Biblical Truth on The Shack

Dr. Alan Day is a pastor I highly respect and when i wanted to speak out on the book: The Shack, i found that Dr. Day had said all that needed to be said and he said it better than I could have said it. So here it is read it and adhere to it because he is right.


Commentary on the Shack by Alan Day

Dr. Alan Day is the senior pastor of Edmond, Okalhoma's First Baptist Church, and my wife, Robbie, and I are delighted that he is our pastor. I have the privilege of serving as our church's evangelism coordinator under his leadership. He is an outstanding theological scholar and has wise spiritual insight. He embraces the Bible as God's fully sufficient inspired word. Recently, he wrote a review of a book that is getting an unusual amount of attention, The Shack by William P. Young. With his permission, I am glad to share his thoughts with you. They first appeared in our church newsletter, The Clarion, on August 20, 2008. -WB

Since several of you have asked my opinion of the novel, THE SHACK, I decided to give a brief review of the book in this article. There is a continuing stream of favorable reviews, and many are claiming that the book has revolutionized their lives.

The main character of the novel, Mack Philips, has lost his daughter. She has been murdered, her bloodied dress found in an isolated shack. Four years later Mack receives an invitation from God to spend time with the Trinity in the very shack where the dress was found. He goes back to the shack and meets the Trinity. Papa is a large, African American woman. Jesus is a carpenter, and a rather homely one; and the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman.

The attraction of THE SHACK is its emotional appeal to those who are struggling with the most common of human emotions-grief and sorrow and anger and disappointment. And that's the danger. It is so emotionally captivating that the theological content can be absorbed unconsciously.

I can only list the most glaring theological concerns. Even though there are positive features, these can never redeem a book so full of error.

On p. 31, we learn that God is identical to the Great Spirit of Native American thought.

On p. 65, we learn that special revelation is still going on and that the Bible did not complete the revelation of God. "God's voice had been reduced to paper" is how he describes the traditional evangelical position.

On p. 100, we learn that Jesus did his miracles only as a man depending upon God, not as the God-man who had authority in himself to forgive sins, heal the sick, open blind eyes, or for that matter, to obliterate the universe with the word of his power. But the Apostle John calls Jesus' miracles "signs" and organized them to show that these miracles proved his divine nature. He begins his gospel with the eternal deity of the Son of God who became flesh and pitched his tent among us (John 1:1-18).

On p. 102, we learn that Papa has scars on her wrists. This attempt to identify the Father with the sufferings of Jesus opens the door to a view that was determined to be heresy by the early church. Called "Patripassionism" it is the view that the Father suffered on the cross. The church Fathers saw this as a confusion of the role of the second person of the godhead and condemned the view as heretical.

The scripture makes it very clear that it was the Son, not the Father, who bore our sins in his own body on the cross. I know that the Trinity is a mystery, but we must keep our thinking biblical or we open the door to every kind of offensive idea.

On p. 105, Jesus makes a mess in preparing a meal and Papa calls him "greasy fingers." Strange that the NT never speaks of Jesus making a faux pas, a mistake, a mess up, or whatever. If the Holy Spirit had thought we needed to see Jesus break dishes and make a mess of supper in order for us to know and trust him, then we would have such accounts in the NT. The author's attempt to make Jesus more like us and, thus, more likeable, is contrived and extreme. Did Jesus ever try to walk on water and fail? Did he ever attempt to heal and fail? Did he ever say "Oops?"

On p. 110, the author has Jesus say that he is the "best" way to relate to the Father and the Spirit. Jesus is not the BEST way, he is the ONLY way. The author is inclusivistic and postmodern in his understanding of salvation. This is dangerous and one of the greatest challenges of our day.

The author suggests that non-Christians are going to be saved (p. 182). He says that God does not punish us for our sins (pp. 119-20). On pp. 192, he suggests that God has done everything he can do to reconcile mankind and now he is waiting for men to respond to him. This is extreme Arminianism.

On p. 225, he continues this idea and says that he (Papa) has already forgiven every one of their sins, even though not everyone chooses relationship.
On p. 206, Papa says that she never has any expectations of anyone; therefore they can never disappoint her. She (he/it?) can never be disappointed in anyone. Where did this idea come from? It is pure postmodernism.

