The Shack

[timf]

Ten years ago a short book titled “The Shack” exploded across the Christian community in popularity. This month a movie adaptation is being released with a similarly expected popularity. The book is presented as a way to make God more accessible. It has often been critiqued on the basis of flaws in Christian doctrine, such criticism has often missed a critical element.

The book and movie were intended to be an emotional narrative. The author wrote the book to serve as an illustration of the traumatic points in his life and his spiritual journey for the benefit of his family. He made only 15 copies when he first wrote it. The author is particularly gifted in evoking an emotional investment from the reader often approaching a purgative catharsis.

The author has been taken to task for what seems to be an irreverent treatment of the three persons of the trinity which he uses as characters to interact with the protagonist in his story. When one considers the mistreatment he experienced as a child that he associates with his parents (who were missionaries in New Guinea) brand of Christianity, one might be sympathetic with his desire to transform the God of his youth into a more accommodating construct.

A problem arises from looking at Christianity in a binary way with God either being a “meany” or a “softy”. Neither way does justice to the truth. There is no denying that many crimes have been committed by those who claim Christ. There is no denying that God is merciful and loving. However, one has to be careful, especially when emotional wounds are revisited, opened, and pain is brought to the surface that the intensity of these feelings are not used to validate imagery as doctrine or accept assurances that are not Biblical.

Advertisers, politicians, and even employers often attempt to approach us on an emotional level through which they can gain access to our deeper and inner selves. Because this book and movie are so successful in reaching us through this pathway, we are very vulnerable to taking in and accepting other elements in the story that are not true.

For example, a person may have experienced some emotional trauma in childhood and might have such a powerful reaction to a story of healing and forgiveness that he also takes in an imagery of a total forgiveness that excludes Jesus and his atonement for our sins. This could lead him to take assurance that he is destined to go the heaven and by-pass Jesus and the cross. In a way he could even come to think that his particular suffering was somehow a payment for sin.

There are many people who look back on the first overwhelming feelings they had of meth, heroin, or oxycodone with bitter regret. Emotions are powerful things. The feelings they produce can have drug like effects and even lead some to seek continual stimulation. The Bible warns us;

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Emotions serve to let us enjoy life and to warn us when something is wrong or needs to be corrected. We should be careful that we do not confuse the work of the Holy Spirit convicting us of truth with our own feelings and sensations that seem to validate, authenticate, and substantiate imagery that was only used as a fictional background for a story.

 

[CrystalDragon]

Ten years ago a short book titled “The Shack” exploded across the Christian community in popularity. This month a movie adaptation is being released with a similarly expected popularity. The book is presented as a way to make God more accessible. It has often been critiqued on the basis of flaws in Christian doctrine, such criticism has often missed a critical element.

The book and movie were intended to be an emotional narrative. The author wrote the book to serve as an illustration of the traumatic points in his life and his spiritual journey for the benefit of his family. He made only 15 copies when he first wrote it. The author is particularly gifted in evoking an emotional investment from the reader often approaching a purgative catharsis.

The author has been taken to task for what seems to be an irreverent treatment of the three persons of the trinity which he uses as characters to interact with the protagonist in his story. When one considers the mistreatment he experienced as a child that he associates with his parents (who were missionaries in New Guinea) brand of Christianity, one might be sympathetic with his desire to transform the God of his youth into a more accommodating construct.

A problem arises from looking at Christianity in a binary way with God either being a “meany” or a “softy”. Neither way does justice to the truth. There is no denying that many crimes have been committed by those who claim Christ. There is no denying that God is merciful and loving. However, one has to be careful, especially when emotional wounds are revisited, opened, and pain is brought to the surface that the intensity of these feelings are not used to validate imagery as doctrine or accept assurances that are not Biblical.

Advertisers, politicians, and even employers often attempt to approach us on an emotional level through which they can gain access to our deeper and inner selves. Because this book and movie are so successful in reaching us through this pathway, we are very vulnerable to taking in and accepting other elements in the story that are not true.

For example, a person may have experienced some emotional trauma in childhood and might have such a powerful reaction to a story of healing and forgiveness that he also takes in an imagery of a total forgiveness that excludes Jesus and his atonement for our sins. This could lead him to take assurance that he is destined to go the heaven and by-pass Jesus and the cross. In a way he could even come to think that his particular suffering was somehow a payment for sin.

