The Shack

Yeah, I know, I'm a year late to be talking about The Shack, but I ran across a YouTube video of a sermon telling people to not read it and it got me thinking about it.

I agree that the average Christian shouldn't be reading The Shack, if they are the kind of person who would form their view of the Trinity from a work of fiction and not from a careful study of scripture. And that's not as straightforward as it might seem. Let me explain what I mean. I love Hamlet, I mean really. It's one of the few works other than the Bible or Mere Christianity that I can pick up at any time and just start reading, regardless of my mood. Well, about ten years ago, I discovered Kenneth Branaugh's Hamlet, and it's one of my favorite movies. I can watch it anytime, mostly because the script IS the play. But the problem is that now, when I read the play, I see images from the film in my mind. I'm no longer reading the play, I'm rehearsing the film, which is someone else's conception of the play. It's taken alot of work to get back to the play itself, and I'm still not all the way there. Back to my point, when dealing with something as incomprehensible as the doctrine of the Trinity, mixing in The Shack is asking for trouble. It is far too easy to fall back into concepts which came from a book, and not The Book.

Did I mention that I really liked the book? I did, it's a great book. I was in tears at the end, but I've got a lotta kids and I'm a real sucker for emotionalism involving kids. People get worked up about misrepresentation of the Trinity. I'm sure there were some priests with St. Patrick in Ireland getting really ticked off at him for using a shamrock to explain the Trinity. You just have to make sure that you're focused on scripture.

BTW: I still think the character of Papa is just the oracle from The Matrix rehashed.