Sybaris Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Was at a family gathering yesterday and apparently a member has latched on to this book of the same topic title, written by a evangelical christian minister father, of his sons NDE. I was challenged to provide contrary analysis but haven't seen much other than opinionated rebukes. Anyone seen a critical analysis of the book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeasabird Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 You really need a critical analysis from a story presented by a four year old? But anyway I'm pretty sure I recall it saying somewhere that you can't go there until you die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 How would such a critical analysis be conducted, I wonder? You have the perceptions of a four year old run through the filter of a hardened fundamentalist preacher. Perhaps there is a way to rescue all that preconceived religiosity from the bear trap of subjectivity. I'd sure like to know how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stamps1962 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I am almost sure I started a thread on this book someplace. Anyway, the kid must have been very special, out of the tens of thousands of humans who died that day he got the personal tour. Apparently the angelic choir refused to sing 'We Will Rock You." It is so sad- you couldn't get these morons to open a book on NDEs because they would think it was biased. But, they swallow a story like this with no problem. Most of them have no idea how common NDEs are. How much you wanna bet his parents prodded him in the right direction with this story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I remember there was a discussion about this a while back where one member actually read the book and pointed out some obvious issues with it - I'll see if I can find it... Here it is: http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/45046-heaven-is-for-real/ Okay. I finished the book this morning. The first 50% of the book is the pastor dad telling all about the family, their beliefs, the boy's illness, etc. Then the child says upon seeing the hospital again from the car window (4 months or so after his surgery - not an NDE at all) that the angels sang to him when he was in the hospital. The next 20% of the book is all about them discussing the child's experience. At first it seems plausible. What's so odd about the 3 year old son of a pastor who listens to bible stories every day saying that while he was in surgery he went to heaven and sat on Jesus' lap? He seemed to have had a bit of an out-of-body experience because he said he could see what was happening in the hospital. He definitely was never dead at any time. Even the parents admit this. Then the book gets ridiculous. The parents, especially the dad, continue to ask Colton about his "visit to heaven." They question him not over days or weeks but over YEARS. They expect him to tell them something new each time, so he does. Here's an example of the questioning: Two YEARS after the boy's surgery, the family was watching a DVD of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." After the last big sword-fighting battle scene where the princes and princesses along with the other "good guys" beat the monsters and "bad guys," the mom remarks to the boy, "Well, I guess that's one thing you didn't like about heaven - no swords up there." Colton came back with, "There are too swords in heaven!" Then he proceeded to tell them all about a big battle between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" including the devil, in heaven. Pastor dad says scripture from Luke leapt to his mind where Jesus tells the disciples, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." and scripture from Daniel where an angel pays a delayed visit to him because he was engaged in a battle with the "king of Persia." So, the movie and the kid's attraction to action figures and swords, and the kid's knowledge of bible stories never figures into the equation? Over and over again, this is the kind of "proof" in the book that Colton visited heaven. It's simply nonsense. Much of it seems to be pure fabrication by the pastor dad. In my opinion, I think that's why they've waited so long to write this awful book: They needed to convince the poor kid that he went to heaven and it took lots of years of subliminal suggestions to do it. The book made me angry with the parents and very sad for the boy who's been used and brainwashed for what? Notoriety, money, and a religious agenda! Sickening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Well, I talked to another 4 year old about this and their reply was "No! Mine! Eeeeeeeeee!" mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 The best critical analysis is not to buy it. Why would I want to put money towards some fundy's brat's education? All this demonstrates by the kid's father is that he has the mind of a four year old. The babble's had thousands of volumes of critiques lining every shelf in American libraries and it has not made an impact or raised the IQ of a Christian by so much as 1%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiser01 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 the thing is is that this kid went through a tramatic event and in events like that the mind is altered. one of the major influences, no i dare say the only influence in this kids life is christianity so the nureons on his brain are wired for christianity so in his halucinary state his brian will act the way it is wired too in its new activity, he is simply dreaming very vividly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thackerie Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 the thing is is that this kid went through a tramatic event and in events like that the mind is altered. one of the major influences, no i dare say the only influence in this kids life is christianity so the nureons on his brain are wired for christianity so in his halucinary state his brian will act the way it is wired too in its new activity, he is simply dreaming very vividly. Which explains why Hindus who have NDEs hallucinate images of Hindu gods, Islamists who have NDEs hallucinate images of Islam Paradise, etc., etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I have a critical analysis. When I was 11, I had a fantasy that I was once in a magical place far away, and go there at night. Sleep? Well... No, the place had no existence, not even in my dreams. I knew this. I just made it up, it was fun, it was an imaginary world that I had lots of fun thinking about. I was a very creative child. When I became a teen, that evolved into my interests into making constructed languages and worlds. Just a more sophisticated version of my old fantasy. If this isn't something being pushed onto this child, its probably just that, a fantasy. I say be indulgent, but I don't think this is something to take seriously. Not to be dismissive or anything, but I doubt the child really even believes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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