To Heaven and Back

To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again by Mary C. Neal, M.D.  is a true story, but not accurate. The title of the book is a little misleading. I expected to read a book about Dr. Neal's experience in heaven, after all the title is "To Heaven and Back," ....instead this point seemed to be brushed over and was a little confusing.

1 star

To Heaven and Back is written by a sincere, loving person. She obviously loves her family, serves her community and has been through remarkable situations and painful trials including the death of her son... I have no doubt that she experienced the miraculous...

but, with that said, I have a few serious concerns about the content. 


First of all, for a person who has experienced heaven, she seems uninterested in sharing the Gospel, and does not mention Jesus in her account. In fact, she explains that a person has the opportunity to accept God (note, she did not say Jesus) after death - at the very entrance of heaven.  - the bible is pretty clear that that decision cannot wait until a person dies. If given a choice when face to face with God is possible, than why bother with Christianity at all while on earth?

She believes that a baby knows the outline for their life, but starts to forget as they grow. "In preparation for our journey to earth, we are able to make a basic outline for our life. This is not to imply that we, the humans, are entirely in charge of our life's design. It is more like God creates it, then we review it and discuss it with our 'personal planning' angel. Within the algorithm are written branch points in our lives at which times we may exit, returning to God, or we may be redirected to a different task and goal."   ?


Obstacles mean that you are not following God's will. If you are in the center of God's will then everything will happen without effort. Hmmm. that doesn't sit well with me. One look at the lives of the people in the bible, missionaries- now or in times past..will refute that claim.  martyrs are not in God's will? 

 If you are interested in reading more believable, scripturally-based accounts consider reading 90 Minutes in Heaven or Heaven is For Real. Those two books delve deep into the author's experience ....while this book was not bad, it was more of an autobiography of Mary Neal, M.D. and her perceptions of God in her life -  minus any amount of the gospel.

- and as a particular annoyance - adding politics and an environmentalist viewpoint was strangely out of place. (tiny point, I suppose) 
 

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of this review. I am not required to give a positive review, nor can I. There were too many red flags for this Christian to recommend it to others.

To Heaven and Back

To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again by Mary C. Neal, M.D.  is a true story, but not accurate. The title of the book is a little misleading. I expected to read a book about Dr. Neal's experience in heaven, after all the title is "To Heaven and Back," ....instead this point seemed to be brushed over and was a little confusing.

1 star

To Heaven and Back is written by a sincere, loving person. She obviously loves her family, serves her community and has been through remarkable situations and painful trials including the death of her son... I have no doubt that she experienced the miraculous...

but, with that said, I have a few serious concerns about the content. 


First of all, for a person who has experienced heaven, she seems uninterested in sharing the Gospel, and does not mention Jesus in her account. In fact, she explains that a person has the opportunity to accept God (note, she did not say Jesus) after death - at the very entrance of heaven.  - the bible is pretty clear that that decision cannot wait until a person dies. If given a choice when face to face with God is possible, than why bother with Christianity at all while on earth?

She believes that a baby knows the outline for their life, but starts to forget as they grow. "In preparation for our journey to earth, we are able to make a basic outline for our life. This is not to imply that we, the humans, are entirely in charge of our life's design. It is more like God creates it, then we review it and discuss it with our 'personal planning' angel. Within the algorithm are written branch points in our lives at which times we may exit, returning to God, or we may be redirected to a different task and goal."   ?


Obstacles mean that you are not following God's will. If you are in the center of God's will then everything will happen without effort. Hmmm. that doesn't sit well with me. One look at the lives of the people in the bible, missionaries- now or in times past..will refute that claim.  martyrs are not in God's will? 

 If you are interested in reading more believable, scripturally-based accounts consider reading 90 Minutes in Heaven or Heaven is For Real. Those two books delve deep into the author's experience ....while this book was not bad, it was more of an autobiography of Mary Neal, M.D. and her perceptions of God in her life -  minus any amount of the gospel.

