Essay Questions

What were some of the things that Colton described that indicated to his parents he might have visited Heaven?

Colton told of meeting Jesus, and of seeing Mary kneeling before God, but the specifics that he was able to tell regarding family incidents that he had no knowledge of were the primary indication that his story was true. Colton knew about a miscarriage that his mother had suffered in 1998, and that the unborn child had been his older sister. He also knew a lot about his great grandfather who had actually passed away over thirty years before Colton's birth. Having come into contact with family members who had already died was the strongest indication that Colton had met them in Heaven, because how else could he realistically have known about them at his very young age?

Why was this book controversial and disapproved of by the church?

You would think that the Church would be happy about a boy who had a very strong case for being able to prove the existence of Heaven; however, not all Christians and Christian organizations were happy about the book and the claims that it made. One such naysayer was the Berean Call, a monthly newsletter, who stated that there was no proof that Colton had ever been clinically dead at any point, thereby dismissing the entire account as a dream, without explaining how a three year old boy could dream about people of whom he had no knowledge.

John MacArthur, a pastor turned author, dislikes the distinctly un-Biblical portrayal of Heaven, and the childish interpretation given of the afterlife. He was rather unhappy about the rainbow-colored horse that Colton had claimed to see Jesus riding on, concerned that the colorful and almost children's book-like experience would give Christians the wrong impression about the eternal life that was waiting for them after their passing. To some, though, it made perfect sense that Colton's view of Heaven would be childlike and crude; he was, after all, a three year old boy. Despite criticism, Colton Burpo, now older, was steadfast in his claims, and told his parents only what he knew to be true about his near-death experiences, which they then wrote and published.