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Living through a death-dealing pandemic prompts thought of heaven. Is this life all there is, or is it preface to fuller life beyond this world? In ‘Pointers to Heaven’ published this month by Amazon I identify ten pointers to trouble materialists: goodness, truth and beauty pointing to perfection, love, suō¸°€ffering and visions pointing beyond this world and holy people giving us tasters of that realm. If heaven makes sense of earth it does through such pointers, complemented by those from scripture, the resurrection and the eucharist, preview of the life to come. Completed at the height of COVID 19 my book condenses philosophical, theological and life insight into ten pointers to heaven pointing away from literalistic or renegotiated Christianity towards the reasoned faith of the church through the ages.
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Pointers to heaven

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I’ve got ten pointers to heaven to share starting with GOODNESS. Mrs Foster, the lady across the road in my childhood, exuded goodness which pointed beyond herself. I imagine heaven as a place thrilling with the goodness of God so evident in the neighbour who went out of her way for me as a child. Rembrandt’s lady painted in 1633 has a similar quality. The act of imagining heaven is a pointer to its existence since it would be strange to imagine it unless the aspiration had been sown in my heart. In my ten pointers to heaven I move on to TRUTH. Before I was ordained I was a scientist researching plastics preparing the way for the lightweight electrical components of today’s smartphones. In this pursuit I was drawn forward by the unveiling of truth my intelligence served [cf Blake’s picture of Newton]. I became convinced that mind is prior to matter. By extension, accepting the existence of a Mind and a realm beyond the whole material world is a logical belief, confirmed by th...
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