The PURPOSE and FOCUS in THE SHACK
was
NOT
to illustrate God’s authority—though actually—it did quite Biblically and quite well, imho.
However, for authoritarIANs, I can see where the authority fix was lacking to their standards.
In my research on religiosity, authoritaRIANS were NOT the most intrinsically, initimately related to God NOR were they the most robustly and authentically Christian. They tended to be much more EXTRINSICS.
In terms of religiosity—the folks who are MOST biggoted, narrow, rigid, hostile, angry, brittle, abusive, etc. by far are those who are:
INDISCRIMMINANTLY ANTI-RELIGIOUS . . . i.e. atheists, agnostics etc.
Those who are NEXT most biggoted, narrow, rigid, hostile, angry, brittle, abusive, etc. but significantly less
are the
EXTRINSIC religionists . . . who also happen to be the most authoritarian in their values, lifestyles, priorities. They put religion on as a coat for appearances, for business etc.
The folks who are the LEAST biggoted, narrow, rigid, hostile, angry, brittle, abusive, etc. . . . different from the most by at least 2 standard deviations on average . . . are the
INTRINSIC RELIGIONISTS. These are the folks who have God in their hearts and integrate Him into every area and decision of their lives.
Guess who make the best parents with children excelling the most and the least in trouble.
authoritaTIVE parents.
AuthoritaRIAN parents are typically among the worst. They generate the most rebellion because they are heavily into DISCIPLINE WITHOUT RELATIONSHIP.
The author of THE SHACK rightly emphasized RELATIONSHIP in his book to his children. That works BEST with God Almighty, too.
God is not into coerced, demanded, puppet, robot relationships with His children.
CHRIST DIED THAT WE MIGHT BE FRIENDS OF GOD; JOINT HEIRS.