Don't bother with this book. Don't waste your money and don't waste your time.

I DNF'd this book pretty early in. In fact, I barely managed to finish up the first chapter. Perhaps the rest of the book is great, but he was laying his foundation on incredibly shaky ground. About halfway few the chapter I started highlighting some of the things that earned a facepalm.

Here they are along with my comments on them:

If we want to get a grasp on what the soul is, we must first have some basis for what it is made of... energy.

Says who? This is a proposition that up to this point in the book has not been supported by any facts. I am curious to see how he will prove it. If he doesn't [and he didn't in the first chapter], then it looks to be a baseless presupposition and anything built on it cannot stand.

"...atomic energy..."
Without adequately defining the term, he is using phrases and terms that are completely different from how they are understood in the scientific world.

"...quantum weirdness..."
Again, he is misusing a term. Quantum weirdness is nothing more than trying to understand submicroscopic observations on a macroscopic scale. Scientifically, mathematically, quantum physics works. "Quantum weirdness" does not claim that it does not do so, but that is how he is using the term. QW is just a way to say that it works in ways we are not normally wired to understand.

Sure, its particulate properties are described and its wave properties are demonstrated, but not at the same time.
This is true on a conceptual level, but not on a mathematical level. All "quantum weirdness" is truly saying is that there are no macroscopic analogies that can adequately describe it.

"...two forms of energy..."
Again with the hijacked abuse of terms. There are two basic forms of energy: potential and kinetic. But the author is using the term to talk about "atomic energy" and "ethereal energy."

Dark energy (ethereal energy) is not charge based like atomic energy.
This is not true. Dark energy has a very slight negative charge. It is about one-millionth that of an electron, but it is there.

They claim it is beyond the human mind to explain.
Nobody claims this. You might find a scientist or two who says QM cannot be understood on a macro level, but that is a very different thing. The very fact that it can, and is, explained mathematically demonstrates that the human mind can and does understand it.

Beyond Mere Belief
by Greg Van Arsdale
Salem Author Services
Pub Date 07 Feb 2022


I am reviewing a copy of Beyond Mere Belief through Salem Author Services and Netgalley:


If we can see something, touch it, smell it or feel it, we know it’s real Facts, data, and discoveries within fields such as science and philosophy have answered many questions over the past few centuries, thus reassuring us all is right and sensical in the world. But what about God? We cannot but scripture and theologians have proved time and time again that he is real.




Now is the time to look at the absolute assurance that God is real from a different perspective. Beyond Mere Belief is not a typical work of non fiction It is an insightful and stimulating work which blends two seemingly polar opposite fields together into one. In so doing, Greg Van Arsdale has discovered solid evidence proving the existence of God Himself through deep Biblical and scientific research.



With over fifty years of Biblical studies and graduating with a degree in physics, Van Arsdale’s research in both fields goes deeper and obtains more meaning than any work printed to date. He responds to any doubts or worries before they even arise by using a “question and answer” format, thus allowing him to approach each subtopic with ease.



I give Beyond Mere Belief five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!