Who hasn’t wondered, “What happens after death?” It would be both unreasonable and foolish to live your entire life never considering and being unprepared for an event that we all know is inevitable. The mortality rate on earth is 100 percent.

 

This book by my friend Dinesh D’Souza is a brilliant investigation of the fascinating and crucial issue of what happens when we die.  It is an inquiry conducted on the basis of scholarship and reason and it provides a convincing answer that is explosive in its impact.

 

It has been often stated that we are not ready to live until we are prepared to die. The truths in this book are not meant to simply prepare you for eternity; they are foundations on which you can build a meaningful life of purpose.

 

In The Purpose Driven Life, I pointed out that the Bible teaches that our time on earth is essentially preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever and this life is like a warm-up act, a dress rehearsal, for the real show in eternity.  Once we fully grasp this, it makes all the difference in the world, affecting our choices, values, relationships, goals, and how we use our time and resources. We reorder our priorities, and start emphasizing the enduring, important things over temporary things that ultimately won’t matter in the long run. 

 

So where can we learn the truth about the afterlife? We have two choices- speculation, or revelation.  Throughout history philosophers have conjectured  about it but, even our brightest minds are just guessing. The better alternative is to discover what God has revealed in Holy Scripture.  Of course, today, we’ve seen the rise of an atheistic secularism that denies all revelation. But the objections of the so-called “new atheists” are not really new at all, and they have been soundly discredited by scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, and theologians for centuries. Unfortunately, most people don’t read the classic apologetics so they become quite gullible in believing that their arguments are new and irrefutable.

 

That’s why this book is so important. It clearly and boldly exposes the fallacies that are often accepted today without question. The implications of this cultural gullibility are huge. If this life is all that there is, there is no basis for any meaning, hope, purpose, or significance to life. Everything in your life would simply be a random change of fate at best, or an accident at worst. Your life, and your death, would not matter at all. The logical end of such a life is despair.  Moreover, we can forget about being decent or ethical, with no basis for human dignity, rights, or liberty. Even the American constitution points out that our “inalienable rights” are “endowed by our Creator,” not by the government or any other human source. 

 

My friend Dinesh D’Souza is an outstanding thinker and a first-rate scholar. For most of his career he was a secular policy maker and influential think-tank intellectual.  His previous book What’s So Great About Christianity follows in the line of other great thinkers like C.S. Lewis.  In this book, he has turned his considerable talents to an even deeper issue. Even atheists like Christopher Hitchens have acknowledged that D’Souza is a world-class advocate for theism and the Christian faith.

 

This is also a book for genuine seekers of the truth, not for those who are simply looking to reinforce their bias. The word “prejudice” means to pre-judge. As you read this book, I hope you will lay aside all your prejudices, and with an open mind, consider the facts, the evidence, the logic, and the implications of life after death – not just for our culture as a whole, but for you personally too.