Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Book - The Shack - Any Opinions?

I finished it and I liked it. Yes, I am sure many will have a few problems with some parts but a a whole it was good.

We knew a lady many years ago who had a constant every day conversation with God in any one of the Three Parts. This book reminded me of her and the relationship she chose. I think I have already adopted some of that relationship from our friend and well as the book.

I read it several months ago. Thought it was interesting and thought provoking. Definately different?? Don't know if I would call it a must read. 163bc

I picked up The Purpose Driven Life but as soon as the author mentioned purchasing The Purpose Driven Workbook (or whatever that was), it lost all credibility to me. Just couldn't get into it because I felt like he was using religion/God to peddle a book......

I thought it was great!
It will fly in the face of alot of what we were taught in various religions.

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things for many of us to tackle.

The Shack can help. Alot.

My thought on The Shack is that is a cleverly worded try to make "God" as man would like him to be. Like any good lie it contains a lot of truth. IMHO.

Here is a quote from the "Herescope."

"We find Young�s �jesus� proclaiming on page 182: �Who said anything about being a Christian? I�m not a Christian.�

�Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don�t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions� I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into by Beloved.�

But Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the father but by me." That leaves out the Buddhists, Mormons, Baptists, and Muslims. Young contradicts the Bible with his list of who gets to Heaven.

While Young's THE SHACK may contain some truth, even a lot of truth, it also contains the quote above which is supposedly from Jesus. This "Jesus' is not the Jesus of the Bible..."for many will come in my name" is a clue that false teachers will attack the Scriptures and Jesus' teaching.

Here is the problem:

"An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains." -Henri Frederic Amiel 1821-1881 Huguenot

The Shack is bad theology. The Purpose Driven Life is just as bad. We don't need to discover our purpose, it is clearly given in Scripture. We are to be Christ's witnesses and evangelize.

Check out:

http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?s=The+Shack

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?cat=50
(this one has several articles on The Shack.

FVA, Roger Beach,

You boys are right on. It is refreshing to see posts from folks who can spot a cleaverly disgised fraud.

Interesting division of Campfire folks. Fascinating, actually.

Steve

Steve,

Let us know what you think.

I'm a pretty shallow Christian, I guess, because I get way more out of my relationship with the Lord and the Bible than I ever could out of a book ABOUT my relationship with the Lord and books ABOUT the Bible. Just me, maybe, and I'm not condemning anyone for reading it.

I'm sure I've read stuff few here would have as well. That's the nice thing about our religious freedoms.

Or you could look at it this way. Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans alike have all come to recognize that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light.

I think the author was trying to not offend through the convention of labels. �Christian� is a man made label to denote followers of Christ. But many have come from varying belief systems. Just because the author chose not to stick to any naming convention, doesn�t mean that he is not recognizing the supremacy of Christ. I think the text and general message of the entire book conveyed the purpose and role of Jesus, despite the non-sectarian stance of the above paragraph.

Again, I stick to what I said at first. If you�re looking for deep theology in the book (from the legalistic standpoint of picking apart each sentence and paragraph), then you�re not going to like the book. But if you read the book and absorb the overall message, then it�s a great book.

God desires us to find common ground, but we as humans seek to highlight our differences. This is why we have labels such as �Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans, etc.� Christians should be open minded, not closed minded (ie. Recognize and adhere strictly to my set of doctrine). It�s like grabbing hold of thick cake batter. You can actually hold it in your hand, but the tighter you squeeze, the more that oozes out between your fingers and falls.

A new commandment from Jesus:

John 13:34-35
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

I got a little different take on the whole Christian thing. I read it as being a statement on organized religion. I am NOT a (fill in the blank with your favorite denomination) I am a follower of Christ. I do not forsake the gathering and fellowship of believers but would rather find a "community" of fellow believers.

Guess what I am saying or at least attempting to say is I am sick of the standard church service. You know, the sit down, worship consisting of 3/5 - 7/11s (that is three fast, two slow each one has seven lines and you sing them eleven times) stand up and shake hands, sit down and listen to a sermon then tithe and go home.

I would much rather gather together and fellowship with believers/friends and fellowship with the Lord as happened in the book. My wife summed it up for our last pastor in Oregon. She said she was not interested in the three P's. No programs, no performance and no perfection. He liked her statement so much he took time to write it down and we knew then we had found the right place.

I do have to agree with the statements above about this fad book or program. My fad book is the Bible. It has worked for a lot of years and it works for me. I just happened to enjoy many of the concepts the book brought to focus. That is a constant running relationship with our Lord. Does not have to happen in a building set aside for God or in any formal form, just a personal one on one or rather one on three in one.

No commendation here, just how I feel called in my own life.

Ringman,

Interesting that you should ask that.

Let me just say that I believe in my heart that the Lord works with each of us in a continuing way. Divine Revelation did not stop when John wrote his last word in what we, four hundred years after the fact, began to call The Bible.

Many would disagree, and that is fine.

Obviously, I am a writer and I could easily write well over ten thousand words on The Shack and it's many messages. I will not do that; after all, The Shack is essentially about spiritual unity and love, not division and divisiveness. In the interest of tranquility, I shan't comment.

In fact, there is so much division here that I would urge closing this thread, just as Rick Bin was rightfully forced to seal Christ at the Campfire.

Let me simply and very carefully say that I find much truth in The Shack and that my head is still sorting out the many wonderful parts of it.

My Scripture Study teacher has contacted the author, William Paul Young. After all, he lives less an hours drive from here. Hopefully, Linda can convince him to take part in an Adult Faith Formation evening at our parish. If we have the opportunity to talk with him personally, it might be easier for us to understand his work more precisely. Hopefully, we can put this together.

Peace to All,

Steve

PS. I would respectfully suggest that we close this thread.

It is easier on my soul to witness y'all tear each other apart violently discussing such worthy subjects as Ballistic Tips versus TSXs, big-bore versus small-bore and such. Hint: If you stalk close, take the time to position the animal and place ONE decent bullet in a vital place, the critter dies BANG-FLOP. And that is a fact. ST

Now that is something we can agree on. One shot, well placed will do the trick every time.