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| Survival Stories including People, Bibles and Religious Objects |
This article takes a closer look at miraculous survival stories, those real life changers that make even the most hardened atheist start to think. This looks not only at human survival stories but holy objects as well, such as crosses, Mary and Jesus statues and bibles and other religious artefacts such as Rosaries. This article merely scratches the surface of this subject, it's a huge topic, some future articles going into more detail on each topic mentioned here may appear in the future. At present there is no follow up video to this article on The Twelve Gates You Tube Channel, due to the subject matter concerned. There may be one in the future. Stacks of links in this article that would probably take a day to go through properly!
A bible quote from the Old Testament sums up this survival scenario regarding Daniel and the "fiery furnace":
Daniel 3:27
And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Survival stories are numerous, always capture the imagination and they happen too often for them to be merely lucky coincidences. Car
Crash and Plane and Train Crashes and nearly run over in the street (been there twice) survivors will be looked into. These all have a common thread. Non believers say after the event happened "they got lucky". Believers call it a miracle or an Act of God or Divine Intervention or a Guardian Angel was present. Survivors who are Believers or Non Believers regardless BOTH report this as a life altering phenonenom that had far reaching consequences in their lives. It's not something you go through then merely dust yourself off and carry on as normal. It does have have a deep emotional impact, makes people start to think deeper thoughts about life and realise that life that we take for granted is precious, that we are walking a tight rope on a daily basis and that maybe we are not so in control of our lives as we think. Other unseen forces may be at work behind the scenes. Something that many religions of the world believe in and of course worship! " Examples of extreme survival The Twin Towers 9/11 The Miracle of Stairway B and 9/11 Survivors and Man dies, comes back to life, what he saw
A lot of near death experiences or survival stories can be attributed to the "Guardian Angel" theory and not just a lucky escape. The definition of a Guardian Angel is an angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group, kingdom, or country. Whether you believe in this theory or not, there is belief in it both in the East and the West, that guardian angels exist and serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to, and present prayer to God on that person's behalf. Do Guardian Angels Exist? Vid
Survival stories are numerous such as the Titanic's 100th Anniversary: 6 Survivor Stories with the popular headlines being car crash and airline crash survivors, natural disaster survivors, hospital surgery near death experiences, extreme weather survivors such as tsunami's, tornadoes, hurricanes and lightning strikes, terrorists situations, war and bombings The biggest story of all time you could say are the people that managed to survive the Holocaust.
The website holocaustlearning.org features Holocaust survivors from this horrific time and event with each having a unique and individual story. Members of this website tell their stories and have short films that can be watched of them describing their experiences in person. Their recollections include life in the ghettos, the experience of being a slave labourer, surviving concentration camps, life in hiding, and what it what like to arrive in the UK as a refugee.
My Survival Stories
I personally have had a couple of experiences both nearly getting run over by a vehicle at speed and have put the guardian angel theory to the test. The first was on Shoreditch High Street in East London in 2002 where a black cab passed within inches and seconds before it felt like a hand pushed me back to stop me taking another step. If I had taken that one extra step then I wouldn't be here writing this article now. I wasn't a Christian then!. The second incident was in 2015 at Shepherds Bush when a car went through a red light at what must have been 70mph plus, swerved at the last minute and narrowly missed myself. (See my Testimonial). Again if the car hadn't swerved I wouldn't be here now. Guardian Angels or just lucky TWICE. You decide?
MORE EXTREME SURVIVAL STORIES
5 Survival Stories (Almost) Too Miraculous to be Real via Cracked
10 Harrowing Survival Stories via How Stuff Works
25 Amazing Stories Of Survival Against All Odds via List25
10 INCREDIBLE STORIES OF NATURAL DISASTER SURVIVAL via Tested
It has been reported on many occasions that a strange phenomenom occurs when people are faced with a tragic situation and they are non believers/atheists when they realise they are about to meet their maker, many start praying as if they have been Christians all there life? An example of this is the "plane goes into free fall scenario". Also many turn to God after surviving such a Disaster
An example of a Non Believer praying before a plane crash
Atheist pilot mocked God, until he ran out of fuel in a snowstorm. Raised in the secular Seventies, completely un-churched, he had no room for God until he ran out of fuel in an Alaskan storm, miles from his destination. I was a God mocker, says Mark Rose, founder of Genesis Alive until he hit this life altering situation. Article
RELIGIOUS OBJECTS SURVIVAL
Religious objects have many reports of complete devastation surrounding them but being the only items remaining intact in extreme situations such as bomb blasts, fire, flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes and other calamitous situations. Again these have happened too many times for them to be a coincidence. Here's just a few examples below from various sources.
