The Idol of Good Theology

Having been sent a critique of a people of this mind tend to be idolators--and the idols (like the golden calf which "represented" Yahweh in Exodus) are "correct theology" or "being Biblical"--and although both of these things are of paramount importance, turning them into idols to be placed above God Himself is a very common, very real danger in Christianity these days. This astounding judgmentalism is quite completely accepted in most Christian circles: However, it makes ME into God (because I have the correct theology, I know the truth, etc.)...and i then qualify myself to judge everyone by MY PERFECT STANDARD. What was it that was said in the book? We live in such an environment of this kind of judgmentalism that we are like fish in water; this is the air we breathe. And it takes quite a bit to shake us out of thinking we have the answers to everything. We don't. And the sooner that the Body of Christ values humility, gentleness, patience and other fruit of God's Spirit over someone's rant about their denomination's brand of biblical truth and how someone else doesn't measure up, the more likely we are to mature into a Body that functions instead of eating itself up with self-righteous bitterness. Hm.............I'm not quite living up to Ephesians 4:1-4 here, am i? pray for me, that i will better learn to love those who believe they are able to judge all, that they are the "only ones left" ("the elijah complex," as my old pastor used to call it), that they can't fellowship with others whose theologies don't "line up" with their version of God's Word, no matter what the other's level of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control might be. Living out the fruit of God's Spirit isn't enough... One final comment: this book is a WORK OF FICTION. It is, if you will, a parable, a modern-day putting into images we instantly "get" (like people of Bible times "got" things about fig trees we are clueless about). It is not a theological treatise. And to those who treat everything (CS Lewis, Tolkein, L'Engle, MacDonald) as if works of fiction are theological treatises which need to be "answered"--you are not only barking up the wrong tree, you are barking up a straw man and calling it a tree! Here are the review points: You want to recreate God in your own image; (This misses the purpose of Christ's coming: Try Philippians 2: 5-10. This was not an attempt to create God in our own image! This is what i mean when i say it's not apples to apples. The point of the three "people" at the shack was specific to Mack's need in the story, not to make a theological statement. Jesus came in the image of MAN so that we could know who the Father is!) You find Isaiah's portrayal of a holy God seated upon His throne to be a disturbing image; (No one said they did!This is another "straw man" concept set up by the reviewer to make him/herself appear to me "more worshipful than you"--the same old Pharisees live. God's holiness, power and perfection are NEVER questioned in the story, excpet as Mack speaks out of his pain and self-focused lack of understanding--which is something every darn last one of us has! Even the highest-minded reviewer, with the best and most un-self-focused intentions still lacks understanding. yeah, all of us. Romans 3:10. If we want to quote Isaiah, how about, "we are all like sheep who've gone astray...and the Lord God laid on Him the iniquity of us all.." i don't have a Bible here, so i'm at a little disadvantage for looking up stuff. But that is Isaiah 50-53, i believe!)You would prefer to metaphorically cast God the Father as a loving and large black woman named "Papa," Jesus as a laid back and friendly Middle Eastern man, and the Holy Spirit as a calm and cool Asian woman; (Ah. does the reviewer have an issue with El Shaddai, "the breasted one"? here's a definition from the ole internet: "El-Shaddai means God Almighty. El points to the power of God Himself. Shaddai seems to be derived from another word meaning breast, which implies that Shaddai signifies one who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies. It is God as El who helps, but it is God as Shaddai who abundantly blesses with all manner of blessings." Again, this is a story. the way God reveals Himself is related directly to the need of the main character!!! ACK! And if Jesus is Middle Eastern, why's He in jeans? This is another one of those classic lines by that very Guy--"You strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!" After all, if you were going to portray the Trinity in ways that could make sense to 21st century humans, how would YOU portray them? As someone like the wizard in The Wizard of OZ?) You want a God so small that you and she/he/she can just hang out together as best buddies; (Another total assumption that is based on the reviewer's reading into instead of