Teaching Choral Concepts

Review

     Star dust! That is what our physical bodies are made of. But the real us--the spiritual beings temporarily clothed in star dust--we are the stuff of eternity, organized by God. 

In this fascinating book, Arvin Gibson takes us on a journey to find answers about the mysteries of God's existence, and of our existence too. That journey takes us on three different paths: near-death studies, the creation as understood by scientists, and Mormon theology. As the journey expands, we find that there are interwoven patterns from each of the paths pointing to an inescapable conclusion--that proofs of God's existence are everywhere. 

In this journey you will marvel at the illuminating accounts of people who have had near-death experiences (NDEs) where they received profound glimpses of life beyond mortality. The reality of those experiences, documented by corroborative evidence of what they saw and heard while out of their bodies, strongly confirms the existence of God and His influences in our lives. 

Next, you will see how our physical creation started with the "big bang" and expansion of the universe. You will follow that expansion from a small point of enormous energy to the almost limitless cosmos which we now see. The miracle of life and the improbability of its chance formation will be exposed to your view. 

Comparisons will show you the remarkable agreement between early Mormon experiences and the many NDEs of current interest. Finally, you will see how the Plan of Salvation, as explained in Mormon theology, provides a road map which overlays all of the paths to truth which this book discusses. 

Many fingerprints of God will be illustrated, and those fingerprints literally shout the message: The laws which govern our universe, the universe itself, and all life therein were created by God. We are sons and daughters of God, commissioned by Him to come to earth for further growth and development. Our destiny, should we so choose, is to become one with the Light and to share in the eternal glory and power of God. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments, 13

Foreword, 17

Millennial Thoughts, 24
Introduction, 25
From Skeptic to Believer, 25
Why This Book?, 25
Beginnings, 25
Early Work in Nuclear Energy, 26
A Troubling Experience, 26
Probabilistic Analysis, 28
Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), 30
Anthropic Universe, 31
NDEs and My Search for Truth, 32
Mormonism, 34
Who This Book is For, 36
Large and Small Numbers, 39

1. Near-Death Experiences--A Different Reality, 41
What is a Near-Death Experience (NDE)?, 41
Why the Emphasis on NDEs?, 42
Some Initial Examples, 43
Dan--A Child's Experience, 44
Dan's Background, 44
A Candy Treat, 44
Hit by a Car--The Light, 45
A Choice to Stay or Return--Return and Recovery, 46
Recalling the Event, 47
Challenges to Dan's Belief System, 48
Thoughts About Life and Death, 48
George Thompson--A Senior Citizen's Experience, 49
An Englishman's Beginning, 49
The War Years, 51
America and a Heart Attack, 51
A Beautiful, Peaceful Light, 52
Questions About George's Experience, 53
Sylvia--A Young Atheist, 54
Her Early Life, 54
Her Educational Background and Working Career, 54
A Motor Scooter Accident, 56
A Life's Review, 57
A Tunnel and a Light, 58
A Choice and the Return, 60
Some Questions About Sylvia's Experience, 62
Analysis of the Three Experiences, 67
Do the Stories Represent Reality?, 71
Some Corroborative NDEs, 72

DeAnne Anderson Shelley
-A Remarkable Healing, 73

Bill English
-A Courageous Man, 76

Susan
-An NDE From Multiple Perspectives, 79

Maria
-The Shoe on the Ledge, 81
Some Summary Thoughts About NDEs, 82

2. Near-Death Experiences-Research, 84
Why a Chapter on NDE Research?, 84
History and Early Work, 84
Some Initial Researchers, 86
The Nature of Early Research, 88
Attempt to Explain the NDE by Current Science, 90
Another NDE Explanation--The Unbound Spirit, 91
What Impact is Near-Death Research Having?, 94
What are the Implications of Near-Death Research Findings?, 96
Final Thought on Near-Death Research, 96

3. Questions About NDEs, 98
Commonly Asked Questions, 98
Do Those Who Have an NDE Always Tell the Truth?, 99
What is the Motivation for Telling About an NDE?, 99
Which People Have NDEs?, 100
Why Such Varied Experiences?, 100
What About the Bizarre Happenings in Some NDEs?, 101
Are All NDEs Pleasant?, 103
Proof of Life After Death?, 104
What About Repentance and Judgment?, 106
Are Angels a Part of the NDE?, 109
What About Encounters with Deity?, 112

Elizabeth Marie, 114

Mike,114

Theresa, 116

Other Questions About NDEs, 117

4.The Creation, 118
To My Readers, 118
The Bible and Other LDS Scriptures, 118
Serendipity?, 122
Science's View of the Creation of the Universe, 124
Singularity and Planck Time, 124
Early Expansion, 125
From Years to Billions of Years, 126
Energy, Work and Power from Different Perspectives, 127
What Is at Issue?, 127
Godly Power?, 127
Godly Power Made Manifest, 128
Ultimate Cause and Effect, 131

