The Shack

About a week ago I finished reading a book called The Shack by Wm. Paul Young.  It’s about a man’s encounter with God several years after the brutal murder of his daughter. While reading it I thought some of the scenarios and depictions of God and the Trinity were a little hard to swallow, but I could appreciate the book for what it could convey, and for trying to break some of our natural human misconceptions on God, our character, and how God views us and our relationship with Him.

There were a lot of statements and quotes in the book that made me think and maybe might make you think too. Here are a few that stuck out to me…

*There are times where you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn’t mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that makes sense only if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in.

*Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.

*…we could talk about the nature of freedom itself. Does freedom mean that you are allowed to do whatever you want to do? Or we could talk about all the limiting influences in your life that actively work against your freedom. Your family genetic heritage, your specific DNA, your metabolic uniqueness, the quantum stuff that is going on at a subatomic level where only I [God] am the always-present observer. Or the intrusion of your soul’s sickness that inhibits and binds you, or the social influences around you, or the habits that have created synaptic bonds and pathways in your brain. And then there’s advertising, propaganda, and paradigms. Inside that confluence of multifaceted inhibitors, what is freedom really?

*Everything is about him [Jesus]. And freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with him.

*You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved, is a limitation.

*I [God] don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is it’s own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.

*The real underlying flaw in your life, is that you don’t think that I [God] am good. If you knew that I was good and that everything - the means, the ends and all the processes of individual lives - is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not understand what I am doing, you would trust me.

*You humans, so little in your own eyes. You are truly blind to your own place in the creation. Having chosen the ravaged path of independence, you don’t even comprehend that you are dragging the entire creation along with you.

*To force my [Jesus] will on you, is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.

*Just because I [God] work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering, you will find grace in many facets and colors.

*I [God] have never put an expectation on you or anyone else. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behavior to get the desired result. Humans try to control behavior largely through expectations. I know you and everything about you. Why would I have an expectation other than what I already know? That would be foolish. And beyond that, because I have no expectations, you never disappoint me.

*Forgiveness does not establish relationship. In Jesus, I [God] have forgiven all humans of their sins against me, but only some have chosen relationship.