The Shack

A Word for the New Year and My Top 10 for 2010

First, I leave you with some words of encouragement to take into the 2011 New Year from Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity. Then, my top 10 popular posts for 2010. How diligent and zealous should we be in glorifying God, that we may come at last to enjoy him! If Tully, Demosthenes, and Plato, who had but the dim watch-light of reason to see by, fancied an elysium and happiness after this life, and took such Herculean pains to enjoy it, oh how should Christians, who have the light of Scripture to see by, bestir themselves that they may …keep reading »

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LifeWay Reads With Discernment

Update: The Baptist Standard reported that LifeWay backs off ‘read with discernment’ label for books. Apparently the label was irrelevant to their customers. So all of the links below have been removed since they were dead. LifeWay, the Christian bookstore of the Southern Baptist Convention, has a new warning label out. It’s called Read With Discernment. You can read more about it at their Read With Discernment page where they explain what they’re doing. Our Challenge to be Discerning We want you to know that the authors of books marked Read with Discernment may have espoused thoughts, ideas, or concepts …keep reading »

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The Shack On Issues Etc

This week Pastor Todd Wilken took some time to review much discussed book The Shack. He plays the sounds clips from the audio version of the book and comments. I’ve provided the audio below. It’s definitely worth listening to Pastor Wilken’s excellent comments. While Pastor Wilken mentions a few good aspects of the book he finds a four fold problem with The Shack. 1. A distorted view of the Trinity along the lines of patripassianism. 2. Problem of authority and revelation of the Bible. The Bible is essentially put on par with natural revelation. 3. An author trick. The main …keep reading »

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The Shack Is Only Fiction?

I wanted to take a few moments to respond to some of the comments from one of my posts The Shack Review. Interesting review. Unfortunately, I think it not only misses the point of the book but seems to find criticism for the sake of criticism. Advice to Christians to be discerning is excellent. However, understanding must accompany discernment. The review seems short on understanding. Criticism is found for the sake of being accurate as to how God has revealed Himself through Scripture. It seems that those promoting and praising The Shack seem to be short on understanding discernment. Even …keep reading »

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The Metaphorical Safety of The Shack

So far I have two reviews of The Shack posted. One, The Shack Review, by a dear brother and fellow church member Wayne Elliott. The other, Uncovering The Shack, by local yet widely known Pastor Michael Youseff. Now, I have another dear brother who I recently had a good Southern Baptist dinner with. For folks not in the know, that’s Wednesday night dinner in the fellowship hall. This brother understood the nuances and concerns of The Shack. He kept this in mind while reading The Shack and, therefore, enjoyed the book without worrying about heretical persuasions. I certainly appreciate this …keep reading »

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Uncovering The Shack

My fellow church member bro. Wayne whose review of The Shack I recently posted informed me of another review of The Shack. Michael Youssef, pastor of Church of the Apostles, one of our neighboring churches, has reviewed The Shack in a recent sermon. Dr. Youseff’s review, Uncovering The Shack, can be downloaded directly on mp3 here. There is also an iTunes feed if you’re interested. He actually stopped in the middle of a sermon series to review this book because he thought it was that important. Dr. Youseff begins, “In the 33 years since I’ve was ordained to the ministry, …keep reading »

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“The Shack” Review

A friend from church wrote a brief review of The Shack that touches on some key points as to why we should be cautious about this book. Or maybe even disregard it all together. He gave me permission to share this review. SHACK ATTACK – OR A CALL TO DISCERNMENT? “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” -Charles Spurgeon At the encouragement of friends, I recently read The Shack by William P. Young. A national bestseller widely embraced by some churches …keep reading »

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