Mike Wittmer
Alex Malarkey, who co-authored The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, publicly confessed his story is malarkey. He and his mother had been saying so for some time, but few noticed until last week.
His admission left me wondering why heavenly tourism gets so much attention. Christians might be less obsessed with heaven if we better grasped four things.
1. We were never supposed to go to heaven.
God created Adam and Eve to live on Planet Earth. Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground.” The Hebrew word for man is ’ādām, and the word for ground is ’ādāmâ. God wanted to emphasize our connection to the earth, so he said our name is dirt. If this is true, then the most theologically accurate name you could ever give your child is “Clay.” Or “Dusty.” If you have a girl, try “Sandy.” God made us from the dust of this world. We are earthlings, for heaven’s sake.
If Adam had passed his probation, we assume God would have cut to the end of the story and come down to live permanently with us (Rev. 21:1–3). Adam and Eve would have continued to live here, for there would have been no reason to go anywhere else. But Adam rebelled, and brought sin and death on the human race.
What happens when people die? Their bodies and souls are unnaturally torn apart; their bodies stay here while their souls go to either heaven or hell. Praise God that those who die in Christ go to heaven, but never forget that this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. The only reason anyone ever goes to heaven is because of sin.