You may be thinking, “Oh great; another guilt trip coming from another book telling me how much I fail at evangelism.” There have been many books written on evangelism and every time we see it we are simply reminded how much we fail at the Great Commission. Books range from different styles of personal evangelism to church programs to supplement evangelism to how to make your church more appealing to “seekers.” The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever is different; and quite refreshing.
This book is different in that while it does admit our failures, it doesn’t try to offer another program to throw in the arsenal. Dever simply takes a look at the basics of evangelism in chapters answering some simple questions: Why Don’t We Evangelize, What is the Gospel, Who Should Evangelize, How Should We Evangelize, What Isn’t Evangelism, What Should We Do After We Evangelize, and Why Should We Evangelize. The book simply explains what is so often ignored or at best assumed in most other evangelism books in order to “be an encouragement, a clarification, an instruction, a rebuke, and a challenge all rolled up into several short chapters.” (pg. 16)
The first chapter takes a look at the various excuses and complaints that keep us from evangelism. Instead of just offering a Bible verse to show where the excuse fails, Dever offers many practical steps to overcome our fears and move toward better obedience. It is not so much a rebuke as it is a gentle push in the right direction.
By far the best and most important chapter in The Gospel and Personal Evangelism is the second chapter detailing what the gospel is. Too often in evangelism discussions the gospel is assumed or lost in a sea of Christian clichés. After enough clichés are thrown around the message loses its meaning and ceases to be the gospel. Dever addresses many of these misunderstanding a paints a clear picture of the message, “our problems aren’t fundamentally that we have messed up our own lives, or have simply failed to reach our full potential, but that we have sinned against God. And so it begins to dawn on us that we are rightly the objects of God’s wrath and his judgment, and that we deserve death, separation from God, and spiritual alienation from him now and even forever.” (pg. 35)
“Christ isn’t just our friend. To call him supremely that is to damn him with faint praise. He is our friend, but he is so much more! By his death on the cross Christ has become the lamb that was slain for us, our redeemer, the one who has made peace between us and God, who has taken our guilt on himself, who has conquered our most deadly enemies and has assuaged the personal, just wrath of God.” (pg. 39)
And the response to this good news is often confused in our messages to the world. We like to tell people to “ask Jesus into your heart” or “accept Christ” while these are not the response commanded so often in Scripture. These may have elements of truth in them, but throughout the New Testament the response to the gospel message is to repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another helpful segment of the book is Dever’s chapter on How We Should Evangelize. Too often we get bogged down in discussions on which program is best or which method works for what personality style you have. Mark Dever explains here that it doesn’t matter as much which method you use but it is the message that must be clear, biblical and bathed in much prayer. We must strive to verbally (that means with words, no matter how much you try to state a falsely attributed St. Francis of Assisi quote) explain the gospel to all who will listen so that it provokes deep self-reflection.
Other chapters take a look at why evangelism is important, what should accompany evangelism, and how our witnessing attempts get distracted by things that aren’t evangelism; imposition, social action, public involvement, apologetics, and pragmatic numbers counting. In the end, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism simply encourages the believer to be faithful to tell the message no matter what the result: “The redemption of an eternal soul is one sale that we, in our own strength, cannot accomplish. And we need to know it, not so that we won’t preach the gospel, but so that we won’t allow the gospel that is preached to be molded by what finally gets a response!” (pg. 109)
“We do not fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted; we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all.” (pg. 112)
Most believers, at some time or another, have wondered what direction God would like them to go. Which school should I go to? Which career should I pursue? Who should I marry? It gets even more confusing when all of the choices we are confronted with are actually good choices. When neither alternative is sinful and both would be godly decisions, which one will ensure that we are in God’s will. “Most of us acknowledge that God has a plan for the life of every believer, but often there seems to be some trouble in finding just which way this plan goes at a particular juncture.” (pg. 5)
In the book, Found: God’s Will, John MacArthur believes that everything we need to know about the will of God can be found in the pages of Scripture. The responsibility we have, then, is to pore over its pages to find out what it is. Through this book, MacArthur provides a short summary of his research into God’s will and encourages the believer in using it to help make the big decisions in life.
Found: God’s Will is more of a booklet as it is seven short chapters covered in about 60 small pages, but it offers simple guidance into making decisions and assurance that you can understand God’s will. It begins by sympathizing with the believer because every Christian truly wants to follow what God says is best for them. Nobody wants to be left outside of the will of God, so we often become stagnant as we wait for a “word from God” or a “nudging from the Spirit” to guide us in the right direction.
As you read through the book, it becomes clear that the will of God has less to do about making right decisions and more to do with becoming the right person. “I’ll tell you what [God’s will] is. First, that you know Christ and then that your neighbors hear about Christ.” (pg. 15) MacArthur develops the theme from the first step of actually being a Christian and then becoming more Christ-like.
