For those of you who don’t know, I am a book seller in Chattanooga. I work at a Christian bookstore and absolutely love my job. An aspect of my job that I love is being able to have access to books and reading books for more than the sake of obtaining knowledge. When I read, I know that what I feel about a book will be conveyed to anyone coming through the doors of my store asking my opinion about the books that I have read. It is for this reason that I am posting this specific book review. Heaven is for Real is a book about a 3 1/2-year-old boy who claims he went to Heaven and saw Jesus. I am going to be perfectly honest and say outright that I do not believe that he went to Heaven. I know this is going to shock many of you who have read the book and if you lose respect for me and my opinion because of this post, I am deeply sorry that you don’t agree with me. I do love the fact that he, Colt, has a deep respect for Jesus, but his claim are historically and biblically inaccurate. The three main problems I had with this book are “Jesus’s Markers,” “Everyone has Halos” and “The Pearly Gates.”
Markers
Colt begins by making the claim that Jesus has “markers.”
“You mean like the ones you color with Colt?”
“Ya, Dad.”
“Well Colt, where are these markers?”
Colt then places both hands, palms up and points to the palm of his right hand and then his left.
“Why would you have something against this Stephen? Jesus had piercings in his hands from the nails.” Yes, this is exactly what John 20 shows when Thomas says he won’t believe until he places his finger into the mark of the nails. The problem is not with the nail prints, the problem is with the location of the nail prints. Historically the hand was known to be up to midway up the arm. Thus, Jesus would not have been pierced in his palms, but instead, he would have been pierced in his wrist. This is biblical and historical for two reasons. First, had Jesus been pierced in his palm he would have slipped off of the nails because his palms could not support his weight. Second, the bones in Jesus’s hands would have been broken and this would have gone against the fulfillment of the scriptures.
Halos
Ya, dad. Everyone in heaven has lights around their head.”
These lights are supposed to be halos. These halos are the kinds depicted in Touched by an Angel when Roma Downey quotes her most famous lines “I am an angel, sent by God.” This doesn’t make sense to me for a couple of reasons. First, is that did not come into Christian art until the 3rd or 4th century and is started with Christ and eventually made it to all the saints. Second, if God’s glory is the source of all light, and halos can be seen, wouldn’t this mean that the glory of the halos would outshine the glory of God? I know that this could be a non sequitur argument, but the argument can still be made. I don’t know how bright the glory of God is, but if it shines so brightly that there is no shadow, how could one see a halo?
Pearls
“Ya Dad. The gates were gold and they had pearls on them.”
This could be a misquote on behalf of the father, but because it was in the book, I have to take it as what Colt actually told his dad. The problem with this statement is that it goes against Revelation 21:21. ”And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl” [emphasis mine]. This verse shows that the gates did not have pearls (plural) but a pearl (singular). This is in opposition to what the Bible clearly says about Heaven. So why would God show Colt multiple pearls on a gate, but show John that the gates had one pearl? The answer is obvious, he didn’t.
Conclusion
Now to be honest, I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Heave is for Real, but we shouldn’t rest on the “experience” of a kid. Instead, we should open our Bibles and read for ourselves what the Word of God says. God’s word is the final authority and so to save time and heartache, it might just be best to pick up a book that speaks on what the Bible says about Heaven and not a kid. In my opinion, Heaven by Randy Alcorn is a much better choice. He uses scripture (in context) to back up everything that is said. Heaven is not something he experienced, but something that he’s studied; not from a kid, but from the Bible.
