About

Working together, Dave Griffiths and I have had many conversations about the afterlife. We have each experienced the grief of losing loved ones and searched for inner peace about their future and ours. We have chosen to create this story to record our current thoughts in a format that we hope is both entertaining and informative.

We have described our vision through the experiences of four people from different backgrounds: a soldier killed in a war; a gang leader who dies after a life of crime; an African girl murdered by her captors; and a western housewife who dies surrounded by her family.

The ideas in this story are offered as suggestions for contemplation. Whilst we believe that it is possible, neither of us would claim that the future will transpire to be exactly as depicted. The story has many elements that will be familiar to those who know the Bible but can be enjoyed by all.

Dave and I were both raised within Christian families and live in the south of England. Whilst we now reject much that the church taught, we cannot but frame our thoughts using concepts from our upbringing and environment. We have come to recognise that aspects of all faiths and cultures can be helpful and that no doctrine or lifestyle should be considered as the final authority.

We do not have a definite view about what happens to a person immediately after death. We do, however, believe that at some point everyone will be resurrected into a new body. To simplify the flow of the story we have chosen to say that a person awakes from a sleep-like state when first given their new body.

In this book we frequently use the term agape love, which may be unfamiliar to some of our readers. Agape (pronounced a-ga-pay) is the Greek word used in the New Testament of the Bible to describe both God’s love for people and the highest possible expression of love in human relationships. In our story agape love describes the love that Eternal Love (the creator, the ground of all being, God) has for everyone. It is actually very difficult to encapsulate the full meaning of such love in words. It may be helpful to think of it as being like a diamond with more facets than can be counted.

We hold that eventually everyone will love everyone and live an abundant life. If this is to be the future, we accept that the details of how each day of our new lives will be structured is a discussion that will remain ongoing until we each personally experience it. However we feel that the fresh vision presented in this story can bring hope to those with whom it strikes a chord.

This story is a sequel to our first book “Emerging from the Rubble” (also available online). It continues the story of many of the characters introduced in that book. Readers of that book have often asked us what happened next. This book addresses that question and many more.

We are both convinced that after the period when Jesus returns to this earth (described in “Emerging from the Rubble”) a New Earth will be created. We believe this is the destiny of all of mankind and have formed a view on how it might function. We suggest answers to such questions as: How will it be possible to live with those who have hurt others? Will there be money? What technology will be available? And how do immortal bodies recover from injury? We hope you find our suggestions at least worthy of consideration.

The objective has been to describe the structure of a future environment that would facilitate each individual reaching maturity without the use of coercion or diktat. Whilst using specific examples to make our points, the precise details of each storyline should not be considered a basis of a doctrine or moral position.

Now that we have envisioned and described a logical and practical way in which a harmonious life could be achieved for all, our minds are at peace. The future may not be exactly as we have portrayed it. But having constructed what we believe to be a feasible scenario, we have inner assurance that it will be possible for each and every human to eventually live an abundant life.

Our wish is that you may also achieve such inner peace.

David Bell and Dave Griffiths

Contact the Love Above All Things Project Team by sending a message to contact@loveaboveallthings.net