Who am I to say. With all the cold-hearted skeptics on this thread who would spoil something very special...let them pound sand in Iraq.
Rollins'/Hero story:'Saved' tells touching stories of humans' connection to pets
Posted on 11/25/2011 7:54:32 AM PST by mk2000
It was an overcast day in Newport, N.H., when a simple “20/20″ shoot turned into something that made me wonder about life after death.
I was filming soldier Justin Rollin’s parents Skip and Rhonda playing with their dog Hero, whose rescue from the Iraq War zone where Justin died was nothing short of a miracle.
Sometimes when Rhonda hugged Hero she would softly pet her face and coo, “Justin, are you in there?” It was Rhonda’s gentle way of remembering their son and his last living connection to Hero. At one point, Hero wandered off and took a stroll in the backyard. All of a sudden, the clouds broke and a light began to solidify in a beam directly down on Hero — a kind of vertical halo.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That shot reminds me of a great Mark Twain quote:
“Upon arrival at the Pearly gates, leave your dog outside. Entry is based on favorites. If it were based on merit, he’d be in, and you’d stay outside.”
checked skydancers background and she apparently lives in AU and has a Vegimite ad. Just me being me.
http://militarytimes.com/valor/army-spc-justin-a-rollins/2610400/
I love the parts where he was planning to ask his GF to marry him; how he replaced the dinky scope on his rifle with one he purchased with his own resources when he was promoted to unit sniper, and his connection to David Ortiz of the Red Sox.
I hope the pup brings the family some love and peace during this difficult loss. God Bless them all.
Lens flare would be a farfetched explanation of something that was reportedly seen by eye first. I’d think the edge of cloud formations could indeed form a natural collimator for sunlight, complete with rainbow effects. It would be an fortuitous occurrence to catch it.
Good eye.
Looks like a feature of the bushes in the background to me, though maybe it could be interpreted as a figure.
Question is ... Does spirit exist in all living things?
The dog story is touching all around. The only thing I’d wonder about is asking the dog if the soldier is “in there.” That’s a (rainbow) bridge too far. They say there are no atheists in foxholes. I hope the soldier knew the Lord, and is now in a much better place than “in a dog.”
hey, i see that too, thanx for the heads up....
Who am I to say. With all the cold-hearted skeptics on this thread who would spoil something very special...let them pound sand in Iraq.
Rollins'/Hero story:'Saved' tells touching stories of humans' connection to pets
Hugh Ross of Reasons To Believe (http://www.reasons.org), a scientist who is an old-earth Christian creationist by creed and who specializes in highlighting the witness of nature to God, believes that the scriptures make a distinction of the “soulish” animals. They are referred to in the Old Testament creation account as “nephesh” which is the same word used later in the bible for a human soul. Some language scholars tie this “nephesh” to a word meaning “wind” or “breath” but in any account it seems the “nephesh” animals (which includes swimming fish, dogs, and cats, but not cockroaches) are special and show some kind of intelligence that men would recognize.
Hi - Vegemite is an acquired taste, sort of like scotch. But then there’s Nutella.
No lesser light than King Solomon pondered not just that question, but furthermore punctured the arrogance of those who presume their own spirits to go upward while the spirit of the beast only goes down into the ground, in the Bible. Ecclesiastes.
It’s typically translated as “the breath of life.” Biblically speaking, mankind is not alone in possessing it, correct.
There is too much genuine wonder imbued by God the creator into the creation to let things spill over beyond even the freest theological reasoning into the new age, but maybe that’s just “cold hearted” me. Where the bible is silent I can’t presume to speak. But — how can I put it delicately enough? — God has a better place for departed saints than to have them schlepping around in animals for a little while. That wouldn’t be an exaltation at all. I’d consider it annoying if it happened to me (hey, I get to eat Alpo now!)
That’s as good explanation as any for the rhetorical “who knows that” question of Solomon. Solomon didn’t produce any prophetic writings to our knowledge, but he was a skilled theologian and compiler of wisdom sayings (proverbs). I am not familiar with Hebrew lore of that time about the animals.
Awesome!
Here's the entirety of it from the King James, for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar:
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
The “miracle” here is 20/20 acknowledging the existence of God and an afterlife.
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