A trip to The Shack

Andi, the lady who owns the Dunn Brothers coffee shop I daily frequent during the work week, asked me one day a while back if I had ever read The Shack. I hadn’t. She raved over it.

My friend Austin consistently slammed, among other things, its cavalier Trinitarian theology, even to the point of alleging heresy. Fact is, I’d heard all the buzz, and had no intentions of reading it.

Andi told me it was rock solid and would change my life. Austin told me it is like chaff to the wind.

I trust Austin’s theological astuteness (he’s a fellow Th.M. guy) more than I trust Andi’s. Austin and I think in similar Christian historical and theological paradigms.  Any way, Andi brought it up again a few weeks ago. So as not to raise any issue, I told Andi I would “think about it,” knowing full well I probably wouldn’t. I had visions of John Eldridge’s ridiculous Wild at Heart running through my head. They’re books meant to make you feel good, but in the end they’re bottomless canteens. That’s usually what you get with popular Christian novelty; theology-zero, theology-lite, theology-free.

Well, over a bit of time curiosity got the best of me. This past weekend, a couple buddies and myself took a trip to remind ourselves that God created the world natural-like. No concrete. So what better way to celebrate the natural than celebrate it camping in the Natural State? It’s about a 6 hour ride, and naturally (no pun intended) I needed some reading material. I didn’t want anything heavy and wanted something to help me “feel” again. You know… something to help me get in touch with my surroundings. You get really numb living in this concrete nightmare of superhighways and high-rises. Call it providence, call it premonition, call it fate, call it sub-conscious chemical reactions, I picked up The Shack. I knew it tied to the outdoors to whatever degree, so I thought it fitting.

We packed up, thundered to Ian’s Metallica mix, and headed northeast to Ouachita National Forest a few miles outside Vandervoort, AR. Ever heard of it? I didn’t think so.

Like a helpless sheep I was sucked up by the tornado of Mack’s experience. Now instead of Joel, Ian, and I in the Jeep; it was Mack and I, both with a mission - confront the Almighty One. Mack resonated with me from the beginning. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t think God is good just like Mack. Maybe I have a few words to say myself, but don’t have a legitimate reason like Mack, so I would jump on his bandwagon. Truth is, I don’t trust God. I think he (or should I say She) likes toying with me. It’s as if God pulls us to the end of ourselves only to add insult to injury by showing us that we’re helpless in ourselves. I understand that… but I don’t know it. Mack couldn’t protect Missy because he was busy saving his other child. How could Mack, or I for that matter, trust God with his very life when he can’t trust Her to care for the life of his innocent daughter? God couldn’t protect an innocent child from a pedophilic serial killer? God couldn’t protect Missy and worse She didn’t offer any closure. This all brought tears to my eyes. Mack would wonder day and night, “What evil did my dear child endure?” I don’t have a good reason, but I take issue with God through Mack’s experience. I want to incriminate God. I want to call Him to the stand and be Her judge. It burns in me.

Though I do not hold a favorable view of “Papa’s” theology all the time in that it rubs of being too cavalier, too casual, too man-centered, of being out of touch with the dialogue of the Church over the past hundreds of years concerning very difficult issues, I have learned to trust the trajectory of “Papa’s” theology. Papa is good and Her desire is toward real, deep relationship with all His children, so much so that God’s Son suffered tragedy on behalf of rebellious, unthankful generations. I am not God, but if I were, I surely wouldn’t have given my dear Son on behalf of vile humanity. The fact is God freely offered himself on behalf of everyone, even Missy’s killer. God died for a very rotten man. That is, for me.

I’m not actually quite finished, so I don’t know the end, but I can see where it’s going. I can see that the end of life is being consumed with the only One that will satisfy. Though we cannot always see through the fog God does love infinitely and will draw all things to a consummation where we will live in perfect communion with Him.  Any theology that points to the love of God is beneficial and the theology of this book revels in the love that Elousia, Jesus, and Sarayu share within Herself. This divine perfect love is the fountain for all life and its relationship with God.

I don’t think Austin is wrong in warning about its unsafeness, rather I think it wise to warn people about the hazards of being loose with biblical and historical theology. Speaking in first person as God should not be handled lightly and should probably be avoided all together. I do not take strong issue with it though, because I sense that the posture of the theology is God-ward and faithful to the gospel. Even if only a bit, it has changed my life and at this point in my life, any growth, no matter how insignificant, is welcomed.