SIX MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH THE SHACK
Feb 24, 2017FOR YOUR GIFT OF ANY AMOUNT
The Shack
Uncovered
This
Spring, the New York Times bestselling book The Shack by
William P. Young will come to the big screen. The emotionally charged story
seems to offer a resolution to the problem of pain—those who are struggling
with the question, “Where is God when the world is full of brokenness?” Though
many readers have labeled Young’s story a compelling work of Christian fiction,
discerning believers must ask themselves: Are The Shack’s
underlying teachings Biblically sound, or a far reach from the teachings of
God’s Word?
Though you might be
swayed into thinking the god of The Shack is the same as the
God of the Bible, there are several problems that arise if we take a close look
at The Shack. Here are six concerns
that develop as Mack converses with Young’s caricatures of the Trinity.
LOVE VS. JUSTICE
Problem
#1: According to Young, justice and love are at odds and cannot be reconciled. He
reasons that God will never judge people for their sins because He is limited
by His love. Neither will He enact eternal judgment upon those who reject Him
or send anyone to torment in hell.
But why would Jesus
Christ die a criminal’s death on the cross if not to save us from something?
What a wasteful and pointless act it would be if Christ did not take on our
just punishment, the wrath of God, for our sin.
We
cannot remove the wrath of God from Scripture. It
is as surely a part of His character as His love and mercy are. But God’s wrath
is not a human anger that flares up because of wounded pride or envy. His wrath
is not self-indulgent, but rather, as theologian J.I. Packer says in his book Knowing
God, “a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only
angry where anger is called for. . . . all God’s indignation is righteous.”
The
Bible is very clear about why Jesus came to earth, humbly taking on the very
nature of a servant (see John 3:16-18, Philippians
2:6-7). Jesus Himself warned about the coming judgment and hell,
commissioning His followers to proclaim the Gospel that the lost might be saved—that
they might choose life (see Matthew
25:31-46, Revelation 21:6-8). Ultimately, that is what every
person must do: Either choose salvation through the atoning blood of Jesus or
choose the wrath of the righteous God.
Would Mack really want a
God who would not punish evil? Would he be okay with a God who would not exert
justice for the evil done to his daughter? Would God be good and loving if He
said to Mack, “We’ll just let this slide”? Of course not. He shows us His love
by both punishing sin and providing us with an escape: “But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
He is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus
34:6-7).
UNIVERSALISM: A PERILOUS PARDON
Problem
#2: Another theme in The Shack that doesn’t square with the
Word of God is the idea that God forgives all of humanity, regardless of
whether or not they repent and believe in the redeeming work of Jesus. It
is an idea rooted in universalism—the belief that all roads lead to God and
that Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God,
whether they call Him Jesus or Buddha or Allah. In fact, Young asserts that
there is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because all people will
make it to heaven.
The
Bible is very clear that only those who call on the name of Jesus will be
saved: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12.
See also 1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 10:9).
Universalism is a dangerous and malicious lie. It leads people to think that it
doesn’t matter what you believe, sin is not really a problem, and there is
really no need for a Savior. Universalism single-handedly destroyed
Christianity in much of Europe, and universalism is working hard to destroy the
faith of remnant believers in the American church today.
Jesus
is not the same as Buddha or Krishna; He does not hide behind such false and
impotent gods. He became flesh and dwelt among us that we might know
Him. He wants us to know the one true God. He wants the glory that He
deserves, for He alone is God: “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not
yield my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).
Are you
willing to risk your eternal future on feel-good fluff? Sin is real. It is
rebellion against God, and it requires justice. God’s justice and wrath were
poured out on Jesus Christ to reconcile us to the holy God (see 1 Peter
2:24-25). But we must have faith in Jesus, confessing His lordship
and believing in His resurrection.
Jesus calls out to us,
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that
leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew
7:13-14). Beware of the “broad road” theology of The Shack.
WHO IS THE POTTER?
Problem
#3: In The Shack, the god character tells Mack that “submission is
not about authority or obedience” and that the Trinity is even submitted to
Mack (145). Young is suggesting that God submits to human wishes and
choices.
