The story is tragically compelling. Mack, the protagonist loses his young daughter to an act of evil. The reader, especially the sympathetic parent reader, wonders how Mack will cope with such a loss. Then Mack gets mysteriously summoned to the very location of his daughter's brutal death.
It is at that shack that Mack has a series of conversations with God. That much I expected. What I didn't expect was how much detail would go into the conversations. Mack pretty near asked every question known to riddle the mind of man when contemplating a just God in an unjust world...all the way down to, well if God is so good, why did he create mosquitoes? (Have I not thought that a hundred times, living here in Texas?!) But the God figure in the book patiently explains it all. And there's some good stuff in there. Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that what I was reading was really a book of theology, I actually enjoyed some of the descriptions of God.
About how God wants a relationship with us, not just for us to follow His rules: "It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you" (p.198).
About how God wants all of us, not just a piece of the pie: "You see, Mackenzie, I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day" (p.207).
About separation from God: "Mackenzie, evil is a word we use to describe the absence of Good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life" (p.136).
There were some parts that annoyed me to the point of rolling my eyes, like all the references to The Matrix. But there was nothing that shocked me and there were even parts that challenged me. For example, with God's help, Mack is able to forgive the man who victimized his daughter. I have to admit, that is a stumbling block for me. I find it so hard to forgive someone who could harm a child. But I also believe that a God who is big enough to forgive us all of our grossest sins is also big enough to handle it when I tell Him, "I'm stuck here and I'm not going to be able to move forward without Your help."
In all, I found The Shack to be a good, extremely detailed, look at the God of Christianity. And, if that sounds interesting to you, I have an invitation for you: join a Bible study!
The Bible says it all. It's the original description of the God of Christianity. It is God's love letter to His people. And what better way to dive into the text of a lifetime than with a group of people who are walking through and growing alongside you?
2 comments:
megan, i love your blog!.....it's one-stop-shopping for book review, recipes, home improvement, inspiration, science experiments, etc, etc!!....too much to comment on, so i'll just say a collective "WOW"!!
Ha ha...I wrote down that same quote about light/good in the journal you gave me that I use as a quote journal...sometimes you can really tell we're related!
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