Parables and Pearly Gates

By Dale Hatfield

PARABLES AND PEARLY GATES is an out of the box alternative look at some of the traditional teachings and doctrines of many Christian religions. It reaffirms and even bolsters central Christian beliefs such as there is a God and Jesus is His only begotten son as well as the need to accept Jesus as personal savior. The Bible plays a central role in many of the unique perspectives it presents. Subjects like the literal interpretations of stories in the Bible and how to view apparent contradictions that happen in the Bible are two of the subjects it approaches. Have you ever asked why God allows bad things to happen to good people or why God allows earthquakes? PARABLES AND PEARLY GATES offers some unique ideas on what the answers might be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dale Hatfield
• Release date: Oct 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005463014

Dale Hatfield

Born in Farmville Virginia. Served in the United States Navy for seven years. Lived in numerous places from Florida to Maine to Arizona to Washington State. Favorite places are Portland Maine, Seattle Washington, and Berkeley Springs West Virginia.

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PARABLES AND PEARLY GATES

Published by Dale Hatfield at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Dale Hatfield

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite ebook retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Chapter 2 - Does God Speak To Me Personally

Chapter 3 - Get Personal With God

Chapter 4 - After This

Chapter 5 - Missing the Target

Chapter 6 - The Bible: Fiction Or Nonfiction: Textbook Or Blueprint

Chapter 7 - Old Testament God Versus New Testament God

Chapter 8 - Creation Versus Big Bang

Chapter 9 - Where’s the Proof

Chapter 10 - Who made This Pencil

Chapter 11 - Why Did God Stop Speaking To Us

Chapter 12 - Does the Holy Trinity Mean There Are Three Gods

Chapter 13 - This Rule Applies That Rule Does Not

Chapter 14 - Why Is God So Mean

Chapter 15 - Why Does God Allow Natural Disasters

Chapter 16 - Doesn’t God Have Better Things To Do

Chapter 17 - How Can God Hear My Prayer

Chapter 18 - Why Does God Care What I Want

Chapter 19 - Who Gets The Prayer Prize

Chapter 20 - Faith Saves, Works Reward

Chapter 21 - What Is Right and What Is Wrong

Chapter 22 - Who’s In and Who’s Out

Chapter 23 - A Word About Catholicism

Chapter 24 - Doctrine Difficulties

Chapter 25 - Things I Understand and Things I Do Not Understand

About the Author

DEDICATION

You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy. Jane Warczewski

I recently had a moment of clarity. What became clear to me was how inadequate I am. What also became clear to me is that I don’t have to be small and insufficient at all. I can choose to be more than I am and have been.

This moment of clarity happened when I was watching a video of Jane Warczewski, who is possibly better known as Nightbirde, when she auditioned for the America’s Got Talent television show. Her story of battling cancer was inspiring and her singing was amazing, but it was something she said almost in passing as an afterthought that caused my heart to beat with more of a purpose than it had just the moment before. She said you can’t wait until life isn’t hard any more before you decide to be happy.

I truly hope that everything I do is dedicated to God. But this book is also dedicated to Jane Warczewski.

INTRODUCTION

I did not want or intend to write this book. I do have messages I want people to hear and listen to or read. I have written three other books that are eBooks available for free at various online outlets including barnesandnoble.com. They are DANCING FOR GOD and SINFULLY FLAWED BUT HEAVENLY BOUND and YES GOD LOVES YOU TOO, THE SAVING GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. After I finished each one of those books I believed I had accomplished my mission for that book and revealed some spiritual truths.

I wanted to stop there. Writing a book is not easy. Saying something worth saying is even harder. Getting people to pay attention to what you say or what you have written is hardest of all. I wanted my messages to be about Faith, Hope, and Love. That’s a little bit of a cliché I know, but still I believed I could add to the understanding of what they mean and how they should apply in our lives. Maybe I accomplished that, maybe I didn’t. Only the reader will know for sure.

When I finished YES GOD LOVES YOU TOO . . . I believed I was done writing. Then I discovered that even though I thought I was finished, my mind was not finished thinking. I continued to have a feeling that traditional Christian teaching is somehow missing the mark. The teaching is getting the basics right; God created everything, Jesus is the Son of God, and once we accept those two things the Holy Spirit helps guide us through life. And yet I believe that even though Christian teaching and doctrine is hitting the target, it is missing the bull’s eye. And when it comes to faith and salvation, the bull’s eye is something that we can’t afford to miss.

Until now I have been hesitant to express those thoughts for fear that I would be ridiculed and shunned, or worse yet, not listened to. But I have been recently reminded that my spiritual obligations are not to a religion or denomination, my obligation is to God. So here I am writing once again.

To give you an idea of what I will talk about in this book here is a partial list of topics I will cover: Creation vs. Big Bang; why did God stop talking to us directly; does everything in the Bible need to be taken literally; are all of Paul’s rules to live by absolute rules from God or are some of them Paul’s teachings based