Shackology: Is it Heresy?

-

Rather than add yet another review that may only draw more attention to the book called "The Shack," I have decided to make my point brief and direct folks to existing reviews.

For myself, I found the following:

  • The book is poor fiction
  • The fiction is a vehicle for the theology
  • The theology is rotten

I haven't yet found a comprehensive review - I suppose such a thing would be a book unto itself, but here's a few of the better ones:

If you must read the book (and you really don't have to), please realize that you will be absorbing more theology in the few hours it takes to read it than you will in most calendar months. Examine Young's version of God in light of what the Bible says about God. Use the reviews to help with this.


Other related resources:

  • The Love of God, John MacArthur. Young's God is not only love, but is really ONLY love. This is a classic and appealing distortion of ONE of God attributes. MacArthur's book does a good job of explaining God's amazing love in the context of ALL of His attributes.
  • Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, De Young & Kluck. The authors of the Shack deny any connection to the emergent movement, but they sing its tune perfectly. Coming from an emergent background, I am appreciating this book - a little less academic than Carson's excellent Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church.

WARNING

If this book has transformed you or a loved one, seek help now.

Comments

Jason Alligood said…
I thought you were going to turn off comments.

Good summary. I'm beginning to wonder if my best strategy is to say to folks, "No, I haven't read it but good men that I trust have and they say..."
September 7, 2008 at 4:55 AM
Alan W. Richardson said…
Not sure why comments remained enabled. I guess I'll leave them on for a bit; will turn them off if things get silly... this book attracts a fair amount of that.
September 7, 2008 at 4:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should We "Lay Down Our Crowns"?

-
They will cast their crowns before the throne. "The twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne…" (Revelation 4:10) Preparing for worship this Sunday, we have a song that reads: We fall down, We lay our crowns, At the feet of Jesus. This song is most clearly taken from this scene in John's revelation. Okay, so we can sing the song and not be unbiblical in so doing, but can we sing it biblically? That is, can we sing it with the meaning intended in scripture? The impression I've always had when singing this song: anything of worthiness, any accomplishment, any acclaim we have, we surrender to Jesus as an indication of submission to His universal lordship. Does that hold up? My questions: What things does scripture have in mind when it mentions humans' crowns? If this is a heavenly scene, ought we be laying crowns down here on earth? Crowns in Scrip
Read more

Does God Love Everyone? - 3

-
God Does Not Love Sinners I've been working on the question of whether God loves all people. I've been doing so because there's a lot of confusion on this matter, and I can say that until the last few years I was very unclear on it myself. As usual, these blog posts serve to help me think through the question personally, and open up the possibility of some healthy discussion on the subject - feel free to participate. The whole question was triggered by a fairly simple statement made by someone dear to me. At the time there was no opportunity for this discussion, but I very much wanted to air out my thoughts and see if they held up under the light of God's Word. Part 1 : "God loves sinners too, Alan." I knew there was truth in this comment, but I also knew that there was room for misunderstanding. The misunderstanding often begins with a case of mistaken identity: we fail to see that we are ALL sinners . The implication therefore is that God must somehow
Read more

Why is Christ Interceding for Us?

-
A friend asked me a question last week that I had to admit I couldn't answer: What does Scripture mean when it says Christ is interceding for us? What is He doing? The greater part of my confusion on this matter comes from a misunderstanding of the word "intercede." I have always associated this word with prayer, and so when I hear the Word say that Jesus "always lives to make intercession for us" (Heb 7:25) I immediately conclude that Jesus is in heaven praying for me all the time. I remember that Jesus prayed to His Father for His followers in the "High Priestly Prayer" (Jn 17), so this is at least conceivable. It does introduce another matter in which I have little understanding, which is why Christ prays to God… but I'm not opening that can of worms just yet. I think I can avoid that because, with a little study, I can conclude that Christ's heavenly intercession for us is not primarily about Him praying. Intercession Defined Here are
Read more