Becoming more Christ-like starts with becoming a Christian and being Spirit-filled. A Spirit-filled believer is a Christian whose mind is saturated with God and His word. The more you fill your mind with the word of God, the more you grow in your faith and wisdom and your decisions become more godly. A consistent biblical lifestyle is then created in you as you pursue purity, control your flesh, act mercifully toward others, and develop a submissive, servant-like attitude. A Spirit-filled, Bible-saturated believer grows tremendously in faith that is willing and able to confront the world and withstand the resulting persecution. “Are you willing to suffer for Him who suffered for you? Are you willing to confront the world? That is the will of God.” (pg. 53)
Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” In Found: God’s Will, John MacArthur explains that God’s will isn’t about revealing the right decisions to you, but about who you are to become. This is done by studying Scripture passionately and obeying what He clearly commands. That is what it means to “delight yourself in the LORD.” Then, when you find your joy in Christ through His word you are already being led by God and you can choose the path you desire, trusting that He is the one who placed the desire in you. “The will of God is not, first of all, for you to go there or work here. The will of God concerns you as a person. If you are the right you, you can follow your desires and you will fulfill His will.” (pg. 60)
“Why is it that when we are in church or in a good worship time, God is so big and Satan is so small; but when we go out witnessing, Satan is so big and God seems so small?” (pg. 185) Mark Cahill, in his book One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, encourages believers with personal testimonies and motivating anecdotes to be more confident in sharing the gospel. We often find ourselves caught up in a wave of excuses when we don’t boldly stand up for Christ. Cahill tackles our excuses and replaces them with great excitement to be bold in our witness.
Each chapter contains a short lesson given to change the reader’s perspective on evangelism. Many times we convince ourselves that God would simply prefer us to sing praises to Him and have fellowship with other believers while we ignore obedience to the Great Commission. “I can guarantee that there is one thing you cannot do in heaven that you can do on earth. You can worship God in heaven. You can praise God in heaven. You can sing songs to God in heaven. You can learn God’s Word in heaven. But one thing you cannot do in heaven is share your faith with a nonbeliever. Why? Because everyone in heaven is a believer.” (pg. 17)
We often see evangelism as a duty that we must grit our teeth and bear through until we get to Heaven. Cahill encourages us with a story changing our attitudes from duty to privilege. He says that we must see evangelism not as something we have GOT to do, but something we GET to do. And when we understand that when we are persecuted for the name of Christ we earn crowns in Heaven. This helps us to realize that every time we share the gospel it is a win-win situation. No matter the response of our hearers, God is glorified by our obedience and we will be rewarded in heaven.
Not only does Cahill teach on evangelism, but he lives it. He has made it a personal goal to witness to every person he talks to. At a restaurant, on a plane, in the mall, Cahill sees the need for Jesus in every soul and he shares dozens of his personal experiences in the book including former basketball stars Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. “How do you see people? Everyone around you is either dying and going to heaven or dying and going to hell. That is biblically true. What do you want to do about it?” (pg. 197)
Cahill says that the Apostle Paul tells Timothy “that there are only two times to share the gospel with people: in season and out of season. Any other time would be wrong.” (pg. 20). Every church member knows it is their responsibility to share Christ with the world, but we too often get distracted or afraid and convince ourselves that the time just is not right to witness. One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven is a very motivating book to help you take your next step in being more obedient in evangelism. “Every breathing person you will ever meet needs Jesus. Those who are believers already realize how much they need Him in their life. Those who are nonbelievers most definitely need Him, for the rest of this life and for the eternal life to come. Since all these breathing people need Jesus, and you know Him personally…just go ahead and tell everyone you meet about the Son of God until you draw your last breath!” (pg. 90)
“In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’…Remember that if you are not fishing, you are not following.” (pg. 174)
Recently, Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow has received some attention from national media types not only for his great athleticism, but also for his bold faith. It seems that these columnists, while respecting Tebow's athletic ability and his charitible nature, can't stand the the quarterback is so "intolerant" to believe that people who don't turn from their sins and trust in Christ are going to find themselves to be found guilty on judgment day.
Albert Mohler has a nice article discussing the interesting contradiction that the authors find themselves in as they claim to represent a tolerant attitude while being intolerant of unashamed Christians. While I found this to be both frustrating and somewhat humorous, what struck me is the fantastic, faithful witness of Tim Tebow is a great example to all believers.
We often find ourselves in a struggle to be a good witness at work. We want to be peaceable and respectful in the places God has put us, but we also want to be courageous to share some hard truths with those around us. We want to be known for our kindness and our strong performances at work, but we are failing as Christians if we don't take it another step and proclaim Christ to be Lord and Savior. Some people may be on the opposite end of the spectrum, only being known for their constant disruption as they always talk about Jesus and fail to accomplish anything significant for their employer.
Tim Tebow has given us a great example that we can follow. We should be throwing those around us into a great contradiction as they wonder, "He is such a nice guy and a great worker, but I can't stand how unashamed he is in his faith."
Life is battle. There is an enemy, some soldiers, and a commander in chief. The enemy is the devil and his legions who fight to destroy all that God our captain values. The soldiers are the Christians, who fight to trust God and be Holy before him. The good soldiers follow and trust the captain to give them what they need, to set the rules of combat, and to encourage and sustain them through to the promised victory. Sometimes, while fighting for holiness and obedience to God, the enemy gets a foothold, and we find ourselves regularly defeated in certain areas of the skirmish. These sins continue to defeat us and they become habits-- bad habits. Habits are hard to break. How can we fight the good fight? How can we defeat the enemy, not just in the end, but now, day to day, in the battle? How can we overcome bad habits? Consider and combine the following 12 helpful strategies.
