The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

Hey all you folks that read.

Several folks at my church had read the shack and loved it. One of the men in our men's group was writing a critique on it, because he felt it was feeding the universal salvation agenda. A couple of people handed me the book, (I'm holding three copies and haven't bought one yet), and asked me to read it.

I've read it and really have a tough time taking the argument seriously that the book was focused on any agenda like was alleged. I found the book to be a great source for examples of what Freedom means theologically, and what the relational nature of life with God/Spirit/Christ would look like.

I'm curious if any of you guys have any opines on this book.

Hi xian.
Thanks for bringing the book to my attention. I've just bought a copy and am about to set off on my jollyways so I'm looking forward to having the time to catch up on quite a bit of reading.

God bless

Pil

Interesting...I was at my dad's this weekend and he had the book, and I KNEW I had heard about it somewhere and it was HERE! surprise surprise!

He is about half way through it and likes it, i started reading it and was a little frustrated at how much desciptive terminology there is. I guess I was hoping to dig right in and get to the meat and potatoes. I suppose I need to be more patient and just enjoy it for the read that it is.

Before starting it, I read two clippings/reviews about it that my dad had. One was basically "pro" written more from a secular review, and the other was from a Christian publication and was a bit more harsh on it's critique (of that theological points, mostly). So far, I agree with XC, that it seems to be a novel, not a theological treatise nor catechism that he is trying to teach his brand new church that he is starting (and by the way, he is NOT starting a church, at least as far as i know), so I don't see what the big hub-bub is...but maybe i will if i keep reading. That is, IF i keep reading....

_________________
in Christ,

bp

it's both a novel and a theological work.

The theology is dead on too.

I'd like to write the critique's to the folks that make their claim that it's promoting universalist salvation. I.E. that everyone will eventually be saved. The book directly addresses that, and the folks that make that claim are just trying to get attention and look smart I think. They annoy me.

Well, it is pretty short. Maybe i'll get my own copy and finish it. Other than that, I'm reading Nouwen's "Making All Things New". A short, fairly light read about the spiritual life. It starts out a little slow and basic, but is getting better. I'm about halfway through it. There are some good recommendations and observations in there.

_________________
in Christ,

bp

I'm in the middle of Bruce Shelly's book on Church History. I think that's the author's name. Good read, easy going, but the SHACK I thought would get some more comments in here.

Ya, I'm a little surprised that more people on this site have not read it, or at least that more people just don't want to discuss it. I've been toying with writing my own novel/story idea about people who get "shunned" from their churches for wanting to discuss things with their pastors that are a little (or sometimes a lot) outside the small box of teachings that have been traditionally held by their traditions. It would be a bit like Luther wanting to discuss an alter some of the things in his day, or anyone else who has seen errors in what is being done in their churches and hopes to make a change, rather than start a new church. In the end of the book, the goal would be to get these peoples churches to come together in unity of faith and witness, and all teach the same things again, much more like the real early church. Probably too fanciful of an idea though. What do you think?

_________________
in Christ,

bp

It reminds me of something we had at our church recently. We have a group made for the age group 18.5 to 35ish. One of the guys started questioning salvation. Things like when are you saved, and are you saved forever, what about the person that never shows any love for God or neighbor, etc.... Those things, we've all seen them. The group he was in discussion with, suggested he needs to find another church That believed those questions were acceptable. Seems he insisted they were important questions.

The pastor is a great guy, and stepped up and asked, why they were afraid of the questions, and suggested everyone could learn from answering them.

I was proud, all learned something... AND enjoyed it.

Ya, it sounds a lot like lots of the stuff we deal with here...but it's kind of off topic from "The SHACK". Why not just start a new thread on it? I would be interested in it.

_________________
in Christ,

bp

The author of "The Shack" William (Paul) Young was on the Today show this morning. Good, but VERY short interview. He came off sounding very good, i thought. Ann Curry was very interested, and it sounded like she had read the book and really liked it.

_________________
in Christ,

bp

Hi all
I´m on my hols in Spain at the mo and have just finished ´The Shack´.
I was extremely impressed. He portrayed God as the one I have come to know and love, but above all the one who I am learning to trust more and more. I recommend it to all.
God bless.
Pil

I just finished reading it...finished it in two days...could not put it down. I loved how he portrayed God as a healer and not a judge, how it was turned around and questioned how he(Mackenzie) would judge. This really touched home for me since I have just battled a part of my life where it was hard to forgive.

_________________
1 John 4: 19. We love him, because he first loved us.

Do you think it was heretical or irresponsible in not portraying God as the Judge?

I hear that a LOT from the critics.

They cry, "But they only portray God as a loving nice God!"

hehehe I get slapped, I can't help but laugh.

I read it and was disappointed with it. I thought the subject could have been handled so much better and that the writing itself could have used some work. It was wordy with very little action or suspense. I found it preachy and unfulfilling. It did not engage me emotionally at all.

Personally, I would rather have a story about God working in someone's life in a realistic way, not with a presentation of the three persons of God as just that -- three human beings. I ended up skim-reading the last half of it just to get to the end. I actually think it would make a better stage play than a novel.

Different people have different tastes. It wasn't my cup of tea, but the fact that it is selling well tells me there are people desperate to find something (anything!) to reconcile God's love for us with the fact that there is evil in the world and horrible things happen to "good" people all the time. If people are blessed by it, I'm glad.

Overcomer,

Man I'm the opposite. I found every page referencing two or three verses at least. I started taking notes, but figured someone is way ahead of me and I can be lazy and buy their study guide.

With books about how God has affected someone's lives, I always get so hyper cynical in them. It's like people put on the cheesy mask. They even offend me USUALLY, (not always...)because of how they do portray God's interaction. As if they really knew what God was doing....

They scare me more than anything, and nearly all of them come across to me as fluff and not stuff. I AM NOT MAKING A CALL ON THEIR CONTENT, only on how they appear to me and what bugs me about them. I just thought the observations you made, and what I got from it were so far apart it was worth mentioning.

be well!

bd