The Shack: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Product Information

Papa is one facet of the three-part God depicted in the novel (the others being Jesus and Sarayu). Papa also calls herself “Elousia,” which Jesus explains means “the Creator God. She fills the role…

I won't give away the story or the message, but I will say that is resonated strongly with me. At the core it is about God's unfailing love for his children. His desire to draw every one of his children to him. How this love transcends our hurts and tragedies. How he ususes even the worst situations as avenues of redemption. If you are as taken with the message of this book as we are, you may already have some unique ideas as to how you can best let others know about it. Here are some ideas to help you about ways to let others know about this remarkable book. And this about lies (not the lies people tell to stay out of trouble, but the lies we believe about ourselves or others as a defense mechanism): This is a hard book to review because you pretty much have to separate it into two parts. The novel, and the theological. As we are listening to you, it is as if this is the first time we have known about them, and we take great delight in seeing them through your eyes."

Follow us on:

It is hard to not get carried away and be too effusive about this book. When one has spent time with someone or something, it is natural to feel a close connection to that thing and, I think, lose objectivity. Obviously I didn't try too hard to be calm and subdued in my praise because one can see that I rated it 5 stars; however, I think I will start with why I don't think it is a 5-star book. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don't know it."

As an aside, the disrespectful way Jesus was portrayed drove me nuts. He was God in the flesh, not a mere clumsy human. ...I cannot go into all of the errors in this book today. I don't have the time. It reminded me of when Jesus was tempted in the desert and satan twisted scripture at every turn. Jesus, as the Word of God, was more than able to contradict the enemy's lies and silence him with scripture. Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others." Several significant problems exist with this understanding of the incarnation. First, it is not true that Jesus “had no power within himself to heal anyone.” Jesus, as the God-man, did, and does, possess full and complete deity (Colossians 2:9). Young’s view sounds like kenotic Christology, that Christ gave up His deity when He became human. If He did not retain full deity on earth, He is not fully divine. Second, no other human is like Jesus in being fully divine. No other human has the power of deity as Jesus did. The incarnation of Jesus is one of a kind. And it certainly is not the case that all humans possess the life of God in them, as Papa’s statement implies. It's also pretty obvious the author has trouble with authority of any kind, but most especially Church authority. It just made me wonder who has hurt him so deeply that he just throws out the baby with the bathwater. Invariably, they responded to my negative response with something along the lines of "You have to! It changed my life! I was full of questions, and life stunk, and then I read the book, and God made sense to me, I understood quantum physics effortlessly, and all of a sudden I could spin flax into gold!"Okay, enough bashing, because this was an incredible book that should be read by everybody. That I rated this a 5 in spite of the things that I didn't like, should tell you that there is something very amazing about this book. There is no way I can convey the impact of the thought-provoking and possibly life-changing conversations we become privy to. I don't know that you would much care for the book if you were a total athiest, not atuned to the spiritual at all, but people of all spiritual and religious persuasions will find aspects of this book deeply worth pondering. You must read it. Buy a set of books as gifts to battered women’s shelters, prisons, rehabilitation homes and the like where people might be really encouraged by the story and its message.