My blessed, little evangelical friends cannot seem to EVER get it or leave well enough alone. The new target-of-the-month? A book called 'The Shack' by William P Young. A great, somewhat disturbing book, about a guy that suffers a loss like no other and in his quest to heal meets up with God in a very unique way and in a very unique place. 'The Shack' has met surprising success in the literary world and has sold over 1.1 million copies. Usually when this happens in the 'Christian' world, criticism usually follows such success. (unless your church now draws thousands of people, then it's 'all good') So what is the problem with this book about grace and healing? Mr. Young apparently is trying to send us all to hell with a 'warped' presentation of the Trinity--God, the Father- Jesus, the Son- and The Holy Spirit. Mind you, this wonderful word, trinity, is NEVER used in the Bible, but apparently Mr. Young must now be called out in public by 'really hip' and 'really young' new breeds of pastors that can release their ill-conceived rants on youtube for one and all to see and hear. I believe in the concept of the Trinity, but I get a real kick out of the millions that have tried to explain it and can't seem to agree with each other on many of the finer points. Pretty solid doctrine there huh?
One of these great 'new stars' in the evangelical universe is Mr. Mark Driscoll. Oh, he's an impressive guy. He's a pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church (not the one Rob Bell started) in Seattle and has an adoring flock of about 6000 sheep. Mr. Driscoll's favorite word is heretic. He throws this word to William Young and even to the likes of Rob Bell. What's a heretic? Thanks for asking.
"Someone who disobeys or disbelieves fundamental tenets of a religion they claim to belong to; Of or pertaining to heresy or heretics."
Another fun definition is
- a person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church or
- a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion)
Albert Mohler, a leading theologian of the Southern Baptist Convention, which takes the Bible literally, trashes The Shack in his weekly radio show, calling it "deeply subversive," "scripturally incorrect" and downright "dangerous."
Says Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle: "If you haven't read The Shack, don't!"
(this by the way, is my favorite Driscoll quote. I mean let's make sure people don't read anything for themselves you dolt as not to possibly question your unshakable standing as knowing the complete truth of all theological banter)
Driscoll, whose multi-campus non-denominational church is packed with 6,000 people each weekend in the least-churched corner of the nation, says he is "horrified" by Young's book. He says "it misrepresents God. Young misses the big E on the eye chart."
The trinity is a major theme of the book. Again, this isn't in dispute. But it's the way God, in particular, is presented that has many, like Driscoll, so unnerved. Mark’s view has no tolerance for God the Father represented as a female (sorry to give that away), and he believes that to represent Him as a fictional character is making a graven image (Hey dill weed, ever read CS Lewis and a Lion named Aslan?) . Also, Mark’s doctrine strongly opposes a non-hierarchical understanding of the trinity.
According to him, those who accept the picture of God - Father, Son, and Spirit - described in the book The Shack are not thinking folks and are embracing a heretical doctrine. Are you kidding me? Driscoll actually thinks there are people that think, after reading The Shack, that God is a large black woman? Seriously? Really? Honestly? Did these same people vote for Al Franken?
If you haven't read this book then this blog is hitting you like me telling you all about a movie you haven't seen. Well, read the book. If you think it's garbage, fine. I have no problem with that. My problem is egomaniacs like Driscoll telling me that this or that is garbage and encouraging me not to look into it myself. I AM SO SICK of that brand of Christianity. I have fought that my whole life when it comes to music. I'm sure Mark would say that it's 'heretical' to play Van Halen for an alter call. Well guess what 'pastor'? I've done it and I'd do it again. Again, my problem isn't that Driscoll has a problem with the book. Fine. It's that he calls people heretics without ever meeting them and says that I'm, or anyone reading 'The Shack' isn't not sharp enough to figure out that the book is fiction and it may lead me to hell. Give me a break. I have soooooo many other things that would do that before this book would. :-)
Here's the conclusion of the USAtoday article and I love Young's comments:
Mohler, Driscoll and other evangelicals pick The Shack apart plank by plank.
No, God can't be a presented as a woman. No, the three parts of the Trinity did not all become fully human. Yes, there is a hierarchy in the Holy Trinity with God the Father in command. Yes, God will punish sin.
Young shrugs them off. Out there in America, where only three in 10 people attend weekly worship services and millions are ignorant of the Bible, his readers struggle to find a good God amid their pain.
As for critics, he shakes his head.
"I don't want to enter the Ultimate Fighting ring and duke it out in a cage-match with dogmatists. I have no need to knock churches down or pull people out," he says.
"I have a lot of freedom by knowing that you really experience God in relationships, wherever you are. It's fluid and dynamic, not cemented into an institution with a concrete foundation."
"But it's not about me. I have everything that matters, a free and open life full of love and empty of all secrets."
Well said sir. Well said.
People you may not like many things about popular culture or even things found trolling around in Christian book stores, that's fine. What needs to stop, or at least have the brakes applied to it to slow it down, is this constant drumbeat of 'well meaning Christians' screaming SINNER!!!! or HERETIC!!!! Enough already. Haven't we sent enough people to hell by not simply modeling what Jesus wanted of us in regards to widows and orphans? Have we not already been heretics by watching people around us struggle and suffer and yet we spend $70,000 on a new Church sign? I dare say that millions will come to better understand the grace of God by reading 'The Shack'. If that be the work of a heretic then SIGN ME UP!
I'm glad William (Paul) Young wrote 'The Shack'. I'm glad it made me think. I'm glad it made me feel something that I hadn't felt in a while. I'm glad 'thinking people' can discuss the book without issuing tickets for hell. I'm glad that my God isn't above searches and isn't above questions. I'm glad my God welcomes those that wish to express and explore and not simply 'accept' the alms fed to the masses.
___________________________________________________________________
I challenge all of you to something: Give more away this Christmas than you spend on yourself or your own family. Have some sort of interaction with someone this Christmas that has far less than you. I know we can all give to this charity or that charity and that is a good thing. But I want you to think about actually handing something to someone directly and telling them that they are being thought of in a special way. I will fire up the 'Elpis Van' (my minivan) and hit downtown on some cold nights and hand out gloves and blankets. Come join us. Find a family close to you that isn't going to have much for Thanksgiving or Christmas and do something for them. I'm tired people. I'm tired of disussing this verse and that verse coupled with this wing of dogma vs. that tree of theology. I'm tired of worrying about whether I'll ever be 'good enough' to let God love me or even to love myself. I'm tired. I just want to see myself and others around me help each other and love each other. You know, 'widows and orphans'. You know, 'do unto others'. You know, 'Love your neighbor'. I'm pretty sure Jesus never said, 'don't screw up the doctrine of the Trinity or there'll be hell to pay'. Pastors, lead your flock to the truth. Don't 'become' their truth.
