1 NDEs corroborate the body/soul dualism however, they alone cannot be game changers in answering the question of which view of the afterlife corresponds to ultimate reality. NDEs, however, are experienced by people of many different faiths, and religious beliefs affect their interpretation. It may be possible for those in the “shadow of death” to have a glimpse of eternity without crossing over into death but reviving with an NDE memory. Death marks the separation of the body and soul, but the soul continues in a conscious state after the body dies, as in the case of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar (Luke 16:19–31). The Scriptures presuppose the body/soul dualism of humanity-the mind is more than physical brain activity. Todd Burpo likewise admits, “We’d never received any kind of report saying Colton had ever been clinically dead,” but believes his son is one of those “people who had seen heaven without dying,” like Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 and John in Revelation 4:1–3 (79–80). Jeffrey Long, founder of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, believes Colton had “an experience consistent with a near-death experience (NDE) while under anesthesia” (ii). Is Colton’s story for real? Alternatively, is he an intuitive and gifted storyteller with parents who gullibly misconstrued their child’s fantasy for reality? What are Christians to make of these stories?ĭr. Colton’s story was eventually published as a book coauthored by his father Todd and Lynn Vincent entitled Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, which has since become a no. Colton also alleges to have interacted with deceased family members whom he had never met before, namely his great grandfather “Pop” who died over a half-century earlier (85–92, 120–23), and a sister who passed away as the result of a miscarriage (93–97, 127–30).
Colton, for example, purports leaving his body and seeing his father praying in one hospital room with his mother praying on the phone in another room (pp. In March of 2003 at the age of four, while undergoing an emergency appendectomy, he purports having a three-minute out-of-body experience, which included a voyage to heaven and a vision of Jesus Christ.Ĭolton’s father, Todd, who serves as a Wesleyan minister, became convinced his son had an extraordinary out-of-body experience because of the boy’s unexplainable knowledge of certain facts. Many wrestle with the question of life after death however, Colton Burpo believes heaven is for real.
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