1) Remember who wins Begin a war you expect to win. Every true Christian is an ultimate overcomer. At the end of life, when God calls everyone to account for their life, the Christian claims the forgiveness offered by Christ who paid the price for our sin. We win the war against sin, God claims his own who have received him, and Satan is defeated forever and no longer will have any influence. Hebrews 10:14 says that God has perfected forever those who are sanctified. The battle is over forever. Praise God the battle term of life is short compared to the eternal length of celebrated victory. I am much strengthened in difficult situations when I know the outcome, and the outcome of the Christian is certain victory. Remember who wins.
2) Clean the slate Repent of past failures. There is one kind of forgiveness offered by God through Christ and that is forgiveness of sin, by God, through Christ. Forgiveness is cleansing. Forgiveness is healing. Forgiveness is comforting. The forgiveness that God offers restores health to the soul and joy to the heart. That is why 1 John 1:9 says that when we confess, he “cleanses us from all impurities.” We fail in the battle, and we feel the sting. God, who is the final judge of our lives, forgives the repentant sinner of mistakes made in battle. He offers us cleanness instead. Sometimes, the guilt that follows sinful behavior actually pushes someone toward more sinful behavior or habits or addictions. Confession removes the guilt, cleans the slate. Confess your sin to God, keep the slate clean.
3) Stay connected to the captain No soldier lasts long in the battle if there is not some ongoing communication from the general or captain or commander. A soldier would not know what to do, where to go, who is with him, and how the battle is going. Another has said well that prayer is not a peacetime walkie-talkie, but a vital life saving connection to the one who is in the process of securing victory for each true soldier. Talk often with the Lord. Seek him with your friends in battle. Listen for his voice in the quite moments. Know that if the communication with God fails, we will fail. The conclusion of the section in Ephesians telling Christian soldiers to put on the full armor of God says to “..pray at all times and stay alert…(Eph 6:18). Be sure to get your armor, don’t miss that, but get your instructions personally be staying connected to the captain.
4) Fight on the front line Remove the pictures and memories from your mind. The real battle over habitual sin happens in the mind. The mind considers options. The intellect weighs out the options. The heart makes a choice, and the body acts on it. James 1:14 says we are tempted by evil desires, then dragged away.” Desire is the battle field of the mind. We all have wrong desires. We are born with them. Most sins are contemplated and considered and desired in the mind before they are committed. That is why 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we have to “demolish” the arguments the mind uses to defend sin, and “take every thought captive.” We can change our thoughts. We can think about and direct out thoughts to something else. We can dismantle the false arguments the mind sets up to justify sin. Remember, “all a man's ways seem right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives. (Prov 16:2) Don’t always trust your thoughts, but always trust the truth. Take control of your thoughts and fight the battle on the front line.
5) Hold the right weapon The scripture is the Holy Spirit’s most aggressive weapon in the battle against sin. Hebrew 4:12 says “The word is powerful (KJV) effective (HCSB) active (NIV). Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible uses the metaphor of being washed by the water of the word (Eph 5). So, what truths are contained in God’s armory? Sin happens Rom 3:23 Sin is very dangerous Rom 6:23 Sin can be forgiven 1 John 1:9 We must fight against sin 1 Timothy 6:10 We fight the same sins as others 1 Cor 10:13 We can say no to sin Rom 6:6 We get help from the Holy Spirit Rom 8:26-27 We can walk in the Spirit Gal 5:16 ff We can deliberately place our affections Col 3:1-2 God prepares good works for us Eph 2:10 God is the place to find true pleasure Psalm 16:11 God is seen by those who are pure Matt 5:8 God can deliver from temptation if we ask Matt 6:13 Nothing separates us from the love of God Romans 8:39 We must know the truth of scripture to combat the lies of the enemy in our lives as we fight the battle for holiness. To win the battle for holiness, know the scripture to be your weapon, and hold the right weapon.
6) Remove obstacles to progress Get rid of present physical causes of defeat. In battle, many obstacles make the victory more difficult. In the Christian life, the same is true. Some situations provide heightened temptation. This could be person, a group of persons, a lack of persons, a relationship, a store, a restaurant, a car, a magazine subscription, a collection, a hobby, a website, or a combination of these. If any person or object causes your downfall, remove or avoid the obstacle as possible. That is why Jesus said if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off (Matt 5:30). In other words, it is better to lose a good thing than to have it cause you to sin. To win the battle over sin, remove obstacles to progress.
