#outerbody experience

Book Review of “Heaven is for Real”

A Little Boys Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

  By Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

207 pages. Thomas Nelson, Inc. $8.78

  Thousands of people claim to have outer body experiences. They give accounts of leaving their bodies during death, surgeries, or other traumatic experiences and being encased in a bright light, or being able to view their lifeless bodies and the faces of their loved ones. The subject of outer body experience is faced  with ridicule, judgment and disbelief, but what it is to be believed when a three year old child experiences something he should not or would not be able to describe if not for experience?

 When picking up the book the reader would probably suck their teeth and murmur, “yeah, right” at yet another claim of a supernatural experience, yet after reading just the prologue you find yourself to be a little bit more open minded, especially since the accounts are from a child who does not seem to be urged on in his story. This is a willing child who in regular conversation with his parents, as if he’s talking about what happened at the playground yesterday, gives details of his visit to what he believes to be Heaven while in the hospital. “That’s where the angels sang to me,” Colton told his parents as they drove past the Great Plains Regional Medical Center, where he spent 15 days fighting for his life after his appendix ruptured. A ruptured appendix that was poisoning his body for five days.

 In “Heaven is Real” the accounts given by Colton are what coerce the reader to continue through the pages.The fact that, again, this is a child who no matter how great of an imagination he may have, could not give reports of things happening in the hospital while he lay unconscious in the operating room. After his parents, Sonja and Todd asked Colton where he saw Jesus his reply is what keeps the viewer glued to the pages, “Yeah, at the hospital. When I was with Jesus, you were praying  and Mommy was talking on the phone.” This account is jarring because it is a scene that actually played out while Colton was being operated on and was in hysterics.  Also the accounts of people he saw while in Heaven whom he had never seen or even heard of before. Colton told his parents about seeing his great grandfather, Pop, who he had never met in before. He also gave an account of seeing his baby sister, who died in his mother's womb before being born. Colton's parents never mentioned to him the death of his baby sister of their baby. Colton said that his sister looks just like Cassie, his older sister, but is smaller and has dark hair.

 Colton’s changed behavior after the surgery creates a question mark in even the toughest of critics in the subject of outer body experiences. His constant reference to Jesus and how Jesus soothed him during his ordeal, his persistence in finding funds the parents did not have to pay the hospital bills, because “Jesus used Dr. O’Holleran to help fix me. You need to pay him,” and also his reference to scriptures that he hadyet to be taught. All these things do begin to rattle your mind. How could a little boy, not yet four begin tocomprehend these things, speak of these things and also speak of them with a certain understanding that no other child his age would be able to have. Even the description of the clothes he saw Jesus in astonished his parents because they had never discussed this subject with him but he described the garment and colors Jesus was said to wear in scripture, the whiter than white robe and purple sash. The eeriest part of Colton’s description was when he described Jesus’ nail marks, “he had colors on him…Red, Daddy. Jesus has red markers on him.” Then he proceeded to point to his palms and tops of his feet to show where the “markers” were.

 The ideas and accounts discussed in this book are subject to a variety of pros and cons. Supporting critique is that the accounts are from a almost 4 year old child who is said to have no knowledge of the things he saw prior to experiencing them. Some of the things he described he was not yet taught or were not yet discussed with him according to his parents. So how would he know these things or give accurate descriptions according to scripture if not for his experience. Critique against this book is that the accounts come from an almost 4 year old child who could have at some time and place overheard discussions about Jesus and Heaven and retained the information. His father is indeed a pastor so he is being raised in a church. Also the question is why it took so long for this subject to be shared with the public. Many critics believe the parents fed him information and urged him on in his testimony. After reading the book and looking at the pictures the question is, why not believe? Many Christians or Spiritual leaders will say that God all the time is giving evidence of his existence. The mind of a child is, usually, the purest and the most innocent so what better person to reveal the reality of God through if not through a child.