having the nde? Perhaps this experience was a reflection of his deep-seated fear, and thus, he was given a chance to see that fear realized so he would walk the path that was safest for him.

 

You don't actually have to do something bad to end up in hell though, as there are people who have done a lot of good, who are angry with the world and end up in hell. Hell is more a mental state than anything else it seems to me.

 

I found near-death dot com to be much more enlightening as to the various experiences of people who've "died" and come back. A lot of their experiences seem similar to the Gnostic interpretations of christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

 

I posted this in another thread but I will repeat it again. My stepdad's friend who is not Hindu had a NDE on the sugery table. He came back and told everyone he had seen the Hindu god Lord Shiva. Prior to that he had no experience with Hinduism, I'm sure he had seen a picture at one time and recognized who it was. But he was not Hindu before and afterwards he was certainly a changed man I'm sure.

[nekozuki]

Sorry about that, that was me above. I forgot to log in lol.

[bija]

nekozuki,

I have had a nde. I would say the nde's are a subtle body phenomenon. I had both a wonderful experience and a very frightening one. I was not following the Hindu path then, but I did see Yamaraja in it at some point. The following smiley says totally how I felt when I saw this personage:eek:. And the wonderful experience...that is beyond words. Complex psyche:). Thank God not as complex as the monk in question or, the writer who made up this bogus story:).

 

Anyway, if Goliath and Buddha are some of the diverse persons in Hell, it is sure going to be a crowded place. I'm not so good around crowds. Then again Goliath and Buddha having a chin-wag, that might be interesting.

 

Anyhow, I am spirit soul..not this body, not this mind.....subtle body be-gone!!!

[Guest guest]

 

Indeed, being stuck in an eternal heaven with the likes of Pat Robertson and all the other tele-evangalists and christian fundamentalists is a fate worse than hell!

 

I'd rather spend an eternity down under with the buddhists anyday.

[Guest guest]

Paramahamsa Yogananda once cured the fear of hell in a devout Christian by applying the power of reason.

 

Yoganandaji was traveling in a train and he noticed that the man in the seat in front of him looked very unhappy. By his yogic powers, Yoganandaji immediately saw that the man was extremely worried about his son who was leading a very dissolute life. So he asked him point blank, "Brother, why are you looking so gloomy today?"

 

The man, startled, denied his feeling and told Yoganandaji to mind his own business.

 

Our great master prodded him more "It is because of your son’s wayward life, isn’t it?"

 

Stunned by his extraordinary accuracy, the man asked him whether he was a fortune-teller or some kind of sorcerer? The man finally had to admit that it was true, that he was extremely preoccupied by his son’s wayward manners.

 

Yoganandaji proceeded, "You are also thinking with great fear of hell, aren’t you?"

 

The man responded that yes, he was still mulling over a sermon he had heard this morning about hell and eternal damnation, and that he was terrified by this prospect for his son.

 

Yogananda then said "I have the solution to correct your son: ask four of your strongest friends to build a huge pyre, to set it on fire, then to bind your son’s hands and feet together and toss him in the fire."

 

The man screamed, "Are you a monk or a devil?" Yoganandaji calmly replied, "I am only suggesting a way to solve your son’s problems, and your worries about him at the same time." The man shouted, "I may be extremely unhappy with him, still he is my son and I love him…" At which point

 

Yoganandaji interjected very matter-of-factly, "You, being an earthly father, could not tolerate the thought of doing any harm to your own son; think only how much more love our Heavenly Father has for all His children, who are made in His image. How could He possibly condemn them to eternal hell and damnation?"

[nekozuki]

That's deep right there. What about tribal people who have never heard of Jesus? Or the possibility of intelligent life on other planets what about them? Oh wait I forgot if we ever found them the Christians would try to convert them also

[Sephiroth]

Nonsense ...

 

No where in any Scriptures of the Old Testament stated that those who do not believe in God or its Messangers will be send to Hell for eternity and no where did it say that Jesus was a god that needs to be followed like a damned Sheep. I find this article INSULTING.

 

Christians broke EVERY freaking commandments in the Old Testament and even the New one BUT they going to go to heaven because they believe in Jesus?

 

Also ... since when did Yama, Lord of Death in Hindusm worked for Jesus?

 

And finally, making Man in His own image is a major nonsense from Christianity. In Hebrew, God made Man's SOUL in His image, NOT the body. But in Christianity, they said God made Man in flesh and blood according to His image which is why Jesus the god came as Man.

[Guest guest]

 

That's deep right there. What about tribal people who have never heard of Jesus? Or the possibility of intelligent life on other planets what about them? :

 

they'd think it was some tricks of satan, as they already do. When I have mentioned extraterrestrial ecounters and life on other planets to christians, they said any ET sightings are demon imposters.

 

You see, if they can't explain it, "it must be of the devil". This is how they also explain yogic powers and feats, that hindus with siddhis are demon possessed.