Thank you for a great four weeks of conversation about The Shack. It was a privilege to journey through The Shack together.
I have posted all four weeks of notes. Click here to access the page.
I ended last night’s presentation with these questions that I think The Shack would like us to answer:
What is in my “Shack”?
Do I trust that God has my best interests at heart as well as the interests of those whom I love?
Is there anyone that I need to forgive?
Who is my community?
Who is my mission?
Last night, we worked through the central theme of The Shack, Mack’s struggle with the reality of profound evil in the world. The Shack deals with the effects of suffering, tragedy, and evil on one’s relationship with God. Why does God allow suffering? Or in Mack’s case, why did Missy have to suffer and die?
I tried to frame the issue around a question that each of us needs to think about in terms of our relationship with God: Do I believe that God has my best interests at heart? The presence of suffering and tragedy serves as perhaps the strongest test of this question.
Continue to send in your questions and comments.
Here is a link to the last night’s slide show. Click here.
Also, see my essay “The Problem of Evil: a biblical response”
Here are some additional links to helpful resources for thinking about a Christian understanding of suffering, tragedy, and faith:
Essay by Peter Kreeft, a professor at Boston College and one of Christianity’s ablest thinkers and communicators
A good discussionof the problem of evil and ways that Christians have understood it.
This site summarizes philosophical arguments that support a belief in God in the face of evil.
Last night, we discussed various aspects of The Shack’s portrayal of God.
The Shack has the following strength’s in its description/understanding of God:
1) God as profoundly relational
2) God’s nurturing side
3) Sacrifice of Jesus as the highest and fullest expression of the extent and commitment of God’s love
We affirmed these.
Most of the evening was spent discussing the following questions:
1) Is Young’s Understanding of the Trinity adequate?
2) Are submission and obedience incompatible with equality and love?
3) Who is Sophia? What role does she play?
4) What about the feminine imagery used to describe God the Father and God the Holy Spirit?
5) Are God’s love and God’s wrath incompatible? Why is there no talk of judgment in The Shack?
To view last evening’s slides, click here.
What questions or comments do you have about last evening’ presentation? What other questions are you interested in asking about The Shack?
Looking ahead to next week, we will be diving into the heart of the book: How does The Shack resolve Mack’s brokenness and lostness over the tragedy and pain of his life experiences? How are Christians to understand suffering and tragedy? What resources does the Christian faith have to answer the “why” questions of life? You may want to (re)read the Chapter “Here Comes Da Judge” (pp. 151-169).
I introduced The Shack last night by presenting the main characters and listing the main messages that the author W. Paul Young makes through his writing.
Here is a summary:
The Shack by William P. Young is a bestselling work of fiction that is spurring fresh conversations about the person and work of God. It narrates the life changing encounter with God that its main character “Mack” experiences on a weekend trip to the shack where his youngest daughter Missy was murdered brutally two years earlier at the hands of a serial killer. The death of his daughter brought The Great Sadness into Mackenzie’s life and damaged his relationship with God and others. Moreover, Mack was still bearing the scars of a brutal childhood. Through conversation and hands on experiences with each member of the Trinity as well as the personified wisdom (Sophia), Mack experiences a profound healing that enables him to begin anew to live as the person whom God created him to be.
Here is a preliminary list of key themes/messages built into the narrative:
1) God loves each person profoundly. People matter to God.
2) Relationships are the center of life. The Triune God models a profound relational mode of being. The divine-human relationship and human-human relationships are the true meaning and purpose of life.
3) Forgiveness heals the past and opens the future so that we can live as the people whom God created us to be. Forgiveness involves forgiving self, God, and others.
4) The past is redeemable no matter how dark or how wonderful it may be.
5) The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the most critical act in all Creation.
6) Freedom is worth the price of the possibility/probability of pain and suffering because of misused freedom. God is neither the author of sin or the cause of evil.
7) God’s immanence/nearness/presence is affirmed continually. God is even present in the darkest moments of our lives.
8 ) Our words and actions matter. The way we live either adds the problems in the world or adds value to others to draw them into the relationship that God desires. There is a missional focus for life.
9) Eternity will be an endless adventure of deepening our understanding and relationship with God and others.
What other themes would you add to the list above?
What questions do you have from last night’s conversation? Here is a link to the questions that I received from the audience.
Welcome, you belong here. This blog will help us to maximize our time together thinking and reflecting about The Shack. I will open a conversation each week to which you are free to add comments or raise questions.
Notice on the Right side of the screen there is a section with the heading “Pages.” The resource page will have downloadable files from our sessions together.
