7|22 this week!
In the unlikely case that you’ve been living in a cave (or a shack) for the past year, you’ve probably read or at least heard of The New York Times best-selling book The Shack by William P. Young.
The Shack is a gut-wrenching, soul-liberating piece of fiction that introduces us to Mack. He is a man who has suffered great loss and has carried around what Young calls The Great Sadness for the better part of the past four years. In an odd turn of events, Mack is literally invited by God to come and have a healing experience with Trinity at the very location of his Great Sadness—the shack.
Mack goes to the shack and it is there that he encounters God in a new way.
Throughout the course of the book, Mack begins to see and experience the loving power of not only God, but each member of the Trinity. Oh, I did I mention that God appears to Mack in the form of a large African-American woman named Papa? Yep. To say any more would be giving away too much of the book.
If you’re intrigued—you should read it!
If you’re a post-college single—you should come to 7|22 this Tuesday night to hear the story behind the story of The Shack as we interview live onstage its author, William P. Young. If that weren’t enough, Eddie Kirkland will be leading our worship experience, which we are pretty hyped about.
So, here are the question(s):
∴ Have you read The Shack? If so, what did you think?
∴ Is there anyone in your life (including yourself) that needs to hear more about this powerful story?
∴ Do you know any post-college single friends that need to read the book or be there Tuesday night?
7|22 is a gathering of post-college singles who desire to be changed by God and bring change to our city.
7|22 meets at Buckhead Church on Tuesday nights @7.30 p.m. For more information, go to www.722.org.
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jun 23, 2008by Buckhead Church
June 23, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I haven’t read the book, but I have heard and read a great deal about it.
I have some questions:
1) Does featuring The Shack and its author amount to an endorsement of the book by North Point Ministries?
2) Do you believe the book presents sound Christian Doctrine, specifically as to the nature of God and Salvation?
3) Do you acknowledge that this book is highly controversial and, if so, what makes it worth the risk of choosing to engage in the controversy?
June 23, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Hey Adam, it’s Jarrett from 7|22.
Thanks for your questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.
1) Having William P Young come in as a guest and tell his story does not amount to an “endorsement” of the book. We have however sold the book in our resource center for quite some time now (long before we ever thought to invite him).
2) The book is fiction and is not intended to present doctrine. It is a story. Expecting it to present a sound doctrine of God and Salvation would be equivalent to expecting C.S. Lewis classic The Chronicles of Narnia to do the same. It simply isn’t intended to do so and will never come close to “covering all the bases”.
We have however done our homework on William P Young and believe that his faith in Jesus is real and sincere. And while some may not agree with the “values” that his story is presenting, we are convinced that his faith God is legit (for lack of a better word).
We wouldn’t have him as a guest if any of us felt strongly otherwise.
3) We are aware that there is some controversy around this book, and I am not surprised. Young takes some creative license to tell this story. By bringing him in as a guest, we are not choosing to engage in controversy. We are attempting to understand the story behind the story (his journey of faith) and the story itself (the themes of the book). Both of which are fascinating stories that believe need to be heard.
If our goal was to engage in controversy, there are plenty of other authors or speakers we could have brought in that would accomplish that goal! But Controversy for Controversy sake is simply not something we’re interested in or have the time or energy for.
Hope that helps, Adam. Thanks for your great questions. We’d love to see you there.
And if you can’t make it, don’t forget that you can watch online at http://www.722.org
- Jarrett
June 23, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Adam, I forgot to add – I think you should read the book to see for yourself. That way your questions (or concerns) will come from your own informed introspection and insight and not simply from speculation or what you might have heard.
I personally put off reading it for months just because “EVERYONE WAS READING IT”. And I think I wanted to be cooler than that….but I’m really glad I read it.
Whether you end up liking it or not, agreeing or disagreeing, I do think it would be an important exercise for you to do.
Thanks again,
Jarrett
June 24, 2008 at 4:59 am
This is a great book and I’m not even sure why there is so much controversy. My question is:
Can married people crash this party?
June 24, 2008 at 7:26 am
I agree that reading the book is the starting point for a discussion or debate on the “controversy.” As stated, it is also a work of fiction. The Left Behind series was also a hotbed of “controversy” if one, first, read it and, second, wanted to analyze it only for scriptural accuracy. If the authors showed up at 7:22 or the church on Sunday morning, I do not believe anyone would see that as an endorsement of the Biblical accuracy of the fictional books. I am not sure what “risk” is at issue.
