A Critical Essay of William Young’s “The Shack” Part 2
Published December 19, 2008 by Pastor Jeffrey Whittaker
“Out there in America, where only three in 10 people attend weekly worship services and millions are ignorant of the Bible [Young's The Shack] readers struggle to find a good God amid their pain.”–”‘Shack’ opens doors, but critics call book scripturally incorrect’,” Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today [bold added].
In today’s post-modern/Emergent “discussion,” we constantly find a sentiment that all that has ever been known or understood about God must be done away with; or at least questioned. I’m all for each generation searching out the reasons why they “believe,” but just not casting off the Bible, which will serve as the cornerstone of their search!
When we are finally introduced to the author’s “godhead” in chapter 5, entitled “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” Mack (on his way to his meeting with “Papa” at the shack) tells his friend Willie, “ I’ve always sort of pictured him (God) as a really big grandpa with a long white flowing beard, sort of like Gandalf in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings” (p.73). This is actually a very wonderful point of reference for the reader, since we all probably have our own image of what God might look like (Charlton Heston maybe?). I appreciate Young’s transparency here, but when Mack actually arrives at his appointment with the deity, we are introduced to a scene that serves to further distance the reader from Scripture, ushering them even closer to a subjective, existential image of a god who refuses to be governed even by his/her/it’s own Word.
Young records the details of their first meeting: “… the door flew open, and he was looking directly into the face of a large beaming African-American woman” (p.82); “I have really been looking forward to seeing you face to face,” gushes the female “Papa.”
My mind immediately leaped to the Scriptural encounters with God experienced by the Apostles Paul and John. Paul’s meeting was with a glorious Being who revealed “I am Jesus” — an experience that left the bloodthirsty rabbi fasting and blind for three days (Acts 9). In John’s case (recorded in Revelation chapter 1) when the glorified Christ appeared to him, the exiled Apostle “fell at His feet as though dead”! These Scriptural accounts are a far cry from Young’s hermaphroditic deity that gives bear hugs and bakes pies.
Mack is then introduced to an oriental woman named “Sarayu” (meant to be the Holy Spirit), and finally a “jesus” figure, who “appeared Middle Eastern and was dressed like a laborer, complete with tool belt and gloves” (p.84). As Mack’s spiritual eyes continue to adjust to the glare of the new “light” of this “god’s” nature, Papa instructs:
(click here to read the rest of this article)
__________________________________________________________________________
Pre-Order Your 2009 New Releases!
Donate $45 or more to Great Adventure Ministries and we will send you The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Bible Prophecy?,Bankruptcy of Our Nation: 12 Key Strategies for Protecting Your Finances in These Uncertain Times and Inside The Revolution: How The Followers of Jihad, Jefferson and Jesus are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World. You may also individually order these books directly from Amazon.com by clicking on the images below.
The American Apocalypse by Terry James: Does America, the most powerful nation on Earth, appear in Bible prophecy? Some people believe the United States will be wiped out in a nuclear attack. Others say it’s where the Antichrist will rise. And many people wonder what life will be like in America during the seven year Tribulation. But what can we know for sure? And what events are setting the stage for the last days, not only in America, but globally? Terry James, who has spoken and written extensively on Bible prophecy, addresses these issues and more as he examines the pivotal role America will play in the irreversible move toward one world government, therise in world spirituality yet hatred toward true Christianity, the danger signs in America’s faltering economic system, the new world superpower on the horizon and the peace that will lead to the world’s greatest war. The American Apocalypse is a fascinating survey of what is to come! Release date is February 1, 2009.
Bankruptcy of Our Nation by Jerry Robinson: With insightful clarity, Jerry Robinson identifies and examines the five dangerous trends currently impacting the U.S. economy and your financial security. Complex topics such as the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the rising levels of U.S. consumer debt are broken down into simple English for the average consumer, empowering readers to protect their assets and profits with twelve straightforward strategies. This book exposes the immoral financial excesses of the American economic empire and explains the impending danger that awaits a nation built entirely upon debt. The book also includes twelve powerful strategies that you can use to protect you and your family from the economic storm and strengthen your faith. It is filled with charts, graphs, and illustrations to help bring clarity to the chaos. Jerry Robinson is the president and founder of JRMI (Jerry Robinson Ministries International), a Christian ministry that challenges believers to think, and thinkers to believe.
This is accomplished through cutting-edge teaching on geopolitical, economic, and cultural trends and how they relate to the Church. Jerry holds a degree in Economics from the University of Tulsa and is a conference speaker, columnist, and economic consultant. Release date is February 28, 2009.
