Thoughts on the Shack

The Shack has climbed to the heights of the Christian fiction bestsellers list. My first thought is that this is not an indictment on the book but on the church in America. In our postmodern and relativistic church story trumps truth. The Shack is a fictional story that aims at reshaping the truth about God in the minds and hearts of God's church. Many Christians are moved by the story and it has seemingly had a positive effect upon a lot of people. But my question is, "Who is measuring the positive effect?". A positive effect upon the American church is that we learn to think correctly about God and ourselves from Scripture. Certainly the church has re-directed our thoughts about God by distorting his glory through our sinful lives. But this does not give Christians the excuse to shape him into an image that we would better relate to in the telling of a tale. We must let our minds and hearts be shaped by who God is truly from his Word. Then when Christians spin a tale the reality of God will shine truthfully through the story. As C.S. Lewis quipped, "We do not need more people writing Christian books, what we need is more Christians writing good books." The Shack is a bestselling book among "Christians" not because it speaks the truth about the God of the Bible, but because it touches the sentiments of the flesh through story. The church is not interested in a God who is infinite and majestic in holiness and therefore cannot understand how the true God can at the same time be merciful and gracious in goodness. I would not recommend to Christians the reading of The Shack, even out of curriosity. However, I would recommend reading Mary Kassian's article on the book, and listenting to Albert Mohlers broadcast on the book.