7) Limit the availability of distractions There are physical deterrents to victory in battle as described in point number 6. There are also distractions that come more in the thoughts than in the physical. If I have the goal of holiness, I must plan and think of a pathway that accomplishes that goal. Church attendance is good. Fishing is good. If my fishing consistently keeps me out of church, then my fishing is distracting me from my higher goal. Sometimes, we have competing goals, and one is a distraction to the other. Always choose to follow the goal that best honors God, even if the distraction is not a bad thing. This is why Rom 16:19 tells us to be wise about what is good. And that wisdom will teach us to limit the availability of distractions
8) Fight with a friend Life can be a lonely place and even when you are with others. Loneliness is not overcome by being with other people, but in knowing others and being known. Get the accountability of a friend to fight well on the front lines. The problem with secret sin is that it is secret sin. Find someone you can share with in the progress of sanctification, and battle together. Ask them to help you do better. Ask them to tell you what you cannot see in yourself. A very wise person said that the wounds of a friend can be trusted (Prov 27:6) Make sure you have someone like that in your life, make sure you fight with a friend.
9) Prepare for a long battle Sometimes I wish we came to know the Lord, and then he just took us to heaven, but he doesn’t. The battle is long and hard. The way is narrow, and few find it. Know this up front. There is no magic age where sin and temptation go away. They never go away, they just change their approach. Don’t lose heart. Progress in the area of lust may lead to a downfall in the area of pride. Progress in the area of distraction may lead to unloving attitudes. You get the idea. There are no quick fixes in the battle for holiness. The final battle for the soul is over, praise God! But the skirmishes last a life time. “So, we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. (Gal 6:9-10) Friends, get your gear on, look to the captain, and let’s prepare for a long battle.
10) Know the heart of the Captain It is critical to remember that God hates sin. Imagine if you will, you are out in a harsh battle. People are giving their lives for the cause and maimed and bloodied friends are the model of courage and faithfulness. Why all the dedication? Because, the enemy is very bad, and the captain is very serious. Jesus fought “the good fight.” Sin was so terrible and serious to God that Jesus gave his life to spare our lives. The same God who traded the life of his son for your forgiveness, does not now suddenly wink at sin. God hates sin. God punishes sin, and he has not changed his mind. To come to God for salvation is to begin a quest to know and love God. To love God, will be to share his heart—which is love for people, and hatred for sin. That is why the Bible says that one turns from evil by the fear of the Lord (Prov 16:6). We must never relax and think sin is not big deal. Sin was and is a very big deal for God. You will be helped to overcome in the battle as you know the heart of the Captain.
11) Bounce well In the battle for lust, author Steve Arterburn coined the phrase “bouncing the eyes.” Every soldier in the battle against bad habits may be helped by learning to bounce. Not just the eyes, but the thoughts, and even the body. The same way a person prone to lustful looks makes a covenant with his eyes to bounce away from images wrong to gaze on, another could bounce away from a line of thought, or a piece of pie, or binge and purging, or a website prone to waste time. We are able to “bounce” from anything. A habitual over spender can bounce away from stores or the shopping channel. When the impulse hits, bounce!! Turn your impulse to feed a bad habit into an impulse to break it, an impulse to form a good habit.
12) Find a greater pleasure We do what we do because we think it will make us happy. Pascal said “every man constantly chooses what he perceives to be in the interest of his own happiness; even the man who hangs himself.” We sin because we think it will bring us pleasure, and for a moment it may. But, the result of sin is not pleasure. Sin brings sadness, guilt, shame, and defeat. So the issue is not whether I am able to choose pleasure or not, but I do I tell my self the truth about pleasure? The truth is, life is found in God, his presence is joy, and in his hand are pleasures forever, not just a moment (Psalm 16:11). When I take more pleasure in obeying God and saying no to a bad habit, I am well on my way to victory over a bad habit. Pleasure is a slippery goal. Do I seek pleasure for the moment followed by guilt? Or, do I choose pleasure for later followed by …. pleasure? To overcome bad habits, tell your self the truth and find a greater pleasure.
So, now what? Maybe you don’t have any bad habits. If so, you need to find a friend to tell you the truth—right away! Seriously! So, maybe take a day to reflect on each one of these points. Maybe find an area to work on that will help the most. Maybe look for the lie you are believing and embrace the truth of scripture. Maybe find someone to battle with. Maybe, just go before the Lord and say, I want to fight the good fight, Lord, tell me what to do next and I will do it. And then, do exactly what he says. Now, there’s a good habit to get into!
William P. Young wrote a controversial book about his brokenness and how God reached into that pain and pulled him out. Since no publisher would take it, Young formed Windblown Media Company with a $300.00 budget and self published The Shack in 2007.
The book was not an overnight success, but after a slow start, advertised largely by word of mouth, The Shack made it to the New York Times bestseller list for paperback trade fiction, and has stayed there for nearly a year. Christian publishers apparently thought it was too controversial. Secular publishers passed because the content put it clearly in the ‘Christian’ marketplace.
Christian, secular, or otherwise, Shack reader’s opinions are usually passionate, and rarely consistent. The books polarizing effect is not uncommon in Christian or religious writing. One reader said, “I read and wept and slept and read again. Your work is a masterpiece! There are tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.” Another wrote, “I got to the point where God is a woman, and I quit reading.”
William P. Young, who goes by Paul, said he wrote The Shack as a gift for his six children. A 12 year old girl said “This is my most favorite book that I have ever read,” others say “If you haven’t read the book, don’t.” One national commentator says “Stay out of the Shack.”