getting the point. There are numerous places in the book where God points out His power, His complete sovereignty--which includes His looking like a terrific cook if He wants to! the point is not that God is so small, but that HE IS SO BIG that He is ABLE to hang out with microscopic us! He is not off being too holy, too busy, to whatever, to know us intimately. To think LESS of Him than that is to have no faith in His character and attempt to keep Him at arm's length so that again I AND MY THEOLOGY--perfect as it is--get to have the last say, not God Himself. I've known many a guy who ranted on about the sovereignty of God but prayed as if God were not only NOT sovereign, but also disinterested in him and even a little dull witted. Faith is a scary business. so if i can keep God in a box--even a box marked "sovereignty"--i am still attempting to be my own god with MY theology as the idol of MEEMEME!!!)You regard the Bible as an extremely biased, narrow-minded, and insufficient revelation of God in leather binding with "guilt edges" (page 65); (Maybe this reviewer didn't grow up with the same people i did. Or maybe he is still one of them. But yeah, the Body is full of people who twist Scripture to make it a vehicle for fear, guilt and performance-based living, instead of perfect love that casts out fear (1 john 4), freedom from guilt (all of Romans!) and the unconditional grace of God. i know them personally. This reviewer would probably take offense at the idea that he is dissing the grace of God but, well, he's doing his best to keep the fear/guilt/performance vehicle rolling. after all, take the wheels off that one and all you've got are dead, helpless sinners who can only repent, gain forgiveness and be given a powerful, guilt-free life by a God who deals only with sinners-- not the righteous. Wasn't it that Jesus fellow who said, "I have come to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance." Was he saying that there were folks who weren't sinners? No. He was saying that there are folks whose self-righteousness keeps them from admitting the truth that they are "dead in trespasses and sin" (Romans 5) and therefore, there's little point to offering them forgiveness...because they believe they don't need it. This is another gnat that has a camel swimming right behind it!)You therefore believe that God talks to people today, and that whatever she or he says to people trumps biblical truth (page 66);(Oh, get off it. In a novel, in which we already from the beginning, buy into Papa typing notes He puts into mailboxes--and who says HE CAN'T?!--we are in a FICTIONAL situation here. But the first objection is to the notion that God even talks to people today. YES God talks to people today! This poor reviewer must never have had any conversations with his Loving Papa who really would like to talk back! But the second part is completely off base: nowhere does the book advocate that biblical truth is trumped by some "thing God said." There are plenty of those people out there, too. But the caveat attached to this is that if you do not know Scripture, you will not have anything against which to test what you are hearing. SO it won't matte if God is talking to you or not! God gave us His Word so that we would have the owner's manual, the truth, the Mind of Christ. however, our lives are not meant to be a long siege of sitting on our overly-wise butts reading the owner's manual--He also wants us to apply and live out what we know: get out of our easy chairs, turn the key and drive the car. And He is completely able to tell us which way to turn--if we will trust Him to do so!) You believe that God is never to be feared (page 90); (God is meant to be feared first and always, in the sense of awed respect--not in the sense of being afraid. The intimate relationship He offers is not at odds with this. This reviewer is not defining terms at all, so it's hard to know what he means by "fear God." The book doesn't advocate not "fearing God" but to fear Him in the sense that He is far beyond anything i can comprehend, in the sense that i fear hurting the person i love most. But "Perfect love casts out fear" in the sense of tormenting fear.) You believe that Jesus' miracles do not affirm Him as God, but prove only "that Jesus is truly human" (page 99); Did the reviewer read the book? This isn't even worthy of a pissing contest. Yes, Jesus was truly human. Where has this guy been? Did he not read the whole section about Jesus being truly God but choosing to limit Himself?You want a God who does not hold people accountable for, nor punishes sin (page 119); The point was, there are enough natural consequences that punishment ensues! Look up the number of times in the New Testament that "judgment" is referred to. What is judgment? Is it that God is standing up there looking for ways to punish us? That was the point of