The Shack

[MrJim]

Anyone read it?

 

[edie19]

not yet - it's in my "to read" pile along with a lot of other books

 

[Hentenza]

The reviews that I read do not look promising. It seems that the author's views on the Trinity and Christ are somewhat unorthodox.

 

[edie19]

the Reformed Baptist Fellowship did a series on it which I found pretty interesting (of course, I find most of their entries interesting - it's a very good website)


http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wor...-shack-part-1/

http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wor...-shack-part-2/

http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wor...-shack-part-3/

http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wor...-shack-part-4/

I should qualify - I purchased the book before reading the above - hence the reason it's still in my to read pile as opposed to in my finished stack.

 

[LivingLifeHisWay]

I won't be reading it. I have read some reviews on it and the quotes I have read are not biblically sound. For instance, Jesus is said to be the "best" way to God not the "only" way and "God" says that he doesn't punish sin, that sin punishes itself. I know it's a fiction book but when a book deals with theological concepts, they must be sound. Just my 2 cents.

 

[AnneSally]

I won't be reading it.

Me neither, I've seen rave reviews from a Universalist about it, that tells me I'm not interested.

 

[AnneSally]

I won't be reading it. I have read some reviews on it and the quotes I have read are not biblically sound. For instance, Jesus is said to be the "best" way to God not the "only" way and "God" says that he doesn't punish sin, that sin punishes itself. I know it's a fiction book but when a book deals with theological concepts, they must be sound. Just my 2 cents.

Agreed.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

Me neither, I've seen rave reviews from a Universalist about it, that tells me I'm not interested.

lol! Hey AnneSally! I seem to remember someone posting a link to a good review on this book a while ago... and I'm not interested in reading it either.

 

[GreenMunchkin]

Little Tigress linked to a review, but I can't find the thread. The Shack makes no mention of sin or sacrifice, or why we NEED Christ and it supports both univeralism and Patripassionism.

I got into a debate about this book at Amazon, and if you stand against it, you'll be labelled a "heresy hunter" and attacked with an astonishing degree of vitriol. Very similar to the people's reactions when Todd Bentley was questioned.

David Robertson wrote the best rebuttal to The God Delusion, called The Dawkins Letters (if you have a look, check out the atheists who clearly haven't even read the book but find it threatening enough to give it 1-star) and he wrote an extensive review of The Shack:

Here's part of it:

Of course it is easy to understand why this book is popular - it is quite well written, has some very good lines and some good insights into the human condition. It is emotive, touches all the 'right' feelings and is perfectly geared for our me centred touchy feelly God is my therapist, culture. Anyone who dares to criticise it will automatically be lumbered as an insensitive, ignorant rationalist who is out of touch with the deeper things of God. So whats wrong with this book?

1) It teaches us about a God who is not the God of the Bible.
2) It portrays God in a way which God himself has forbidden us to portray him.
3) It reduces God to a fiction of the authors mind and culture.
4) It teaches doctrine which God, in his own Word, has already declared false.
5) It is sugar sweet, sickly sentimental pap.
6) Lines like 'Jesus' saying that 'I have no desire to make them Christian' are absurd and in fact blasphemous. To a 21st Century Western post-modernist they sound cool and just the sort of thing a hip Jesus would say - but they are directly contrary to the Jesus who died so that we could become Christ's ones.

Who needs the Bible? Who needs the Church? When you can either have the 'Trinity' turn up to meet you personally or at least read lots of 'nice' thoughts about what that might be like. This book is nothing like the Pilgrims Progress. It reduces Christianity to a fable, and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to figments of our imagination.

What really finishes it off though is the blatant commercialism and exploitation of 'The Missy Project'. If the book was the new Pilgrims Progress it would not need the cynical manipulation suggested on the last pages. Stomach churning.

 

[GreenMunchkin]

lol! Hey AnneSally! I seem to remember someone posting a link to a good review on this book a while ago... and I'm not interested in reading it either.

