Posted on 04/24/2014 8:39:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
"Heaven Is for Real," the movie based on the near-death experience of a young boy who believes he visited heaven and met Jesus, is generating divided opinions among Christians on whether it presents a biblical message on heaven as it hits theaters Easter weekend.
The movie is based on the best-selling 2010 book Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, where pastor Todd Burpo reports on the near-death experience of his then 4-year-old son, Colton, who shares of meeting Jesus in heaven as well as a number of his deceased relatives after undergoing emergency surgery in 2003.
The film won the Wednesday box office race with a strong opening-day gross of $3.7 million from 2,417 theaters. The TriStar movie -- nabbing an A CinemaScore overall, and an A+ among moviegoers under the age of 35 -- could gross north of $20 million by Easter Sunday, one of the top openings ever for a faith-based title.
The film adaptation of the book, directed by Randall Wallace, opened on Wednesday, and has received the backing of some Christian groups, including Faith Driven Consumer, which reviews faith or Bible-based films.
With an overall rating of four stars out of five, Faith Driven Consumer states that while the movie "does not clearly present the biblical teaching on how a person gets to heaven or comes to know Jesus, it is a high quality outreach tool for Christians to share with non-believers about the reality of heaven and the Gospel."
In the category of Faith and/or Biblical relevance, the movie scored three-and-a-half stars out of five. Some Christians "may take issue with the hint of universalism and lack of overt reference to repentance and faith in Jesus for salvation and attainment of heaven," Faith Driven Consumer says. Still, "Heaven Is for Real" "gently shares biblical truths in an accessible and non-preachy way – offering hope, encouragement and a strengthening of faith for both Christians and non-believers alike."
Not all agree. Christian TV producer and author of over 30 books Steve Wohlberg argued that the movie promotes an unbiblical view of heaven by suggesting that a person's dead relatives are already there.
"There's one major problem," Wohlberg wrote on Thursday. "Neither the Old or New Testaments teach anywhere that our dead relatives are floating around in heaven waiting to talk to us. Instead, they 'sleep' (1 Cor. 15:51) quietly in their graves awaiting 'the resurrection at the last day' (John 11:25)."
In November 2013, Burpo spoke with The Christian Post and commended the film, calling the parts he had seen "accurate" and well-made.
"They're sharing Colton's message accurately and honestly, and they're doing it incredibly well," the pastor told CP. "I think God is telling people the story."
He added that he believes Hollywood is a "great medium," as many more people will go to the movies rather than read books.
heres the deal
http://www.equip.org/articles/boy-came-back-heaven/
Mom says colton had nothing to do with writing ANYTHING!
There are other recent stories of a near death experience in which the briefly dead person meets someone in heaven. The neurosurgeon who wrote a boo about this describes meeting a sister he never knew he had - he said he felt she was a woman “I always knew but I didn’t know who she was”. When he got back he did research and found out he was adopted and he in fact did have a sister who was already deceased. This experience transformed his beliefs.
I think Heaven is For Real is very important for Christians to study because it gives us important details that the Bible does not, for example, it describes what God looks like:
The Father has enormous wings, blue eyes, and yellow hair.
God the Son is wingless, with sea-green-bluish eyes, brown hair, and a rainbow-colored horse.
And the Holy Spirit? Well, he is bluish!
The doctrine of soul sleep is very much a minority viewpoint among Christians, and is actually directly counter-scriptural.
Jesus repeatedly refers to sentient souls in the afterlife, in the present tense.
Paul describes souls having reached the sentient afterlife.
Revelations describes souls in Heaven, before Judgment Day, watching the events unfold on the Earth below.
Among Protestants:
John Calvin wrote many tracts, cblasting this idea, including: “Psychopannychia, or a refutation of the error entertained by some unskillful persons, who ignorantly imagine that in the interval between death and the judgment the soul sleeps.”
It’s a great movie, for those who don’t study scripture.
No. That article is about another book about a boy named Alex, believe it or not, Malarkey.
