The Shack

This month’s Good Reads is not a recommendation! THIS IS A WARNING!

I have noticed a strange thing concerning today’s “Christian” literature. The more popular a selection is with the public or the more it is held up as comparable to the great Christian works such as Pilgrim’s Progress by the critics, the more I find doctrine that falls short of what is found in Scripture. The Shack by William Paul Young is one such work that has received a lot of air time.

The author was featured on “Good Morning, America” and the Internet is full of blogs discussing the book’s merits. Though I shed a tear or two as I read selected parts of this fiction book to my husband and we were able to discuss the heart-rending sections, there were too many areas where the line was crossed between metaphor and blasphemy.

Contrary to the rendering in this book, God never appears as a woman in all of Scripture. Scripture is plenteous with masculine pronouns when referring to God. I am wondering if the “god” of The Shack, was to appeal to the proponents of being “politically correct”. That is just one of the many things that true Bible-believing Christians should find disturbing in the book.

Another and more objectionable issue is a quote from “Papa” (God), “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It is not my purpose to punish it; it is my joy to cure it.” Any Bible reader knows that this is not found in Scripture. Death is the punishment for sin. Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Throughout this book one will find God’s authority coming into question, Christ as our example being refuted, and repentance being watered down to just “…giving up your ways of power and manipulation…” (Scripture teaches that there is more to salvation than just turning over a new leaf.)

Bottom line is that this book falls into the perimeters of the humanistic movement. Society is calling for a change. There are no longer any absolutes. People no longer take the Bible as the foundation for the Christian faith. Each one believes what they are comfortable with. The move toward a universal church needs a universal “god”. The Bible states in II Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.” The Shack exemplifies this truth. We as Christians need to be discerning in all that we read. Be forewarned of the subtlety of this book.