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.