This Book Sure Seems 'for Real'

Spirituality Column #242
June 28, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

This Book Sure Seems ‘for Real’
By Bob Walters

My Christian friend Nancy put a book in my hands just recently, wondering if I had read it.

“No,” I said.

“I guess a lot of people have,” she said.

Yeah, I guess so.

Heaven is for Real has been atop various New York Times bestseller lists since March. Published in November 2010 in paperback only, by mid-June with upwards of four million copies in print “for Real” remained the No. 1 title on the Times’ “Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction,” “Combined Hardcover and Paperback Nonfiction” and “Paperback Nonfiction” lists.

I’ll not spoil the book’s story, except to say that a four-year old boy in small-town Nebraska has surgery and later begins telling his father, a Wesleyan minister, about visiting heaven and, among other things, meeting Jesus.

It’s a short, praiseworthy read; a couple hours of a simple yet magnificent – and dare I say, highly believable – exposition of one of this life’s greatest mysteries: “Is Heaven real?” Little Colton Burpo tells us it is.

There is no shortage of books on the “Heaven” experience. I’ve read some and not read others. I tend not to dwell much on either Creation or Heaven, because I trust God has them both all figured out. I can’t add much to His plan.

No, my routine reading and prayer focuses on my and mankind’s relationship with Christ, understanding the Bible, religion’s place in our culture, and learning and sharing all I can about the real existence of God, and the truth, goodness, knowledge and morality provided to humanity by the eternal Logos Word of God, Jesus Christ.

So, I’m examining our relationship with Christ? Here is a kid who – pretty convincingly – says he met Jesus.

It got my attention in ways other books haven’t.

The Shack was a mature man’s recollection of a dream, or an experience, or fiction, or something. It was charming and made people think; but it shouldn’t make anyone believe. Randy Alcorn’s Heaven was, to me, very unsatisfying (sorry) in its over-literalized attempts to define Heaven. I put it down after a few pages. Ninety Minutes in Heaven was compelling, but the storyteller was a Bible-savvy adult preacher.

Heaven is for Real is a child’s perspective. It smacks of the truth, to me, because it doesn’t smack of fiction. It is Biblically on point and simple enough to be real. I’m obviously not the only one who has noticed.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) notes that Jesus says a lot about children in the Bible. Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14. For real.

Perfect God is No Contradiction, Lent Part 6

Spirituality Column #231
April 12, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Lenten Series 2011: Just Not That into God, Part 6
Perfect God is No Contradiction
By Bob Walters

Some people are just not that into God because God seems to harbor so many contradictions.

Is He the Old Testament’s good and mighty God of Creation? The exasperated God of the Great Flood? The unfair God Who delivered Israel out of Egypt, made the Jews wander 40 years in the desert and ultimately denied His servant Moses entry into the Promised Land? The warlike God Who vanquished Israel’s unsuspecting foes from Canaan, but then banished disobedient Israel to Babylon? The abiding God of Psalms 51 and 91 Who delivers us from all trouble? Or the absent God of Psalm 88, Who leaves us despairing in the pit?

In the New Testament, utterly humble baby Jesus grows into a friendly, gentle man Who works miracles, picks fishermen and tax collectors for Apostles, ransacks the Temple, heals the lame, preaches never-before-heard truths, and leaves cryptic but indisputable proof that He is Christ, the Son of God; the fully human and fully divine Second Person of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit Trinity.

This glorious, eternal, innocent King of Kings is brutally murdered on the Cross – dead – then resurrected to life.

These evident contradictions lead some people to reject God, the Bible, or religion, or to diminish Jesus’ mission with theologically suicidal rules of engagement, e.g., “Don’t worry about Jesus or Hell. God saves all. Everyone goes to Heaven.”

Theologians through the ages have worked exhaustively on that idea, known by the Greek term “apocatastasis.” It means “everyone is restored” suggesting, bottom line, Christ’s work on the Cross was unnecessary because death and sin didn’t really need to be defeated. Now there’s a contradiction.

God does nothing unnecessarily, and underestimating Jesus’ sacrifice is a human death sentence.

So here’s the real deal. There is one unwavering, patient, faithful, good, loving and eternal God. He is Perfect, and God’s idea of “Perfect” is the Bible’s point. Our fallen, self-interested, worldly, human idea of “Perfect” is not.

We pine for our “Perfect.” Scripture reveals time and again, God insists on His.

