The Shack by William P. Young is a recent book that has exploded in the evangelical world. Eugene Peterson endorses the book with these words:
"When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!"
The Shack is currently #5 at Amazon.com on the bestseller list. This book is basically about the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a very important doctrine to think about correctly. Bruce Ware gives 10 reasons to focus on the wonder of the doctrine of the Trinity in his book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Crossway, 2005).
- The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith and therefore is deserving of our careful study, passionate embrace, and thoughtful application
- The doctrine of the Trinity is both central and necessary for the Christian faith to be what it is. Remove the Trinity, and the whole Christian faith disintegrates.
- Worship of the true and living God consciously acknowledges the relationship and roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Christian's life of prayer must rightly acknowledge the roles of the Father, Son, and Spirit as we pray to the Father through the Son, in the power of the Spirit.
- The Christian's growth in Christlikeness or sanctification is rightly understood and enriched when seen as the work of the triune God.
- The triune relationships of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the unity of the triune God.
- The triune relationships of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the diversity within the triune God.
- The triune relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to wonder at the social relationality of the triune God.
- The triune relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cause us to marvel at the authority - submission structure that exists eternally in the three Persons in the Godhead, each of whom is equally and fully God.
- The doctrine of the Trinity - one God existing in three Persons in the ways Scripture describes - provides one of the most important and neglected patterns for how human life and human relationships are to be conducted.
Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Seattle has given us this little video nugget
The Shack is fiction and graven imagery of God is presented (to which I believe would be breaking one of the ten commandments). Would anyone suggest that this is similar to what C.S. Lewis has done with the metaphor of Aslan? Is there a difference?
1 comment:
Unless Aslan's actions or character ever stray from a sound Biblical representation of Christ, it is okay. The Shack's evils are pretty obvious when held up to a Biblical standard.
However, I think we can easily over-criticize. Say I were to write a story where a certain man (structure him in your mind however you wish) plants a garden. He puts much work into it, even building a tower and a wall around it. Then he leaves and puts tenants in charge over it. Long story short, the tenants are selfish murderers, so when the man returns he kills the tenants. If I say this man is God the Father, is this graven imagery? Or is this Mark 12?
Many of the arguments used by Driscoll and Challies would count the parable of Jesus as heretical. Thus, such arguments should be scrapped.
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