"What Dreams May Come" Errors

I just saw the movie "What Dreams May Come" on video, and though it is lavishly done (with great special effects) and as the critics on the box say, it is: "A visual masterpiece, stunning and a visual blast," I find it sadly lacking in content. In fact, I find that it contains several of what might be called heresies--not that it purported to be a Christian movie--I should have guessed that when I picked it up at my neighborhood thrift store. So, I guess, technically, I can't say it has heresies since it doesn't purport to be a Christian film (and some of the language is kind of rough in spots too), So suffice it to call them errors. But the film-makers chose to deal with the subjects of eternal salvation, the afterlife and specifically of heaven and hell. In a sense, this is subject matter for Christian film-makers and not Hollywood. But, if you're going to make a movie about these things you should at least try to get some things right. So, in a sense, in dealing with its content, I would have to agree with the critic who made the above poster--that it's the worst movie ever--that despite it's beautiful and stunning moments and the hype of the poster pictured below.

You, or someone who loves you, can make your own heaven.

His wife was a painter and her paintings influenced his surroundings once he was dead and in heaven. (The picture below shows him ecstatic in a pool of paint.)

I'm sorry, but, we do not prepare our heavenly home--Jesus is doing that. He said so in John 14:3. "I go to prepare a place for you." I'm sure He can do a much better job of it than we mere humans ever could, no matter how much talent a person may have.

We can remember the things of this life and know about our loved ones.

The movie was full of flashbacks to his life on earth and when his wife committed suicide, he was told of it. But how much will we actually know after we die? Although the book Hebrews does mention in chapter 12 verse 1 a great cloud of witnesses, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes says in 9:5 "The dead know not anything." And the prophet Isaiah, speaking about heaven and our eternal salvation in 35:10 says that we will obtain everlasting joy and gladness and that sorrow and sighing will flee away. In the movie his joy was interrupted by the news of his wife's fate, which, of course, caused him sorrow and sighing till he determined to save her if he could.

You can travel between heaven and hell

The movie has Williams traveling back and forth between heaven and hell (from heaven to hell and back to heaven. [See photo below:])

In relating the story (which may have been a true story, rather than a parable), of the rich man and Lazarus, who both died, Jesus said in Luke 16:26 that between heaven and hell there is "a great gulf fixed," (see photo below) making travel from one to the other entirely impossible.

Your life will determine your experience in hell.

It really rather funny--I would have laughed out loud if it wasn't so dangerously deceptive. It shows a bunch of fires burning and his guide says, "this is the gate of hell", but when he gets to where his wife is in hell, we find that she is living in a nice little house that looked just like theirs on earth.

Jesus described hell as a terrible place--a place where "the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched." (John 9:44)

Your sacrifice can save someone from hell

Toward the end of the movie, his willingness to stay in hell with her, saved her and brought them both to heaven.

The only sacrifice that can save us from hell is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. In John 3:14-16, Jesus explained that this was the reason for His coming and His death. In the first place, he's the only one who could qualify to be our sacrifice, And, in the second place, as Hebrews 10:12 indicates, His was the only sacrifice which would ever be needed. If any soul could obtain eternal salvation in any other way, then Jesus died in vain. There is no mention of Jesus in this movie--I guess I should have expected that too.

In the middle of the movie, he asks one his "guides" what he was in life and the man replies that HE HAS HAD SEVERAL LIVES.

Then, at the very end of the movie, he and his newly rescued wife decide they want to go back to earth and be re-incarnated. Reincarnation is a lie of the devil to lull people to sleep regarding their eternal destiny. The Bible clearly states in Hebrews 9:27 "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." The resource listed below expands on this concept. [From Amazon:] "Are you uncertain about life after death, the destiny of the soul, the time and nature of the resurrection? This book is a comprehensive examination of the Biblical teaching regarding the destiny of the soul and the future resurrections. It is a careful examination of the use of the words ''Sheol'' and ''Hades'' to describe the state and condition of the immaterial part of humans following physical death. Within the Biblical context, the words are clearly distinct from the grave. Those words refer specifically to the destiny of the ''soul'' or the immaterial part of mankind.Five groups are identified as separate and distinct. At death, the soul of each departs to a place Biblically called ''sheol'', ''hades'', ''paradise'', ''Abraham''s bosom'', ''heaven'' and ''hell''. The destiny of all believers, Jew and Gentile, is shown to be in ''Sheol / hades, However, it was relocated for believers who died after the resurrection of Jesus. The change in location and reasons for the change are examined...."