The Shack is a Christian book that responds to the most contentious issues surrounding Christianity. The author William Young gives answers on why people are suffering, yet God is omnipresent. The author explains the experience of a person who used his time during the weekend with the Trinity. The story revolves around the misfortunes of Mack Philips whose daughter is murdered. Although her body is never discovered, police rely on proof that the killer left on the crime scene.
In the story of the Shack, God appears in a human being form such that Mack meets with Him. Mack gets the chance to meet with God for him to express his sadness. The book provides a clear and exceptional relationship of the three forms of the Trinity, which Mack converses with during his divine encounter. Mack involves himself in lengthy discussions with every member of the Trinity over the week and finally understands God in a better way.
The author describes God in three theological perceptions, namely revelation, salvation, and the Trinity. The revelation aspect attempts to underscore how God has decided to disclose himself to humankind. The varying ways in which God chooses to talk to humanity is the same way as religious teachings but in a different way. Christians are popularly known as ‘a nation of the book’ – a majority who stick to the Scripture as an open force of God. As a distinctive reward from God, the Bible highlights God’s love for humankind.
Many Christians hold a strong faith that the Bible is the solitary foundation of God to people. Not only does it teach deliverance from sin, but the bible also teaches Christians the standards by which to conduct themselves. As the writer notes in the book, it is essential for people to expect God to disclose Himself in unmediated ways. Going through the scriptures, there is no place for importance or exclusivity (Young 20)
The book reiterates that the cross is widely mentioned in the Bible, which compels Christians to be faithful to it. Anyone without a proper understanding of the teachings of the Bible and the Christian conviction may fail to understand the cross together with what the death of Jesus meant to Christians. According to the Bible, the cross is essential to Christian belief. Jesus shouldered humankind’s sins and paid them on the cross.
Faith is a crucial concept for Christians as they gracefully accept all the positive things that Jesus achieved as He underwent the painful treatment on the cross (Young 45). The trinity doctrine is part of the complex that one has to unravel to understand the several beliefs that exist in Christianity.
For an extended period, Christians have concealed the knowledge of their doctrine, as there is a lot that can be learned. As definitions may differ, the majority of Christians believe that the best description of God covers three persons. Trinity is a powerful idea in which Young tries to bring out in the quest to understand the factual life of God the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.
The book’s description brings out what the Bible demands from believers as human beings. The Bible is a revelation of who God is to humanity. The announcement should not be complemented by anything else apart from doing what the Bible demands. This call is a formidable challenge to many and especially the young generation, which views the Bible as ancient writing with little or no space in the contemporary world (Young 97).
From the times of Adam and Eve, who brought sin to the world, communicating with God has been taking a form of meditation and prayer. Adam widened the barrier between God and his people by assuming His goodness and kindness (Hale 112).
The relationship that once existed between God and human beings was thrown away. Adam would no longer walk with the Lord or spend time with him in the Garden of Eden. The links of communication had been destroyed, and since that time, God never allowed people to talk to Him in the same way as they used to before. Priests had to come in between God and man, make sacrifices, and grant God’s blessing and curses on His behalf.
In conclusion, dwelling on the three main contentious issues discussed by William Young in the book, the Shack, it becomes evident that mistakes flourish. The author misinterprets the love of God and describes it as “heretical.” He misjudges deliverance and salvation by letting in salvation through ways, which are not by what Christ Jesus preached.
The book evokes queries, which are “unbiblical” to the environment of God and His being. The author introduces lessons, which are not in the Bible by confidently stating speculative issues. He violates the limits of the scripture by distorting the main agenda of the Bible. Going by his theological previews, Young oversteps issues laid down in the scriptures.
Works Cited
Young, William. The shack: Where tragedy confronts eternity, Newbury Park, CA: Windblown Media, 2007. Print.
Hale, Rosemary. Christianity, New York: Rosen Pub., 2010. Print.