I doubt if there is a god alive ("a living god") or if there were that he is worth considering. How could I respect a god who will put up with my mockery, and yet make me healthy, wealthy and wise? I prefer to think, until I have some evidence, that no such spooks exist.
As for your story, I have a had a similar experience with my father's death. At the time, it seemed more than mere coincidence. But of course, it could be a fantasy "arising from the heat oppressed brain." Sort of like Hamlet's experience with his dad. The religious problem in my case is that we had just a couple of hours before been discussing our beliefs. He was dying from uremic poisoning, the outcome of a sloppy gastrectomy. He asked me if I believed in any after life or God. I told him no. He said that was what he believed, and had never had any reason to doubt his disbelief. I asked him if he was worried or afraid of dying. He said that he was not. I wet his lips, and he turned his head and fell asleep. I sat and read until my brother came to replace me in the death watch then drove home and went to bed. About 5am the phone rang, and I knew immediately my father was dead. My mother and I went into the hall to answer the phone, she staggered and later claimed to have seen a smoky kind of presence -- a ghost, I guess. She was a social Christian of a sort, and had loved him very much. I saw nothing, but was not surprised when I picked up the phone and heard my brother say that my father had just died.
I have never felt guilt about confirming my father's disbelief. He was the best man I ever knew. He would not have tolerated a lie from me. He didn't deserve one. |
