Posted on 05/07/2014 7:22:13 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
There’s a rich history of movies — think The Song of Bernadette, The Bishop’s Wife or It’s a Wonderful Life — that attempt to provide a glimpse of the supernatural through ordinary people’s encounters with the Divine. In an age where many seem to believe that neither heaven nor hell actually exist, Heaven Is for Real is a most welcome entry into that category of films. We brought our entire family to see it on opening weekend.
Based on the bestselling book of the same title, Heaven Is for Real tells the true life story of the Nebraskan Burpo family, led by Crossroads Wesleyan Church Pastor Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear). The Burpos resemble middle America. They live in a small town. In addition to his job as a pastor, Todd is a volunteer firefighter, he runs a garage-door installation business and plays baseball. His wife, Sonja (Kelly Reilly), heads up the church choir. The couple has one daughter and one son.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
***Heaven Is Best Left to the Imagination***
Heaven is best left to Scripture. Anything we concoct will fall far short and may very well lead us to the wrong motivations.
Great point.
i have it on my list to pick up the book today... it’s only 169 pages, and a very easy read, i am sure...
I have read the book but have not seen the film. A beautiful story that reminds humanity of the eternal joy that awaits those who serve God. However, I would never expect a depiction of Heaven on film that is anything but a mere shadow of the place God has prepared for his servants.
Yes, how true.
BINGO! We have a winner!
While I view both the book and the movie as a confort to those who have been through grief, and this applies to I and people I do know, in the end, it must be both faith and scriptures that have to help us.
And I quote:
I do wonder if this sudden obsession with angels in pagan America is, like the medieval cult, a distraction from the worship of the true God. Just as Mary and the saints were made into objects of folk art to become something other than they really were—sinless, pure, worthy of devotion and mediation—these Precious Moments “angels” are far from the biblical representation. After all, biblical angels were the servants of Yahweh who stood at the gate of Paradise after the Fall, with flashing sword, barring entrance; ministers of judgment at Sodom and Gomorrah. One would be hard-pressed to have Michael the Archangel in mind when gazing on one of these benign figurines. Are these the angels that executed God’s plagues on Egypt? Do we have any reason to identify them even with the glad but epoch-making announcements of mysterious births that were to advance redemptive history? Even when one came with joyful tidings, Mary was filled with terror at the appearance of God’s angelic messenger.I suggest the same holds true with Heaven. Everyone wants to go there, and most think they are sanctified by death. Listen to the prattle that goes on when someone dies: They are in a better place. Matters not if the dearly departed is a Christian or dyed in the wool atheist. They died, therefore they are in a better place.
There is no scripture that describes someone going to “heaven” and returning to talk about it. I hate to be a skeptic, but I think the little boy has a great imagination, that was helped on by his father.
Agree!
However, every chance I get, I want to encourage folks to see....God’s Not Dead,,
I dragged my feet to see this....kept putting it off.....and now that I finally went......it keeps resonating within my soul.
The closet is in one of Paul’s letters, in the third person I believe.
I do agree with you.
Remember, there are different types of angels.
Looking forward to it when it comes out in dvd.
Matters not. Read deeper into what I posted. It is not about angels, but what WE do with them.
We really have no idea, even from Scripture, about what heaven is like. Some of the saints have left us hints, though.
How would a saint really know?
Death is final. If someone “comes back from the dead” he was not dead. What he “saw” was the product of his imagination.
No believer needs a film to affirm belief.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.