Atheist or believer, we all have a version of whats going to happen when we die. For most of us its speculative at best, often for believers in an afterlife its based on the tunnel of light stories we hear from those who have had near death experiences ..... you know, the "Go to the light Carol Anne" kinda moment from 'Poltergeist' (1982).
However there are those for whom there is allegedly a more direct experience of heaven and hell ...... they are often children who are revived after 'dying', and then recount wondrous tales of meeting God in Heaven and talking to Jesus etc. They use the familiar themes of being surrounded by light, greeted by relatives and friends who have died, and being given a tour by God, Jesus or Angels.
Needless to say that these people are much in demand on the Christian TV and bible belt circuits in the US. Some have become quasi famous, such as Colton Burpo (really, that's his name) who is the son of a Methodist Pastor, and who appears on TV with his revelations. He even has had a New York Times bestseller 'Heaven Is for Real '.
There are web pages defending or debunking these visionaries .... just Google the name and 'debunk' or 'defence' and hundreds of web pages appear. This does apear to be an american phenomena, where Christianity has a harder edge than elesewhere in the world, probably because its not had to bump up against Islam too much as yet.
I don't mind these people having their ideas, however irrational, as long as they don't impact me .... especially as the alternative creed seems to be the sort of Islam that my previous blog post has highlighted. But I can't help pointing out that there are a couple of incongruities in these tales that should be highlighted.
Firstly, these 'heaven visitors' always meet their friends and relatives, looking exactly as they did when they died .... so old people remain 'looking old' and disfigured people still look like that ..... so heaven is populated by billions of old or maimed people from millenia past.
Secondly, it appears that for most of these 'heaven visitors', Protestant Christianity appears to be the key to the opening of the heavenly gates ... so the rest of us are struggling.
Finally, most modern Christian creeds, including Protestants follow the Trinitarianism belief in the nature of God i.e. God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This was affirmed by the The 'First Council of Nicaea' in 327 AD. However virtually all of these children 'heaven visitors' state that God and Jesus are seperate, with Jesus definitely in the lower ranking, sitting on a seat below that of God.
This apparently proves Arius and the 'heretic' creed of Arianism to have been correct when they asserted that God had primacy over the son, and there had been a time when God alone had been in Heaven.
Oops .... that can't be right can it?
However there are those for whom there is allegedly a more direct experience of heaven and hell ...... they are often children who are revived after 'dying', and then recount wondrous tales of meeting God in Heaven and talking to Jesus etc. They use the familiar themes of being surrounded by light, greeted by relatives and friends who have died, and being given a tour by God, Jesus or Angels.
Needless to say that these people are much in demand on the Christian TV and bible belt circuits in the US. Some have become quasi famous, such as Colton Burpo (really, that's his name) who is the son of a Methodist Pastor, and who appears on TV with his revelations. He even has had a New York Times bestseller 'Heaven Is for Real '.
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| Colton Burpo on TV |
There are web pages defending or debunking these visionaries .... just Google the name and 'debunk' or 'defence' and hundreds of web pages appear. This does apear to be an american phenomena, where Christianity has a harder edge than elesewhere in the world, probably because its not had to bump up against Islam too much as yet.
I don't mind these people having their ideas, however irrational, as long as they don't impact me .... especially as the alternative creed seems to be the sort of Islam that my previous blog post has highlighted. But I can't help pointing out that there are a couple of incongruities in these tales that should be highlighted.
Firstly, these 'heaven visitors' always meet their friends and relatives, looking exactly as they did when they died .... so old people remain 'looking old' and disfigured people still look like that ..... so heaven is populated by billions of old or maimed people from millenia past.
Secondly, it appears that for most of these 'heaven visitors', Protestant Christianity appears to be the key to the opening of the heavenly gates ... so the rest of us are struggling.
Finally, most modern Christian creeds, including Protestants follow the Trinitarianism belief in the nature of God i.e. God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This was affirmed by the The 'First Council of Nicaea' in 327 AD. However virtually all of these children 'heaven visitors' state that God and Jesus are seperate, with Jesus definitely in the lower ranking, sitting on a seat below that of God.
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| Emperor Constantine burns Arian books. Oops! |
This apparently proves Arius and the 'heretic' creed of Arianism to have been correct when they asserted that God had primacy over the son, and there had been a time when God alone had been in Heaven.
Oops .... that can't be right can it?
Inconsistencies in religion are a minefield. All the 'books' of the Jews, Christians and Muslims are full of contradictory statements, so its perhaps no surprise that kids get a mixed message.
ReplyDeleteTrinitarianism must be the most confusing. How can the Jesus on the cross, on one hand be gods child sent to earth to die for our sins, while also be an aspect of God as well?
You can see why the early Church split over this.