Chapter 5 Summary

Reading 1:“The Vision”

A woman, Kayla, having recurring visions of an other-worldly being must decide if the visions are hallucinations or reflect a higher reality. Her psychiatrist says she’s suffering from hallucinations and gives her medications to stop them. But the Vision, a shimmering light with a sweet face and a sweet voice, makes Kayla feel so good that she hesitates to take the pills. The Vision says that she is trying to transform Kayla so that Kayla will be worthy to travel on into a higher realm. But when on the exercises become scary and painful, Kayla takes the pills and the Vision goes away. Did she make the right choice and for the right reasons?

Reading 2:“Surprise! It’s Judgment Day”

A philosopher, Martin, surprised to find himself in an afterlife, complains to God about the irrationality of religion and about the existence of so much suffering in the world. Martin criticizes the traditional ontological, cosmological, and teleological/design arguments for God’s existence. Martin says that the design argument actually shows that God should not exist because the suffering in the world is such a great flaw. God and Martin argue about the traditional free will defense and virtue defense in support of the view that perfect God would allow, even create, suffering. The ending of the story      raises further questions about what heaven could be like giving the traditional defenses of suffering.