Here is Haanegraf’s article on Heaven is Real.
http://www.equip.org/articles/heaven-real-heaven-real-really/
I go to most faith-based movies, as they present values of decency. I look at them as movies, not as religion. (but I avoided Noah...sacrilege is another matter) It's great that there's a faith-based movie about death and returning to life to see over the Easter holidays. I'm thrilled that so many people chose to see a decent film that promotes positive values.
But as a movie, there were flaws. The film tones are too dark, often don't match, and the camera at times moves too quickly to catch important details. The symbolic images seemed a bit corny and overdone. The blurred backgrounds and sharp-focus forgrounds also demonstrated odd choices and ruined the scenery. I wish there had been more about the joy and acceptance of the children and less of the anguish and pettiness of the adults.
That being said, I'm glad to have seen the movie. Am I convinced of the authenticy of the vision? No...and that's from someone who believes in a spiritual life distinct from and extending beyond our bodies. Now that faith-based films are mainstream, it's time to demand the highest standards from those who make these movies. This film: B+ except for photography C-. JMHO
It looks that way. When Jesus is on the cross and one of the thieves says save yourself if you are who you say you are but the other thief says that they deserve their punishment yet Jesus does not. Then he asks Jesus to remember him when he comes to his Kingdom. Jesus replies that they will dine in paradise that very night. Luke 23:43.
That seems to me to be direct evidence that we don't go to sleep when we die waiting until Jesus comes back to come back to life.
I don’t listen to mediums and their channelings, even if they’re cute little children!
Sorry, that was mean. I want to slap the Burpo parents for allowing this nonsense, not the kid. Jesus made it clear via his story about the poor beggar outside the gates of the rich man’s house that, even if someone could come back from Sheol/Hades and warn their own family it wouldn’t matter. They “have the prophets”, and that is what God chose to provide! Believe WITHOUT seeing. That narrow gate will not be widened.
So much nonsense is passed off on the Church by happy-happy Sanguines who, obviously re: the visions of this kid, lack discernment. We need them, but not as teachers. Think Paul (who DID have heavenly visions, yet spoke of them in third person) or James would have fallen for this error?
The Burpos are greatly biased by the subjective specter of hyperliteralism. As such, it is not surprising that Colton returned from his alleged trip to heaven with stories of massive pearly gates, brightly colored horses, and a Holy Spirit that is, well, “kind of blue.”
isnt colton the kid in that article?
The article you linked is about another boy and another family, not the family in the movie. It’s about a boy named Alex Malarkey and his mother makes comments, not Colton.
In context: 1 Cor. 15:50-54: NIV
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
What Paul is saying is that those who are STILL ALIVE at the time will be changed.
Those who have gone before us HAVE ALREADY BEEN CHANGED into their Spirit Bodies. When you die, your Life Spirit returns to God, the source of ALL life. You earthly body decays and returns to DUST of which it is made, the source of all earthly bodies, plant or animal.
Sorry, but death is final. If someone “comes back,” he was NOT DEAD. There is a moment at which the death process is irreversible, but there is eventual finality.
I don’t go to these kinds of movies. I go to movies for escapist entertainment — a few moments out of my life to rest my brain. I don’t mean to disparage the movie, it’s just not my cup of tea. I prefer comedies, action-adventure, distopian, etc.
Apparently there are two kids who died and went to Heaven and have books about their experiences.
"There's one major problem," Wohlberg wrote on Thursday. "Neither the Old or New Testaments teach anywhere that our dead relatives are floating around in heaven waiting to talk to us. Instead, they 'sleep' (1 Cor. 15:51)
This guy is wrong.
SLEEP ≠ DIE
I recall, from my hermeneutics class, that in the time of King James (and the Bible translation of the same name) it was uncouth to say "die" and instead they used the word "sleep."
Even in Biblical times, they often would say that a person sleeps in the Lord instead of saying he's dead.
Some Bible translations do a better job than KJV; BlueletterBible.com has them. There are a myriad of other scholarly sources.
yep.
Lazarus. The widow of Nain’s son. Jairus’s daughter (”Talitha, cumi”). Tabitha. Eutychus. Jesus Himself.
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