Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo is the true story of the author’s son’s brush with death and the near death experiences he had at the age of 3.

Following a life-threatening illness, Colton began, over the course of time, to reveal experiences and insights he had when he briefly entered “Heaven”.

I don’t want to go into much more detail than that because I don’t really like reviews with spoilers.  A person likes to read a book, not have someone read it for them so they don’t need to bother, right?

This book has been number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and has already sold over one million copies.  I’m probably going to be the only one on the planet to admit that I wasn’t enthralled with it.  I hate sticking my neck out to say this, because I don’t really want to bring a world of evangelists down on my head, but here goes anyway.

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The book is a SCANT 150, little pages.  If you had larger pages with more print on it, it could be a 50 page book.  If you removed the commentary that is no doubt meant to flesh it out into a book, you would have a 5 page account.  Maybe it would have worked better as a testimony shared in a sermon, or on YouTube.  There just isn’t enough here for a book.

The author (the subject’s father) is an evangelist minister.  So he feels it necessary to “prove” each thing his son experienced against Biblical scripture.  It’s not that I’m against that per se, but to me, he should have told the story, and included reference notes in the back.  Then if we wanted the Biblical “proof” we could reference it through notes at the end.  It took away from the flow of the story and became less a story about Colton’s experience, than his father’s interpretation and defense of it.  If it was to be his father’s story, a different marketing approach would seem in order.  I’m just going on record as saying there were many boring dry patches in this short book and it was chopped and interspersed with too much “preaching” and “testimonial” and a need to “prove”.

The stark reality of the horrific experience of having a child with such life-threatening illness, and of the year or so of Job-like misfortunes that befell the family is something we can all either relate directly to, or understand from our own “worst case scenario fears”.  I was in tears many times as I pulled with the family and shared in their fear, tension, grief, and anger.  Those bits were very touching.  As were Colton’s expressions of what he experienced when he “died”.

I was certainly raised with all of the beliefs expressed in this book.  Up until the last few years, I believed them without question.  Then I had some of my own experiences, and my belief set shifted.  I’m what I would refer to now as “spiritually eclectic”.  I will admit that my own beliefs shape my view of the book, in the same way that Todd’s beliefs shaped his interpretation of his son’s experience.  It happens.  Our present world view shapes how we interpret.  I’m certainly doing the same thing now.  Giving a different perspective.

The experiences I’ve had have profoundly expanded my view of spirituality.  Honestly, there is nothing here in this book that was a profound revelation.  It was no surprise to me that this boy experienced a glimpse of the afterlife.  It is no surprise to me that he took it often very much in stride, while at the same time, it profoundly impacted his life moving forward.  It is also no surprise to me that The Divine chose to appear in a way that fit the framework that could be accepted, understood and relayed.  The Divine, in my opinion, appears as we need it to appear so that we can grasp the spiritual lessons necessary for our individual journey.

Our spiritual lens is partially formulated through our genetic history and memory.  What was passed down through our families, ends up within us.  Not just brown eyes, but beliefs.  Then it is up to us to examine them, accept them or rework them.  Colton came into this world with an internal knowing of the beliefs of his ancestors.  Then, even though he was 3, and attended Sunday school and not regular church services, it cannot be said that he had never been exposed to the more in-depth theological beliefs of his church and family.  Children’s ears are always open.  Things are constantly entering their brains from their surroundings.  He most assuredly heard countless discussions on Biblical topics that he internalized in ways that can never fully be demonstrated.  He received the information from The Divine in ways he could relate them and in ways his family could accept.

Had Colton expressed that he had experienced a near death realm more in keeping with Native American, Buddhist, Muslim or any other faith category, his family would, I can say with almost certainty, have tried to shape it to fit their belief system.  They would have reframed it.  They would have told Colton he only THOUGHT those things happened and that it was a dream or the medications he was on.  They may have even started him in therapy.  They may have started a prayer chain to get those other thoughts out of him.  But in this instance, The Divine chose to appear in a way that fit for everyone involved.  That’s a cool thing.  Because I hear from parents of 3 year olds all the time that are seeing and conversing with spirits, and nobody believes them.  It’s a tough road for those.  But they have a different path.  Colton’s path was an experience that “fit”.  Nothing wrong with that.

The Divine is so much bigger than a church, a religion, or a book.  We always try to contain him/her and define what he/she would or would not do, would or would not say, the ways in which he/she would or would not appear as.  Oh us of little faith.  The Divine is bigger than any box, any dogma, any holy text.

To summarize:  Parts of the book were boring.  Parts touching.  Nothing was a revelation to me.  It didn’t have enough material to actually BE a book.  The views were more the view of the pastor than the views of the child.  It was more Todd’s sermon than Colton’s story.  I fail to see why it is getting so much buzz.  The Divine is bigger, more vast, and more complex than one can try to contain within Christianity or the Bible.  The Divine is in all.  I believe that Todd believes there was no environmental shaping of his son’s experience.  I believe that Coltin had a truly profound experience with The Divine.  I don’t believe it can be explained or fit into a tidy box.  Recounting a story is one thing.  Going on to tidily contain it within a set of preformed parameters is, in my opinion, far too limiting.  But that’s just me…there are obviously millions of others snapping up this book that are finding a very different experience.

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