June 24, 2008 at 7:26 am
Casey,
Hey this is Jarrett from 7|22.
7|22 is a ministry focused on reaching Post College Singles…that being said, we’re not going to turn anyone away who wants to come.
Just try not to renew your vows in the middle of our service tonight. Cool?
- Jarrett
June 24, 2008 at 7:56 am
The NY Times has an article on The Shack today, which I think provides some good back story: ‘The Shack,’ a Christian Novel, Becomes a Surprise Best Seller
I’d also like to say that, in my opinion, The Chronicles of Narnia does present accurate, sound doctrine on God and Salvation. The only thing I can think of that wouldn’t be readily embraced by most if not all orthodox Christians is the picture of apostasy Lewis paints in The Last Battle.
June 24, 2008 at 8:30 am
Awesome book : There is some tremendous insight into how we all judge and expect God to act and I love how he explains the relationship of the Three. It has helped my blue jay soar much higher.
At least God is named Papa and not Oprah. And Glad to see us old married folks from Alpharetta can crash it.
June 24, 2008 at 6:50 pm
WOW!!! I just left 7:22 and I can honestly say that I have been brought back home tonight. Brought back to my Papa!! Thank you so much for having this event tonight and God was glorified in every moment.
June 25, 2008 at 4:15 am
so I prob would like the shack if I liked fiction books all that much, but I don’t – so I prob won’t read it for that reason, not that I think its a ‘bad’ book. However what I think I can critique is the people who say this book allows them to understand God better or lead them to a greater knowledge. I agree to the extent a film or a random encounter on the streets could allow you to understand things/God better, but not in the sense that it is unique and divinely inspired more than any of those.
What I ask those peeps are:
-what is the 2nd commandment and how does ‘picturing’ God bring you closer to him? where does having an image of him benefit you? and how does that align with scripture?
-how is Isiah’s account of encountering God anything like this portrayal?
-is God becoming who you want him to be chief? or is him making you into more like him chief? (easy church answer sure, but really?)
-is using this book for ‘seekers’ a good idea? Would the trinity as we define it be apart of an intro to Christianity?
Christ came as a random carpenter guy. The people on the scene were not expecting a messiah of this kind. they expected something different. they rejected him at the end of the day. he didn’t fit with cultural expectations. is this we post moderns’ pursuit to do the same? god on our terms?
just questions. thanks for reading the comment.
June 25, 2008 at 7:34 am
What an awesome night with Dad! What a gift Mr. Young’s nakedness and transparency is to us. My prayer is that God help the rest of us tear down our shack and let Him be who He wants to, to us! I am forever changed!
June 27, 2008 at 5:49 pm
If you want a good, solid, honest review of the book, check it out here as .pdf.
The Shack was pulled from :Connections at North Point, not sure if it is still available at Bthe uckhead or Browns Bridge locations.
June 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Ya, I think the book is a good book that is entertaining, however I knew of people that are elevating and trying to draw a lot of truths from it and actually starting bible studies around the book. In my opinion Christian fiction is a wierd combination and I think that drawing a lot of truths about who God is from a book like this is dangerous. For the mature and growing Christian it might be ok but what about the Christian who is wondering who God is, what is God like and so on. Again, in my opinion it’s a good read, but if someone is trying to draw doctrine or theology from it, I think it’s a joke. We know from scripture that God is invisiable and takes no form. That’s the purpose of Jesus. Jesus was a man, not a woman….
June 30, 2008 at 5:59 am
Hey Mark,
I wanted to let you know that The Shack was not pulled from any of our resource centers. It is North Point Ministries policy to not sell fiction in our stores. However, when Mr. Young was coming to speak at 7|22, Buckhead’s resource center had a limited time offering of it in our store. Hope that clears up any confusion!
June 30, 2008 at 12:49 pm
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7830 — an interesting take on the book and it’s low view of scripture.
July 1, 2008 at 7:08 am
My link above did not work. Here is the URL: http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/a-review-of-the-shack-download-it-here.php
Mark
July 6, 2008 at 4:39 pm
“The Shack”
Wow what an interesting story. Even more interesting is how it is being marketed and to whom.
