Introduction

Although these are questions mankind has wrestled with for millennia, I believe these are the most important questions we must answer in our lifetimes. Much more important than the “big” decisions we face in day-to-day living such as where to live or go to school; who to marry; what kind of a job to get, etc. Because after all, if the answer to [is there life after death?] is yes, then our decades of life on earth are less than a drop in the ocean of time if life does continue beyond our physical death. So to me, it is incredibly important to explore these big questions and to make informed decisions about what we believe the answers are -- because the implications are enormous.

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Purpose

My purpose in creating this website is to offer my thoughts on these questions after much reflection and research and more importantly, to suggest resources and provide encouragement for those asking these questions to do their own exploration for these are questions each person has to answer for his or her self.

 

My Background

I want to first make it clear that I am not a religious scholar or even professionally trained in religion or philosophy (although I have completed the training to become a chapter director for William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith organization).  My educational degrees and career are in business. I am an average person who has done significant reading and thinking about the subject and have found some good resources to recommend that were written by scientists, philosophers and religious scholars who have devoted their lives to seeking answers to these questions as well as some “regular” people who have made their own faith journeys.

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I approach these topics from a Christian perspective, having been raised in the Methodist church and later becoming a Catholic as an adult. Although Section 4 addresses the question of “Is Jesus who He said He is?”, my objective isn’t to present detailed teachings of Christianity since Christian churches are much better equipped to do that. My goal is to provide a framework to assist people in finding answers to these fundamental questions.

 

How to Use This Website

You may want to read selected sections depending on where you are in your process of determining your beliefs. If you believe that life ends upon physical death, then I recommend reading all the sections. If you have a firm belief in God but are questioning the Christian belief in Jesus, you might want to just read that section. However, even for committed Christians, I think there is value in reading all the sections as they can provide a good evidence-based foundation that you can share with others as you have discussions about life, death and religion.

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Tom Spencer