"The Shack"

have you read, "The Shack"?

in the book, a man has an encounter, maybe real, maybe a vision, maybe a hallucination...with God. God chose to reveal Himself to Mack, the man, through three people. An African-American woman representing God the Father. An Asian woman as the Holy Spirit, and a young Jewish Man as Jesus. My guess is that some of you are bothered by this. I was too. The book bothered me, made me think, made me cry and also made me laugh. I found myself wanting to believe all that the book was suggesting about the character and nature of God, yet not completely believing it because that was not how I how I've normally pictured Him. Now, of course, no one knows everything about God, nor can explain Him perfectly. So I think its wise to read all books openly, taking some of it in and not taking it all to heart. But- more than what was said in, The Shack, was my reaction to it. Maybe this is where some of my questions originated.

Just so that you are not so bothered that you can't hang with me...the reason God chose to reveal Himself through a woman was to break down Mack's picture of God being a white grandfather or Gandalf (from Lord of the Rings) type. He explained to Mack that God is neither a man nor a woman. Yet God has male and female within Himself. Man and Woman were made in the image of God. As Mack's picture of a hard, aloof, waiting-to-zap him, old white man picture of God the Father broke down, the African-American woman character, turned into a man. Now this is only a small part of the book. The real meat is the conversations Mack has with the three of them. It is also striking the way the three persons of God love one another. They set a high, but inviting, standard of how to really love and value someone.


If you read the book, let me know. I would love to discuss it with you. :) In fact, I think I am going to re-read it. I tend to read too fast because I get excited.