Heresy?
That seemed a bit strong for this particular book. Unfortunately, that word appears to get thrown around too often and I wonder if that cheapens its usage and in doing so, means that we lose the impact and true definition of the word.
So, is it Heresy?
In my opinion, it is not.
I will say that there were some things that bothered me about the book. In “The Shack,” the author paints a picture of the Holy Trinity as three separate individuals: God, the Father is an overweight black woman who is awkwardly referred to as ‘Papa.’ The mental image I kept getting was of the “Oracle” from “The Matrix” Trilogy of movies. She cooks and is whimsical and is probably modeled after a strong southern woman who’s lived a long life and is a bit tired.
Jesus, is well, Jesus. But in this regard, he’s described as a sort of Arab auto mechanic. He’s good with tools. He’s a nuts and bolts sort of guy. He’s a carpenter (go figure). He comes across as very human. I actually didn’t have much of a problem with His portrayal. (It also wasn’t much of a stretch...)
The Holy Spirit is ‘Sarayu’ who is almost an apparition in the way She is described as moving about. Truthfully, She comes across as a sort of ditsy type of japanese anime character. Like if Bjork was a Pokemon character.
Now, I understand that the author had to make these Parts “writable,” but I think that’s where a fatal flaw occurs. In making them “writable,” the author created them in his image. They aren’t all that biblically based and I fear that that will give an unstudied person the wrong idea about the nature of God.
Plus, the biggest concern I have about these “human” figures is that they don’t behave the way you might expect God to behave. For instance, the most troubling aspect of all of this is that God is not most interested in His Holiness and His Glory. Rather, the story is far too man-centered to be fully credible. ‘Papa’ admits to “not intervening” or watching human events unfold as if He is powerless to effect them. This, to me, is a dangerous view of God’s sovereignty. The God of the bible is all-knowing and all-powerful and is not relegated to merely setting events into motion and crossing His fingers that they play out the way He wants.
Like watching someone spinning plates. (Cue Sabre Dance)
The other thing that I thought was troublesome was the notion the book flirts with that there is no punishment in a real place called Hell. Eternal punishment is never really “locked down” within discussions in the book. The best line that illustrates this is, “Sin is its own punishment.”
Really?
But, the thing that really jumped out at me was the absolute and complete lack of an scripture reference anywhere in the book. Now, I realize that it’s a work of fiction and that the author may have had his own ideas about whether to include a lot of scripture, but the absolute lack of it is appalling.
Never once does any of the characters refer to scripture in a way that would further prove their point. Wouldn’t it have made sense and been impactful if one of the characters had used scripture to further illustrate? “Isn’t it written in [a particular book, chapter and verse] that it would be this way?” Or “I said in [book, chapter and verse] that this is the way such-and-such is. I wanted you to know that, which is why it’s in my Holy Book.”
But nothing of the sort.
So while there are some very nice moments within the book, I don’t think I would recommend it as something worth your time. Keep in mind that I’m not saying “don’t read it.” If you want to read it, go right ahead. I’d be curious to know what your take on the book is, but I just don’t think it’s something you have to read. If you skip it, I don’t think you’re skipping much.
Overall, it’s a good concept but it’s executed poorly and it leaves enough wiggle room that the reader without a strong bible background may be easily confused or mis-guided. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a strong bible background, but my background was strong enough to see the apparent inconsistencies between “The Shack” and God’s inerrant Word.
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