There are many people who look back on the first overwhelming feelings they had of meth, heroin, or oxycodone with bitter regret. Emotions are powerful things. The feelings they produce can have drug like effects and even lead some to seek continual stimulation. The Bible warns us;

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Emotions serve to let us enjoy life and to warn us when something is wrong or needs to be corrected. We should be careful that we do not confuse the work of the Holy Spirit convicting us of truth with our own feelings and sensations that seem to validate, authenticate, and substantiate imagery that was only used as a fictional background for a story.

Question, how can we tell which is the Holy Spirit and which is just our own thoughts? How can we distinguish?

(On topic of the thread, I haven't read the book).

 

[dysert]

I read the book back when I was in psychotherapy for depression. I also saw the movie on Saturday. When I read the book it had no impact on me. However now, several years later, the movie was *very* impactful. I wish I would have "gotten it" several years ago, but better late than never I suppose.

 

[ADisciple]

Our Methodist Pastor has been plugging this book for the last 4 or so years. I won't read it or watch the movie mainly because it has God as a woman.

I know enough of the story from conversations to know what the author was trying to do with how he made the characters, but it's still blasphemy to me to have God as a woman.

To me, it's just "another Jesus, another Gospel" sort of thing and I'm steering clear of the book and the movie.

 

[dysert]

Our Methodist Pastor has been plugging this book for the last 4 or so years. I won't read it or watch the movie mainly because it has God as a woman.

I know enough of the story from conversations to know what the author was trying to do with how he made the characters, but it's still blasphemy to me to have God as a woman.

To me, it's just "another Jesus, another Gospel" sort of thing and I'm steering clear of the book and the movie.

For the record I'm very conservative and have been a Christian for over 40 years...

I'm not sure how I feel about the Father being portrayed as a woman. Let's face it, He is actually spirit and neither male nor female. I suspect He was portrayed as a woman in The Shack because the protagonist had a horrible role model as a father (he was abused by his father). Getting hung up on that would make you miss the point of the story anyway (like I did years ago).

 

[Greg J.]

For the record I'm very conservative and have been a Christian for over 40 years...

I'm not sure how I feel about the Father being portrayed as a woman. Let's face it, He is actually spirit and neither male nor female. I suspect He was portrayed as a woman in The Shack because the protagonist had a horrible role model as a father (he was abused by his father). Getting hung up on that would make you miss the point of the story anyway (like I did years ago).

Without expression my opinion on portraying (or thinking of) God as female:

Thinking that God is neither male nor female because he is a Spirit is a perspective derived from trying to connect a particular human form to God.

God's maleness is not from having taken a male body, but from perceiving the connection between human male attributes and God's attributes, some of which are cultural and some of which are not. An examination of God's attributes shows he has many female attributes, but in the end we can trust he became male in body and (almost entirely) makes reference to himself as male as the most accurate and best way we can know him.

Simply put, it is more accurate to view God as male than as female or a Spirit without gender, because that's how he revealed himself to us.

 

[puregrl]

I absolutely loved the movie, and will be reading the book soon. I have heard people not wanting to see the movie, for one reason, because it portrays God as a women...though it also portrays God as a man at one point as well.
As it has been said, God has no gender and no race. God surpasses that and we should not try to subject God to human form. We, as a culture, have thought of God as male because one, we need to make God relatable...so we give God a pronoun (him). We, as it has been stated, chose male because of the masculine attributes contributed to God...however, God also has many feminine attributes (both man and women are made in the image of God) such as love, compassion, patience, and on and on.

In the book, God was a female at one point because that is what the main character needed. He didn't need strength, or endurance, or a number of particularly "masculine" qualities. He needed patience, compassion, and understanding. And when he needed strength, God presented himself as a man. God gives us what we need, at the exact moment we need it. This is what was being portrayed by the gender.

Without expression my opinion on portraying (or thinking of) God as female:

Thinking that God is neither male nor female because he is a Spirit is a perspective derived from trying to connect a particular human form to God.

God's maleness is not from having taken a male body, but from perceiving the connection between human male attributes and God's attributes, some of which are cultural and some of which are not. An examination of God's attributes shows he has many female attributes, but in the end we can trust he became male in body and (almost entirely) makes reference to himself as male as the most accurate and best way we can know him.

Simply put, it is more accurate to view God as male than as female or a Spirit without gender, because that's how he revealed himself to us.