Inside The Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg: Inside the Revolution takes you inside the winner-take-all battle for the hearts, minds and souls of the people of the Middle East. It includes never-before-seen profiles of the Radicals, the Reformers and the Revivalists. It explains the implications of each movement and the importance of each leader, not only through the lenses of politics and economics, but through the third lens of Scripture as well. Today, wars and revolutions define the modern Middle East and many believe the worst is yet to come. How real and serious is the threat of Radical Islam to American national security eight years after 9/11? Are there any Muslim leaders who oppose the violence of the Radicals and is there any hope that such leaders will come to power in key countries in the Middle East? What is God doing in the Middle East and is there any hope that Muslims will find faith in Jesus Christ? How can we as Christians help strengthen our brothers and sisters who love Jesus in the Muslim world and how can we reach out to Muslims here at home? Release date is March 10, 2009.
Click Here To Donate By Paypal or you can mail and make checks payable to:
Great Adventure Ministries
P.O. Box 35
Hackensack, Minnesota 56452
*Shipping available to United States only.
*Products will ship after each release date.
*Great Adventure Ministries is incorporated under the laws of the State of Minnesota as a 501 c3 non-profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for choosing to support Great Adventure Ministries, your donation is greatly appreciated!
__________________________________________________________________________
Order The Truth War, Epicenter and Isralestine!
Donate $35 or more to Great Adventure Ministries and we will send you The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, Epicenter 2.0: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East will change Your Future and Isralestine: The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East. You may also individually order these books directly from Amazon.com by clicking on the images below.
The Truth War by John MacArthur: Right now, Truth is under attack and much is at stake. In a postmodern culture, Christians are caught in the crossfire of alternative Christian histories, emerging faulty texts and a cultural push to eliminate absolute Truth altogether. As a result, many churches and Christians have been deceived. Worse still, they propagate the deception that poses itself as Truth! In The Truth War, John MacArthur reclaims the unwavering certainty of God’s Truth and anchors Christians in the eternal, immovable promises found in His Word.
Epicenter 2.0 by Joel C. Rosenberg: In his first groundbreaking nonfiction book, now with updated content, New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg takes readers on an unforgettable journey through prophecy and current events into the future of Iraq after Saddam, Russia after Communism, Israel after Arafat and Christianity after radical Islam. You won’t want to miss Joel’sexclusive interviews with Israeli, Palestinian and Russian leaders, along with previously classified CIA and White House documents. New content includes the most up-to-date information since the hardcover release in 2006, a new poll about American attitudes toward the Middle East and prophecy and transcripts of interviews conducted during the interview process for the Epicenter DVD-video.
Isralestine by Bill Salus: Set to explode in the not so distant future is a devastating war in the Middle East. The Jews will fight off Arab aggression and end terrorism once and for all! Isralestine: The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, boldly unveils significant Bible prophecy that has eluded the discernment of today’s great scholars. Once upon a foretold time the Jewish people were to meet with a holocaust type condition, out from which they would return back to their ancient homeland of Israel. They would begin as refugees, but promptly emerge into an exceedingly great army. As per Psalm 83, destiny’s design for this great army is a head to head confrontation with a formidable Arab confederacy consisting of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis, Egyptians and associated terrorist groups like the Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda. This Arab coalition has been developing in its fledgling stages since 1948 and will climax and officially confederate in the very near future. The Israeli Defense Forces will decisively defeat this offensive and prove to be the “exceedingly great army” of Ezekiel 37:10. They will expand territorially, become regionally superior, take prisoners of war and exploit the resources of these conquered Arab nations. In that condition they will become one of, if not the wealthiest nations on earth. It is from that position of empowerment that the Jews will dwell securely in the Middle East. Subsequently the world stage is set for the Russian–Iranian led coalition of nations, which will form against Israel as prophesied in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. This non–fiction thriller is carefully designed to cautiously navigate the reader through the end time’s calendar.
Click Here To Donate By PayPal or you can mail and make checks payable to:
Great Adventure Ministries
P.O. Box 35
Hackensack, Minnesota 56452
*Shipping available to United States only.
*Great Adventure Ministries is incorporated under the laws of the State of Minnesota as a 501 c3 non-profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for choosing to support Great Adventure Ministries, your donation is greatly appreciated!
