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I did try to start a conversation before Christmas about this book mainly because I was curious about the extreme reactions it created.
Here is the link to the thread I had started with not much luck.
Well, well. I didn't find this thread you started, hutch 5, but thank you for providing me with the link.
Interesting indeed how many will say I liked it or I didn't like it, but find it difficult to say exactly why, or provide the support for their response. I come across things like this in all kinds of book discussion groups, and book clubs to which I belong -- and I suppose you just have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Sometimes, in a face-to-face discussion, you can draw out of others more of a response, but it must be hard for some to put such thoughts in print. For whatever reason(s) people here seem to not want to go much further than to simply say they liked it or they didn't.
I just got done reading The Shack and I loved it. I as a christian thought it was amazing. It amazes me that you people complain that the Bible is a huge contradiction and impossible to live by. This book pretty much stripped down every rule we as humans have made for religion and showed what was suppose to be important; a daily relationship with God. It was nothing but positive and uplifing. It was to tell us that God is our father and wants what any parent wants... to love and be loved back. Yes we will fail and fall but he will be there never with disappointment only with open arms and love. I think some people will never be happy with anything in this life so they feel the need to bash all things and works they do not understand. Please just read this with and open mind and an open heart. God does love us all and just wants us to do good for and to each other; while loving him in return! No judgement meant just a wanting for you all to be more open.
I just finished reading [i]The Shack[i] and I was a bit disappointed. The friend who gave it to me was very moved by it and considered it a must read, but it was neither for me. It was thought provoking, but definitely not one of the best books I've ever read. I thought the part when he reconciled so quickly with the father who had wronged him was too contrived as well.
What I enjoyed were some of the discussions between the grieving father and each of the three 'spirits.' A few of the viewpoints, I can honestly say I had never considered, and while they weren't exactly profound, made me think through some things a little differently -- like not having to wish people who had done unspeakable things an eternity in hell because they lived it themselves. I had just never thought of it that simply.
I also got a few chuckles out of the conversations with Jesus, out on the dock, and the image of the two of them walking on water. I would well imagine that had some fundamentalists' hair standing on end.
Young's book is slowly making its way around my neighborhood, and it's been enlightening to see how each reader reacts.
I just finished reading [i]The Shack[i] and I was a bit disappointed. The friend who gave it to me was very moved by it and considered it a must read, but it was neither for me. It was thought provoking, but definitely not one of the best books I've ever read. I thought the part when he reconciled so quickly with the father who had wronged him was too contrived as well.
The problem sometimes with books highly recommended is that all the praises raise a lot of expectations and then we find the book disappointing.
I stumbled across it by chance and had only heard a few things about it but not enough to form an opinion or to know what to expect.
I normally prefer it when it happens like that both with books and movies
This book was highly recommended to me from several people. I finally purchased and read it this week. I have to say it opened my eyes even further to just how great our God is. I have had many friends who have a problem embracing God. ALL of them have had bad relationships with men. For me, I had a wonderful step father who was in my life from the age of 5 and adopted me when I was 18. He wanted me to sign the papers myself. My favorite part of the book was when Father God tells Mack that he is not just a person without imperfections but much more than that. Wow! That really was profound to me. I have always seen God as my Daddy – PERFECT. While this helped me understand God’s love, it made me have a hard time helping others. The idea that that is not the case will enable me to better help and explain God’s love to those in my life who have had a hard time embracing God.
I have read all the blogs calling the book heresy. I think many people miss the point that God doesn’t want to be put in a box, on a shelf maked “fragile”. While that is an ok way to view God for some people, it isn’t enough for me. That God in a box kept me out of church for most of my life. I much prefer intimate relationship. And I think He does too. Ultimately isn’t that why we were created?
This is A book not THE BOOK. No man can give an accurate description of God. For He is more than we can ever dream of or imagine! All we can hope for is to continue to grow in our relationship and love every day.
Like you, jskin, Young's The Shack had me thinking through things a bit differently, too. It wasn't so much that the book was well-written -- it wasn't, or that many of the ideas were that radically different -- they weren't, but it was refreshing to see the Trinity presented in a more human light. That, I can't help but wonder, is what some may find 'heretical.'
I also found it enlightening -- and again, not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination -- to think that it isn't God who turns away from us, but us from Him, and that a relationship with Him, and Christ, and the Spirit, is there for the one who wants such. Young's work also helped me, like it does the father in the story, not want to see some injustice 'righted,' some criminal punished like I think he should be, and I liked the notion that the wrongdoer has punished himself. How refreshing, too, that there is always redemption.
I can't find many who will discuss the book with me, other than a handful who either loved it, unabashedly, or view it as heresy. Seems to be no middle ground, or just tossing-around of some of the premises presented in The Shack.
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