90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper has been on the Christian Booksellers bestselling lists almost since it was published in September of 2004 through this writing (April, 2008). While it’s popularity is obvious, it’s inaccuracies are either ignored or rarely questioned. This prompted me to Email Mr. Piper a few weeks ago to see if he would care to respond to my objections to his claims. As of this date, I have not heard back from him.
The letter below addresses several, but not all my my reasons for rejecting Mr. Piper’s claim. For example: I did not bring up the point that neither Paul or John were dead when they experienced heaven. Or, that Jesus told Nicodemus no one has ever gone to heaven and returned. Only Jesus who was already in heaven has descended from heaven (John 3:13).
Heaven and Hell “after death” experiences are only too common these days. I do not necessarily question the sincerity of these people, but I do question their perception. There are even support groups for persons who truly believe they have died and spent time in horrible places (hell?). I do not assume that someone who just made their story up would go to the trouble of attending these meetings. Perhaps this is not unlike UFO sightings. While many seem obviously contrived; others can only be explained as being people who actually experienced something - - just not what they think they experienced.
I find it quite depressing that so many professing Christians seem so willing to accept these kinds of testimonials with virtually no hesitation. Don’t they read their Bibles?
Email to Don Piper - 4/4/08
Dear Mr. Piper,
Our Christian bookstore will be celebrating 28th years next month. Your book is not on our shelves because I believe you are mistaken about what actually happened immediately after the terrible highway wreck you were involved in.
When asked “why?”, I give several reasons which I believe are based on God’s Word. I am writing to you to find out if you would care to respond to these reasons I give. I think it’s about time I offered your explanation to my objections to my customers.
I have searched your book thinking a pastor might address these matters, but all I read is “I know what happened to me.” “I don’t have to defend my experience”. Why haven’t you addressed this incident from a biblical perspective?
I can relate to some of the things you describe. In 1997 I spent the month of February in a (probably diabetic) coma. I was not expected to live. On the slim hope that I might survive, my wife was told I had suffered brain damage and would not be able to function. I spent 4 1/2 months in hospitals and care facilities. Many blood transfusions; kidney dialysis, surgery, using a walker and several people to help me walk again. [I couldn’t read all of the middle of your book - - it brought back too many memories.] As with your experience, even others can see I have a closer relationship with God now. I also have a fear of flying, but with a much more keen awareness that my life if in God’s hands, I no longer medicate myself for flights (except for motion sickness).
Well, down to business:
1. This first point is not so much theological as clinical. I tell people that according to Don Piper my wife must be dead. When she goes to the doctor for a check-up and they can’t find her pulse on the first try.
I picture your mangled body in a mangled car. The first-responders already assume no one could survive such a horrific crash. They check for a pulse - - no easy task because they cannot access you as they would like - - and cannot find what may be the very faint pulse of a man who is nearly dead. Not knowing the condition of others on the scene, they declare you dead and move on to other victims.
This brings up the question ‘when is a person truly dead?’. For centuries, we have accounts of persons who were assumed to have died and then became conscious without any attempt at resuscitation - - some even after being placed in a coffin. Today, many consider death being ‘brain dead’. Do people actually die and then return to life? This brings me to the more biblical aspects of your experience.
2. God informs us that “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” Hebrews 9:27 NIV. The next verse compares this to Christ’s one-time sacrifice (death) for sins.
Q? How do you understand this passage as it relates to your experience?
The few exceptions found in the Bible have marked differences from you. Each was a clear miracle of raising the dead with witnesses. The Holy Spirit eliminates any question of whether these people had actually died. We have no indication that any of them experienced anything during the time there were dead. Even Lazarus seems to have been quiet about his several dead days. The Pharisees wanted him dead, not because of what he was telling people about his experience, but because Jesus had raised him from the dead and he was alive in the presence of people who knew he had died and had been raised to life again by Jesus.
3. The apostle Paul’s experience is enlightening when compared to yours. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Paul relates an experience that was very, very real to him. Yet he refuses to conclude that he was absolutely certain he was in heaven - - allowing that perhaps it may have been a vision.
Just as important; Paul heard inexpressible things. (You spoke of “heightened awareness of my senses” - - otherwise you could not take this in.) Yet Paul states what he heard were “things that man is not permitted to tell”.
Q? By what fiat do you spread your story when even the apostle Paul states that at least he was not to speak of his experience? I should think you must have received a special dispensation from God to not follow Paul’s example.
4. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Paul speaks of dwelling in our earthly bodies and that “we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” Conversely, we “would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord”.
Q? You claim to have been absent from your body; yet you also say you were not present with the Lord - - only that you had an awareness of God’s presence. How to you reconcile this with scripture?
5. You publicly claim to have had this experience, yet you have no witnesses and no evidence. To be convinced in your own mind is one thing. To proclaim something as fact and as broadly as you have is quite another.
Q? How do you justify such action when God Himself says throughout His Word that two or three witnesses are required before something is to be believed?
Mr. Piper. I have no reason to doubt your sincerity, but I think a pastor ought not to dismiss sincere objections that I believe are based on God’s Word. You have not addressed these issues in your book. Would you please address them now; so that I may either be corrected or at least include your responses when giving my reasons for rejecting your claims?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Roger McReynolds
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