For those who find William P. Young’s fictional book, The Shack, disturbing or offensive, I would ask you to browse this list of recent comments on the author’s blog and ask, “How can God touch the hearts of people all over the world with a book that I believe is theologically flawed, biblically inaccurate, or completely heretical?”
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you may be tempted to respond like my dad when I would beg to do something all my friends were doing: “Well, if everyone jumped off the bridge, would you jump, too?” I may have used that line a few times with my own four children. But remember the words of Scripture that “in an abundance of counselors, there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14, ESV). And right now, I would say the overwhelming response from fellow believers (not heretics) all over the world is amazingly positive. So I’m just encouraging you to think again, to put aside any rigid theological constructs you might embrace and simply read The Shack with a fresh pair of eyes, asking God to reveal Himself to you through the fictional story of William Paul Young.
One reader, Doni Brinkman, left the following comment:
I just got off the phone with my father after he finished The Shack (I asked him to read it after I did so we could discuss it). My father is also a Pastor. He was raised in a culture steep [sic] with legalism but it was never prominent in his heart. In fact, he is the most gracious man I have ever known and has always encouraged me to err on the side of grace. By nature, I tend to attract to legalism—grace is far harder for me to grasp though I cannot blame my precious family for this. Because of this, The Shack shook me up in many ways though I was so deeply moved by it. I wanted dad to read it as a “double” check. Verdict is in. He is buying more copies to distribute. I end this post unstumbled and touching the Son at Calvary.
Is it possible? Have you ever considered yourself to be attracted to legalism by nature and, conversely, offended by the lavish, unfathomable grace of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? I know that’s the natural tendency of my own heart and mind, having been raised under “hellfire and damnation” preaching in the Deep South, then soaked in Reformed theology until completely pickled (well, almost). Those times when the Spirit of God has moved over my soul in powerful times of refreshing…well, I must admit that I’ve sometimes reacted with embarrassment or suspicion that I was just going soft, so to speak.
One brother, Larry McGarr, put it this way
:
This book, like Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, is the most powerful revelation of God’s love that I’ve encountered… except for those times He spoke to me and gave me peace beyond understanding. I’m going back through The Shack with a highlighter and am letting God speak to my heart about His love and His will for my life.
The Shack edifies scripture, but doesn’t compromise it. While the Bible can sometimes seem sterile, The Shack reveals God’s love and wisdom in ways I can comprehend. True, the book is but a pale shadow of an indescribable God; but God truly is using this book to inspire and to communicate His love for every one of us.
I’m not afraid to admit that I wept through The Shack, so much so that I would read it alone so my wife and family wouldn’t see the tears and hear the loud, convusive sobbing that often overwhelmed me in certain passages of the book. And though I’ve read the book half a dozen times, I still find myself moved to tears and deep humility when I read specific conversations that take place between the main character and the three manifestations of the Trinity. It has done something in my own heart and soul that I really can’t explain; and the tangible results have been a deepening relationship with my dear Father in heaven, the Lord Jesus, and the incomprehensible Holy Spirit.
So I do hope you’ll read through some of the comments on Paul Young’s blog…the unsolicited outpouring of joy and thanksgiving from our spiritual family scattered to the four ends of the earth. These brothers and sisters—and myself included—believe that God is using a small paperback book to bring healing, understanding, and even salvation to those who might be seeking the type of loving father they’ve never known before.
In his best-selling book, The Shack, author William Paul Young deliberately uses a fictitious story with a high degree of literary imagery concerning the Trinity and how each person within the Godhead might appear to a man drowning in a whirlpool of personal grief and pain. Did I mention that The Shack is fictitious? If not, please hear me, “The Shack is a work of fiction. The story is completely made up by the author.” While many people have found this a comforting way to portray and understand God’s love and grace, the appearance of God the Father as a large African-American woman bothers a lot of pastors and theologians, particularly some prominent and powerful men like R. Albert Mohler, Mark Driscoll, and Chuck Colson. But remember, God really didn’t appear to anyone as a woman…because it’s a work of fiction. I hope we got that straight.