This bible quote sums this up nicely.
"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed." (Exodus 3:2)
Statue of Our Lady remained untouched by a raging fire via Church Militant
Holy Objects such as Statues, Crosses and Rosaries surviving fire and bomb blasts. Superb photo of an untouched Virgin Mary statue amidst devastation Via Catholic Company
The Symbolism Behind the Miraculous Survival of Breezy Virgin Mary Statue Via ArtInfo
BIBLE SURVIVAL STORIES ARTICLES AND VIDEOS
There are numerous incidences of Bibles surviving devastating situations, not only did they survive, they survived unscathed. Fires seem to be the most common with car accidents where the car is completely gutted by fire and also house fires where the building and it's contents were obliterated but miraculously the owners Bible remained unscathed. Yahoo Answers recently asked the question Are stories about bibles surviving fires true?
Lady Antebellum's Bible was the only thing that survived devastating tour bus fire via Christian Today
Bible, driver survive after car bursts into flames via CNN
'That's God': Driver, bible survive huge car inferno (VIDEO ...
Bible Survives New York Gas Explosion and Church ... NY Daily News.
A Bible is the only item recovered from burning car | WBIR.com
"Mind Blowing" Surviving Bible a Sign and a Wonder via Breaking Christian News
Fire fighters say Bible pulled from house fire is 'a miracle' via WRDW
Bryan Home Destroyed by Fire; Bible Survives - YouTube
Video
Man and BIBLE survive burning car unscathed in 'miracle ...
Video
Bible survives vehicle engulfed in flames - FOX10 News ...
CROSSES SURVIVING FIRE
Metal crosses obviously do not count but Wooden crosses surviving a fire where everything else was burnt to a cinder. Now there's something?
Blessed Sacrament, cross survive fire, other treasures lost . via The Boston Pilot..
BIBLES STOPPING BULLETS
WWI Soldier Frederick Peil saved by his bible - My Learning
He had mixed fortunes in the war, and although very lucky being saved by ... The bible is now on display at Cumbria's Museum of Military Life at Carlisle Castle. Article and Photos
Bible that saved WWI soldier's life donated to archive ...
11 Nov 2010 - A TRUE story of a Welsh soldier whose life was saved by the trusted Bible that he kept in his pocket has emerged as the nation honours its war ... Article
Bible saved World War I soldier from shrapnel death - ITV.com
SURVIVAL STORIES IN HOLLYWOOD FILM
Hollywood loves the Survival Story and every person who loves films will love this sort of film. It's got all the elements that make a good film, strong characters, good plot line, and that person or group of people against all odds scenario. It's something everybody can relate too no matter what their age, religion or nationality is. Some of these films require little in the way of special effects, others employ them generously to add even more drama and tension and eye candy but the end result is the same, the triumph of the human spirit against adversity. Some have vaguely religious themes, just as many do not. A selection of films that have "human survival" as their main theme. Some are Hollywood block busters, others are from the Independents or smaller film companies. Film Trailers via You Tube
TOP SURVIVAL FILMS
A Cry in the Wild “ The story of a young mans survival in the Canadian wilderness after his plane crashes. Vid
Black Hawk Down. This film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Vid
Damnation Alley A post-nuclear movie in which nearly all life has been wiped off the face of the planet, leaving only a few survivors. Vid
Everest This movie follows the stories of two Everest expeditions that struggle against a severe snow storm. Vid
Buried (2010) Theme: Live burial
The rare single victim survival movie, a truck driver is kidnapped and buried alive, left only with a lighter and a phone. Vid
127 Hours (2010) Theme: Crushing heavy rock
Squashed by a massive boulder in a Utah canyon, eventually having to hack his own arm off to escape. Vid
Touching The Void (2003) Theme: Mountains
A mix of documentary and recreated scenes, this is the horrifying true story of two mountain climbers who were separated after one of them suffered a broken leg. Vid
Cast Away (2000) Theme: Surviving on a desert island
In this a Fed-Ex employee whose plane crashes, leaving him marooned on a desert island. Vid
Life of Pi (2012) Theme: A sinking ship; a tiger
A ship sinks on the journey from India to Canada, with the only human survivor a young man left adrift in the ocean. His journey back to civilisation is one of spiritual enlightenment, metaphorical animals. Vid
The Impossible (2012) Theme: A Tsunami
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Parents of a family that are wrenched apart by a Tsunami raging through their hotel and wash them and everything else away. Vid
Apollo 13 (1995) Theme: A broken spaceship
The astronaut who had to get himself and his two co-pilots home when their doomed ship malfunctions. The famous line being "Houston............we have a problem" Vid