But the most disturbing idea is that God can be understood to be like an obese woman name "Papa." This sexual confusion hardly interprets the nature of God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit. And the feminine character, who represents the Holy Spirit, though emotionally attractive, hardly resembles the Spirit of Jesus in the New Testament.

God has the right to control how humans think about Him. The ancient world was full of female deities. Our contemporary world worships the spirit of Gaia and the feminine spirit. Feminist theologians debate the feminine side of God and some even relate the Holy Spirit to the idea of femininity. God could have revealed himself with feminine features if he had thought it wise and good and if that would have been true to his essence. But he did not. Therefore, in my opinion, we don't have the freedom to portray him with feminine characteristics.

God's purpose in revealing himself as Father, Son, and Spirit was not because God has male sexual characteristics, because he doesn't. His purpose is to faithfully describe his eternal nature. He chose Father, Son, and Spirit because, as omniscient, he knew this best described his eternal essence. The divine trinity is not mere allegory or metaphor. God's eternal essence is Trinitarian. He is eternally Father, Son, and Spirit.

The book is powerful, emotional, and attractive. Its subtle heresies, not apparent to most baby believers, make it very dangerous and, consequently, disturbing to me.
The author, William P. Young, stops short of affirming universal salvation; but he does raise the possibility and indicates some sympathy to the idea.

Beware of the coming flood of literature masquerading as biblical and evangelical which, in fact, advocates or at least sympathetically addresses the issues of inclusivism, universalism, and a kinder, gentler deity.
Tell someone.
Alan Day
To visit Edmond's First Baptist Church online click here.

Thoughts Central

Central Baptist Church I commend you on a job well done. I asked for the Central family to turn out in mass number to support the Littleton family and you did more than show up; you served, you welcomed, you greeted and it was the largest turnout for Central that I have seen in my short term of neraly 3 years. We had a record number of guest here for recent times.

358 people were here for the service to commision and send off Mike Littleton, awesome! We received 2,900 dollars for Lori and the children in the love offering. What was even more powerful was the response to the presentation of the gospel messsage. I saw more than 15 hands go up indicating repentance and trusting Jesus Christ as savior. Some even came forward and allowed us to discuss discipleship with them. God changes people and look what HE continues to do through Mike Littleton and the people of Central.

Special thanks to Daniel and the student ministry for a powerful presentation with the drama on Sunday night as well. Central is rapidly becoming the church I envision us becoming. A ministering body that never compromises the message of Christ and the standards of a Holy God while compassionatley reaching out to the downtrodden and the unchurched with passion.

I want to share with you that these are the times to rejoice and the times in which to work even harder. I pray we are all found faithful when our Lord returns. I pray we never stop showing compassion to the lost. I pray we always uphold biblical standards of purity until marriage and unity in marriage. I pray we are always found reaching out to the despised and the shameful who are looking for hope and forgiveness in Christ.

We need to be compassionate to the unwed mother and help her in her desire to follow Jesus. We need to be compassionate to the drunkard and the addict who desire to know the truth and so desperately need healing. We need to give wisdom to those who seek it for their marriages and relationships. We need to promote the the older teaching the younger how to follow Christ

Looking ahead I see Central being this type of church and to a large degree Central continues to make progress in that direction. To make us even better we have to make Sunday school better. Keep praying for teachers that God raise them up or bring them in to our fellowship. We need to start new units inorder to reach more unchurched people.

We must see more people saved, baptized and taught to obey all that Christ commanded each year. We are now nearly three months into the new church year and we must be faithful to the call. Remember our mission and action statement exist as one statement which reads: Great Commandment; Great Commission; Great Compassion.

By the way, as I write this on Tuesday night, November 18, 2008 Mike Littleton is at home with his family for 30 more days. Soon enough he will serve time long enough so I am not asahmed or feeling guilty that he has these last few days, 30 more days than we thought this morning. Today was a tough and emotionally draining day as I watched the Littleton family hug Mike goodbye expecting to see him remanded after the plea hearing today.

When the plea hearing ended Mike was allowed to go home through Thanksgiving and into December. Yes, we will have to go through this again in 30 days but tonight I rejoice that the Littletons have been given a few more days.

Be Biblical!
Andy Goode
Acts 20:24