[Ding ding ding! We have a winner.]
Regarding GOD as “Aunt Jemima” or whoever. GOD the CREATOR is the INVISIBLE GOD. NO ONE can see HIS face, except through the image of JESUS CHRIST.
DING! DING! DING! FAIL.
So you're saying that if reading The Shack brought even one person to a relationship with God, it's not ok? God won't accept them because they didn't meet him in the Good Book and go to church on Sunday and Wednesday night?
Couple of things you might be interested to know before we proceed:
1. I'm old-school Catholic, as in educated in plenty of old Catholic Schools
2. I have a degree from Spring Arbor University, a Christian university in Michigan. There are only a few classes that every graduate is required to take: Extremely Fine and Picked Apart by a Pro Writing and If You Don't Get at Least a 2.5 Final Grade You Will Finish Your Degree at Another University (I earned a 4.0)AND...(drumroll please) Study of the Bible.
Remember the part about me being Catholic? We don't do the bible like most other Christians. It is not our fault, we do not run the Church. So please don't call me an apostate because I don't know the bible the way a lot of folks do. However, in order to pass the Bible class, we had to write a 15 page paper about anything in the Bible.
Feeling subject-deprived, yet having done all the readings (in the mist of a woman shattering health battle)I chose The Bible as my topic.
I posited that the Bible was God's most amazing advertising campaign. It starts off simple because it used to be orally transmitted (Old Testament). As humans' communication became more sophisticated, so did the content of the Bible (New Testament) The Bible is God's tool to show us His way and His invitation to follow Him.
My Bible professor (a minister) really appreciated my take. I earned a 4.0 in Bible Studies.
So perhaps my view on how people get to God is a little more catholic (small c) than yours. I'm ok with that, I believe it doesn't matter how one gets to The Father, just as long as one gets there.
--and remain living in this dimension. And it is a very iron clad rule--as almost all the Heavenly visitors attest--actually all those I've ever read.