The Grey (2011) Theme: Wilderness and lots of Wolves
A wolf-killer on his last day in the job, on his way home to retirement his plane crashes and he and his colleagues are left stranded in wolf territory. Vid
Further Survival Stories featured in Independent and Hollywood Films Top 100 Best Survival Movies via Urban Survival
SUMMARY
What conclusions can be drawn from the above evidence regarding survival stories of people and religious objects? Bibles, Wooden Crosses, Mary and Jesus Statues undoubtedly have proven time and again that they can survive the unthinkable when everything has been reduced to rubble or charred remains. Not only do these objects survive, they show no signs of being touched by the disaster concerned whatsoever. One Mary Statue survived a neighbourhood grass fire in a back garden, not only was the statue untouched a visible line just in front of the statue where the fire didn't come any further and saved the occupants of the house? Can it be explained?
People and their near death experiences survival stories is a different matter because the human spirit is involved. A plane with 300 passengers, some Hindus, some Buddhists, some Christians, some Muslims, some non believers, the plane crashes, all 300 die. Nobody survives. This happens and maybe proves that being religious or being a Christian doesn't really help in a time of crisis. If it's time to meet your maker, it is time? The question is what happens to believers and unbelievers after the event. That's a whole new article of it's own.
My opinion based on numerous personal experiences is there are things going on in this world behind the scenes that we can't begin to comprehend. Science cannot explain it and just using the "I was lucky line" doesn't really explain many of the situations listed above, if any of them. All of the above stories, is it God watching our every move and saving those that deserve to be saved, Religious or otherwise, Divine Intervention, Guardian Angels or just consistently lucky timing with all of the above stories? Are we being judged by God at those times? I really don't know the answer, I'm not sure anybody does, but even the hardened non believer when confronted with one of the above situations can't deny that at least 1% of them thinks that maybe something else is going on here and their hands may go together whilst on their knees when all else has failed?
THE RELIGIOUS ZONE
What does the Bible and Scripture have to say about extreme survival against all odds. Maybe the Holy Book has the answer? What happens if somebody who doesn't believe, prays in such a disaster situation. Does it help? Does praying when you are not in the faith work. Are your prayers heard. God can answer any prayer he chooses either by signs or in voice or by other means. But Scripture clearly indicates that God does not listen to or answer every prayer. In fact, Scripture gives at least fifteen reasons for unanswered prayer. God does not answer the prayer of those:
1) Who have personal and selfish motives. 2) Who regard iniquity in their hearts. 3) Who remain in sin. 4) Who offer unworthy service to God. 5) Who forsake God. 6) Who reject God's call. 7) Who will not heed God's law. 8) Who turn a deaf ear to the cry of the poor 9) Who are violent. 10) Who worship idols. 11) Who have no faith. 12) Who are living in hypocrisy. 13) Who are proud of heart. 14) Who are self-righteous. 15) Who mistreat God's people.
The fifteen items above are classic key characteristics of unbelievers, based on scripture. It can be said that, in general, God does not answer the prayers of an unbeliever. Of course there are always exceptions.
BIBLE QUOTES
Bible quotes that deal with Angels, Fire and Death and Judgement. Short, to the point and something to ponder over!
2 Peter 3:7
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
1 Corinthians 3:13
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
John 15:6
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Matthew 13:40
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalms 23:4)
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. (Ecclesiastes 8:8)
"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)
"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush not consumed." (Exodus 3:2)
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." (Isaiah 43:2)
Matthew 24:13 KJV
"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (Matthew 24:13)
Romans 3:4 ESV /
By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, €œThat you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.
Ezekiel 18:4 ESV
"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
BIBLE QUOTES RELATING TO GUARDIAN ANGELS
Psalms 91:11 - For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psalms 34:7 - The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Hebrews 13:2 - Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 1:14 - Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Daniel 6:22 - My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
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