“Heaven: Where it is and How do we get there?” - J.P. Moreland Comments on Barbara Walters ABC Special

"Recently, Barbara Walters hosted an ABC special entitled, “Heaven: Where it is? How do we get there?” While there were important topics that were sometimes handled fairly, the show was an intellectual disappointment. In particular, three items were especially egregious.

First, Walters asked how an idea—heaven—could be such a powerful and important notion even though there is no evidence for it. However, three crucial pieces of evidence were strangely omitted.

(1) The evidence for God’s existence. There are several theistic-dependent arguments for an afterlife (God would not annihilate beings of such high value as human persons; he would not put eternity in our hearts and thwart those desires; justice is not achieved in this life, a theistic universe will be fair and just, so these values are achieved in the next life; God will achieve his purposes in making those who choose it like himself, and this requires eternity to be achieved). I cannot defend these arguments here; my point is that the role of theism and theistic evidence was not considered.

(2) The evidence for New Testament reliability, especially the case for Jesus’ resurrection.

(3) The evidence from Near Death Experiences (NDEs). How can someone say there is no evidence for something when the advocates of that view have presented evidence, yet it is never discussed? Someone failed to do her homework." (Read the rest here)


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