Articles
God of the Shack
The God of “The Shack”
You may have read – or at least know someone who has been reading – “The Shack”, a recent bestseller by W. Paul Young. Many people at work are talking about it, and it seems whenever I travel, someone on the plane or in the airport is carrying it. I mention it here because many religious people are raving about it, reviewers give it high marks, and one celebrity even speaks of it “blowing the door to my soul wide open.” It is a moving story because it involves Mack, a man bitter and withdrawn for many years because of the abduction and murder of his little girl; her body had been found in a remote, rundown shack a few days after her disappearance. He blamed God, and turned his back on the church for many years, but one day he receives a mysterious message to return to the shack, and while there he encounters a mysterious trio who turn out to be the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Most of the book is taken up with his visit with these three, who help him come to grips with what happened, teach him about forgiving his daughter’s murderer, and guide him to understand God’s perspective on it.
The book is fictional, even part fantasy, but it does have many powerful [and true] messages – for example, the truth that God sees a broader picture than we do, and reigns over a realm that is beyond our comprehension, and the assurance that he holds and comforts innocent children in this world who suffer at the hands of evil men. And the characters that represent the Godhead have some sound and Biblical guidance for Mack - lessons about the relations between them, about the danger of unworthy views of God as an angry or vengeful Creator, and about the need all of us have to give up our independence, submitting ourselves to God’s will.
But “The Shack” has some very distressing elements for disciples who care about Bible truth. In an attempt to “demystify” God, and to make him “one of us”, the Father, Son, and Spirit are pictured in very human, “politically correct”, and for most of us, rather irreverent, terms. The Father is depicted as a “large, beaming African-American woman” called “Papa”, cooking and cleaning while she listens to funk music, dispensing her wisdom with a twinkle in her eye. Jesus is a Middle Eastern laborer in jeans, a plaid shirt, with work gloves and a tool belt, and he runs a wood shop. The Holy Spirit is an Asian woman in brightly colored garb, who can only be seen occasionally and somewhat faintly, and she floats and flits around like a gentle wind, tending her garden, where she works on cutting out the old growth, and transplanting the new. They are all very “folksy” and friendly and cool, and the author is careful to emphasize that none of them is like Mack – a white, middle class American protestant male.
But my concern is not with the race or gender of these characters, but with the concept of God as simply a laid back, jolly soul, part cook, part philosopher, part grandmother, who makes no judgments of anyone, imposes no responsibilities on anyone, and has no expectations of anyone. The idea of the holiness of God would be a joke to the character pictured here. The Shack is opposed to legalism, and so in the book there is no such thing as a good commandment. Perhaps this is why so many love it. The picture is of a very “comfortable” God, who simply accepts us as we are and makes no demands of us. Some teaching and guidance is provided, but it is really up to us whether we listen – the God of The Shack is OK with it either way. The Shack God is not offended by the horrible abominations of men – even of Hitler or Stalin, and is not grieved by the chains of sin on his children. The Shack God lets his Son die, not for the purpose of redemption of sinners from the power of Satan, to transform them to holiness and righteousness, but seemingly for “just making the world a better place,” teaching everyone to be more tolerant and more loving. Redemption is not about humility, repentance, obedience of faith, and holiness, but is seen only in terms of “relationship”, “being” and “loving.” The Shack God never imposes commandments on her children, and would never allow any pain to come to them even to redeem them – she is too cool for that.
By stark contrast to The Shack, our Lord Jesus Christ warns us, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” [Rev. 3:19] and challenges us in this way: “He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” [I John 2:4]. The way of redemption is the way of the cross, reconciliation is grounded in repentance, and those who would come after Jesus must deny self and take up their cross, and follow him.
Larry Walker
May 2009
- God_of_The_Shack_v2.doc (65.54 kB)
