Doubting Benjamin

Ok, its been a while, but with all the crazy sh*t going on in the world its time to vent. I'll start posting more often with some insight and scathing commentary on the nuthouse the US has become of late.

Let's start with the book that is the Number One Best Seller on the NYT NON-FICTION list - "Heaven is Real". This is a "True Story" by the ghost writer of Sarah Palin's book, "Going Rogue" about a young boy who has a 'near-death' experience and supposedly goes to Heaven for a quick cup of coffee. While there, he meets the sister he "...never knew existed" (his mom miscarried prior to the boy being born, his grandfather as a young man (but the boy never met his grandfather, you say?) and gets to sit on Jesus' lap, kind of like Santa Claus.

Well, ok. That might be a nice, feel-good story for my Christian friends to provide some uplifting thoughts and hope in these troubled times. BUT this book is a Best Seller on the NON-FICTION list! Have I said that in all-caps enough? I really don't think I can possibly say it in all caps enough times to be quite honest.

Let's be real, people. Look at the facts of the matter. This kid's dad is an Evangelical preacher. This isn't like seeing the image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast, this kid supposedly know things - cue eerie music here - he shouldn't possibly know. As one blogger reviewed the book, "Every one of Colton’s experiences, or very nearly every one, follows a pattern. He tells his father some little detail. His father experiences a gasp or feels his heart skip a beat. “I could hardly breathe. My mind was reeling. My head was spinning.” A Scripture verse comes to dad’s mind that validates the experience. Colton gets bored and runs off. Repeat."

Wow. Riveting stuff.

If this helps you get through the rough times and gives you some solace after the passing of a loved one, more power to you. But to sit back and think that this is anything but a book that should be in the Fantasy and Science Fiction section of Barnes & Noble is sheer...well, fantasy.

I'll just take one sentence from the book as an example, where the boy describes Jesus' eyes as "...were just sort of a sea-blue and seemed to sparkle." Yeah, right. Last time I checked it would be neigh impossible for a Semetic person in that part of the world during that period of time to have anything but darker eyes. Period. But we've always known that the pictures of the white, blue-eyed and long brown-haired Jesus were just plain silly all along.

Again, I'm not debunking or being the cynic just to be mean. It just seems that in times of general turmoil and uncertainty we as a people tend to lean on the ephemeral a little more than others. Its just human nature. Perhaps, however, we should consider something a little more substantive than this little missive. Maybe like a collection of Peanuts cartoons.