Marilyne and Walt had a nineteen year pen pal relationship, thus it was only natural for Walt to contact her when he passed in January 2007. Quickly he introduced her to the bright realm he found himself in. Where knowledge and answers seem to flow around him like an old river, circumventing the veils of the third dimension, known as Earth, and like a theater skim, high lighting the depth and broadness of the creators vision. Within days, weeks he was sharing what he had experienced on passing, the moments as he grew within his new residence and the giddy excitement as old questions exploded with amazing new and always bolder answers, that aren't answers at all, but always more thrilling possibilities and alternatives. He meets ancient seers, babes, prophets, Buddha and Jesus. He had always been a seeker of truth and spiritual knowledge but now that he is at the source he feels it is his duty to dispel the fear humans have of the other side and death. Three years into this correspondence Walt called a halt to this his first book, and his wife Lorraine (Cookie)and his friends have put this volume together for your enlightenment and education.

QUEST FOR TRUTH

Here and BeyondBy ARNOLD H. WALTER

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Arnold H. Walter
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-4125-8

Contents

Foreword................................................................viiSpecial Acknowledgements................................................ixWalt's Obituary.........................................................xIntroduction to Walt and Cookie.........................................3Glimpses of Walt—Drawings and Photos..............................6Marilyne V. Mabery—Biography and Introduction.....................15Communications with Walt from Beyond....................................18Original Artwork and Photography........................................102Preamble................................................................110Chapter 1 Beginning of a Quest..........................................113Chapter 2 Questing the Beginning........................................119Chapter 3 Questing the Ways of God......................................138Chapter 4 Questing the Sixth Commandment................................169Chapter 5 The Counter Reformation.......................................184Chapter 6 A Quest of Early Christian Values.............................196Chapter 7 Questing the Church Triumphant................................222Chapter 8 Questing Apostolic Succession.................................239Chapter 9 Personal Example..............................................251Chapter 10 Dark Christianity............................................261Chapter 11 Jerusalem the Holy...........................................270Chapter 12 Conclusion...................................................299

Chapter One

BEGINNING OF A QUEST

When I was 13 years old I unwittingly asked a dangerous question. It was a question based on naïve curiosity. I asked it in Sunday school class. We were studying the Creation Story in the Bible and we were going over the story of Cain and Abel. Of course everyone knows the story of the two sons of the first human couple, Adam and Eve: how one was a sheepherder and the other was a farmer and how each gave a thanksgiving burnt offering to God and how farmer Cain's offering was rejected ("of no regard") by God and sheepherder Abel's offering was accepted ("regarded")—no reasons given—and then how in a fit of jealousy the older brother, Cain kills his younger brother, Abel. Then the story goes on to tell how God discovers the deed and outlaws the murderer by putting a cryptic "mark" on him and banishes him to some obscure part of the world called "the Land of Nod." The next thing we are told, in the very next sentence, is that Cain marries? He marries and the names of his children and descendants are listed. No time line is given. It is as though all this happens instantaneously.

We were going over this story in our Sunday school class when, without forethought, I raised my hand and asked the obvious question: "where did Cain's wife come from?'

"What do you mean?" our teacher, a retired minister, asked me.

"Well, gee," I started to explain, "Adam and Eve are the first created humans and then they have two boys, one kills the other and now there are only three people left. So where did the woman come from that Cain marries? Was it a sister of his that we don't know about?"

I remember the pause. Oh boy, do I! Then: "HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE WORD OF GOD?"

"I'm not questioning the Word of God. I just want to know where this woman suddenly comes from."

"YOU ARE QUESTIONING THE WORD OF GOD! HOW DARE YOU!!! WHO ARE YOU TO ASK SUCH A QUESTION?" Everybody in class is staring at me. I'm suddenly mighty sorry I had asked, but it was too late to be sorry.

Tough.

Our teacher, absolutely irate, continues, "The devil is already taking possession of your soul! If you don't immediately purge yourself of the doubts he's sowing in your mind your descent into sin and hell will be complete before you know it!"

"Yes sir."

"Are you sorry you asked such a stupid question?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you doubt the Word of God?"

"No sir."

"Will you ask God for forgiveness?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, ask it."

"Please God; forgive me for asking the question."

"Ask your classmates for forgiveness."

"Will you all please forgive me, too?"

There seemed to be some confusion among them and they didn't really answer yes or no because our Sunday school teacher interrupted, "I'll have to talk to the pastor about this."

Oh no! Was the whole congregation going to know about this?

You bet they were.

The pastor brought up the subject during the announcement period prior to his sermon. I was called to come forward and to stand and face the congregation while my great sin was made known to all. Then with the threat of eternal hellfire and damnation waiting in the wings I had to apologize to everyone. Then I had to express my contribution and beg their forgiveness. During the ensuing short prayer in which my worthlessness was extolled and God was asked to forgive me, my humiliation was complete and overwhelming.

I wish I could say that this was the end of it. Not so! The immediate consequence was that any self-confidence I may have had went out the window.

During the remainder of my public school years I seldom ,if ever, asked a question in class. My aim was to try to remain as anonymous as a teenager could possibly be. This state continued through my subsequent military life and into my second year of college, as I will relate in due course.

I was born into, and remained within the folds of the fundamentalist / evangelical / True Believers belief system until my twenty-second year of life. Hereafter, I will simply refer to them as True Believers because that is the label we gave ourselves. Essentially this faith is predicated on the conviction that the Bible is the veritable Word of God literally revealed to us by God himself. And as such, this word, the Holy Scriptures, are immutable, eternal and irrevocably true. This means that these sacred and holy words are not allegorical, not symbolic and not subject to interpretation; except, of course, that these very self-same assertions are themselves the interpretations of the True Believer. Therefore, any historical process and analysis, any textural criticisms, any archaeological discoveries that may cast doubt upon the immutability of their sacredness is the work of the devil, pure and simple. In this regard, the announcement of the Southern Baptist Convention to withdraw all its 16.3 million members from the "Baptist World Alliance and other groups for accepting liberal theology" is a case in point. (Cf. The Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2004.)

Today, I realize that such a defense of "true faith" is called "cognitive dissonance" which is what the Sunday school teacher and other members of the congregation experienced as a result of my naïve question. Cognitive dissonance. It occurs when an established belief system is challenged and brought into question.

In broad terms there are generally three responses to new knowledge and/ or information that challenges established truths and beliefs. The first response is to rise to the occasion, absorb the information and then to research it further for substantiation and verification. This is the scientific method. The second, prudent response, is to deny the new information and instead of acting on it, to file it away for future reference. The third response is to flat out reflect on any new information whatsoever and the possible rise in...