I admit I read the book mostly because of the controversy. I think Young is a good writer, and a not so good theologian. But, in his defense, I am not sure that he was trying to be a good theologian. If the book is a metaphor, as Young calls it, then it is a metaphor of his personal Christian experience. The book may be an accurate recounting of his experience, even if his experience contains theological inaccuracies. Some of Young’s analogies are helpful in understanding a relationship with God, others I think are not, because they do not echo the words and heart of God from the Bible.
My purpose here is not to discuss the doctrinal discussions common to reviews of the book, although I think I could make some defendable arguments. I wrote because I am fascinated by the controversy! The bloggers, the polarization, the debate over the book (even by some who haven’t read it) intrigues me. Windblown Media’s website even has their response to “Is the book heresy?” I want to suggest four truths we can learn, not from the book, but from the controversy about it.
First, faith matters. There is a general sense among many that faith is an important issue, and what I decide about faith does indeed matter. A book written as a metaphor of the best fast food french fries available would gather little debate, even if you hate the fries the author likes, because french fries are not significant enough to argue about. But faith is. The truth claims of most religions are considered to determine the eternal destiny of a soul, or a person. The passionate polarizing debate over a book like The Shack reminds us of the seriousness of faith related issues, and that faith does indeed matter.
Second, discernment matters. A book cannot be the best book about God and the worst book about God at the same time. The claims are simply contradictory. But to say the book contains some helpful truths about God, and the book contains some potentially harmful errors about God at the same time is not a contradiction. The way to know the difference between the two is discernment—that is, the ability to sort out and recognize the difference between truth and error. Truth is not what you decide is true, truth is what actually is true. The reading of any book requires discernment, and especially regarding issues as important as God.
Third, the Bible matters. The Bible is the best book ever written about God and the Bible is the best book I’ve ever read about God. The Shack is not. While some will certainly argue, the general consensus among Christians is that the Bible is the truth about God for man. The Bible reveals what God has done, what he is doing, what he plans to do and often why he does it. Those who argue against the Bible’s incredible claims have a hard time producing a more credible option. The primary source of information about God comes from the Bible, and Young certainly gathered some of his knowledge of God from the Bible. The Christian Bible is the best book ever written about God. The closer another book about God comes to echoing the truth in the Bible, the better that book becomes.
Fourth and last, popularity does not matter. The popularity of a book or a truth claim does not make it true. Simple history alone is enough to prove that entire populations have proposed and embraced serious error. The popularity of a book may have little to do with the accuracy or benefit of it. Christianity has historically understood that truth is usually unpopular. Jesus, the savior and model in the Christian faith, was unpopular enough to be hated by evil men who plotted and effected his death. The religion that is popular with all men is more likely to be false than true. One preacher said, “You cannot be faithful [true] and popular at the same time, you have to choose.” Whether or not The Shack is popular, does not determine its credibility.
So, what about the polarizing effect of The Shack? Jesus certainly polarized his audience. Many loved him. Many hated him. Polarization in religious circles can result from truth or error. Jesus’ audience was polarized by the eternal seriousness of his message, and he was the real deal. He was truth. Is The Shack polarizing its readers because it is true? Or because it is contains error? Discerning readers will have to decide. And remember, because faith matters, your conclusion matters, but the popularity of that conclusion does not.
The Shack is the story of a man struggling to understand a great complexity in life. He has just lost his young daughter to a serial kidnapper/murderer and cannot see how a good God could allow such a thing to happen. He believes that a loving God would have stopped it from happening and feels that a truly loving God must therefore not exist.
The book describes this man’s journey as he returns to the place of his daughters murder only to meet with “God” who walks him into a new, broader understanding of the love of God; helping him to find peace from the terrible sadness that has overcome his life.
Throughout the book I found many things that were very helpful and biblical, convicting me in my own selfish desires. It was a good reminder that the world we live in has been destroyed by sin and that God finds joy in his plan to redeem it. Other things were more troubling as they seemed to contradict very clear teachings in the Bible. Some parts were just plain odd as I couldn’t really understand what the author was saying. Some of these positives, concerns, and confusions are listed at the end as I don’t have time to cover them and others have written extensively on them. The thing that stood out most clearly as I read the book, and what I cover here, was a misunderstanding of the gospel.
The Shack attempts to explain the wonderful beauty of the relational aspect of the Trinity. From eternity past God was supremely happy within the relationship of the Trinity. The sufficiency of His own relationship provided no need for the creation. However, because He had so much love to share, He decided it would benefit His own glory even more to create humans which would be able to participate in the love shared within the Trinity. We were created as relational beings primarily to be in a relationship with Him.
The beautiful relational nature of the god in The Shack and the picture of forgiveness described are very inspiring to those people who have had bad experiences with stodgy old religion, shallow empty churches, or hypocritical self-righteous “Christians.” It is a breath of fresh air to those who saw God as a boring, begrudging rule-maker who wants to make us into mindless drones on our knees throughout eternity chanting his “goodness.” The Shack offers us a picture of a future with God that is full of every beauty God intended in the original creation. Heaven will be a perfect relationship with Him, partaking in everything He created humans to enjoy (including much of which we can enjoy here in this world). This is causing many people to say that their lives were changed from reading this book. Their understanding of God was radically altered as a bright, colorful world created by God was opened up to them.
