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Originally Posted by BarefootScientist  I knew before I read this book that a lot of churches and pastors have spoken against it, but I don't really know the details of that - why didn't they like it, and what aspects of it were such dangerous theology?
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I haven't explored all the objections -- but I found some site (can't remember where now, where someone talked about
The Shack having a counterfeit Jesus. The writer was very critical of the "culturally relevant" and "playful" God portrayed in
The Shack.
Without having looked too far into the objections, I'm guessing that a big piece of why it's seen as dangerous, has to do with the abandonment of hierarchy and rules.
Similar to why the religious leaders didn't like Jesus. They didn't want to release their power over people ... didn't want people to feel free enough to stop worrying about rules and start enjoying relationship.
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| I mean, I found a couple things in there I didn't completely agree with, but most of it was fairly orthodox...and you have to remember that it's fiction of course...I guess I was expecting a few more controversial thoughts. Most of the ideas in the book are things that someone like C.S. Lewis might say, and nobody gets all up in arms about him. |
Actually, there are some fundamentalist Christians who are very up in arms over C.S. Lewis, believe it or not. Again, I don't remember links at the moment -- but I've read at least one article where the author was speculating over whether Lewis was even saved.
I just absolutely love C.S. Lewis. Lewis himself said he had a "rumpled" theology, and his works were not intended to be read as theological treatises, but simply to be enjoyed. Lewis's writing has stretched my brain, and led me to such joy in the Lord.
Especially his
Last Battle, and his
Great Divorce (not about divorce, but about a bus-ride from hell to Heaven. I read them knowing Lewis hadn't yet seen Heaven and wasn't giving an "authorized" account of anything that had actually happened or would happen.
These books just stretched my imagination, and again brought me great joy, because these fictional accounts were so wonderful -- and I know what God has prepared is even more wondrous than anything any human (no matter how gifted) could envision.
So, yeah, there are people who get up in arms about Lewis.
I don't like Christian leaders who take it upon themselves to dictate what other believers should (or shouldn't) read. And I think many of them do it to cash in on the popularity of the bestsellers they're maligning.
For instance, dh and I enjoyed listening to
The Davinci Code on audio a few years' back. There was, uhm, a whole lot we disagreed with -- but reading the book seriously didn't shake our faith or anything. Then I was at a friend's house and noticed she had a copy of some book telling Christians how to interpret/discuss
The Davinci Code when encountering folks who've read it.
So many pastors were preaching against it, I suppose lots of Christians wouldn't want to be caught with a copy of the actual book. But I'm sure they were curious, so I suppose buying a copy of the "how to" book served to at least partially assuage their curiosity, while enabling them to feel good about the preparations they were making to witness to the masses who were getting deceived by
The Davinci Code.
Whatever.
Like Lewis's books,
The Shack is drawing me closer to the Lord. I think it's sad that so many leaders have such a low opinion of "the masses." They think we worship the printed word, I guess. That if we read anything in a book, we assume it must be true. We'll jump off a cliff if some printed words in a book say it's a good idea.
Personally, whether I'm reading a book or listening to a sermon interpreting some passage of the Bible -- I'm lining it up against what God's Spirit is telling me, and what I'm hearing myself from God's word. So ... to me, a pastor isn't "the final authority" any more than an author is.
God's Spirit lives in each and every one of us who believe. So no one person needs to exert authority over another, or tell us what we should or shouldn't read or think about. It seems like I hear the religious world saying some variation of "There is freedom in Christ,
but ..."
And I hear Papa speaking freedom without the "but."
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| Oh I also liked the part where he was talking with Sophia and was slowly realizing that the way he loves his kids is the way God loves him, or even more. What a great picture of Jesus' work. |
I agree!
:. I'd love to discuss The Shack by William P. Young.
: I was begining to think I ought to take the thread down.
Actually I was done on Friday but had company this weekend. Once I started it I couldn't stop...which is why I don't read fiction very often.
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