"The Shack" by William P. Young : my personal book review

Excerpt from “The Shack”;

Chapter 10 Wade in the Water

page 149

“You mean,” Mack interjected a little sarcastically, “that I can’t just ask, ‘What Would Jesus Do’?”

Jesus chuckled, “Good intentions, bad idea. Let me know how it works for you, if that’s the way you choose to go.” He paused and grew sober. “Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not trying to ‘be like Jesus’, but it means for your independence to be killed...”

This book, The Shack, has become more than just “a favorite” to me already but it has become, without a doubt, a true treasure in our time. You simply cannot put it down.

It has been quite some time that I’ve been able to read a book and allow it to let me weep in public without a care of who was around me. As you can see, the little excerpt above is enough to chew on for a while especially because of the loving and necessary convictions it brings to us Westerners. It’s little moments like this one that fill every grace dripping page of this book and make you wrestle with your heart, your own personal agenda for your life and where your heart is when it comes to knowing our Father who is in heaven.

Not surprising to find though are the angry critics that have labeled the book to be a work of heresy. The theology in it is amazing and incredibly well painted. After all, any book that gets praised by Eugene Peterson is surely worth your while. The way it is all laid out is ingenious and masterful. Western Christians need a good jolt of creative genius injected into their mechanisms of business driven Churches and individualistic philosophies. God is at work in this - so be blessed and majestically wrecked by it.

Most of the negative critiques are coming from those that are having a hard time with the way that the Trinity is portrayed. God is seen as a large African woman who goes by the name, “Papa” and is not some gray haired long bearded shiny white man. I’ll admit that it does cause some much needed discomfort at first but as you read along you are certain to become engrossed into the beautiful theme of grace, forgiveness and restoration.

The difficulty with the book that I had was wrapped around the fact that I am a father of four and three of the four are my precious girls. So any book about a six year old girl being abducted and murdered and then follows the despair of a father who blames himself is not an easy read. However, the road to restoration is absolutely gut-wrenching and sweet.

Hope you have the guts to cry in public - it’ll do you some good.