I would like to point out, that God has no gender. Could God not have come down in the form of a man because God knew that if God came as a female, people would be less likely to listen to a female than a male? In biblical times, women were not highly regarded. Women were not priests, women did not hold authoritative positions. The people needed someone who could speak with authority, someone who they would listen to and respect. Simply put, that would not have been a women. God revealed himself in the way He knew we would listen, in the exact way that was needed at that time.

This is a fantastic movie.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm not sure how I feel about the Father being portrayed as a woman. Let's face it, He is actually spirit and neither male nor female. I suspect He was portrayed as a woman in The Shack because the protagonist had a horrible role model as a father (he was abused by his father). Getting hung up on that would make you miss the point of the story anyway (like I did years ago).

I can sort of sympathize with the OP. One point of the Trinitarian doctrine is to show us what true fatherhood looks like. If we can't grasp the fatherhood of God, that's OK, though, in my mind. That's why we have Jesus, to be our mediator. But even here, people can have issues with his maleness.

Honestly, difficulties with parents is one reason I am very sympathetic to the Catholic approach (and to a lesser extent, Lutherans and some Anglicans). They've figured out a long time ago that God has to be mediated to us at times, through our relationship to other people we can approach. This is especially true in cases of abuse.

Some Protestants, on the other hand, often demand we either have a deep mystical experience of God or you just aren't an "insider". It's not a very compassionate approach.

 

[Greg J.]

I would like to point out, that God has no gender.

Bible verse?

Rather, maleness only exists because God chose to express himself that way. It's like God giving us close-knit, loving family members, as well as marriage, as ways of knowing something of God's Triune nature. He also expressed himself through the creation of females, as he also did through the creation of Light and the revelation of Truth in Scripture. All created things reflect God's nature in some way, but he chose to reveal himself as a man.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, ... (Hebrews 1:3a, 1984 NIV)

This would be a lot easier to see if men were as God wants them to be, but human choices have caused both women and men to not be all that God wants them to be. Either can be a part of the effort to bring Godliness to all men and women, but neither is being done on a widespread basis.

 

[FireDragon76]

Honestly, I had alot of trouble relating to God because of my own dad. He was a cold, distant, judgmental guy growing up. I thought of God the same way, and I just never really got Christianity except as a fear-based religion, and I left it in college when I had my doubts and couldn't accept the sort of evangelicalism that was presented to me in the popular culture in the Bible belt where I was living at the time.

I think my re-approach to Christianity more through the Catholic/Orthodox tradition helped a lot. Especially praying the Rosary. That helped a great deal just to find an emotional connection with God mediated through a woman rather than a man. My experience of women growing up was a lot less judgmental.

 

[FireDragon76]

Bible verse?

Rather, maleness only exists because God chose to express himself that way. It's like God giving us close-knit, loving family members, as well as marriage, as ways of knowing something of God's Triune nature.

That's just the problem. Many peoples marriages or families are not loving. So who is God for them?

 

[puregrl]

Bible verse?

Rather, maleness only exists because God chose to express himself that way. It's like God giving us close-knit, loving family members, as well as marriage, as ways of knowing something of God's Triune nature. He also expressed himself through the creation of females, as he also did through the creation of Light and the revelation of Truth in Scripture. All created things reflect God's nature in some way, but he chose to reveal himself as a man.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, ... (Hebrews 1:3a, 1984 NIV)

This would be a lot easier to see if men were as God wants them to be, but human choices have caused both women and men to not be all that God wants them to be. Either can be a part of the effort to bring Godliness to all men and women, but neither is being done on a widespread basis.

John 4:24 says that God is spirit, which by definition (and Luke 24:39) states that spirit is without flesh. We made God male. Males generally possess a more authoritative figure than females do. Also, Genesis states that both male and female were made in the image of God. How could this be if God is male? Instead, God has characteristics of both males and females.

Do you not think that God chose to reveal Himself as a man because the people of that time would only respond to a man as having the authority to say such things. Could a women come and say "I am the child of God, follow me and have life"?! The priests and those in authority would have laughed, men would have ignored her. You can read over and over in the bible that women had no authority. God knew what the people needed and what would make them respond the best.

God is not human, God surpasses your understanding as a human. Dont try to make God into having a gender to make "Him" relatable and understandable. Dont limit God, dont put God in a box. God is beyond what we can understand, and I am fine with that.

