My mom died back in June. It was very sudden. She was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer on June 3 and then passed away on June 19. Everyone keeps saying that she's in a better place now, and while I really have no doubt because my mom was a church-going Christian, I still felt like I needed to know more about where exactly she was. So I requested Randy Frazee's book What Happens After You Die from Booklook Bloggers. The book's subtitle is "A Biblical Guide to Paradise, Hell, and Life After Death".
The first thing that struck me about this book was that the author was prompted to write the book after his own mother died suddenly from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. (Cancer sucks, huh?)
Even as a pastor, Frazee felt a little bit of doubt about what his mom would experience in the afterlife. He had told his mom that she would go to Heaven, but when it came down to it, he just wasn't sure he believed in all of that.
So he turned to the only good source we have on Heaven and hell: the Bible.
The second thing that struck me about this book was that our popular concepts of the afterlife are actually wrong. Forget what your Sunday School teacher told you and the fluff fed to families at funerals. (Nice use of alliteration there, don't you think?)
Not to say that the notion of Heaven is all wrong. It's still a thing, but it's not what we've been told. Frazee actually divides things up into Life Now, Life In Between (when our spirits go to be with God and await the return of Jesus to Earth), and Life Forever (when Jesus returns to Earth).
And Frazee talks about what happens after death for both believers and non-believers. The non-believer stuff is a little scary.
Of course, there are discussion questions if you're reading this book with a small group or Bible study. Plus, the back of the book is filled with relevant scripture passages for quick reference.
I think this book will enlighten a lot of people, especially Christians. Even if you're not sick and you don't know anyone who is, death is inevitable for us all, and knowing what to expect (as much as we can know) can help us understand how to make the most of our Life Now.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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