BILL RHETTS:
I saw your web today. Very nice looking web site.
If your wondering about 'resurrection's here is a story about my old
partner. He died and was resurrected.
http://www.ipocministries.org/ofcr_dies.htm
Chaplain Bill Rhetts
Inland Police Officers Coalition, INC.
a pro-active Church on wheels
http://www.IPOCministries.org/
BRUCE MONSON:
Hello "Chaplain" Bill Rhetts
Thank you for your response.
First and foremost, I'm glad to hear that your old partner made it
through "surgery" and survived his injuries--truly, I mean
this. You should provide me with the names of the paramedics,
firefighters, ER nurses and trauma surgeons that worked on him.
It's too bad, though, that you do not have the courage to give credit
where credit is due, e.g., the "paramedics and firefighters"
that responded to his aid and controlled the bleeding, and the trauma
"surgeons" that ultimately repaired the damage. These
are the people who literally "saved his life," not some
invisible idea in the sky, and certainly not your prayers, as much as
you no doubt wish the latter to be the case!
Now, don't take me wrong here, Mr. Rhetts. I don't decry you for
"praying" to the god you proclaim in your time of
helplessness. I understand the pain of loss all too well, and I
understand that people do not like to feel helpless; they want to feel
as though they can do "something" to help make the situation
better, and appeals to deities are certainly a time-honored and easy
practice that attempts to provide an action to fulfill a need.
Nevertheless, there is not a shred of evidence that intercessory prayer
does anything for the subject being prayed for, although the placebo
effect may be of meditative help to the person doing the praying, but
this too is a purely physiological response much the same as laughing
has been shown to
strengthen the body's own immune system (chemically) and facilitate
healing, naturally.
Second, I have read over your story twice and have yet to see where this
man ever actually "died," either clinically or biologically!
It sounds to me like the EMS did a bang-up job here and you are just
insulting them with this hackneyed self-promotion about the great works
of YOUR prayers, through which YOUR god is given credit for healing your
"old partner."
Finally, you also don't seem to understand the difference between
resuscitation from clinical death and resurrection from biological
death. As a paramedic I have "resuscitated" many people who
were "clinically" dead (e.g., short down time from cardiac
arrest either medical or trauma related), usually with subsequent
deficits as a result of brain damage due to hypoxia, but occasionally
we've reached them in time before brain damage occurred. But I
have never seen, and no one ever has seen, a biologically dead body
(e.g., decapitation, rigor mortis, lividity, skeletal remains,
putrefaction, etc.) "resurrected" from that state back to
life.
I have seen many children die, sir, sometimes right in front of me and
in spite of some pretty damn valiant efforts to save them, and I have
seen time and again the anguished screams of parents when the
devastating reality hits home. So don't presume that your story
has in any sense provided an "answer" to my need to see a bona
fide resurrection from the dead! The ONLY thing that will return
me to my former state of belief in Jesus (I was a devout Baptist for
seventeen years) is for Jesus, or one of his "believing"
flocks, to resurrect JUST ONE SINGLE CHILD from the dead and return him
to
his grieving mother. So, here's your opportunity to demonstrate
that you are a "true Christian" and perform such a
resurrection "In Jesus' name," "so that the father may be
glorified" (Mark 5, 16; Matthew 9, 17:14-21; John 4:46-53; 11:40,
among others). Let me be present "among the crowd" to
witness your Jesus "show his care for his people" (Luke 7:16b)
by resurrecting just one Lazarus (John 11), just one 'Only son of a
widowed mother' (Luke 7); just one "Jairus' daughter" (Luke
8), and I will make it my purpose in life to be Jesus' greatest
disciple.
Yours in Truth,
Bruce Monson
www.freethoughtfirefighters.org
Adherence to Life BEFORE Death
P.S. Why did "Chuck" later have to "medically
retire"?