This is where I begin to be concerned. When a book gets praise for changing lives, it is much more than a work of fiction. The Shack is actually theological fiction, as it was written by the author in a fictional story to teach his children about God. The Word of God is the only thing truly capable of changing lives to be pleasing to Him. With as little as The Shack contains actual Scripture references, I wonder how then it can change lives. The few times Scripture is introduced into the book, it is for the god of the shack to move us away from looking to the Bible for godly wisdom.
We in America tend to do what makes us happiest instead of doing what is right. So many people claim this book has helped them despite the fact that so much of the book is wrong. It is so easy for us to define God in a way that is more comfortable for us than to listen to God’s own description of Himself in the Bible. We like to make ourselves happy by creating a god in our own image instead of asking God to reveal His true self to us. Readers of The Shack claim to have grown closer in their relationships to God. This sounds very spiritual, but unless it reveals the true God of the Bible, they are only growing closer to an image.
Suppose you want to have a relationship with me. You desire to grow closer to me. Someone has given you a book that says it will draw you closer to me. You read it, study it, and find that it has changed your life. It has made you more peaceful, forgiving, kind, and generous and you say you feel much closer to me. It tells you I love poetry (which I don’t), and that my favorite color is green (it is not). The book describes my love for astrology (not true) and gives you my phone number and address (which are not accurate). It says my hair is dark brown, that I am 5’10” tall and I weigh 225 lbs. (not even close). There is a problem here. While you may feel like you’ve drawn closer to me, you have only grown closer to a false image of me. When you tell people that you know me and that I know you, you are actually deceived because you don’t really have any idea who I am. This is much more serious with God, because if it means the difference between heaven and hell, not just being my friend or a stranger, then you will want to be sure you truly know the real God. Careful discernment must be exercised to find out if the god of The Shack is the same as the God of the Bible.
The story of The Shack is a dramatic telling of one man’s road to forgiveness and joy, but claiming to be a Christian story, it misses out on the ultimate story of redemption as covered throughout the pages of the Bible. The gospel is the central theme of Scriptures; the redemption of people throughout history from the consequences of sin by the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the praise and glory of God. While The Shack does touch on a few of these themes, it also undermines (perhaps unintentionally) some of the basic, foundational aspects of the glorious gospel.
It is definitely true that we were created to enjoy the glory of God in a relationship with Him forever. However, we squandered that possibility as we decided we were more capable than God of determining what was best for ourselves. Our pride determined that we would seek our own way instead of trusting God to be the leader of our lives as He purposed in the creation. This is the essence of sin; that we rebel against what God expects from us as His image bearers.
The 10 Commandments are not simply a list of rules that God created for us to follow, but a perfect picture of the character of His holiness. [1] There is one God who has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures. [2] Any picture or imagining of Him that is not revealed in the Bible is creating a false god. [3] His name is due honor and respect as it expresses His character. [4] The Sabbath rest commanded of us pictures the rest from striving to obtain his favor that we can find in Christ’s sacrifice. [5] Honoring our parents is a way that we honor God’s authority through the submission to the authorities God placed in our lives. [6] Murder (even anger and hatred) of an image-bearer of God are seen as a direct attack on His character. [7] Marriage was instituted to be a picture of the Trinitarian relationship and the relationship of Christ to His church; to seek for pleasure outside of this institution is metaphorical to seeking after false gods. [8] God gives some things to some and not to others. To take something that doesn’t belong to you is to question His providence. [9] To bear false witness (tell a lie) is to proclaim that there is deceit in the character of God. [10] God commands us to be content with what He has provided in life.
The god in The Shack claims that it has no expectations of people and therefore cannot be disappointed by us. Contrary to this feel-good expression, in the Bible God commands us to “be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
As we look at ourselves in God’s perfect mirror of the 10 commandments we see that we are so far from perfect holiness that we are completely helpless to obtain His favor. We begin to recognize the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and that we aren’t good people at all (Romans 3:12). When people in the Bible were standing before God, they were fearful for their lives as they realized that as sinners they could not possibly continue to live in the presence of God. Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3) and God hid him in a rock to prevent Moses from seeing Him and being killed (Exodus 33). Isaiah cried out to God not to kill him because he was a “man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6). When Peter recognized that Jesus was God, he pleaded with Jesus to leave his presence so he wouldn’t perish (Luke 5). Guilt arises in us as we realize that we do not deserve blessing, but we actually deserve just punishment in hell (1 Corinthians 6:9,10; Matthew 25:46). The guilt isn’t all bad, however, as it drives us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) and leads us to the good news of the cross (Galatians 3:24).
The good news of the cross is that Jesus, who lived the perfect life we are commanded to live, died on the cross taking the punishment we deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s justice and wrath against our sin was satisfied as He was pleased to pour out His punishment on His son Jesus (Isaiah 53:4,5,10). Those who repent and believe in Christ will be counted as sinless (John 3:16), but those who refuse to repent will not find their sins paid for but will pay for them on their own in eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). The Shack leaves the door open for those who deny Christ to still be reconciled with God.
