Quite a bit of controversy has arisen over the popular book and
film, Heaven is for Real. It
might seem a little silly to squabble about. But I have to admit that many of both
Christian and secular discussions of this story -even in reviews and articles-
are disturbing.
I am disturbed for this reason:
Heaven
is not the good news. The good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we take
liberties, even small ones, in what we proclaim, believe, and set our sights
on, we are vulnerable to in-numerable trappings and abuses. Further, when we
condone or approve of such liberties, we expose others to a wayward path.
And, in more detail,
1. We diminish the
kingdom of God when we place our faith in human experiences that add to or
subtract from the Word of God.
It seems in regards to this story that we
are all largely concerned with the things of this world, not with the Kingdom
of God. Some of the concerns, for example, involve believing/disbelieving a
four year old child whose experience occurred while he was drugged. Others
involve what to make of the "evidence" for his story, namely that he
was able to piece together things that were never directly spoken to him.
Generally, when people publicly claim to
have had spiritual experiences that are not in line with the Bible, Christians
largely consider the experience to have been misunderstood or to be folly. For
example, many believers have claimed over time to know details about Christ's
return. Scripture is usually quickly referred to -no one knows the time of His
return (Mark 13:32). No person is given license to add to the Bible in such a
way.
People also try to subtract from
Scripture. For example, many individuals have tried to claim that all spiritual
paths can lead to God, dismissing that Jesus is the way, singular (John 14:6).
Bible-believing Christians often respond in unity, appealing to God's Word as
infallible.
This is according to Scripture.
Deutoronomy 4:2, for one, says:
"You shall not add to the word that I
command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord
your God that I command you."
What the Bible tells us about heaven is not in line with stories
like those presented in Heaven
is for Real, or the many
other differing tales on the topic. So what about the evidence people provide
to justify themselves?
Trying to work out the nuances and "science" of
experiences like those presented in Heaven
is for Real is foolish. The
story isn't a myth to be debunked, it isn't truth just because it was sincerely
spoken. Heaven is not in need of our discovery and presentation; the Bible has
got that covered.
2. We diminish our hope in
the Lord and His Gospel when we take foolish risks about what we should or
shouldn't believe.
Our hope is in the Lord. The Gospel alone saves us. Without the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter if we believe in heaven and want to
get there. It doesn't even matter what we think heaven is like. The Kingdom of
God exists. Scripture tells us to "repent
and believe in (the good news of) the Gospel" (Mark 1:15). We learn that the Kingdom
of God isn't a worldly or human matter, like eating or drinking, but is found
in the Holy Spirit, and in pleasing God (Romans 14:17-18).
Romans 14:20 highlights the issue for us. "Do not destroy
the work of God for the sake of food."
The Greek word "food," transliterated "bróma,"
is figurative and literal. It indicates anything selected for the purpose of
satisfying the soul or the mind. The implication is that the selected thing is
not God Himself. "Destroy," transliterated "kataluó,"
describes an act of thoroughly loosening or breaking up something bound
properly, like a yoke.
This verse exhorts us -do not loosen the yoke of the Gospel for
the sake of something to satiate you with satisfaction apart from the truth.
Further, later on in, in verses 21 and 22, we read this: "It is better not to eat meat
or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to
fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not
condemn himself by what he approves."
It is better not to participate in things selected to satiate us
that could cause another person to loose hold of the truth. Our beliefs about
the things that might be currently considered unclear spiritually in our minds
are between us and God alone. We are blessed by not approving of things that we
might actually be condemned by.
It is also wise for us to not jump on a feel-good bandwagon that
could be headed far from the truth, simply because it might satisfy one of our
many sinful cravings for foreknowledge and hope beyond the sufficiency of
Christ. This is even more so because it might not be only ourselves that we
condemn in the process, but others who are led astray.
3. We diminish the sufficient
and living quality of God's Word.
We have good reason to be cautious in what we believe about
other's experiences. Scripture has plenty of examples of visions, signs, and
wonders, that are not of the Lord (see examples such as Egyptian magic in Exodus
7 or Satan and the false apostles being disguised as angels of light in 1
Corinthians 11).
There are also a few Biblical examples of people having visions of
heaven -but always for an explicit, new purpose and message from God. Those who
died and are raised in the Bible, regardless of their experience with death,
never recorded what occurred during the experience. And all occurrences are in
absolute conjunction with each other and the rest of Scripture. The stories we
hear of modern folk's experiences of heaven, like in Heaven is for Real, are never
like those had by Biblical characters and always add something.
Why do we "add to the truth" as if God's promise of
heaven (the Kingdom of God, which is at hand!) isn't sufficient? Why do we
place our hope and faith in the fanciful dreams of men and their children
instead of in the One who is living? And in His living and active Word?
4. We diminish our belief in Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). It matters that we put our whole faith in Jesus Christ, and not in any person, no matter how convincing their tales. Christ alone is the Savior who is with us and will be with us forever.
The glory of heaven is something to look forward to, but we don't
have to wait for the peace and joy and righteousness of the Kingdom of God. It
begins for us, though it is not yet brought to completion, when our life is
given anew in Him. When the Holy Spirit begins to work in us and we can
securely fix our eyes on the Savior who is with us and will be for the rest of
eternity, we have the guarantee of future glory, and
we have the beginnings of
our witnessing glory now.
We shouldn't diminish the reality of heaven. We must not diminish
the Gospel that gives us access to eternity in glory. Yet we do diminish all
these by skipping over the Gospel, dismissing it, or putting it in second
place, right after our own "happy day" arriving in heaven. Heaven is
established and maintained by God, who is the only one worthy of all glory and
honor and praise.
........
Hebrews 12 is a beautiful place to revisit the course laid out for
us, remembering not our selfish desires for glory, perfection, and joy, but our
actual goal:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of
faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)
And what is our prize? Not a jolly mansion in the sky, not schemed
up angel wings, not seeing people who we've never even met, but as Philippians
3:8-14 states:
"I consider everything a loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them garbage, that
I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the
righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to
know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection
from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this,
or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for
which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider
myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
(Underlined emphases added)
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