This seemingly heartening story of reconciliation is couched in some rather curious theology. It is like a chef embarked on making a cake. In one bowl he put fine flour, grade AAA eggs and all the excellent ingredients need for a delicious cake. In another bowl he collected husks, stalks, shells and all of the refuge from his efforts of the day. All of the items in the second bowl he blended with a very powerful food processor to the consistency of a cake mix, added a couple of generous helping of horse manure, plenty of sugar and enough flavor additives to disguise the taste to that of a cake mix. When the ingredients of both bowls became as cake batter he poured the ingredients of the good bowl into two cake pans and the other into another cake pan then put them into the oven to bake. When they were done he assembled the cake with the good layers on the top and bottom and the other in the middle. Then he iced the cake with a delicious chocolate frosting and served it as the main refreshment at a function where there were many children.
Even more curious is the cast or type of characters. We have The Almighty Infinite God The Father portrayed by an Aunt Jemima type, The Holy Spirit portrayed by a Yu Shu Lein of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” type and Jesus portrayed by a Danny Devito type or some such. A serious question is where was the missing character in all this – “The Great Deceiver”? Could he have been in the kitchen baking?
Moral: Be careful what you bite and more careful what you swallow. And be extremely cautious as to who you might be feeding contaminated refreshments.
July 12, 2008 at 7:02 am
Because 7|22 was promoting “The Shack,” I decided to give it a read. I go it Thursday and finished it last night. After reading it, I can see why this book is both controversial and celebrated. But before I give my take on it, I have to strongly disagree with Jarrett’s statement that the book is simply fiction and is not meant to communicate accurate doctrine. Even the way that Kristen introduces this blog shows (she believes at least)that the book is intended to help readers understand God and the Christian faith in a new way. This is what makes the book “soul-liberating.”
If a work of fiction uses as its characters and events ones that are based on real characters and events, then it should accurately portray those events or persons. The actions and attributes should be in line with those of the actual persons in the fictional story. For example, if I wrote a fictional story about Andy going to mall and buying a homeless man something to eat, then, even though the event and the homeless man are not real, my characterization of Andy should be one that fits with the real Andy. If my story has Andy kicking the homeless guy in the teeth and telling him to get a job, this would not be a good story because it does not fit what we know of Andy’s character. In “The Shack,” Mack doesn’t encounter a fictional character, but he encounters a character that is supposed to be God. So it is important to as if the character in the book accurately reflects the real Being on which it is based. This is also why Jarrett’s analogy between “The Shack” and “Chronicles of Narnia” is a bad one. In Chronicles, Asland is not God but is merely a god-type. But even as a type, Asland’s actions are commensurate with actions that God would perform. Therefore, claiming that the book is fiction does not provide exemption from doing the theological work.
Second, because 7|22′s mission is to help people move into a growing relationship with God, it seems rather odd to me that you would want to avoid the doctrinal content of this book, choosing simply to focus on its artistic and aesthetic values. If a book is aesthetically pleasing but teaches that God is a rapist and a murderer, would we still read it at 7|22? Would we still sell it in the Resource Center? I don’t think so. It seems to me that a book would only be allowed if we believe that it is both aesthetically pleasing and theologically sound. With that said, here are my thoughts on the actual content of the book.
I found that the book had three main purposes. First, the book seeks to help make sense out of the seemingly gratuitous suffering in the world. This is where this book shines. Not only does the story help draw out the emotions and thoughts associated with pain and death, but it also does an excellent job of slowly and patiently addressing those thoughts and assuaging those emotions. Young helps the reader see that the immense suffering in the world is not God’s fault but is the fault of humanity’s “independence.” Young also makes it clear that God does not condone evil, but is able to use all evil, pain, and suffering for His glory.
The book, however, failed in its second and third purpose. In order to keep this short (too late) I’ll just state the second and third purpose. The second purpose is to debunk common misconceptions about God and to replace them with an accurate portrayal of God. Young shows that he does not understand the biblical doctrine of the Trinity nor does he understand the God attributes of infinity, justice, and simplicity. The third purpose is to debunk and correct common misconceptions about God’s purposes for creation and salvation. Again, Young does not employ good Bible study methods or sound theological reflection, leading to gross inaccuracies and significant error.
As a church whose mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Christ, we have a responsibility to not only check to make sure that an author’s faith seems genuine and real, we must also make sure that the work which he produces is also biblically and theologically accurate.
October 16, 2008 at 11:36 am
I am so saddened that what I believed to be a bible-believing church would host someone whose theology is so off base. We have to stand firm for truth! Shame on you and your leadership for exposing your young people to heresy!