Heaven is For Real

[LastSeven]

This was a very frustrating movie. The only good thing about it was the little boy because he had more faith than the entire town combined. The entire town of "Christians" didn't even believe that heaven is real. Even the boy's father who is the pastor of the local church does not seem to believe in heaven. When faced with this question he doesn't even go to his Bible for answers, instead he turns to an atheistic psychologist. What kind of Christian does that????

The mother also prefers to think of it as fantasy and tells her husband that the only thing she cares about is her husband and children. Oh really? What about God? What about your faith? Then the church board considers ousting the dad as pastor because his son's experiences have made it into the papers and they pressure him to go back to motivational messages and forget about the heaven thing because it's too controversial. One board member even says that heaven and hell are "concepts meant to encourage and frighten people". Aaaargh!!!

I would expect this kind of talk from atheists but these people are supposed to be Christians!!!! Real Christians would not struggle with the question about whether or not heaven is real. Real Christians know that heaven is real!!!!

I hated this movie because it makes Christians look like wannabe righteous who aren't even sure of what they believe and really just attend church to encourage each other and make themselves feel good about their lives, but when it comes right down to it they don't really believe anything!!! I hope the movie took creative licence in this regard because if the real town and the real church members and the real pastor and father that this movie is supposed to portray had these struggles they should all be ashamed to call themselves Christians because they have no faith at all!!!

Even the supposedly "inspiring sermon" he delivers at the end, that brings the town back together in love and unity incorrectly used scripture passages and still fails to admit that heaven is real, but rather diffuse to the usual new age dogma of "everybody has their own heaven" to further distance this movie from anything remotely Christian.

Once again Hollywood succeeds at taking a faith based story and twisting it into ammunition against faith itself, not unlike what they did with the story of Noah. Sigh. Despite the basis of the story, which is that heaven is indeed real, this movie does not depict true Christianity and true faith. Not by a long shot.

 

[FireDragon76]

I saw the film and just thought it was OK. Nothing great, but not that bad. It's "based on a true story" after all. I think the story was rewritten for a wider audience- not just conservative Christians, to get people to think and question in the first place.

What probably bothered me more was the bitter churchy lady saying "heaven and hell are concepts that have been used to control people for centuries". That sounds more like what atheists or liberal, intellectually inclined Protestants say, not the average Wesleyan who is more focused on a sentimentalist approach to the Christian faith and just tends to accept heaven and hell as givens. I suppose it exists as a foil to add some drama in the film and perhaps inject some of the audience's protests into the drama. At that point I just became aware I was watching a Hollywood production and not a film about people actually involved in real life churches.

I do agree... the mother didn't seem very committed to her religious beliefs. I could understand the unwanted attention being frustrating, but her doubt was over-the-top, especially her rationalizations for a 4 year old having such detailed recollections.

I have not finished the book to compare it fully to the movie. A major changed premise, in RL the grandfather actually became a Christian two days before he died, unknown to anybody at the time, and the father didn't become a minister to try to atone for his unbelief. In RL Colton was very emphatic about believing in Jesus, too, whereas in the movie, Jesus is much more like a psychopomp there to guide Colton around the afterlife- the Christian themes are downplayed in general (the fact in RL he met John the Baptist and Mary is also unusual, especially for someone raised in a Protestant church, but this detail is also omitted, perhaps for brevity and simplicity).

I see the father in the book struggling much more intellectually with the details of heaven- how can somebody have so many experiences in only half an hour, and so on. I get the impression he'ld never given heaven a lot of thought imaginatively.

I actually thought the sermon at the end of the film was very good, especially to be presenting to a general audience. It's making a case for Christian belief in heaven and how it's tied to our day-to-day lives, trying to say these issues aren't really so trivial after all (and in the film, defending himself and his son against a congregation that trivializes their experiences). Most people now days live in a despiritualized world and they can easily forget things like that, or be ignorant altogether.

 

[LastSeven]

I haven't read the book so I'm interested to hear how it's different.

I thought the sermon at the end sounded very much like "heaven is wherever you find peace and not necessarily a physical place", as if to say Colton needed his heaven to be exactly as he described it because of his beliefs but it may be completely different for everybody else. This makes it sound to me like a state of mind or hallucination and that diminishes the Christian faith to nothing more than an imaginary crutch to help people get through life.

That's the impression I was left with, but now I wish I had the script so I could re-read it.

 

[FireDragon76]

This makes it sound to me like a state of mind or hallucination and that diminishes the Christian faith to nothing more than an imaginary crutch to help people get through life..

I did not get that impression. I think the father/pastor realizes its such a mind-blowing experience but there are things on earth that point to it, and sometimes people are so hard-hearted they just don't want to believe. It's trying to be subtle with that point and leave room for people to have their own interpretation.

I don't think heaven is a physical place in the usual sense- heaven and earth are the symbolic language of the Bible to talk about the spiritual and the mundane world. Nor do I think things people see in near death experiences are absolutely real- I believe alot of the things are symbolic. This doesn't mean I think every bit of a near-death experience is not objective or veridical ("real"), but a great deal of what happens is symbolism. For instance, in the book Colton sees God the Father and the Holy Spirit as distinct figures sitting on thrones, despite the fact it's a basic truth of Christian theology that God doesn't exist in a specific place, being present everywhere. So what Colton is seeing is a metaphor for his 4-year-old mind.

Having nearly finished the book- the movie is better than the book. There's too much "leading the witness" obvious in the book, and the father is alot less critical in his thinking. I think the movie is much better, but it changes the premise somewhat from the book. The movie is about a father's struggle with his faith, the book is more about a father cheerleading for an experience that seems to confirm his beliefs in the Bible. I worry there is alot of leading and coaching in the story. The big deal I suppose is that Colton confirms a painting by a young Lithuanian-American mystic looks like "the real Jesus", so that does add some weight to the idea that there is some reality to his experiences. But otherwise a great deal of the book is evangelical fluffiness without much gravity.

If you haven't done so, you might check out Howard Storm's My Descent into Death. I found this a much more interesting story of a near-death experience (at the time he was an atheist, but later Storm became a UCC pastor). I consider this a more spiritually edifying book, whereas I think Rev. Burpo is more focused on how his son's experience points to the Bible (I guess I find his attitude a little unsophisticated, and not necessarily in a positive way).

Another good book about near-death experiences is Revealing Heaven by Rev. John Price. Rev. Price's book is actually talking about his own personal experiences dealing with people who have had these experiences, their testimony, and implications for near-death experiences and how that influenced his ministry as an Episcopalian priest.

 

[ayaanu86]

I havent seen the movie so faar

 

[jubileeLEE]

Not really interested in the movie. I have a feeling this is going to end up embarrassing the church when it comes out it was staged. It's happened many times before. Every single encounter with Jesus in heaven has had the same effect on people. This nonchalant, 'oh, I was walking around with Jesus the other day..' just does not gel with biblical accounts. I don't believe it.

 

[SharonL]

I have the book and the couple of things I took from it was that God used a 4 year old to prove there is a Heaven. They can't make it up. Some people's faith needed a boost so God gave the experience to one that could not make it up. People can take that and help them with their faith.

 

[LastSeven]

Not really interested in the movie. I have a feeling this is going to end up embarrassing the church when it comes out it was staged. It's happened many times before. Every single encounter with Jesus in heaven has had the same effect on people. This nonchalant, 'oh, I was walking around with Jesus the other day..' just does not gel with biblical accounts. I don't believe it.

When you say it does not gel with biblical accounts, are you referring to anything in particular? I mean, is there anything in particular in scripture that contradicts this movie?