Back in the summer, I became aware of a bit of a "fervour" going around about a book, titled Heaven is for Real. People asked me if I read it, and some told me it was really good.
At that time, I choose NOT to read it. Let me tell you something about me. I am immediately a bit turned off and suspicious of anything that seems a bit "bandwagon-y" going around in the world. Particularly when it is especially going around the "Christian community." I'm not saying this is necessarily a good or bad thing. I also, for the record, do not have a cell phone and I am a relatively young woman (I like to tell myself). So, feel free to consider me "a character."
Maybe I would make a good "postmodern" after all, but I find that I mostly am questioning the wrong things. (like cell phones. Have you ever seen the look on a 12 year old face when you question why they NEED a cell phone? Never mind that, picture the same thing, but to the parent...If you are parent of a 12 year old cell phone owner, I have now totally lost you.) Even though Tony Jones says in his book that post modernists "question everything" and even though Rob Bell recommends this in his, I don't find that to be true. That we postmodernists "question everything." Ha! I'm questioning the statement that we question everything! How clever am I? (Sorry, momentary lapse of seriousness, briefly, to lighten up what will become a pretty serious blog in a little while.)
Anyway, it seems to me that "question everything" really doesn't apply to everything. It seems to me that there are some "sacred cows" out there that people don't question. But that is another blog. Might as well not go poking around at every single sleeping dog all at once. Which is to say that I'm not really looking forward to the hornets nest I am stirring up, should anyone actually read this blog.
If you are still able to remember the start of this blog, it is about a book that I did not read this summer, for various reasons, one of which I already mentioned, that I was turned off by it's seeming universal and instant appeal...
That was one reason.
So, I finally did read the book. Why? Because I already knew from other people what it was about, and I already was thinking pretty critically around that knowledge. Then I read some reviews of it that were also critical. And from the start I had been a bit worried about the book and how so many people were reading it with ... glowing eyes? (I know, I sound like a killjoy, eh?) You could saw that this blog has been writing itself since the summer.
This is just the final, official product. And when I read "final" then I think, oh, watch out for the hubris of that statement. I think it is final.
You may have already got the impression that what I am going to say about the book, having finally read it, is that I'm not going to recommend reading it. You might think this just means that I came to the book with expectations and then made sure that they were met.
There is that. Instead of responding to that idea, I'm going to tell a personal story. (Since researching the emerging/postmodern church, I see it everywhere in myself! How postmodern of me to respond to a possible critique with a personal story.)
There was a time when I loved Rob Bell videos. I am referring to what is known as the "Nooma" series. They made me feel very encouraged. They are warm, seem heart-felt, seem to touch that basic level of experience and speak to it. I didn't watch the videos, I experienced them. They made me cry. They seemed at times profound. And they made me feel good.
My father tried to warn me that there might be stuff in them that didn't really measure up to the Bible. (If Rob Bell read that sentence, he'd be like 'Oh, here we go again, someone who thinks they can read the Bible without a bias and therefore give the "correct" interpretation. I guess at this reaction, having finally read Velvet Elvis. I bet if you read the book you know I am right)
The thing is, it hurt to hear him say stuff. I felt, in my heart, crestfallen. I felt defensive of Rob Bell and of myself. "These videos HELPED me," I said to my Dad. "There might be small things that are not perfect, because no one has a perfect view all the time, but how can you criticise something that has HELPED me?"
My Dad's criticism of Rob Bell stung me. Why? Because I had bought into him. Not just the videos, those too, but him as a person. A trustworthy and good guy. And because if the videos were not really being based "on the truth," then what happened to the encouraged feeling I got from them...? I was very emotionally invested in "Nooma" videos.
Later on, I realized my Dad was right... but that is another blog.
The reason I'm writing this to you, isn't because it is really connected to the book Heaven is for Real. It is to say that if I write this little critique and it hurts you, I am sorry. I really am.
Because I know how unpleasant and painful it is. Really. In the years of my son's death and illness, I have been so fragile. Small things hurt big. And I am troubled to write to you, knowing that some people who have read HifR have also lost a loved one. And they/you might have been encouraged by the book, and they/you might be emotionally invested in that book as true and good. And this might be sort of painful when you are already feeling fragile and longing for encouragement.
This I recognize. Again, I am sorry. If you go away from this blog thinking that I am "judgemental" and "cynical" and a nasty killjoy, I understand that. I felt that way about my father too. I don't anymore, of course. But I did. And if you feel that way about me, I will understand that.
I'm still going to write the truth here, though, about what I think about the book. Because I have a couple of concerns about the book. And I can't ignore them. After I write my critique, you get to think over what I say and evaluate it. If you feel I have been unfair and ignorant, I understand, like I said. But please, please, recognize that part of the reason I wrote it is because this blog is about truth and love. Together. And I hope that at the end of the critique, you find that there IS encouragement after all...
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