This one is for Rob

I'll start with you, Philege, you said; "Ask me why I believe in God and the 'soul' and I might tell you a thing or two which may change your point of view." Well now I'm asking you.

In 1978 my late brother had graduated from from University of Rhodesia with Bachelor of Science degree. He was a pronounced atheist, this I presume came from the University influence, you know 'enlightenment' etc just like you guys. Anyway, at that time in Rhodesia there was a rageing civil war, so soon after graduation my late brother was drafted into the army, and during training he was accidentally shot through the neck whilst practising with the rest of his unit on the firing range. To cut a long story short after several days of unconciousness and extensive surgery to his spinal cord he came round. The surgeon who operated on him was one of the most renouned brain surgeons in Africa at the time. He summoned our family to his office after the many hours in the operating theatre. He told us that he was very surprised that my brother was still alive since his jugular vein had been severed and he had virtually no blood in his body. To make matters worse only a small thread of his spinal cord was holding, so he cut some bone from my brother's thigh to surround this fragile portion so it could fuse with the surrounding bone and protect this small attachment. He explained to our horror that my brother was paralysed from the neck down and there was no hope of recovery. He also explained that my brother would not be able to speak as his vocal cords had been ruptured by the bullet. He actually stated that he could not understand how my brother had survived the shooting and that in his professional opinion it was a miracle that he was alive. This puzzled us. Anyway as the week went by my brother seemed to be recovering very rapidly and by end of that second week he could whisper. He indicated that I should come closer to him, so I placed my ear just above his mouth so I could hear what he was saying. This is what he told me.

"From the moment the bullet went through my neck, I found myself hurtling into the air, when I looked down, I saw myself lying bleeding on the ground, I saw the medics and other soldier surrounding me and trying to revive me, I watched everything taking place, even the army ambulance which came and picked me up. Suddenly I saw a bright light, then my entire life flashed before me, every aspect from the moment I was born to the moment I was shot and a voice spoke to me, a gentle loving voice, which told me 'William, you see your life before you, generally you have been quite good, but you lacked something, you did not believe in me, so I am sending you back one last time so that you can reconcile yourself back to me'" When I stood up again I looked down at my brother, to see he was weeping. Afterwards he only spoke about God and how good he was and that he truly did exist. Finally a priest came and gave him extreme unction and took his final confession. He explained to me that he was sorry that he never encouraged me to believe in God, and this was one of the reasons he was sent back. He told me other things spiritual which ofcourse are personal so I won't go further. He also told me that while he was on the other side he saw my late father as well as other relatives who had long passed away. He even predicted some things which would happen, and warned us to take care. This story is one of several ones I can personally vouch for as well as other members of my family. One thing I know, is that my brother was an intelligent genius, and if he after professing to be atheist can do a 360 degree about turn, there must be something in what he said. I do know, one thing he never lied to me and strangely enough we did not believe that his time was limited, we were hoping he would recover but after three weeks he passed away. Strangely enough there is a twist to the story, because I was told by him on the night he died that he had passed away. When my sister came to tell me in the morning I told her not to bother as I knew what had happened to him. She was shocked for I gave a full description of how he looked with blood running down his nose, which she had seen when she was shown his dead body. So there you have it, no one can convince me that this is made up and no one can convince me THAT THERE IS NO GOD WHO IS LOVING AND GOOD LIKE THE GOD THAT EXISTS and if only we would stop looking too deeply and be like children, believing we might gain some insight into His goodness.