[BibChr]

So maybe he's just lying to make him feel better? Maybe so; but that wouldn't make ME feel any better about the fabrication!

Dan
(c8

[JenB]

Not lying. Just telling Pippin something that will be true for Pippin, but not for everyone else. I mean, if as a Christian you're talking to another Christian who's about to die, the conversation will be different than if you're talking to an unsaved person, right?

[sweetliberty]

"So maybe he's just lying to make him feel better?"

Of course not! Gandalf had seen the other side. I expect he even had some notion of who would share the world he had seen. I thought it was much the same as someone who had been brought back from a near death experience might share his reflections. Pippin knew that Gandalf had tasted death and that he himself very well could, and he was afraid. By sharing his own experience, Gandalf was able to give Pippin courage to face whatever might come.