Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Link to purchase Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo 
This is an easy, quick read with a likeable child who purportedly visited heaven and spoke about what heaven is like.

The book is well written and there are some nice black and white photos of the family in the middle of the book. I decided to read this book because it was written by a pastor, and I thought it would be an account that would be an honest and thoughtful story.

Unfortunately, in order to believe this story your have to make some choices in what you want to believe. Either Colton visited heaven while still alive or he died on the table and the surgeon, anesthetist, and nurses didn’t notice. There was no mention by the doctors in talking with the parents or in medical records that Colton died on the surgical table. Also, there is a time problem. Colton talked about seeing God shoot power down to his dad while preaching. This means either Colton’s father was preaching while the child was in surgery (he was not) or there was some time traveling going on. His father explains this away by saying he was in “God’s time”.

The author’s strongest evidence is that the child talks about a deceased family member and a miscarriage his mother suffered, both of which he supposedly had no knowledge. I find it hard to believe that at no time was this child away from the parents and in the care of another family member who could have mentioned these events or even just overheard his parents talking about it. Other events mentioned by Colton sound more like Sunday School 101.

I really wanted to like this book because I am a believer, but I think this child’s parents are reading way too much into his precocious and creative behavior.

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