The Shack some final thoughts

I finished reading The Shack last night, I'm going to try to give my thoughts on the book and why I think that way.

This book has generated a lot of heat (as ever) in Christian circles, by some it has been welcomed as having "the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his." Whilst others have labelled it heresy. So what are we to make of it.

I want to begin by giving a word of caution. This book is a work of fiction, it is a made up story and we need to read it as such. However, it is also a fictional story which is about things which we hold dear; the god head, atonement, Jesus Christ and salvation. As a story it engages us and weaves a tale in which we find ourselves eager to know more, yet at the same time it also challenges us and our beliefs, not just our assumptions. It is a book to be read with discernment because it does seek to teach us about God even if it does so through a fictional story.

The book does challenge our assumptions about God, some will never get past God the Father being portrayed as an African American Woman - indeed some have said this is akin to goddess worship - but as you read the book it is clear that God the Father is not a woman, he remains 'Papa' throughout and finally appears as a man at the end. It is a challenge to Mack's assumptions and ours of God as an elderly white bearded man. Similarly with the character Sarayu (wind) the Holy Spirit. Part of me thinks this was unnecessary but as a literary device it works - theological it is questionable.

The biggest challenge in the book is in the way you see the godhead relating - laughing, having fun, being moved, loving one another, knowing each other. It is an interesting thought which then impinges on how Mack is to relate to the godhead. Mack is anti-established church (a common emerging church trend) and very anti-religion, and God is the same the stress instead from the godhead is on relationship, though Jesus description of being in love with a woman - his people - is biblical and a good corrective. Such things we would do well to search the Bible for and rediscover ourselves, though we must ensure that we establish biblical principles behind relationship and a biblical view of church.

However, in the book holiness and awe are not sufficiently dealt with. Yes, Young contends that Jesus gives himself so that we can enter relationship with God and we want to live every day in the light of that truth, however there is also the issue of our response to a holy God which is not fully unpacked. In fact there seems to be little awe in the book which does not reflect the biblical emphases of both New and Old Testaments.

The Shack also seems to downplay the significance of the Bible whilst exalting the place of experience, yet the Bible is God's word given to us so that we might know him and where we stand in relation to him. Such a heavy emphasis on experience is dangerous, though many of us would do well to think biblically through the challenge to be less independent and listen more to what God says to us.

I also have one or two questions about the way the gospel is presented in the book. Young makes it very clear that it is only in Jesus Christ we can be reconciled to God by faith. He makes it clear that all religions are not the same, but that people from all backgrounds need to be saved by faith in Christ and I want to say Amen to that. However his view of sin is not biblical; describing sin as punishment enough in itself and questioning therefore whether God needs to punish it. Teachings which go against the Bibles teaching about a holy God and sin.

The biggest area of debate has been surrounding the portrayal of the Trinity, too much of what is in the book is speculation and blue sky thinking. The book does challenge us about our preconceptions of God, that we just make him in our image with our limitations and it challenges us to understand that God is inherently good. However there are large parts of the book which go against what the Bible teaches: Young teaches that there is no hierarchy in the Trinity and that all hierarchy is wrong, this is clearly not biblical.

He also teaches that God the Father ('Papa') is fully human in Jesus Christ incarnate, even going so far as to have the Father suffering the wounds in his hands and feet and saying that at no point did God leave or forsake Jesus even on the cross. He also makes other statements and suggestions about the Trinity which have no scriptural support and therefore are just conjecture. The Trinity is complex and Young does have God saying that man cannot understand it, but overall the books teaching on it leaves me concerned. If I want to know God and understand and be amazed at the nature of God and the godhead the Bible has to be the book that amazes, teaches me and draws me to my knees to praise so great a God.

However the book does grapple with the idea of God and suffering, it teaches that we have rejected God's rule and turned to independence and that we dragged the world with us. It challenges Mack's putting of God in the dock for what happened to his daughter, something which we so often do too.

So what to say in summary? This is not a brilliant piece of literature as writing goes, though it is a very emotive and engaging story, it will challenge our thinking and make us long to know God. But the big issue is will it make me long to know the God of the Bible? I my opinion this book is no Pilgrim's Progress. There are just too many areas of questionable theology, too much extra-biblical surmising. It is not a book I would recommend Christians to read to deepen their faith unless they were to exercise considerable discernment and read it with their bible open next to them or in a discussion group, though it has its uses when used like that - challenging our preconceptions and forcing us to check biblically our view of God, his word and salvation.

However, I do think The Shack has its uses: It shows us that there is a spiritual hunger in the world by the very fact that it has been in the best seller lists - there are those in our workplaces, at the school gates, in our neighbourhoods who will have read the book and been challenged about their view of God. We need to be ready to answer their questions about what God is like, about suffering, about Jesus and what he has done for us, about redemption and salvation not in terms of The Shack but in terms of the Bible - God's word.