__________________________________________________________________________
Technorati Tags: the shack, william young’s the shack, william young, postmodernism, book reviews of the shack, the shack book reviews, is the shack christian, concerns about the shack, john bunyan, pilgrim’s progress, davinci code, faction, dan brown, false teaching, wizard of oz, universalism, christian universalism, emerging church, is the great spirit another name for god, the bereans, acts 17, new age spiritual meditation, new age movement, new age, inner healing, universal reconciliation
December 29, 2008 at 1:21 am
I received the book “The Shack” from two of my cousins on Christmas Eve. They were so excited about it. I have finished reading it, and my concern is that some might look at the book as Scriptural, which it is not. Although touching and sad, it is fiction. It is like many writings, a little bit of truth with alot of fiction. Through the book, real Scripture verses popped into my mind, which did not agree with what I was reading. I’ve known the comfort of God in my life, especially when going through very difficult times. His Word and His Holy Spirit who resides in me sustain me. One thing I noticed in the book was that the enemy of our souls was not mentioned. Sin was mentioned, but not the devil. That was an odd omission considering the storyline. Evil does exist. We are all created by God, but Jesus Himself said not all are God’s children. (John 8). There is so much more…
December 29, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your response. It seems everywhere I go these days, people are talking about “The Shack”-especially Christians-and many of them are just raving about it. That caused me to do my homework. May the Lord continue to give you His gift of discernment in the days that lie ahead. These are perilous times that we are living in economically, politically and biblically as we look forward to the return of Christ.
Blessings,
Pastor Adam Gislason
Great Adventure Ministries
FYI-Here is another good conclusion that I read on “The Shack” by Tim Challies. I also have some other reviews on our website:
Many other topics receive less attention but also raise concerns. For example, Jesus comments on religion, politics and economics saying “They are the man-created trinity of errors that ravage the earth and deceives those I care about.” But Young offers no biblical proof that this is something Jesus would teach. In other places God seems to gloss over sin, judging certain sins almost inconsequential. And so it goes.
So where does all of this leave us? It is clear to me that The Shack is a mix of good and bad. Young teaches much that is of value and he teaches it in a slick and effective way. Sadly, though, there is much bad mixed in with the good. As we pursue his major theological thrusts we see that many of them wander away, by varying degrees, from what God tells us in Scripture.
Despite the great amount of poor theology, my greatest concern is probably this one: the book has a quietly subversive quality to it. Young seems set on undermining orthodoxy Christianity. For example, at one point Mack states that, despite years of seminary and years of being a Christian, most of the things taught to him at the shack have never occurred to him before. Later he says, “I understand what you’re saying. I did that for years after seminary. I had the right answers, sometimes, but I didn’t know you. This weekend, sharing life with you has been far more illuminating than any of those answers.”
Throughout the book there is this kind of subversive strain teaching that new and fresh revelation is much more relevant and important than the kind of knowledge we gain in sermons or seminaries or Scripture. Young’s readers seem to be picking up on this. Read this brief Amazon review as an example: “Wish I could take back all the years in seminary! The years the locusts ate???? Systematic theology was never this good. Shack will be read again and again. With relish. Shared with friends, family, and strangers. I can fly! It’s a gift. ‘Discipleship’ will never be lessons again.” Another reviewer warns that many Christians will find the book difficult to read because of their “modern” mindsets. “If one is coming from a strong, propositional and, perhaps, fundamentalist perspective to the Bible, this book certainly will be threatening.” Still another says “This book was so shocking to my “staid” Christianity but it was eye opening to my own thoughts about who I think God is.” At several points I felt as if the author was encouraging the reader to doubt what they know of Christianity—to deconstruct what they know of Christian theology—and to embrace something new. But the faith Young reconstructs is simply not the faith of the Bible.
Eugene Peterson says this book is as good and as important as The Pilgrim’s Progress. Well, it really is not. It is neither as good nor as original a story and it lacks the theological precision of Bunyan’s work. But really, this is a bit of a facile comparison. The Pilgrim’s Progress, after all, is allegory—a story that has a second distinct meaning that is partially hidden behind its literal meaning. The Shack is not meant to be allegory. Nor can The Shack quite be equated with a story like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where C.S. Lewis simply asked (and answered) this kind of question: “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” The Shack is in a different category than these more notable Christian works. It seeks to represent the members of the Trinity as they are (or as they could be) and to suggest through them what they might teach were they to appear to us in a similar situation. There is a sense of attempted or perceived reality in this story that is missing in the others. This story is meant to teach theology that Young really believes to be true. The story is a wrapper for the theology. In theory this is well and good; in practice the book is only as good as its theology. And in this case, the theology just is not good enough.
Because of the sheer volume of error and because of the importance of the doctrines reinvented by the author, I would encourage Christians, and especially young Christians, to decline this invitation to meet with God in The Shack. It is not worth reading for the story and certainly not worth reading for the theology.