Posted on 03/04/2017 8:10:26 AM PST by Maudeen
Is The Shack a harmless work of Christian fiction—or a classic example of false teaching?
When William P. Young's book The Shack first hit shelves 10 years ago, many pastors and church leaders praised it as a powerful story of redemption. More than 18 million copies have sold since, and The Shack movie is set to release this weekend.
After taking a close look at the book in 2008, Dr. Michael Youssef was concerned that it might lead undiscerning leaders astray—so he devoted an entire sermon to addressing the book's theology.
As a ministry dedicated to passionately proclaiming the Truth of Christ, Leading The Way is offering a FREE resource to help our partners take a thoughtful and discerning look at The Shack.
The Shack Uncovered is a FREE PDF download providing an insightful comparison of passages from The Shack, placed side-by-side with Scripture references and notes from Dr. Youssef's original teaching.
Our hope is that all friends and partners of Leading The Way will be empowered to approach Christian media with a Biblical perspective.
Download your FREE PDF guide, and be sure to share this link with friends and family.
(Excerpt) Read more at store.ltw.org ...
Would love to read it, Pastor Youssef is one of my favorite Pastors, but it requires an account and sharing names and address, etc.
Thank you, MAUDEEN, for posting these pertinent articles about THE SHACK. I read the first chapters of the book when it came out ten years ago and tossed it in the trashcan. Friends kept giving the book to me, and I kept tossing the copies in the trashcan.
Pray this pseudo faith movie will fizzle at the box office and never see the light of day or the dark of night on cable vision.
I realized that after posting but it is an excellent download in chart format. I plan to share with my women’s small group Sunday School class.
I heard from someone who’s aunt is not saved. The aunt had lost a son and she found the book to be reassuring that all is well in her life and also his. This is very tragic.
It seems we are undergoing a post-Trump-election revival of Christianity regardless of if we want it or not.
I got my copy on kindle not knowing it was a proselytizing treatise...I am slogging my way through it.
What a beautiful fantasy.
People in general seem to want to live in a permanent state
of FANTASY and constantly in an uproar & involved in an
“adventure”. TV shows these days are an endless exercise in
impossible scenarios that would make “real” life (which is
generally enough of a challenge just with normal stuff) -
very, very stressful.
Thank you for posting this.
Many years ago, I had an 8 HOUR layover at LAX (groan!) and bought “The Shack” to read during those endless airport hours. The ad on the book said something like “A powerful story of Redemption, blah blah, blah”.
About a quarter of the way into it, I tossed it in the trash can and contented myself to watch “ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES” on the big screen, which contained more truth than the stupid book.
The WHO’s Rock Opera “Tommy” was also a “powerful story of redemption” but NOT from a Christian Viewpoint. Verdi’s “La Traviata” is also a “powerful story of redemption” but does not shrink from the consequences of sin. So is “Moby Dick” which succeeds in redeeming only one, who escapes to tell the tale.
“The Shack”, on the other hand, does not even rise to the level of “Tommy”, “La Traviata”, or “Moby Dick”, as it is a mealy-mouthed, virtue-signaling, New-Age, preachy, poorly-written attempt at allegory, and gets it wrong at every turn.
Not only that, it is a direct abandonment of the 2nd Commandment against creating God in our own image.
While there have been many unsuccessful attempts throughout history to explain the Trinity, most by MUCH smarter and more deeply spiritual Theologians, this one doesn’t even come close!
Just my humble opinion, based upon my understanding of the Bible, which I read every day.
Wish I had had one with me at LAX!
Here is an interesting story, that is more indicative of the Mystery of the Trinity, attributed to St. Augustine:
Augustine and the Seashell
Marian Horvat
The great Doctor of the Church St. Augustine of Hippo spent over 30 years working on his treatise De Trinitate [about the Holy Trinity], endeavoring to conceive an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.
St Augustine with the boy on the beach
Augustine meets a boy on the beach
He was walking by the seashore one day contemplating and trying to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity when he saw a small boy running back and forth from the water to a spot on the seashore. The boy was using a sea shell to carry the water from the ocean and place it into a small hole in the sand.
The Bishop of Hippo approached him and asked, “My boy, what are doing?”
“I am trying to bring all the sea into this hole,” the boy replied with a sweet smile.
“But that is impossible, my dear child, the hole cannot contain all that water” said Augustine.
The boy paused in his work, stood up, looked into the eyes of the Saint, and replied, “It is no more impossible than what you are trying to do – comprehend the immensity of the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your small intelligence.”
The Saint was absorbed by such a keen response from that child, and turned his eyes from him for a short while. When he glanced down to ask him something else, the boy had vanished.
Some say that it was an Angel sent by God to teach Augustine a lesson on pride in learning. Others affirm it was the Christ Child Himself who appeared to the Saint to remind him of the limits of human understanding before the great mysteries of our Faith.
Through this story, the sea shell has become a symbol of St. Augustine and the study of theology.
Thanks for sharing!
Being that so many trendy people in churches read this book and enjoyed it, tells me it is pure crap.
I read all about what the book was when it came out. There is no way I would go see it on screen.
I am contacting all organizations that I contribute to that are making money off of ticket sales by allowing advertisements on their airwaves or website. It is like aiding and abetting the “enemy”. Lukewarm at its finest and due for a “spew out.”
Thanks for the post. The book is pure herasy, meant to pull away those whose religion is emotion based.
Later
I would like to steal this St. Augustine story if you don’t mind. Your whole comment was well done.
I read The Shack. It unsettled me but I couldn’t explain why it didn’t sweep over me like it did others. It just wasn’t right. Now I understand more why it didn’t appeal. So much has been written about the movie to increase understanding but I think the boat may have left the dock. Bible teaching and preaching have been getting stronger but too many like the shallowness and emotionalism of Joel Osteen types. If we get to know the God of the Bible stories like The Shack will seem very minuscule in their depiction of the Trinity.
By all means feel free to share! The name of the author of the article is mentioned, but I remember hearing the story as a very young child, so it has been around for a while!
Thank you for your kind words. :-)
Agreed!
I am sure there are many but imagine if "The Shack" were the first one someone read.
Had you read it without an awareness of the others you might have had a different opinion.
It probably is the first that many read.
Which is unfortunate.
What may be more unfortunate is if they read none.
You may have enjoyed the book. I did not.
Thank God we still live in a country where we can have opinions.
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