"The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven" says he lied.

originally posted by: Lolliek
Very sad. After my father passed away, my stepmom read this and Heaven Is Real. She really got into all the afterlife books. I hope she doesn't find out that this kid lied.

I know that sounds awful, but she is in her 80's and loved my dad with all of her being. She really wants to believe that they will be together again.

That being said... I hate con artists.

i understand

originally posted by: Chronogoblin
Read this earlier, basically, the boy didn't get his cut of the money, so he is 'recanting' the 'whole thing' because 'reasons...' I think he had an experience, grew up, realized that other people were making money off of him, and he got upset. So now, in revenge for whatever ills, "it never happened..." Sure. If anyone really needed this kids story to help them in their faith, then they need more help than a book outside of the Bible can give.

I think this too might be possible.

Perhaps the boy was not lying about his experiences - but rather that he came to believe they weren't experiences of him going to Heaven (since he didn't die). Thus, implying that the book is misleading.

There's surely some complaint by the mother that the boy isn't getting his share of funds from the book, but the story is a little more complicated if you read the link Veghead provided to the mother's blog.

originally posted by: Greven
So, this was an interesting bit of news:
Boy Says He Didn't Go To Heaven; Publisher Says It Will Pull Book

Nearly five years after it hit bestseller lists, a book that purported to be a six-year-old boy's story of visiting angels and heaven after suffering 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.

He claims he did it for attention, but perhaps there is another reason...

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.
...
Alex's parents are now divorced; he and his siblings live with his mother, Beth Malarkey, who has previously spoken out against the book (and last year, a movie) featuring her son. She has also said that profits from the book haven't been going to Alex.

It's an interesting thing - did he lie originally?

Or did the rift between his father and his family provoke this claim?

Probably the former, in my opinion, but it's worth mentioning.

Now if only Jesus, Moses and Mohammad would let us off the hook we could get humanity out of the dark ages and move toward an awesome future.

It's possible he made it all up and it's also possible he did have an experience. But what experience he had was somewhat limited and he was encouraged to embellish it to make an elaborate lie out of it so that it was marketable. There is that possibility, too.

There are too many people who have accounts of experiences of some kind to completely dismiss the possibility that he experienced something.

People make money selling God??????

It's this kind of thing that makes me want to hoist the BS flag. Trusting Christians just got a lot harder.

a reply to: olaru12

*snort* As if you were looking for a reason to trust us in the first place, but I will hoist a drink in honor of your recently deceased efforts to trust.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: olaru12

*snort* As if you were looking for a reason to trust us in the first place, but I will hoist a drink in honor of your recently deceased efforts to trust.

If it makes you any happier...

I don't trust any religion that says "my way is the only way" holier than thou, spiritual arrogance may work for you...

not for me!

enjoy your drink....

The 'revelation' of this should be a red-flag-moment for those on these boards who spent considerable brain power explaining to detractors the radiant 'discernment' required to validate it at the time (and subsequently use it as one of the examples they could cite of LAD, in relation to the xtian tradition) and somehow link its narrative to what they have been led to 'believe'...

Having said that...Subtler variations of the story exist in many traditions that fall much closer to the mark, but many of them are tainted by religion bias...i.e. 'I died and met the devil'...(note: not reserved for the xtian tradition alone)...

All in all, a refreshingly illuminating culmination to an interesting exercise in 'discernment'.

Å99

originally posted by: Lolliek
Very sad. After my father passed away, my stepmom read this and Heaven Is Real. She really got into all the afterlife books. I hope she doesn't find out that this kid lied.

I know that sounds awful, but she is in her 80's and loved my dad with all of her being. She really wants to believe that they will be together again.

That being said... I hate con artists.

And this - whoever you're - is exactly why I don't get into heated arguments wiht religious people I know. I respect them too much. The truth is I feel sorry for them. If and when they're ready to examine it then they'll do it on their own. It won't be because of me berating them.

Anbd this is also exactly why when you know something probably isn't true you should tell someone else about it before it becomes a hardcore faith to them. Nip it in the bud before it's a problem.

However this doesn't mean there's no god. I'm an agnostic atheist. If and whne evidence presents itself, I can chagne my mind.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Anytime it involves religion-it usually is.

a reply to: Floydshayvious

Religion is the oldest con game in the world.

Religious leaders are only interested in power and wealth.

(They have to do nice things once in a while to trick people-or to get close to peoples' children.Guess why.)

I say keep the book in print.
Maybe the follow up book will be about the "devil" made me deceive and now I found Jesus again.

Seriously...
If bookstores pulled every religious book that told fabricated stories and exaggerated truths

there would be empty shelves everywhere.

originally posted by: rupertg
I say keep the book in print.
Maybe the follow up book will be about the "devil" made me deceive and now I found Jesus again.

Seriously...
If bookstores pulled every religious book that told fabricated stories and exaggerated truths

there would be empty shelves everywhere.

i was wandering through a local bookstore one time and stumbled into the religion/philosophy section. i promptly left while shaking my head in disgust because literally 95% of that section was comprised of variations of the same book. i will give you three guesses, eh?

originally posted by: TzarChasm

originally posted by: rupertg
I say keep the book in print.
Maybe the follow up book will be about the "devil" made me deceive and now I found Jesus again.

Seriously...
If bookstores pulled every religious book that told fabricated stories and exaggerated truths

there would be empty shelves everywhere.

i was wandering through a local bookstore one time and stumbled into the religion/philosophy section. i promptly left while shaking my head in disgust because literally 95% of that section was comprised of variations of the same book. i will give you three guesses, eh?

Starred.

...a poignant observation in my opinion...

Å99

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: olaru12

*snort* As if you were looking for a reason to trust us in the first place, but I will hoist a drink in honor of your recently deceased efforts to trust.

people who will lie about meeting god will lie about anything if it pays enough.

I remember watching the vid and thinking, "the dad's behind this".

There's another one about a kid (from Florida, I think) who claimed to remember a past life as a US airman who got shot down over the Pacific by the Japanese during WW2.

I smelled BS all over that one too.

The parents actually took the kid to the area where he allegedly died (yep) and the kid proceeded to do a highly unconvincing act of being overcome with emotion while being egged on by maw and paw. lol

It's pretty obvious what he was saying was complete B.S.

Heaven Is just another name for space, People. Take it to context.

If you die you go to Sheol, To visit Hades.

People who go to heaven don't experience the second death in tartarus. You only experience second death when you are being Judged.

You are not Judged upon Death. But are only Judged in quote* The End times* When men and woman will be sent the * Lord * in droves. Who will grant the holy spirit upon them, Making them immune to the second death.

Says so in the text. Tho i think there's a lot more to this than what meets the eye.
The angels and other crap is all made up tho.

Yall gunna have to get used to E.T because they fit the Angel/demon thing pretty well. They come from other planets so.
The satan stuff really does seep in there pretty well. Therefore god and satan are both aliens. As god wasn't born on Earth during it's conception. God arrived to the place where Earth would be created.

Therefore God is an Alien.

A spirit based alien anyways. By reading the text. It's very clear God is a living poltergeist.
Neither Death But Spirit. Alive in Spirit but not in Death.

Whew!

I wasn't really worried but...they story and boy struck me as sincere at the time. It made me really think...hmmm what if I'm wrong and I should have been listening to the carpenters (we've only just begun..) ...uh..I mean THE Carpenter all along. In the end, I concluded that there was something not right about the whole story. It's good to have confirmation. Back to the Carpenters...