This book is about a supposed boy's near death experience to heaven, not a biblical analysis of heaven. Keep in mind, Burpo's account contradicts 10+ other (mostly near death experience) "heaven" books currently on the market from a woman's, boy's, pilots etc views: Heaven Is So Real by Choo Thomas; The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven by Kevin Malarkey; 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper; Flight To Heaven by Dale Black; Nine Days in Heaven by Dennis Prince; My Time In Heaven by Sigmund Richard; My Trip To Heaven by David Taylor; "I Saw Heaven!" by Patti Miller Dunham; A Divine Revelation by Mary K. Baxter; Glimpses of Heaven by Trudy Harris;
This DVD/Study Guide is based off the adult sized book by Pentecostal preacher Todd Burpo and Sarah Palin's ghost writer. Burpo's claim is that his 3 1/2 year old son had a near death experience and was taken to heaven. Keep in mind that many of the experiences the boy is said to have experienced are not found in the Bible (like no one is old and everyone is young again).
This is a review of the DVD and study guide. As I found the book unscriptural, the DVD and Study Guide are also based on experience and not bible. I found the Study Guide to be light and shallow. The questions are very basic and have little to do with the bible - they have more to do with your personal thoughts and opinions or the boy (Colton Burpo's) story.
Examples of questions:
- Why did you decide to participate in this study?
- Is heaven something you ever thought or cared about before today?
- What first intrigued you about Colton's story?
- Have you been strengthened to share your own stories?
- Why should we care about heaven?
- Who is the source of our eternal life?
- Describe your relationship with Christ
- Describe your relationship with His Church
- After hearing Colton's story, has heaven become more real to you?
- Have you thought of heaven as God's house?
- Why do you think Jesus used "house" to describe heaven?
- What experiences come to mind when you think of joy?
- What is the source of light in heaven?
- Describe what you think heaven is like
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for this unbiased review. I am giving my honest review, as positive reviews are not required.
Todd Burpo, a summa cum laude Wesleyan graduate should have recognized his son's contradictory statements, like his Pop-Pop had a new body (with wings yet), which is tantamount to saying the resurrection is past.
ReplyDeleteEvery one of these books not only conflict with each other but are also extrabiblical or unbiblical in their details. When they quote Jesus - that's a huge red flag. Hebrews 1 tells us that God HAS spoken to us by his Son. He entrusted only the NT eyewitnesses to speak on his behalf to the world. NDE experiences don't qualify as new witnesses. Whatever is happening, they're not going to heaven. Even if they were, even Paul refused to repeat what he heard. But today, they can't wait to get it in print to an experience-hungry, sound-doctrine-weary Christian public.
Jude tells us to contend earnestly for the faith that HAS been given. And, it would be impossible to contend for a faith that's still arriving in pieces all the time.
Stan