How many heaven-and-back books will Christians continue to send to the bestseller lists? Based on the seemingly endless fascination with the Left Behind series, Amish fiction books, and Karen Kingsbury-one-plot-repeated-endlessly-Christian-romance titles that continue to be popular, we haven't even begun to see how many nearly dead people will go to heaven, come back, and tell us all about it.
And isn't that just how God's providence works? He brings people to heaven when they nearly die and then sends them back so they can sign contracts with a Christian publisher and make millions from the books, spin-off products, and films. Ugh.
Anyway, if you've ever wondered about this new, strange genre of Christian literature, read Tim Challies's excellent blog post to see why these books don't bolster faith; rather, they undermine it.
If you want to read a truly excellent book on what the Bible has to say about heaven, I recommend starting here. Author and pastor Dan Schaeffer has never nearly died, gone to heaven, and come back to tell us about his experience. He has thoroughly studied what the Bible has to say about the subject, though, and writes warmly and instructively about what God's Word tells us about the better country we will one day inhabit.
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