Most Christians in our culture are so enamored with emotionally driven sensationalism these days that reports of people going to heaven, or hell, and back seem to be coming out of the woodwork. From popular books and spin-off Bible studies like Ninety Minutes in Heaven to Twenty-Three Minutes in Hell to countless video interviews and YouTube clips, there is no shortage of sensationalistic claims about people’s alleged experiences with the afterlife. Most recently, the bestselling book Heaven is for Real, which chronicles the alleged heavenly experience of a three-year-old boy, was made into a feature film and released on video yesterday. Like many others, there is a discussion guide, Gospel tracts, and other material related to the “true” story. But are Heaven is for Real and other similar accounts for real? Should we use them in our evangelism and attempts to convince others that Christianity is true?I think doing so brings up at least four very dangerous issues.
1) Where is the Scriptural Support?
I find it interesting that the authors of these round trip afterlife books can write hundreds of pages detailing their experiences yet the Apostle Paul had a very different approach. In 2 Cor. 12:2-4 he writes,
I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know, God knows. I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know, God knows—was caught up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak.
It is likely that Paul was speaking about himself. So the apostle who wrote most of the New Testament and had a personal encounter with the risen Jesus is not permitted to write about his vision of paradise, but a three-year-old boy, among others, can give us detailed accounts of what they experienced? Something seems to be amiss.
Moreover, notice that Paul did not have a near-death experience. He was given a vision of paradise, much like John in Revelation (though John wrote much more about his experience). Even the martyr Steven, who saw heaven “open up” before his death, saw this vision before his death! It wasn't a near-death experience like the popular accounts today. I don’t know what these modern-day people actually experienced, but regarding near-death experiences, there is a difference in being clinically dead and biologically dead. Brain functions, medications, etc. can cause many different reactions during clinical death (or being near death), but all such functions stop when one is actually biologically dead. There is no good reason to believe these people’s subjective experiences give us actual information about the afterlife or reason to believe Christianity is true.
2) Do They Have Revelational Authority?
In a similar vein, if one of the Apostles was forbidden for speaking about his experience of paradise, by what authority do the authors of these modern day works speak? Knowledge about the specifics of heaven and the afterlife is something we must be told. It is not something, for the most part, to which we can reason. Thus, we must rely on special revelation which we know as the Bible. Given that we have reason to believe the Bible is true, we see that God confirmed His message via miracles. We see this in several places and specifically with Jesus throughout His ministry (see John 20 for a specific example). We also see this with the Apostles who were delivering new revelation after Christ’s ascension. Just a few verses later Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:11-12,
I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I should have been endorsed by you, since I am not in any way inferior to the ‘super-apostles,’ even though I am nothing. The signs of an apostle were performed with great endurance among you—not only signs but also wonders and miracles.
The Apostles, who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, were given authority to receive and give new revelation which was confirmed by miracles (i.e. the signs of an apostle). Hence, we have reason to believe that what they say is true. That is not the case with present day folks claiming to be delivering new information about heaven or hell. We have no reason to take their word about their subjective experiences as authoritative or true. Furthermore, I would argue that new divine revelation is complete and we have all the information about the afterlife we’re going to have this side of heaven (Jude 3).
3) Whom Should We Believe?
Reports of the afterlife from near-death experiences are notoriously contradictory. Some say they have a final chance to choose God, others say there is nothing to fear because there is nothing but light and peace and everyone will be there. Even amongst the Christian accounts we’ve been discussing there are disagreements between them and even contradictions in the accounts themselves. So the question becomes, whom should we believe? All of these contradictory accounts can’t be correct. They may all be false, but they certainly can’t all be true.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “That’s why we have to compare these accounts to the Bible and make sure they match up.” Well, of course we do! But how does that help? It reminds me of the recent Geico commercials where one person says, “Did you know 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance by switching to Geico?” Another person responds, “Everybody knows that!” The same seems to be the case here. Anything substantive that we have reason to believe is true from these modern day accounts of heaven will already be recorded in the Bible, our only authoritative source of information about heaven. Hence, what’s the big deal about what these people are saying? Everybody knows that!
When one examines the extra-biblical details these people relate we can then see that they often contradict Scripture (ex. a three-year-old claiming to have knowledge of when Jesus will return) or adopt a hyper-literal pop-culture understanding of the afterlife that violates good hermeneutical principles (properly interpreting the Bible) and makes Christianity look childish.
4) Isn’t God Using This for His glory?
People are often willing to overlook philosophical and theological issues as long the emotional draw is strong enough. I’ve seen Don Piper, the author of Ninety Minutes in Heaven, in person, and I remember overhearing a conversation between he and a lady who had also heard him. She was one of many in line to speak with him. With the sincerest of words, she related to Mr. Piper how his book had encouraged her so much because she had recently lost a loved one. And no doubt, Mr. Piper and others want their messages to comfort others and they seek to share the Gospel when they speak about their experiences.
Thus, some will argue that God is using these people and their experiences for His glory and bringing people closer to Himself. That’s all well and good, but the only thing it proves is that God is big enough to use even our ignorance and failings for His glory. After all, God used adultery in the life of King David through which to bring about the Messiah. Certainly that does not mean we should all go commit adultery because God used it in some way! Likewise, because God can use something like these subjective accounts of the afterlife for His glory despite ourselves doesn’t mean we should latch on to these things and promote them.
In light of the above, should we use the accounts in our efforts to bring people to Christ and convince them that Christianity is true? I would say certainly not. If anything, these experiences may provide evidence for an immaterial aspect of our being. But we don’t need such experiences to know that. We can argue that fact by simply doing good philosophy.
What truly troubles me is how these folks, and those that follow them, use their experiences as the foundation on which people should place their trust in Christ. In fact, I recall Mr. Piper, in his message the day I heard him, saying something to the effect that he believed God allowed him to go to heaven and back “so that I can tell you heaven is real!” In the Heaven is for Real Gospel tract, after talking about our first-hand knowledge of death, in reference to a three-year-old’s subjective experience it says, “We don’t know what’s real after that. How can we? But what if we could know? What if someone could tell you he’d been there? He’d seen it. He’d visited Heaven…” Really??
Folks, someone has been there and seen it. His name is Jesus, and we have reason to believe His word is true and authoritative. He has given us all the information we’re going to get about the subject this side of eternity via His words and the words of the Apostles. Their message was confirmed by miracles, signs, and wonders and therefore has the divine seal of approval, and it is all we need (see Luke 16:30-31). We do ourselves, those we’re talking to, and Christianity as a whole a disservice by turning to sensationalism in an effort to get people to believe our message. That is a faulty foundation and we are setting up people to fail when they are building on nothing more than subjectivity and emotionalism. I have no doubt that most of these people are sincere in their motives to share Christ with the world. But there are few things more dangerous than a little bit of truth mixed with a whole bunch of error. We do well to heed the words of 1 Thes. 5:21, “…but test all things. Hold on to what is good.”
For more on this subject I suggest:
http://www.equip.org/articles/heaven-real-heaven-real-really/#christian-books-2
http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/book-review-90-minutes-in-heaven