- and as a particular annoyance - adding politics and an environmentalist viewpoint was strangely out of place. (tiny point, I suppose) 
 

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of this review. I am not required to give a positive review, nor can I. There were too many red flags for this Christian to recommend it to others.

in case of emergency - buy balloons

A few weeks ago, I was traveling home- in the car - alone - for hours....when that happens, my mind starts to spin and make wide leaps across reality...and then, when it is done playing I tend to make plans.

Not everything I plan out on those long trips has to happen - especially since, like those flighty twilight dreams, they can be hard to capture once I am able to put pen to paper. BUT - there are some plans so urgent that they require making phone calls to be sure they are not forgotten.

My family is fairly used to the frantic "I have to tell you this, so I don't forget" phone calls. But because they are so used to mom's crazy talk...I will post this on my blog - for the world to witness (or at least my nice little handful of readers)  Another reason this needs to be posted, is that I will be leaving tomorrow with all the people that know this important bit of information. We will be traveling together.....

.....and I will not finish that thought.

In fact, now that I got this far down into this post - I suddenly do not want to finish writing it at all .....

.....but will- for the sake of those who hung in there through my meandering thoughts thus far.

Balloons and Jammies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short interruption to share this - very relevant story.  I remember my grandma telling me at the dinner table no less, that she wanted to be buried in her pajamas. She told me this many, many times. There was a Romeo and Juliet type story that accompanied it, but I won't go into that part....

she simply wanted to wear pretty pajamas at her funeral. 
When I attended her funeral - she was NOT wearing pajamas. She was in a dress. 

That bothered me. 

Still bothers me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So. For the record. I want to wear silky pajamas. 

Not a dress, not slacks, not a silly suit coat - pretty pajamas...and my hair should be messy, it is ALWAYS messy - no need to be something I am not then.

Also, do not buy flowers. 

They are so expensive...and while I love flowers ~ahem~ I will not be there to see them. 

If you MUST buy me flowers, do it today. Thanks.

BALLOONS ~ balloons are happy, colorful, inexpensive and not necessary to pile in the back of someone's car so that they can eventually watch them wither.

That is all.

Balloons and jammies....if you want to eat ice cream and laugh, that would be a nice touch. Please talk about God amongst yourself, that would be most appropriate  - and,  if you know him, please make the proper introductions to those who don't. 


- now, please forgive this slightly morbid post... traveling makes me think of eternity and I figured along with remembering if I brought enough towels and everyone's toothbrushes, mailed the bills and found someone to take care of the dog - I should make a note about this little detail. 

bon voyage!

Using my brain for science

 Remember Young Frankenstein? After Igor drops the "genius brain"  he brings back the abnormal brain to give to Frankenstein.  When questioned, Igor confesses that he dropped the first brain and picked up someone else's "Abby....someone."   (Abby Normal)  :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


 That has little to do with the rest of this post - just a fun memory.  Anyways, I was recently contacted to test a brain supplement. Excerlerol  For days, weeks actually, I have been eagerly awaiting my "Brain Pills" as I have dubbed them.

Well, they are HERE. And I am disproportionately excited to be used as a Test Dummy.  ha, ha - see the correlation there?  Of course you do, I am the one they chose to try out the brain pills....obviously there is something about my blog here that just screams - "this girl can use a boost" -

  The company also sent a book,

"The Brain that Changes Everything"
          (cue the dramatic music)

I took my second dose today - quickly scanned the book....but will have to save the reviews for when I get back from

*MY SON'S COAST GUARD GRADUATION*

We leave tomorrow -drive all day - sleep in a questionable hotel - drive to Cape May and then watch as my grown up little boy graduates from boot camp. Yeah! 



During his absence, which was only 8 weeks - a lot of changes took place. Good changes, real changes ....as the world shifted, I steered clear of this blog, email, and distractions in general. It was a good break.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I am looking forward to seeing Sam, Sam the Coast Guard Man - Missed him these past few weeks ...but the truth is, even with all the changes that I know happened, the saying the more things change, the more they stay the same comes to mind.  He is coming HOME to a family that loves him like always, and that is all that really matters.

 *slipped in the writing prompt for the BFF "blogging for fun" group *  brain booster must be working :)