Often times the love of God is misunderstood; pictured as God giving us a hug when we are sad or giving us nice things to enjoy. But the Bible always explains the love of God in connection with the death of Christ. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10). Love isn’t a warm feeling of pleasure magically given to us by the Holy Spirit, it is God allowing our sin to be transferred to Christ and Christ’s perfection to be transferred to us; so that His enemies (Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:3; John 8:44) become His children and friends. How truly amazing that God gives blessings to those who curse Him and offers eternal life in His kingdom to those who drag His name through the mud!
Because God loved us by giving us new life (1 John 4:9), we are “born again” (John 3:3) with a clean heart that desires to obey God. His commands aren’t a dead list of rules to us, but a delight (1 John 5:3) as we are being transformed into that image of His perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18). We delight to read of His works through the Bible (Job 23:12) as they are the words of life (John 6:68). We enjoy the fellowship of other believers at church gatherings because they have also been redeemed from their fallen condition (1 John 3; Hebrews 10:25). We are now able to forgive others because we realize how much God has forgiven us (Luke 7:47; Matthew 18:21-35).
No matter what a believer encounters in this world, we know that God is working through the corruption brought on by our sin to eventually bring goodness into our lives (Romans 8:28). We can handle the temporary trials because we know that one day we will be welcomed into heaven where there will be no more pain and death (Revelation 21:4) and we will get to enjoy the pure loving fellowship with God without our sin destroying every relationship.
While The Shack does a beautiful job of portraying loving relationships and the need for forgiveness, it lacks (and often contradicts) the holy, righteous demands of the Creator, making Him out to be at times a helpless bystander waiting for people to recognize He loves them. It tends to bring the glorious God of all creation down to a picture of a really good human. The God of the universe, revealed in the Bible, is much, much bigger and more powerful than this. He is in control of all things, working all things together for His glory and the good of His children. He will punish all sin wherever it is seen. He punished the sin of those who trust him on the cross of Jesus Christ and He will punish the sin of those who refuse to believe in eternal hell. It would have been perfectly just and right for Him to send us all to hell, but He has chosen to lavish His goodness on many and to redeem them to partake in His eternal glory in the beauty of heaven, far greater than anything we can imagine. This is what makes His love so great, that we nearly insignificant people would be cared for by the infinite Creator even though we didn’t deserve it. Praise be to God for giving mercy and grace to some to enjoy Him forever!
Quick Thoughts Running Through My Mind as I Read the Book
Strong Points
·When we question God’s goodness, we act as ignorant judges, believing ourselves to be more righteous than God Himself (pg. 159)
·Forgiveness requires leaving God to work out His plan and not allowing bitterness to control us.
·God is completely satisfied and self-sufficient within the Trinity.
·The main character, while often disrespectful of God, is at times brutally honest with God sounding like some of the Psalms crying out to God for understanding.
·Papa sensitive to Mack’s lack of a good father, as God is called in Psalm 68:5 “A father of the fatherless.”
·Mack realizes that God is a lot more complex than he could possibly understand and needs to trust in His goodness more.All good things come from God.
·God is not to blame for suffering and pain in the world, but we are for our selfish God-dishonoring decisions.
·God tells Mack that people like to determine good or evil based on their own feelings instead of looking to God for answers (pg. 134-136).
·We are created in God’s image to be in a relationship with Him.Our sense of justice, love, and creative imagination (pg. 141) show how we were different from the animals, specially made to be in fellowship with God.
·We fear so much because we don’t trust God (pg. 142).
·The church that the world sees does not always represent Christ the way it should (pg. 177,178).Jesus told us there would be true and false believers mixed in with the visible church, with the false believers giving the church a bad name.
·God is not the stereotypical grandfather-in-the-sky.He is magnificent, beautiful, powerful, gracious, loving and merciful.Much more than we could ever imagine (which is exactly why the 2nd Commandment forbids imagining or picturing Him as anything).
·Heaven isn’t a place where we are all wearing white robes, playing harps and chanting like monks for eternity.It includes everything we understand as loving and beautiful in this world multiplied by infinity.It contains relationships without sin, joy without pain, life without death, happiness with no interruption for sadness, complete use of our senses far better than we have ever used them on earth, expressions of art, music, dance, food, architecture, and science that we haven’t even begun to experience.
·The 10 Commandments aren’t a list of rules we are to keep to please God, but are a mirror to look at to see how far short we come up to His standard.
Weak Points
·There is a huge lack of Scripture throughout the book.The only times verses are brought up is for “God” to subvert the obvious understanding of the text.A good Christian book will be laced with Bible verses, especially in the parts where God is talking (read Pilgrim’s Progress).It is always dangerous to put words in God’s mouth as you may end up teaching something that is false and attributing it to the holy One of all creation (which is blasphemy).The Bible is discounted in this novel. The author represents it as a book of guilt and subjection rather than hope, encouragement, knowledge, and light.Scripture is downplayed as our source of God’s knowledge as personal experience is elevated to a source of truth.
