Malarkey Book is a Hoax

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Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby LaoWai » Sat Jan 17, 2015 1:43 am

Short story: Little boy in a coma dies, goes to heaven, chats with Jesus and Satan, then co-authors a book with his father. Twelve years and a million-plus copies later, he recants his story. Family name is Malarkey.

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/boy-who ... 59057.html
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Matthew Notch » Sat Jan 17, 2015 7:54 am

When Alex first tried to tell a ‘pastor’ how wrong the book was and how it needed stopped, Alex was told that the book was blessing people.


I don't know why "pastor" is in quotes in that quote, but this is something that really gets under my skin. Now it's one thing if you are publishing beliefs that are anywhere from incorrect to misleading yet they are your sincerely held beliefs. That I can live with, as long as you are prepared to defend them without running away. But when you know something is wrong and continue to engage in it anyway, publishing it because it seems to have benefits, that's just unfair.

It's really too bad that this book got to sell so many copies anyway, if you think about it. I mean it's a six year-old's account of what Heaven is like even though he didn't get to stay there. There are two things in that sentence that immediately cause me to be skeptical, and I'm one of the more open-minded to the spiritual here. One is that it's a six year-old. They tend to have a lot more imagination than logic. The other is the idea that he went and came back. Even if you do believe in going to heaven, that's not how the system works or has ever worked. I feel like the reason the book proved to be so popular is because, in a way, the people who bought it felt it somehow validated their own concept of the afterlife. Yet the premise of the book seems to run contrary to their own belief.

In short, I think there are a lot of desperate, struggling people out there, looking for any sort of inspiration and being willing to believe anything that sounds good. But good for this kid, being willing to admit that to the world.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Sat Jan 17, 2015 8:19 am

Why couldn't any of MY childhood fibs get a movie deal?!
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Aquila89 » Sat Jan 17, 2015 10:49 am

Good... Heavens, there's more than one of those? I thought this is going to be about Heaven Is for Real.

I mean it's a six year-old's account of what Heaven is like even though he didn't get to stay there.


And Heaven is for Real is a four-year-old's account of what Heaven is like.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Dr. Ambiguous » Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:04 am

Aquila89 wrote:Good... Heavens, there's more than one of those? I thought this is going to be about Heaven Is for Real.

I mean it's a six year-old's account of what Heaven is like even though he didn't get to stay there.


And Heaven is for Real is a four-year-old's account of what Heaven is like.

I thought it was going to be about 90 Minutes In Heaven...

It also made me think of a similar book called 23 Minutes In Hell.

Note that I've never read any of these, but I do recall seeing the last two lying around at the homes of some people from the church I grew up in. I'm not sure what my church's position on these books were, but I'm iffy if they'd have actually agreed with them. (Probably goes without saying at this point I think it's all a bunch of... let's go with malarkey).
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Edgar Cabrera » Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:43 am

Ericthebearjew wrote:Why couldn't any of MY childhood fibs get a movie deal?!

Look buddy, we already had a Yogi Bear movie, if anything, your childhood fibs would've looked like its gritty, Jewish reboot.

And... yeah, I also thought this was going to be about Heaven Is for Real.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Bromo » Sun May 31, 2015 6:07 am

To be honest, and not to offend anybody's religious or spiritual beliefs, but I think every book profiting off tales of people's visions of the afterlife are malarkey. I say this because their experiences seem too similar to how our culture portrays heaven for their stories to be true.

I've read the Wikipedia article for Heaven is for Real and there's no doubt in my mind that it's a hoax. It said the three year old in question met Jesus who rode a rainbow-colored horse. When it said that, I couldn't help but imagine a Caucasian Jesus with blonde hair and blue eyes. I'm not mocking the boy, but that really expelled any remnant of belief I had left.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Jack Road » Sun May 31, 2015 6:13 am

I like that it was the Aryan nature of Jesus, and not his rainbow-colored horse, that led to your decision not to believe.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Delta Jim » Sun May 31, 2015 6:45 am

Kevin_Durant wrote:It said the three year old in question met Jesus who rode a rainbow-colored horse.


Image

Jesus' heavenly steed.
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Last edited by Delta Jim on Tue Jun 16, 2015 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Jack Road » Sun May 31, 2015 6:56 am

I will fight the urge to look for porn of Jesus and Rainbow Dash, Delta Jim. I will try very hard. And I will fail. And that will be on your head. That being in my head will be on your head for eternity.

When I get to heaven and that falls out of my head when I'm sitting before judgement, I'm going to turn around and point right at you in the bleachers and yell "He did it!"
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby Bromo » Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:43 am

Jack Road wrote:I like that it was the Aryan nature of Jesus, and not his rainbow-colored horse, that led to your decision not to believe.


It was both. But I also imagined the three year old was indoctrinated with portraits of Aryan Jesus. It's just a common misconception that Jesus was white that I imagined that the child also thought that.
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Then I reached for my face and there were they." --Toy, 2016


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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby BROWNRECLUSE » Sun Nov 29, 2015 3:18 pm

When did Joe Biden write a book?

(reads thread)

Oh. Never mind.
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Re: Malarkey Book is a Hoax

Postby rowdyrodimus » Tue Aug 02, 2016 12:02 pm

I wonder if it was as good as "John Lennon in Heaven"? (Real book by the way, I've read it and it's a fun book but I believe 0% of it)

https://www.amazon.com/John-Lennon-Heav ... +in+heaven

(Hey my 150th post was about John Lennon in a way. That makes me happy. In fact, I'm going to post it in the appropriate thread)
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