The Shack by William Paul Young

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Look, you should read The Shack. I can’t say anymore, well that’s not true, there are a ton of things I can say about The Shack, but the main thing I’m going to say about it is that you should read it. It is not the best narrative I’ve ever seen in the world, but it depicts sort of the three faces of God, the Holy Trinity if you will, in such an interesting manner that it’s worth taking a look at. If you are kind of an armchair Christian who has never contemplated what it means for Jesus to absolve us of our sin beyond a simple understanding, and you’re still sitting around thinking that we are all doomed to hell and that our spiritual rebirth is not assured then you need to read The Shack, and you need to hear how they treat Mac as he suffers while coming to terms with the murder of his young child. He’s going through some serious grief, and it is not completely unlike some of the torture that we put ourselves through in general when terrible things happen. You can see his relationship develop with God in the form of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in addition to “Papa” which is an interesting way to to talk about the third aspect of the Holy Trinity.

The first I would say 20%, is rough and by the time you are getting to the shack and aspects of God are beginning to appear, it’s still rough and bleak. He’s going through his child being killed by a serial murderer and then coming to terms with his own belief in God while he’s there. In the early stages, you want to throw the book away. But if you can get through that, especially on audio, then you will take away a great perspective on perhaps how Jesus God, and the Holy Spirit may think of us.

If a book, especially one written as fiction can make you feel the love of God, this might be it.



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