·Anti-authoritarian – seminary, church, rules, structure, roles are all bad, not just abused by people, but essentially bad.The book says all hierarchy is a result of sin.Hierarchy is ordained by God in many things including government (Romans 13), Marriage (1 Corinthians 11; Ephesians 5; 1 Peter 3), and even in God Himself (1 Corinthians 11:3).Consistent with this anti-authoritarian theme, the author refuses to participate in any regularly attending church organization, directly opposed to a command in Scripture (Hebrews 10:25).
·Holiness/Transcendence is missing.God’s closeness/imminence is focused on to the detriment of his greatness.God is big, perfect, righteous, and holy.People in the Bible feared for their lives when they saw His glory.The Shack is missing the fear of God element (Proverbs 1:7).
·Mack does not act as though he is in the presence of One far greater than he is, but acts as if he is hanging out with peers.He uses foul language and snaps in anger at God.Not near the reaction of people in the Bible standing in the presence of God (Exodus 3; 33; Isaiah 6; Luke 5:8)
·God the Father and the Holy Spirit depicted as humans.Only Jesus became a man. God in the Bible never portrayed Himself as a human other than in Christ.He is spoken of as a consuming fire, a whirlwind, unapproachable light, etc., but we must be careful to describe Him as anything other than what He has revealed.Throughout the Bible the Father reveals Himself in masculine terms, not once as a woman.While God does not have a gender, it is dangerous to start messing around with how He has chosen to reveal Himself.The 2nd Commandment forbids us from portraying God as any image; making the Creator part of the creation.
·God’s power and control over creation is limited.God is seen as helpless to overcome the sinful choices of man and is anxiously awaiting the day that people recognize how good they can have it with Him.God in the Bible is in control of all events, able to work good out of every situation and working to redeem those He has chosen from before the foundation of the world.It was His plan from before time to create people who would fall into sin so that He could redeem some from it by sending His Son to be a sacrifice.God’s purposes cannot be thwarted.
·God’s love and His justice are presented as contradictory attributes, where His love apparently limits His justice.The God of the Bible is just because He is loving.He will punish sin.He does not simply forgive sinners and ignore justice.He displays just punishment of sin on Christ at the cross; both loving and just.
·Papa suggests the word “responsibility” is nowhere in the Bible (pg. 206).While the English word may not be found in a couple of translations, the meaning of the word is littered throughout scripture; obligation and duty.Also misleading in this is that Papa says He won’t be disappointed in us because He doesn’t have expectations.He is more than disappointed in us; He is angry with our sin.
·The Shack claims that the Father was on the cross with Jesus, suffering with Him (Papa also bears the marks of the cross like Jesus).However, the Bible says that the Father forsook the Son (Matthew 27:46) as Jesus bore the guilt of our sin and it pleased the Father to pour out His wrath on the Son for our sake (Isaiah 53).
·Sin is downplayed and judgment is denied.Judgment is spoken of throughout the Bible and sin is an eternal offense to a holy God.God will punish sin (contrary to The Shack pg. 120) because He is offended by it.Sin is much more than its own punishment, it is wickedness in the sight of God.
·Very man-centered.It is not about revealing how wonderful God is in all of His glory, but about making man more comfortable with God.God is revealed in with human limitations.He is not portrayed as being very different than weak, limited humans.
·Papa says that all three persons of the Trinity became a man in Jesus.This is not an accurate portrayal of the Trinity.The Trinity did not become human, the Son did.
·The Shack claims that Jesus set aside his deity and was only a man completely dependent upon the Father.Orthodox Christianity says that in some awesome mystery, Jesus is 100% God and 100% man, not denying His godly nature when He became a man.
·Jesus says He is the “best way” to relate to the Father instead of the only way (John 14:6).Later Papa says He has followers in many different religions.
·The Shack teaches that all people are God’s children and He is “especially fond of” them all.The Bible teaches that we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), children of the devil (John 8:44), and we become His children when we repent and trust in Christ (1 John 3:10; 1 John 5:2).
·Relationship with God is emphasized so much that it ignores that believers are also “slaves” to Christ (Romans 6:16-19) and that God does have expectations of obedience from us (John 14-17; 1 John).
Confusing Points
·Racial stereotyping (Jews with big noses, jolly African American woman serving in the home, Strange Asian woman difficult to grasp)
·Instead of saying that all roads lead to the Father, Jesus says that He will travel any road to find people.Compare this all roads discussion to the roads Jesus talked about in Matthew 7 where He says the road most people are on leads to destruction but the road few are on that follows Him is the one that leads to glory.
·In American culture, kissing is a very intimate (often sexual) expression.It is odd then that the Trinity is often found to be kissing (once on the lips).As much as love and sex is misunderstood in our culture it is a bit confusing to see it casually displayed like this by God in the book.
·Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) is a weird, hard to follow, mind-in-the-clouds person with not much of a purpose.I just had difficulty understanding the reason for the eccentricities described.
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You may be thinking, “Oh great; another guilt trip coming from another book telling me how much I fail at evangelism.” There have been many books written on evangelism and every time we see it we are simply reminded how much we fail at the Great Commission. Books range from different styles of personal evangelism to church programs to supplement evangelism to how to make your church more appealing to “seekers.” The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever is different; and quite refreshing.
