"It is said that when people die, they travel to a place of Perfect Happiness, a place of Complete Ecstasy, a place called Heaven.
And most do. They hear the voices of angels singing and they see the light of God across the sky and they fly as fast as their new wings can carry them to the most beautiful, the most exquisite world imaginable.
Most of them.
But there are some, a few, a handful in the palm of the universe, who are not so sure about it...and it is these reluctant spirits whom God has watched as they have taken one step into heaven and hesitated. As they have looked back far longer than they have looked ahead. And for whom the light of God is not everything after all." (p. 9-10)One of the lovely things in Cynthia Rylant's beautifully written, and well imagined, novel is how she has put Scripture before each chapter. For example, in the very beginning we find, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth." Revelation 21:1. What a wonderful way to begin a book about heaven's possibilities!
And yet, while I relished the story of each person who went to the Heavenly Village before going to heaven itself, I felt boggled by her perceptions. One of her characters, named Violet Rose, had a terrible upbringing. Cynthia tells us straight out,"On earth, Violet Rose had had a very sad childhood. This is always something God has little power over...But God could not make Violet Rose's parents loving people, and He could not give Violet Rose a peaceful, quiet home, and He could not keep her tears from flowing." (p. 33)
What?! God has little power over what He has created?
In Cynthia Rylant's world, God is clearly finite; limited in His capabilities. But, I hang on to every verse referring to God's power that I can find, such as this: "O Sovereign Lord! You have made the heavens and earth by Your great power. Nothing is too hard for You!" Jeremiah 32:17.
I greatly admire Cynthia Rylant's book. I think her imagination knows no bounds, and her gentle insistence to hang on to what is good and right and true is admirable. But, I think you must read Rylant's books for their fiction, not for their theology.
