Sims's Pathway to Heaven

By William Z. Conway

Bill Sims, a highly respected college professor, while working on a master's degree in religious studies, had cemented in memory these poignant words of Father Earl Jones, a Jesuit priest and professor: "True science should never conflict with true religion. Science is based on measurement and observation and religion on philosophy and logic; the two, though based on different studies, should complement each other, not conflict." Later in his career, driven by those wise professor's words, Sims made the decision to devote a major amount of time to design, construct, and teach a college-level religious course having the express purpose of employing logic and common sense. He hoped to help students and perhaps others to avoid mental, physical, and spiritual roadblocks caused by science vs. religion controversies, which have been known to freeze the paving of one's pathway to Heaven. Sims asked the students to travel with him and then walked them through the Old and New Testaments, alpha through omega and beyond while answering their questions and concerns. His classroom discussions were full of surprises, so be prepared to be pleased or annoyed depending on where you're coming from and where you hope to be in life's journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639859726

Book preview

Chapter 1

My name’s Bill Sims. I arrived in this world on April 1, 1938. My mother, Irish Catholic, steered my nurturing and upbringing until her death from cancer at the age of fifty-two. I was fifteen at the time.

Guided by my mom’s strong religious bent, I was baptized ASAP after birth. I served as an altar boy in grade school and was confirmed in the Christian faith when I was fourteen. I attended Catholic grade and high schools as well as both public and Catholic colleges.

After graduating from high school, I joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and attended the radar repair school at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. After graduation, in my remaining time of duty, I taught basic electronics and went on to teach the internal guidance subsystem of a ground-to-ground-guided missile system at an army base in the Deep South. I fulfilled my three-year commitment honorably in June 1959.

I married three times, divorced twice, but was happily married on the third try. I fathered three wonderful children from the first marriage. In civilian life, I worked in the engineering field of electronics until the age of sixty. That’s when I decided to retire with a modest pension. During those approximately forty years after leaving the service, I attended a truckload of college night schools in different parts of the country. I finally managed enough of the right credits to receive a bachelor’s degree in engineering communication from Northern Virginia State College. And then for personal enjoyment, I pursued and received a master’s degree in religious studies from St. Joseph Institute in Alexandria, Virginia.

After retiring and getting bored, I started to search for a desired second career. I moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and pursued and obtained a doctor of philosophy degree from ILU, Ivy League University. To put bread on the table and pay the bills, I applied and was hired as a full professor to teach advanced religious studies at the PCLI, Pittsburgh Christian Learning Institute, which is the graduate school of PNCCU, Pittsburgh North Central Christian University, located in central downtown Pittsburgh on Wood Street and situated a few blocks southeast of what is known as The Point.

The Point contains one of Pittsburgh’s major business centers known as the Golden Triangle where the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers come together and form the great Ohio River. The university’s campus—if one cares to call it that—consists of two red brick buildings, one six story and one four story. The admissions, other administration, and maintenance offices are located on the first floor of the larger building. A well-stocked library is found on the second floor. All other rooms of both buildings are classrooms equipped with the latest audio-and-visual computer-controlled teaching aid equipment—keeping the maintenance department busy. Both buildings have two layers of underground parking. Paid parking permits are required for access, but since there are not enough parking spaces to accommodate the demand, students and faculty are encouraged to use public transportation, which is quite good in Pittsburgh. This is due to plentiful buses and light-rail—known to old-timers as streetcars.

While I was working on my master’s degree in religious studies, I cemented in memory the poignant words of Fr. Earl Jones, a Jesuit priest and professor: True science should never conflict with true religion. Science is based on measurement and observation, and religion on philosophy and logic, the two, though based on different studies, should complement each other, not conflict. Driven by these wizen professor’s words, I made the decision to allocate a boat load of time to design, construct, and teach a college-level religious course with the express purpose of employing logic and common sense to help students and perhaps others to avoid mental, physical, and spiritual roadblocks or dead ends that often are jammed in place by science vs. religion controversies that often stop or freeze the paving of one’s pathway to Heaven.

*****

Professor Sims, who normally taught at the graduate level, had requested and received permission from the deans of PCLI and PNCCU to teach an undergraduate course, which he desired for his intended course of work. This, he believed, would provide more flexibility and open the doors for more students to take the course. Once Sims had completed his course material and gained approval from school officials, it was listed in the Spring College Course Offerings as an elective with the title and course number of A Pathway to Heaven, Elect 501, 3 credits. The school course schedule listed the class to meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. for fifteen weeks. Though the course semester was classified as spring, it was a bit of a paradox since the semester covered more winter than spring months from late January to early May.

Sims also, as seen from the course schedule, had received permission for the course to be an elective rather than a core course. A core course would have meant that it would be required to be incorporated in certain course curriculums to achieve a degree, whereas an elective course would not. Sims believed from a teaching standpoint that an elective was desirable because it would attract students mostly based on their existing ongoing interest in the subject and that, in turn, would be reflected in an increase of student attention in the classroom.

Sims perused the names on the class roster provided by the school admission’s office. Ten students signed up for the course. Eight were existing PNCCU students, made up of five ladies and three gents. The remaining two were senior citizens, one male and one female, both of whom were auditing the course for no credit but for their personal enjoyment and enrichment. The PNCCU student names were Sara Northward, Nicole Signage, Alice Weston, Rachel Eastman, Veronica Windsail, Will Southland, Paul Longstreet, and Joseph Causeway. The two seniors were Steve Walker and Janet Easton. Sims liked the student mix. He thought that as usual there would be some first-day nervousness, and he hoped that all would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, which, in turn, he hoped, would be translated into interest and foreshadowed well-thought-out student questions.

He inspected the assigned classroom, Room 412, located on the top floor of John’s Hall, which was the smaller building and named after St. John the Apostle, who was the last of the twelve apostles to reach his final designation on his pathway to Heaven. St. John had died of natural causes in approximately AD 90, probably before, and was thought by many to be the favorite apostle of Jesus, who, while on the cross, placed the loving care of His Blessed Mother in the willing hands of St. John.

Sims, looking at the size of the room and number of student desks, which were twenty, thought the room would do fine and accommodate visitors too, if any. Funny enough, as he and many of his colleagues from other colleges often had wondered why the desks in colleges, in general, were most likely of a size meant more for lean, not quite adult-size grade or high school students rather than for expanding size college students and older adults. Sims disapprovingly saw his classroom desks were no different. Sims promised himself that before he passed into Heaven, he would leave a wish that a memorial fund be established in his name to retrofit the school classrooms with larger desks. He didn’t know his wish would never become a reality.

Chapter 2

On the first day of class, Sims shifted out of first gear and completed the standard administrative duties, including roll call and introductions. He provided each student