5. The Probability of Life, 134
Why Probability Is Important, 134
How Probability Works, 135
A Warning to my Readers, 136
Argument Against a Happenstance Universe, 136
The Probability of the Spontaneous Creation of Life, 137
The Miracle of Life, 13
Carbon, 13
DNA Magic, 131
Evolution and Some Problems, 141
Conditions Necessary for Life to Begin, 142
Fossil Evidence of Early Life, 143
The Probabilities of Different Life Forms Developing, 145
The Lightning Bolt and Uncle Willie, 147
Still Other Perspectives, 147

6. Mormonism--The History, 150
Why a History?, 150
The First Vision, 151
The Angel Moroni, 153
The Gold Plates, 154
Translation of The Book of Mormon, 155
The Witnesses, 156
Organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 157
A Vision of Heaven, 159
The Kirtland Temple, l60
The Martyrdom of the Prophet, 161
Aftermath, 162
About Joseph Smith, 162
Quotations by Professor Bloom, 164

7. Mormonism--The Doctrine, 166
What Doctrine?, 166
Descriptions of the Light, 166

Derald Evans's
Description of the Light, 166

Ann's
Description, 167

Lois Clark's
Understanding of the Light, 167

Kathleen Pratt Martinez's
View of the Light, 167
Scriptural References to the Light, 167
The Plan of Salvation, 169
Elements of the Plan, 169
Some NDE Correlations, 171

Accounts of Jayne and Beverly--
The Plan, 171

Theresa's
Experience--Opposition, 172
From Theresa, 175
From the Book of Mormon, 175

DeLynn--
Premortal Life and Choice, 175
Families--Theresa's Experience, 178
Knowledge--DeLynn, Rivers and Sylvia, 179

Karen--
A Suicide Attempt, 181
The Life Review, 183
More on John Stirling,183
Theresa, 183
An LDS Perspective on the Life's Review, 185
Some Interesting Patterns, 186
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 188
Which Church to Join?, 188

Gary Gillum--
A Conversion Experience, 189
Final Thoughts on this Chapter, 191

8. The Evidence, 192
What Evidence?, 192
The Fingerprints of God, 193
NDEs-A Clear Fingerprint, 193
The Anthropic Universe, 194
Spontaneous Creation of Life, 195
Origin of the Big Bang, 196
Matter and Antimatter, Gravity and Light, 198
Spacetime and Speed of Travel-An Interesting Fingerprint, 199
Quantum Quandaries, 201
The Scriptures, 203
The Book of Mormon, 203
Chiasmus, 205
The Bible, 208
An Angelic Response About the Bible, 209
The LDS Position on the Bible, 209
Freedom of Choice and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, 210

Joe Swick's
NDE and Conversion, 211
Personal Revelation, 214
Conclusions, 215
Basic Conclusions from Identifying Certain Fingerprints, 216
Some Interrelated Conclusions, 216
Implications, 219
Who Are We?, 220
How Great Thou Art, 221

Appendix A, 222
Other Attempts to Explain the NDE, 222
A Variety of Failed Explanations, 222
Another Study of Corroborative Experiences, 223
New Age Explanations, 225
Reincarnation, 225
Hypnotic Regression Therapy, 226
Different Beliefs Concerning Reincarnation, 226
Bridey Murphy and Jane Evans-Publicized Cases, 227
Hazards of Hypnosis for Retrieving Historic Facts, 228
Controlled Hypnotic Regression Experiments, 229

Appendix B, 230
Basic Facts About the Universe, 230
Fundamental Forces, 230
The Big Bang-Evidence For, 231
Star-birth and Star-death, 232
Age of the Earth and the Universe, 234
Age of the Earth, 234
Age of the Universe, 235

Appendix C, 236
Probability, and Other Attempts to Explain Life, 236
Conditional Probability, 236
Arguments for a Chance Universe, 238
Summary of Arguments for and Against a Chance Universe, 239
Sample Calculations of the Probability of Chance Life Formation, 240
Calculation of a Specific Protein, 240
Calculation of Random Creation of a Blood Clotting Protein, 241
Summary Concerning Calculations of Chance Life Formation, 242
Life From Meteorites or From the Cosmos, 242
The Mars Meteorite, 242
Life From the Cosmos, 243
The Probability of Life Originating in Space, 245
Life From the Bottom of the Sea or Deep in the Earth, 246
Darwinian Evolution, 248

Appendix D, 251
Cosmic Structure, 251
Why This Subject?, 251
The Nature of Matter as Defined by Modern Physics, 251
Black Holes, 255
Multiple Universes, 256
Worm Holes, 257
Universe Expansion, Anti-Gravity and Dark Matter, 259
Spacetime and Speed of Travel, 262

Endnotes, 266

Glossary, 286

Selected Bibliography, 297

Index, 306

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