After reading this book, I've finally and reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is no conclusive, object evidence that proves the point for either answer. If there were such evidence, everyone would merely point to it and thus end all argument. Period!

Nonetheless, I found quite a bit of food for thought, and some interesting ideas that I'd never encountered before, and the book has an extensive bibliography that covers the gamut. More to add to my already extensive list of pending reading material!

Of all the intense thought this read provoked, there is one thing that I discovered for myself: “Pascal's Wager” really seems a totally moot point. The gist of it is that if “bet” that God doesn't exist, but he does, when you die you lose. But if you “bet” that He does exist and believe in Him and live in a way that seeks to please him, it doesn't matter if He does or doesn't, when you die at least you don't lose. However, the whole uproar about what happens after we die is beside the point. We can with utter certainty say that we are alive, and that the time we have is limited. For me, it is far more important that we truly live life for all that it is and can be, making the best of each and every moment, as much as we possibly can. Too much time and energy is wasted by the living on “what happens after we die”! And if there is a God that does care about how we spend our lives, those are quite likely to be His thoughts on the matter as well.