{"id":5207,"date":"2019-10-01T03:41:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T10:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2019-11-26T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T00:52:49","slug":"the-shack-is-right-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/the-shack-is-right-but","title":{"rendered":"The Shack is Right, But…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wm. Paul Young\u2019s best-selling book, The Shack<\/em>, tackles questions about God, love, and evil. Young weaves positive themes to offer helpful answers. The book (and movie) continues to spark helpful conversations. <\/a>(Click the video photo for my theological review).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Plot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The plot of Young\u2019s fictional story revolves around the abduction and murder of young Missy. The dreadful event devastates the family, especially her father Mac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac cannot understand why a loving and powerful God would allow this evil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, Mac receives a mysterious\nletter with an invitation to the shack where police found his daughter dead. He\naccepts the invitation and returns to the scene only to find no one. In\ndespair, he nearly commits suicide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon leaving the shack, Mac encounters\na young man who invites him to meet God. Mac accepts and spends several days talking\nwith God, portrayed as a Trinity of three people. He also meets Wisdom\npersonified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of the story depicts Mac\nin conversations with God and those who have died. Many of his questions are\nanswered, and Mac begins to transform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shack<\/em> portrays God as warm, personable and loving rather than stern, wrathful, and aloof. When the Trinity is present, we find joy, laughter, dancing, understanding, and openness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shack <\/em>asks hard questions, and the answers it offers are mostly helpful. God is not portrayed as evil\u2019s cause, for instance. \u201cI work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies,\u201d says God. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean I orchestrate them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is present with those who suffer: \u201cI\u2019m in the middle of everything, working for your good.\u201d In response to Mac\u2019s anger over Missy\u2019s death, God as Trinity says, \u201cWe would like to heal it, if you would let us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when Mac says, \u201cEveryone knows you punish the people who disappoint you,\u201d God corrects him: \u201cNo. I don\u2019t need to punish. Sin is its own punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Unanswered Question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Shack <\/em>doesn\u2019t answer a key question those who suffer often ask: \u201cWhy didn\u2019t God prevent<\/em> the evil I endured?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac asks God, \u201cWhat good comes from being murdered by a sick monster? Why don\u2019t you stop evil?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gets no answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod may not do evil,\u201d says Mac, \u201cbut He didn\u2019t stop the evil. How can Papa allow Missy\u2019s death?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, no answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re\nthe almighty God with limitless power,\u201d Mac says. \u201cBut you let my little girl\ndie. You abandoned her.\u201d God ignores \u201clet my little girl die\u201d and replies to\nthe charge of abandoning, \u201cI was always with her.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac asks the right question. But he receives no answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the positive aspects of The Shack<\/em>, the story offers no believable reason why a good and powerful God fails to prevent<\/em> genuine evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nProblem with Mystery<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Several times in The Shack<\/em>, God says to Mac, \u201cYou misunderstand the mystery.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, the Spirit says, \u201cYou\u2019re trying to make sense of the world looking at an incomplete picture.\u201d Wisdom questions Mac\u2019s ability to judge good and evil, implying that he\u2019s not competent to make such judgments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who think God could<\/em> stop evil often appeal to mystery. They rightly say God is smarter than we are. But they mistakenly think our lack of knowledge is the best answer to questions of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to knowing God, we only know in part. So some ignorance is unavoidable. Our views of God are never 100% true. We see as if looking through a distorted windowpane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But appealing to mystery on whether we\ncan judge good and evil undercuts belief in God\u2019s love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me explain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is God’s Love Evil?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The major idea of The Shack <\/em>is that we should accept, deep down, that God loves us. I endorse this idea. In fact, believing God loves us, others, and all creation is the most important idea of our lives!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Shack<\/em>, God scolds Mac for thinking he can judge good and evil. Mac is told that has an incomplete picture of life, so he can\u2019t <\/em>know what is ultimately loving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s unfair to encourage Mac to believe in love and then question his ability to know what love is. That kind of mystery makes no sense!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we cannot know what is good, it makes no sense to say God is good. If we don\u2019t know the difference between love and evil, we should feel no joy in thinking God loves us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, this love may be evil! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should be wary of worshiping a God whose love is mysterious, because we never know whom the Devil he may be!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If The Shack <\/em>had said God could not prevent evil singlehandedly, it could have avoided the mystery card. It could have answered the central question survivors ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explain the details of what this entails in my book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils <\/em>(SacraSage 2019). I encourage you to read it for the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Loving\nPapa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Shack\u2019s <\/em>greatest strength may be the picture it paints of an intimately loving God. The book\u2019s characters call God \u201cPapa,\u201d even though God the Father is depicted as a Black woman and the Spirit is an Asian woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papa often talks about being \u201cespecially fond\u201d of people. I like that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depicting God as a loving parent helps us understand God\u2019s persuasive influence as uncontrolling love. Some people mistakenly think that if God doesn\u2019t control us or creation, God must do nothing. To them, God\u2019s action is either all determining or nonexistent. God either rules all or influences none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a middle way between control and absence. That\u2019s the way of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caring parents \u2013 Papas \u2013 express loving influence that neither overrules nor withdraws. Loving mothers and fathers don\u2019t micromanage or rule with an iron fist. But they aren\u2019t absent either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loving fathers and mothers guide, instruct, persuade, call, correct, convince, encourage, nudge, teach, warn, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the best word to describe ongoing parental love is \u201cnurture.\u201d Nurturing involves cultivating the lives of children by providing positive experiences, wise instruction, and forgiveness. And nurturing implies working alongside the agencies of others, not controlling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus called God \u201cAbba,\u201d a word for an intimately and consistently loving Father. Abba is Papa. If you want to read more on this, check out John Cobb’s book, Jesus’ Abba<\/a><\/em>: The God Who Has Not Failed<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God acts like a loving parent who nurtures children.<\/p>\n\n\nWe should be wary of worshiping a God whose love is mysterious, because we never know whom the Devil he may be! <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n

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[i]<\/a> Wm. Paul Young, The Shack <\/em>(Windblown, 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wm. Paul Young\u2019s best-selling book, The Shack, tackles questions about God, love, and evil. Young weaves positive themes to offer helpful answers. The book (and movie) continues to spark helpful conversations. (Click the video photo for my theological review). The Plot The plot of Young\u2019s fictional story revolves around the abduction and murder of young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[453,961,6701,6702,6705],"yst_prominent_words":[5330,6694,6692,6691,6689,6688,6687,6056,6055,5885,1093,4782,4515,2811,2004,1958,1482,1458,1349,1338],"class_list":["post-5207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open_and_relational_theology","category-postmodern_philosophy_theology_and_culture","tag-mystery","tag-the-shack","tag-william-paul-young","tag-wm-paul-young","tag-god-and-mystery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5207"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}