The Bible’s overarching proposition is this – Which is better: God giving sinful man the Law to attain righteousness, or God giving sinful man Jesus Christ whose righteousness removes our sins?

The Bible, you see, reveals a New Covenant, not contradictions.
It takes work to understand the Bible, faith to understand Jesus, and belief to go to Heaven. The contradictions reside in us, not God.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com), a sinner, is humbly thankful for God’s love and securely trusts the Bible’s truth. Amen.

Necessary Evil

Spirituality Column #72
March 25, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Necessary Evil
By Bob Walters

The Bible tells me …
Creation is real, Heaven is real, and Hell is real.

I don’t thoroughly understand any of them, but I do know that Creation and Heaven are not threats or warnings; they both embody God’s goodness. I’m fairly certain that ignoring them will only lessen the joy of my experience with God here on earth, not create eternal ramifications for my salvation.

The specifics of Hell, on the other hand, demand our undivided attention at least once in a while because if we miss God’s message on Hell, we can and very likely will stumble into very deep doo doo for all eternity.

Frankly, I don’t spend a lot of my Christian faith-walk fearing Hell because I wasn’t frightened into the faith by threats of damnation. I was intellectually drawn to Christ by a preponderance of both evidence and emotion that acted on my heart, mind and soul, telling me that access to God, through Christ, with the Holy Spirit alive within me, was how I wanted to live my life.

Now, none of that means I’m not a sinner yet today; I am. So it’s necessary to take a moment every now and then to contemplate the awfulness of sin and what, exactly, Hell is. “Eternal damnation” is a hackneyed church phrase that does not paint a cogent – or ugly enough – picture.

Hell is where sin plays its home games. Hell is inescapable once you’re there. It’s not just fire; it’s a furnace with intensified and perpetual heat. It is complete aloneness, hopelessness and shame. It is awake, not unconscious. It is death, and you are aware of it. It is where God, over and over again in scripture, promises that he vanquishes souls who reject him.

A lot of churches ignore Hell. Shoot, a lot of churches ignore sin.

But if the Bible is your standard of what God promises, study up on what scripture says about Hell.

A Christian blogger I like named Brent Riggs has a succinct four-part teaching on what the Bible says about Hell at seriousfaith.com, search “040722.”

I don’t follow Christ because I fear Hell, but it’s a special kind of crazy to ignore Christ because you don’t fear Hell.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) fully appreciates how uncomfortable it is to contemplate Hell. Can you imagine what it’s like to be there?

James Cameron Meets St. Peter

Spirituality Column - #18 – March 13, 2007
Current! In Carmel newspaper

James Cameron Meets St. Peter: A Very Short Story
By Bob Walters

Headline of the future:
‘Titanic,’ ‘Terminator,’ ‘Lost Tomb of Jesus’ producer James Cameron dies
Setting: The Pearly Gates
Robed Saint: “Next!”
Disembodied Ghost of James Cameron: “Where am I?”
RS: “What is your name?”
James: “Uh, James; James Cameron.”
RS: “Sounds familiar. Were you a sailor?”
James: “No; never liked the water much, but I made a wildly successful movie about a great tragedy at sea, the sinking of the Titanic.”
RS: “Oh yes. Dreadful business. Hit that iceberg, bad steel on the hull, sank in the darkness, so many people died …
James: Oh it was a great movie! We took those facts, added a love story and sex … won Academy Awards; made a ton of money.
RS: Uh huh. Did you bring any with you?
James: Bring any what?
RS: Money.
James: I didn’t think I could bring it with me.
RS: So, you are somewhat familiar with how things work up here?
James: Sure, isn’t everybody?
RS: You might be surprised.
James: Hey, hold on. This is really heaven! Hot dog! I’m King of the World!
RS: You’re not in, yet.
James: But I’m so close! Whew! I was pretty sure I believed in all this, but, well, you know how Hollywood is. Lot of sin; lot of worldly desire. Our movies only talked about Jesus when it would make us money.
RS: We noticed that. God likes movies, though. He is so intrigued by what humans come up with. The Terminator is one of His favorites; (mimics Arnold) "I'll be back!" Great line!
James: So, what did God think of my documentary about finding the bones of Jesus?
RS: Do you want to meet Him?
James: Who? God?
RS: No, Jesus.
James: (Jaw drops) You mean He’s really here?
RS: Yep, bones and all. Next!
Since watching “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” Carmel resident Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) wonders if the Titanic was a hoax, too.