Rethinking The Shack...

Why pick on something that has helped so many people?  This is often the response people have when a popular and seemingly helpful book or seminar is "picked on" by pastor's like me.  What could be wrong with it if people are helped?  If they are coming to love God more?  Why?

This is a tough question to answer.  It's not tough to articulate reasons for doing so or why The Shack should not be trusted (more on both in a minute).  It's tough because I'm going up against cultural prejudice that immediately puts anything I say in a bad light. Those prejudices include:

• Our desire for expediency (what seems to work) over theory.
• Our preference for that which moves the heart over that which persuades the mind.
• Our cultural conviction that to criticize anyone's religious experience is a no-no. 

Despite all these daunting obstacles, The Shack demands that a pastor respond because it is a classic case of a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

What could be wrong with it if people are helped? 

The question really is "are they genuinely helped?"  I certainly am not questioning the fact that many feel better and feel closer to God after reading  the book.  That's not the issue.  The problem is that feelings do not determine what is true and helpful.  If a person is feeling feverish with a pain in their side, and they are given some vicodin, they may very well feel much better.  But when the appendix that is causing the problem bursts, they will die no matter how much vicodin they take!  What they need is for a true diagnosis and treatment to be given.  This is just as true in the spiritual realm as in the physical.  The Shack is not a true diagnosis and treatment.  In the end, it can leave folks in greater danger even though they might feel better.

What's wrong with The Shack?

I've read a number of critical reviews that I think are unfair and (frankly) harsh in tone.  While my concerns with The Shack are serious, I do not want to follow in the footsteps of such reviews.  Instead, let me leave the reviewing to an excellent, a fair-minded but unflinching one, written by Tim Challies. Click here to read his review as a PDF.  

Without the Shack, where do I go?

Let's assume you read Challies review and realize that The Shack is not going to be what you need.  But your still suffering and struggling.  Where do you go for help.  Let me close with 2 suggestions:

1st-  If your suffering is still raw and the tears won't stop, then camp out in the Psalms.  Let the raw, yet God-honoring, heart-cries of the Psalmists lead you in how to cry, even scream, before the throne of grace.

2nd- As your pain quiets and questions flood, then I'd urge you to pick up one of the following 3 books to read alongside the Psalms:

1. When God Weeps: Why Our Suffering Matters to the Almighty by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Estes.
2. Restoring Broken Things by Steven Curtis Chapman and Scotty Smith
3. How Long O Lord?- Reflections on Suffering & Evil by D.A. Carson

Each will be helpful in its own unique style.  Each is a true, authentic, and not "plastic" look at living through suffering as a Christian and how the gospel redeems our suffering. Each is more than painkillers- they are medicine for our wounds that in the end will bring healing to our hurting.