Reviewed by Meygan
When this book first became popular and was listed
as a New York Times best-selling book, I was very skeptical. The child from The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by
Kevin and Alex Malarkey admitted that he lied about going to Heaven, causing
the books to be immediately pulled from the shelves. (And who can be mad at him
for lying about it? After all, he was child and children have the greatest
imaginations of anyone.) Even though Colton Burpo, the child from Heaven is for Real, still stands by his
words, I started this book with an incredulous outlook about Colton’s “experience”
in Heaven.
So how did Colton go to Heaven? Todd and Sonja
Burpo, Colton’s parents, decided to take a family trip to get away and on the
trip, Colton becomes very ill. His parents take him to a hospital, where
doctors tell them while Colton is very sick, they do not know why. He is then
sent to another hospital where Colton is told that his appendix has ruptured.
The doctors quickly rush Colton to surgery, which sends Todd, who is also a
pastor, in a fit of devastation and rage. He asks God after all he has gone
through, why would he add anything else to his plate, especially since Colton
is his child. But thankfully, Colton survives the surgery. Throughout time,
Colton begins to talk to his father about his surgery and how he went to
Heaven. His father, feeling perplexed, asks Colton how he could have gone to
Heaven if he didn’t die in which Colton shrugs and responds, “Then I guess I
died.”
Colton also describes what Heaven looks like and how
God answered his father’s prayers whenever Colton was having surgery. Todd
Burpo, at first wondering if Colton’s imagination is running wild, soon
believes that his son really did see Heaven, especially after Colton tells Todd
that he saw his grandfather (Todd’s father) in Heaven. Although Colton had
never met his grandfather, he knew exactly who he was in Heaven. When Todd shows
Colton a picture of his father when he is an older man, Colton tells him that
there aren’t any old people in Heaven. Then Colton is shown a group family
picture, which he is not told that his grandpa (although much younger than in
the original picture Colton was shown), is in the photograph. However, Colton
immediately points to his grandfather and clarifies that, yes, he is the man he
met in Heaven.
There are many arguments over this book. People
can’t believe that someone can claim that they saw Heaven while others can’t
believe how someone couldn’t believe the remarkable story of a toddler who
indeed visited Heaven during his surgery. Regardless if the story is true, I
liked the book. I liked the way the story was written and even if the story
isn’t real, it sure did make for a great story. The family got a lot of flak
for writing this book, but I thought the book did a good job with keeping the
family “real”. I liked how the dad admitted that although he is a man of God,
there were moments where he struggled with what to do. I never felt that Todd
was trying to exploit his son for fame or money. I feel that the Burpo family
truly believes their son. Again, I am as skeptical now as I was before reading
the book, but who am I to tell someone what they did or didn’t see? All I know is that I recommended Heaven is for Real.
No comments:
Post a Comment