The Shack

When I read The Shack by William P Young a few months back, I was touched by the insight into the personal view of God which this author expressed. Definitely outside the usual images and concepts that we associate with the Divine, this book expresses a reality that I found both challenging and comforting. The author has captured a very personal and relational vision of the inner workings of the Godhead, while also picturing that same intimacy as available to us.

This book has at the same time caused quite a stir and fury among some believers who consider it blasphemy, heresy and unbiblical. They tend to harangue about this book with a ferocity that certainly calls into question their real fears and motives. What is it that really bothers them? Why is it that they feel a need to attack?

I have found that this group of people is made up of individuals who have a rather rigid and narrow concept of God. Somehow God is defined by their language, their concepts, their images, ideas and theology. Anything that varies from that paradigm somehow is not true, but even seen as evil.

Yet as I read the Bible, I am struck by verses such as Is 55:8-9: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts."

God is not confined to our limited understanding, nor hemmed in by our narrow vision. I don't care which religion or faith we profess, whether Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or Muslim, as soon as we think that we have a corner on and control of the Divine, we have set ourselves outside the Reality. Whether Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist or Evangelical -- or any other denomination -- our finite grasp of the Infinite is more unlike the Truth than it is like it. We have more inaccuracies in our personal view than certainties. God is totally Other. When we think that we have solved the Mystery, we are just plain wrong.

In the Old Testament, the Lord said: "I am the Lord your God...You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3). Yet the Israelite people were constantly being warned and punished for making images of God which they would then worship. These were in the form of a golden calf or one of the other neighboring gods. Continually God called them to abandon this limited image of God.

In our own lives, God from time to time also calls us to let go of our encrusted image of the Divine and expand, stretch our understanding. Maybe we are not making actual physical idols. However, sometimes the idol has become our own understanding of Who God is and how God works. God then challenges us to grow, to move beyond that idol.

So when I find people defending God against supposed attacks, I am led to think that they are rather defending their understanding of God. It is their own insecurity many times that pushes them to this offensive posture. Their own fear drives them to tear down what they find to be threatening.

Somehow, I believe that God is able to take care of the Divine Godhead. It is I who need to change.

So if you are looking for a book that will stir you up, give this one a try.