Monday, May 2, 2011

Reading (E-Reader) - "The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven" - Kevin Malarkey and Alex Malarkey

I found this book when looking for "Heaven is Real" (reviewed earlier).


"The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven" - Kevin Malarkey and Alex Malarkey is a much better read than "Heaven is Real" - the accident is severe (severe spinal injury in neck).
I do like the community involvement that stems from the involvement in the family at church.  I must say that I do find the attribution of all good things to God a little misleading - for example, they have massive costs (maybe $1 million) which they can't pay.  "God delivers" by having their bills covered by Medicaid (Medicare?).  Wouldn't it be better to attribute this good fortune to the government, particularly the democratic-party type government - given that the readers for this type of literature are most likely conservative-Christians, and they support (on average) the party that is looking to kill the very funding that "God provided" in this case?
Similarly, they find it excellent that God provided them with a home with bad plumbing, damaged their roof in a storm while they were dealing with the hospital, had a spiral staircase (not conducive to wheelchair access)....  All of these things were fixed through the good will of the community, through the church.  However, wouldn't it have been simpler for "God" to have them in a single-floor house to begin with?  Or maybe not paralyze their child???
I guess I find the community involvement to be very uplifting, but have trouble directing all of the "good" to God - doesn't some of the good-old free-will good deeds cover some (like the roof fix, the plumbing, ramp design....)?


Overall, however, I did find the story uplifting - the degree to which the community chipped-in and did everything reasonable, and much beyond reasonable to help this family is a great testament to the values of the community.


I appreciate the faith shown by the folks in a terrible, tragic situation - if faith in God, and faith in their religion made a tragic time more bearable - more power to them.  However, I guess I have trouble with the complete attribution of all things to God - it appears to me to be disingenuous to those earthly folks to gave deeply with skills, money and equipment.

No comments:

Post a Comment