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/BookReviews/book_reviews.asp?ID=387

^ This is a link from Little Tigress

 

[A New Dawn]

I have read a few reviews, too, and I am not interested in reading it. Though I should read it for the purpose of being able to talk to friends who have read it to let them know why it is dangerous.

 

[desmalia]

Interesting thread. My MIL just got this book for Christmas and asked me if I had read it or planned to. I said I had heard and read some very troubling reviews about the New Age theology in it, so did not plan to read it. I guess her friend who gave her the book really loved it and was deeply moved by it. So she defended it by saying it is not a theology book, it is fiction.

Here is another article about it from Lighthouse Trails Research Project:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/06/shack-its-new-age-leaven.html

 

[desmalia]

I have read a few reviews, too, and I am not interested in reading it. Though I should read it for the purpose of being able to talk to friends who have read it to let them know why it is dangerous.

Yes, I have considered doing that as well, but I am currently working through another very nauseating book for that purpose. One at a time! lol.

 

[MrJim]

I have read a few reviews, too, and I am not interested in reading it. Though I should read it for the purpose of being able to talk to friends who have read it to let them know why it is dangerous.

I read it for that reason~came away from it a with some new perspectives and insights...gonna reread it a few weeks more closely. It doesn't fit the templates, but neither did Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution...neither meet conservative requirements here, but hey, I don't meet calvinist standards which automatically places me on dangerous ground with most anyhow

 

[desmalia]

I read it for that reason~came away from it a with some new perspectives and insights...gonna reread it a few weeks more closely. It doesn't fit the templates, but neither did Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution...neither meet conservative requirements here, but hey, I don't meet calvinist standards which automatically places me on dangerous ground with most anyhow

Oh good! you must be on the right track then!

 

[A New Dawn]

I read it for that reason~came away from it a with some new perspectives and insights...gonna reread it a few weeks more closely. It doesn't fit the templates, but neither did Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution...neither meet conservative requirements here, but hey, I don't meet calvinist standards which automatically places me on dangerous ground with most anyhow

You have to understand that there is dangerous ground, and then there is DANGEROUS GROUND. The Shack is DANGEROUS GROUND.

 

[MrJim]

You have to understand that there is dangerous ground, and then there is DANGEROUS GROUND. The Shack is DANGEROUS GROUND.

Calvinism is DANGEROUS GROUND

 

[MrJim]

Anyhow, sometime you'll see this on the bargain bin or layin' around somewhere. Try readin' it for yourself instead of letting someone else do your readin' for ya-very short. I was dead set in reading it so it could be taken apart like all other "hit" Christian books (Purpose-Driven, Jabez, Wild at Heart, Left Behind, etc)~~this one is different...kinda reminds me along the lines of Peretti "Darkness" stories; plenty of stuff you raise an eyebrow to but an underlying theme that gets ya thinkin' about how better to relate to your neighbors and relatives..honestly it is more toward how better to understand people (the whole "relationship" thing which screams YAWN to a guy like me) and maybe how God is working things out than some systematic theological threat. I remember how some wanted to take Peretti's "Darkness" stories and turn them into some kind of scripture thing-even he was like "are you people crazy"

 

[CyberPaladin]

I don't plan on getting this book ever for for 2 main reasons one right now thanks to my buying rather large number of Manga and Civil War books off of ebay I don't really need anymore leisure reading and the 2nd reason is I don't read theology based fiction I just believe it's a bad idea and will ultimately lead to nothing but trouble.

 

[MrJim]

I don't plan on getting this book ever for for 2 main reasons one right now thanks to my buying rather large number of Manga and Civil War books off of ebay I don't really need anymore leisure reading and the 2nd reason is I don't read theology based fiction I just believe it's a bad idea and will ultimately lead to nothing but trouble.

Manga~that's those Japanese cartoon books? I've seen some anime movies~some are well done. I live near Gettysburg, loads of Civil War books in the used bookstores around here