There are also a number of ways Hebrews 1:3 was written. Many spoke about Jesus being the image of Gods substance. Which when you study it speaks of the divinity of God, having the characteristics of God, not God being a man.

I do agree that human choices, free will, does take humans away from God as sin separates us from the presence of God. But we were not created to be like God. We were created to love God, and to be loved by God.

But back to the movie. God presented "himself" in the way that the person needed. When Mac needed a more loving and understanding, rather than authoritative figure, God was presented as a female. When Mac found healing and forgiveness in his past, and needed the strength to forgive something in the present, God was male.

 

[puregrl]

That's just the problem. Many peoples marriages or families are not loving. So who is God for them?

exactly! Which is among one of the reasons that many have trouble with the true nature of God. People say God is like a father. But if your reference point for "father" is a drunk who beats you and puts you down all the time...you want no part of that.

 

[Greg J.]

That's just the problem. Many peoples marriages or families are not loving. So who is God for them?

The solution to all sin and the consequences of sin is Jesus and his ways, which is not easy and sometimes is near impossible. But taking one's eyes off the goal will lead one astray.

@puregrl, God did not come to earth as a married couple with a holy connection to more accurately represent God and his Triune nature. There were female false gods in Biblical times that people accepted.

Jesus saw God as his Father and the Spirit proceeded from the Father. Why do you have a problem with seeing God as Jesus saw him? Jesus is God, not any other human male.

I agree with getting back to the purpose of the thread, though.

 

[puregrl]

I didnt say God came to earth as a married couple. Where did you get that?
Jesus was God in human form, taking the form of a male. Jesus called God his father. Could you provide me with some verses where Jesus calls God a male? Just curious...
I will never presume God to be one gender or another. To me, God is God, beyond what my mind can imagine and I will never try to make God easier for me to understand or explain. When I get to heaven, and see God, if God is a male...cool. If God is a bright light...cool. If God is some unknown color with no gender...fabulous. God does not need a gender as we know of it...which perhaps is what you mean by "not any other human male". Which is where we can agree on the male attributes.

Have you seen the movie or read the book? @Greg J.

 

[Archivist]

I read the book and look forward to seeing the movie. Just tied up with other things the next couple weeks. Hopefully it will still be in the theatres in early April.

Those who have not read the book or seem the movie because God the Father is depicted as being a women are missing an excellent book and, from all that I have heard, an excellent movie.

 

[FireDragon76]

All the pronouns Jesus uses about God are male, but that doesn't mean his father was a man. In fact I'm pretty sure that idea would be incoherent to Jesus. Yet, I think it would also be problematic to say it's just culturally conditioned human language. Christians don't believe Jesus is just a human being, they believe he's a divine person. Lose that distinction and you end up potentially with a christological heresy.

Like I said, some Christians stress the immediate, personal relationship with God so much. People feel pressured not to own up to how difficult it is. Yet look at Jews, they don't necessarily have such an emotion-driven relationship with God. In fact Jewish spirituality is all about wrestling with God's otherness. Maybe there is something to learn there. Then again, some more mainline Christian traditions like Catholics, Orthodox, and Lutherans don't stress the necessity of an immediate, intimate relationship with God, esp. recognizing human imperfections, so I think that also could help somewhat.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

The lack of discernment in western evangelicals is absolutely astounding.

The Shack - The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment - AlbertMohler.com

 

[dayhiker]

I've read the book and hope to see the movie this weekend.

I thought the female was the Holy Spirit. I know the Spirit is referred to in the feminine in the Bible a few times.
The book really spoke to me and reminded me so much of how God revealed Himself to me when I was a teen. One test I do with books sometimes is to read the reviews on Amazon. I read the reviews of this book on Amazon and then read those of a book that evaluated The Shack negatively. What a stark contrast! The Shack helped so many people get back to God. The other book had a few intelectual comments but not one person said they were closer to God after reading that book!

David Young was one messed up guy from what happened to him in his youth. To hear the story of how God healed him make his story one of the great miracles in history for me. If it took God showing Herself to David as a woman to get David healed I've no doubt that God would do it.

 

[Archivist]

The Holy Spirit was an Asian woman. God the Father was a black woman. I thought it was an amazing book. Hoping the movie is still in theaters the last weekend of the month--earliest that I will be able to see it.