If one person told you the story about how they died, experienced the afterlife, and then came back to life, would you believe them? What if thousands of people had similar stories?
Research over the past fifty years is finally settling centuries of debate. There's an increasingly credible case that death is a doorway--a case established by the thousands who walked through that door and returned to tell about it. In this captivating investigation, Professor Michael Zigarelli takes you on a step-by-step journey into these breathtaking eyewitness accounts, uncovering seven lines of evidence for life after death, including
- consistent near-death experience (NDE) reports of the afterlife
- corroborated reports where NDE stories check out as true
- the radically transformed lives of those who experienced an NDE
- what healthcare workers have observed at the deathbed
- NDE reports from young children and the blind
Read an excerpt on the publisher's website.
My Thoughts:For anyone interested in near-death experiences (NDEs), Michael Zigarelli’s new book, Evidence for Heaven: Near-Death Experiences and the Mounting Case for the Afterlife, offers a wide overview of NDEs. The book is full of recorded experiences and references to medical studies. It includes a notes/citation section that I recommend reading as the book progresses. I found Evidence for Heaven to be more focused on the research than the theology of NDEs.
As Evidence for Heaven unfolds, Zigarelli’s approach is to examine seven lines of evidence relating to NDEs and the afterlife: historical evidence, consistent testimony, corroborated testimony, testimony from children and the Blind, deathbed witnesses, expert witnesses, and post-NDE transformed lives. Indeed, most of the book is the author’s presentation of medical research and witness testimony regarding NDEs and the afterlife. As if building a court case, he presents much information for the NDE side, but acknowledges the opposite side. At verdict time, Zigarelli leaves the decision to the reader rather than pressing for a specific stance. He encourages the reader to critically examine the evidence he has presented and to apply the same burden of proof in evaluating the afterlife denial position.
Though published by Baker Books, a Christian publisher, in Evidence for Heaven, Zigarelli does not heavily lay his view on the reader. With sensitivity, he presents the Christian faith as the one most in-line with NDEs. I appreciated that he acknowledges that Western Christian salvation views may be more narrow than the truth. Not to say that he is heretical, but he gently suggests that, based on the evidence, perhaps more people go to heaven than we realize. As a life-long Christian, I was not offended by this suggestion, but those who hold more hard-core views may decry this.
My Thoughts:For anyone interested in near-death experiences (NDEs), Michael Zigarelli’s new book, Evidence for Heaven: Near-Death Experiences and the Mounting Case for the Afterlife, offers a wide overview of NDEs. The book is full of recorded experiences and references to medical studies. It includes a notes/citation section that I recommend reading as the book progresses. I found Evidence for Heaven to be more focused on the research than the theology of NDEs.
As Evidence for Heaven unfolds, Zigarelli’s approach is to examine seven lines of evidence relating to NDEs and the afterlife: historical evidence, consistent testimony, corroborated testimony, testimony from children and the Blind, deathbed witnesses, expert witnesses, and post-NDE transformed lives. Indeed, most of the book is the author’s presentation of medical research and witness testimony regarding NDEs and the afterlife. As if building a court case, he presents much information for the NDE side, but acknowledges the opposite side. At verdict time, Zigarelli leaves the decision to the reader rather than pressing for a specific stance. He encourages the reader to critically examine the evidence he has presented and to apply the same burden of proof in evaluating the afterlife denial position.
Though published by Baker Books, a Christian publisher, in Evidence for Heaven, Zigarelli does not heavily lay his view on the reader. With sensitivity, he presents the Christian faith as the one most in-line with NDEs. I appreciated that he acknowledges that Western Christian salvation views may be more narrow than the truth. Not to say that he is heretical, but he gently suggests that, based on the evidence, perhaps more people go to heaven than we realize. As a life-long Christian, I was not offended by this suggestion, but those who hold more hard-core views may decry this.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. My review reflects my honest opinion.
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