Mackenzie Allen Phillips, the main character of The Shack, is also troubled by these things. Shortly after his arrival at the shack where his daughter had been brutally murdered by a serial killer, Mack expresses his surprise—even his discomfort—at relating to God the Father (Papa) as a woman:
Mack: “I think it’d be easier to have this conversation if you weren’t wearing a dress,” he suggested and attempted a smile, as weak as it was.
“If it were easier, then I wouldn’t be,” she said with a slight giggle. “I’m not trying to make this harder for either of us. But this is a good place to start. I often find that getting head issues out of the way first makes the heart stuff easier to work on later…when you’re ready.”
She picked up the wooden spoon again, dripping with some sort of batter. “Mackenzie, I am neither male nor female, even though both genders are derived from my nature. If I choose to appear to you as a man or a woman, it’s because I love you. For me to appear to you as a woman and suggest that you call me Papa is simply to mix metaphors, to help keep you from falling so easily back into your religious conditioning.”
She leaned forward as if to share a secret. “To reveal myself to you as a very large, white grandfather figure with flowing beard, like Gandalf, would simply reinforce your religious stereotypes, and this weekend is not about reinforcing your religious stereotypes.”
Mack almost laughed out loud and wanted to say, “You think? I’m over here barely believing that I’m not stark raving mad!” Instead, he focused on what she had just said and regained his composure. He believed, in his head at least, that God was a Spirit, neither male nor female, but in spite of that, he was embarrassed to admit to himself that all his visuals for God were very white and very male.
She stopped talking, but only long enough to put away some seasonings into a spice rack on a ledge by the window and then turned to face him again. She looked at Mack intently, “Hasn’t it always been a problem for you to embrace me as your father? And after what you’ve been through, you couldn’t very well handle a father right now, could you?”
He knew she was right, and he realized the kindness and compassion in what she was doing. Somehow, the way she had approached him had skirted his resistance to her love. It was strange, and painful, and maybe a little bit wonderful. [pp. 93–94]
Genesis 1:27 states: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” In some respects, the full meaning of this brief text of Holy Scripture is beyond our comprehension, but it seems clear to me that God created the human race as male and female to fully represent his image. If our internal visualization of God is strictly male—and I’m wondering how many of us would even be willing to confess that we sometimes picture God the Father in our minds—then we are missing an important element of his fullest essence.
Paul Young’s fictional character, Papa, who represents the member of the Trinity that we know as “God the Father,” appears as both male and female in The Shack. Yes, it’s true that Papa assumes a female visage in the beginning—fully explained to Mack in the above excerpt—but all that changes near the end of the book when Mack and his natural father have been gloriously reconciled to one another. Papa appears to Mack in a completely different form:
The man standing next to him looked a bit like Papa; dignified, older, and wiry and taller than Mack. He had silver-white hair pulled back into a ponytail, matched by a gray-splashed mustache and goatee.…”Papa?” Mack asked.
“Yes, son.”
Mack shook his head. “You’re still messing with me, aren’t you?”
“Always,” he said with a warm smile, and then answered Mack’s next question before it was asked. “This morning you’re going to need a father. C’mon now and let’s get going. I have everything you need on the chair and table at the end of your bed. I’ll meet you out in the kitchen where you can grab a bite to eat before we head out.” [pp. 218–219]
Those who miss the amazing story of The Shack by theological nitpicking are like those who try to fit every aspect of a biblical parable into their systematic theology textbook. They will never make all the pieces fit together. It seems to me that the predominantly white male critics of The Shack—especially those with Reformed theology running through their veins—may owe Paul Young an apology and the rest of us…well, we’re just really thankful for a literary portrait of the God who crawls into our deepest sadness and brings us through the darkest night from brokenness to wholeness once again.
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RELATED POSTS (on this blog):
THE SHACK: The Power of the Story
Surprise! Three In-Depth Interviews with Paul Young, Author of THE SHACK
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