The
Bible in its entirety points us to the need to submit to God. Submitting is by
definition yielding to the authority of another. God created man, and man
cannot dictate terms to God. As Isaiah 29:16 says,
“You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the
clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’?
Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?”
God does not answer to
us; we answer to God. In this way we remain in His love: “If you keep my
commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands
and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and
that your joy may be complete” (John
15:10-11). Submission is about obedience, and
that’s because obedience is ultimately about love. Jesus Himself said, “Anyone
who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23).
To minimize obedience is to minimize love for God.
THE LIVING WORD
Problem
#4: Young alleges that the Bible limits God, implying that it was man who
reduced God’s voice to paper: “Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book”
(66). Thus the Bible is portrayed as inadequate to know God.
If the
Bible were simply a book written by man, then it would be about as useful as The
Shack. However, the Bible was written over the course of about 1,800 years
with many different authors all inspired by the Holy Spirit. They
all through various time periods and life experiences tell the same story,
pointing us to the Messiah—Jesus, who is the very Word of God made flesh (John 1:1-4, 14).
It is
through Scripture that God chose to reveal Himself to us. The
Bible is a divine product. Jesus Himself trusted the Scriptures and used them
to teach about Himself (see Luke
24:44-47). If the risen Lord values, trusts, and feeds on the Bible
(see Matthew
4:1-11), should we not also look to it as the saving Gospel it is?
Let us therefore heed Paul’s words:
Continue
in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those
from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God
may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy
3:14-17)
ENCOUNTERING THE SOVEREIGN, HOLY
GOD
Problem
#5: The God portrayed in The Shack seems casual and
unconcerned with holiness, which is inconsistent with what we see in the Bible. Mack’s
troubling disrespect and disregard for the Trinity would be impossible if he
had encountered the sovereign, holy God.
By
presenting a god wholly different from the true God revealed in the Bible,
Young mocks the importance and uniqueness of the Word of God. He makes the
Bible equal to or less than whatever personal imagination anyone might have of
God. Mack did not encounter the Holy God of heaven and earth in the shack, but
a created god who is controlled and manipulated by man—like an idol that is put
away in a closet and brought out when needed. The Shack exchanges
“the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human
being” (Romans 1:23).
While
it’s a righteous desire to want to know God, Mack’s fictional experience of
encountering God is demonstrably inconsistent with what we see in Scripture.
It's also a poor sequel to the true story we already have of God’s interactions
on earth through Jesus Christ. When Moses asks God to show him His glory, God
warns, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20)—such
is the dangerous magnificence of the Father’s glory. We must be careful of
assigning any image to Him that diminishes His holiness.
In Scripture, when people
face the Lord, they fall down in repentance and worship. Isaiah’s response was:
“Woe to me! . . . I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among
a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).
When John is swept up to heaven in a revelation from God and sees the glorified
Jesus, he falls at His feet “as though dead” (Revelation
1:17)! When Job was confronted by the Lord as He laid out His
majesty, Job replies, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
God is awesome, and we simply cannot stand in His presence. Neither can we live
without Him.
THE ULTIMATE QUESTION
Problem
#6: In The Shack, Young tries to answer the important personal
question of suffering—and he thinks the answer is to change who God is. But
God has already answered this question perfectly according to His true and
unchanging character. He answered it with the Gospel. He answered it on the
cross. He answered it through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As we
carefully consider the ideas presented in The Shack, the greater
question we must ask ourselves is: Am I willing to accept God’s gift of eternal
life as it is revealed in Scripture? Am I willing to accept God’s salvation the
way He provided it—even if I want something else that accommodates my wishes,
desires, and emotions? Am I willing to accept Truth over what makes me
comfortable, realizing that Truth is what I need—for it alone leads to eternal
life?
We must
not allow ourselves to be swayed by emotionalism. We must instead be like the
Bereans, who “examined the Scriptures” rather than readily accepting what they
heard as Truth (Acts 17:11). Because no story, no matter how
compelling, can ever improve upon God’s story of redemption in the Bible.
Beloved, the best place
to meet God is not at the shack, but at the cross. For the
Gospel is the greatest story ever told, and better still, it is true.
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