the book, that this notion of God the Punisher is something which comes from selective "reading for guilt and maximum manipulation." Remember Mack's dad? Nuff said. You want a God who does not demand that you submit to him or her, but one who submits to YOU (page 145); HUH? Wow. Just read the Bible! God does not demand that i submit to Him. he just tells me what the natural consequence will be if i don't! He tells me to submit to human authority, to everyone around me (Ephesians 5)...but talking about submission when it comes to the Love of my heart...why would it even be a question? I have found Him whom my soul loves! We're not keeping score and seeing who does what to whom. This is love, not theology!You want a God who accepts everyone -- "Buddhists...Muslims, bankers and bookies" -- as his or her children no matter what their beliefs or behavior, and that Jesus has "no desire to make them Christian" (page 223); I remember so vividly answering this very question for a group of people in India, some of whom were muslim and some hindu. What i told them was that Jesus does not care whether you're muslim, hindu, buddhist...He wants you to follow Him. There will be lots of folks in heaven who might not have fully understood that they were no longer "muslim" or whatever once they followed Jesus with their whole hearts. They may not have had the information to make them into mainstream american evangelicals who listen to Christian radio. But GOD LOOKS at the heart, said old Samuel (2 Samuel 15, i believe.) He is One who knows. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But He may not really care if people in other cultures don't look like evangelicals. He made the cultures in which they live. maybe God LIKES curry! Maybe He's not offended by praying with one's forehead on the ground like a muslim. Maybe He is BIG enough that He is not threatened by cultural differences. The reviewer has likely grown up here in this country but God's got a bigger plan. Remember, Jesus wasn't a Christian. Horrors! And God's family looks like the whole world, not like cultural american christianity. You believe that Jesus lied when He warned, "Broad is the road that leads to destruction" (Matthew 7:13), because in The Shack Jesus says, "Most roads don't lead anywhere." OOHHHHH. that is such a straw man! So if i like the book, this reviewer wants to charge me with calling Jesus a liar. this is so like the wonderful fundamentalist folk with whom i grew up. Amazing. Jesus said what He said in Scripture. No one has a question about that, do they? Except the Jesus Seminar folks, i think most of us can agree. Now this reviewer has taken one statement out of its context (a favorite practice of those scripture-wresters he so decries)...and is trying to tell us that we're calling Jesus a liar. Do you see the logic here? Or perhaps the nonsequiter? Jesus said "A." The book, a work of fiction, has Jesus saying, "B". A and B have no parallel, no common ground, nor do we have context for either here. However, you'd better run in fear because this reviewer says that if you read the book and didn't hate it, you are calling Jesus a liar. That is a very cheap scare tactic to throw at Christian brothers and sisters who may not know enough to recognize this kind of "guilt by association" fearmongering. Make no mistake... 90% of this book is spot on. But isn't that exactly what makes its 10% error so insidiously deadly? Look, we can allegorize many things, but we don't mess with the Trinity. This book is a Trojan horse subtly infiltrating the Christian community -- one that makes our God extremely small and completely manageable, a God who, in the final analysis, is no God at all. WOW. First of all, this is not the first time the Trinity has been allegorized. This reviewer needs to read Lewis and others. Second, if this book is a subtle infiltration, then is not OUR GOD is big enough to deal with it? He is completely sovereign. He will have the last word. He is fully able to take the worst thing and bring good out of it. That is His character and His nature. And when i recall the place in the book where Papa points out to Mack that in Jesus' complete obedience and dependence on he Father, taking the cross willingly, was the reconciliation of all things in Him.--does our reviewer not see the stunning power of that? That is not a "God who is extremely manageable." That is the God of Scripture, the God of Creation who has done all He can do to bring grace to His creation (2 corinthians 5). All i can say is, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." this book is so NOT about messing with the Trinity that i can't even figure out where this reviewer is coming from. This is all about a God who is SO sovereign, so BIG, so FAR beyond our "vain imaginations, our misguided pieties" that we can only fall upon our knees and say, "PAPA!"