Friday, 21 November 2008
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The Shack heresy :
The Shack comments in red...Gods response in blue
1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus. Page 96
Because God's eyes are pure and cannot look upon sin, the Bible says that
God would not look upon His own beloved Son as He hung on the Cross,
carrying our sins (Habakkuk 1:13; Matthew 27:45).
2. God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice. page. 102
The Bible declares that God's love and His justice are two sides of the same
coin - equally a part of the personality and the character of God (Isaiah
61:8; Hosea 2:19).
3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not.
Some choose a relationship with Him, but He forgives them all regardless.page 225
Jesus explained that only those who come to Him will be saved (John 14:6).
4. Hierarchical structures, whether they are in the Church or in the
government, are evil. Page 122
Our God is a God of order (Job 25:2).
5. God will never judge people for their sins.Page 120
The Word of God repeatedly invites people to escape from the judgment of God
by believing in Jesus Christ, His Son (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1-3).
6. There is not a hierarchical structure in the Godhead, just a circle of
unity. Page 122
The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. This doesn't
mean that one Person is higher or better than the other; just unique. Jesus
said, "I came to do the will of Him who sent me. I am here to obey my
Father." Jesus also said, "I will send you the Holy Spirit" (John 4:34,
6:44, 14:26, 15:26).
7. God submits to human wishes and choices.Page 145
Far from God submitting to us, Jesus said, "Narrow is the way that leads to
eternal life." We are to submit to Him in all things, for His glory and
because of what He has accomplished for us (Matthew 7:13-15).
8. Justice will never take place because of love. Page 164
The Bible teaches that when God's love is rejected, and when the offer of
salvation and forgiveness is rejected, justice must take place or God has
sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for nothing (Matthew 12:20; Romans
3:25-26).
9. There is no such a thing as eternal judgment or torment in hell. Page 248
Jesus' own description of hell is vivid ... it cannot be denied (Luke 12:5,
16:23).
10. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God, and
it doesn't matter which way you get to Him. Page 182
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will come to
the Father but by me" (John 14:6).
11. Jesus is constantly being transformed along with us.Page 182
Jesus, who dwells in the splendor of heaven, sits at the right hand of God,
reigning and ruling the universe. The Bible says, "In Him there is no
change, for He is yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 11:12, 13:8; James
1:17).
12. There is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because everyone
will make it to heaven.Page 192 Page 122
Jesus said, "Only those who believe in me will have eternal life" (John
3:15, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40).
13. The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper. Page 65,66 page
134 page 198
The Bible is God-breathed. Sure, there were many men through 1,800 years who
put pen to paper (so to speak), each from different professions and
different backgrounds, but the Holy Spirit infused their work with God's
words. These men were writing the same message from Genesis to Revelation.
If you want to read more about the place of Christ in the Scripture, read
"We Preach Christ" (2 Timothy 3:16).See Also this critique by Tim Challis " Because of the sheer volume of error and because of the importance of the doctrines reinvented by the author, I would encourage Christians, and especially young Christians, to decline this invitation to meet with God in The Shack. It is not worth reading for the story and certainly not worth reading for the theology."
Enough said really ....True Christians will reject The Shack, lukewarm,carnal hypocritical "christians" will see nothing wrong with the above critique, and still go ahead and buy the book.
Soli Deo Gloria
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Comments (109)
Great job. This book is even being sold in Christian book stores.
@Hecalmsthestorm - Actually a friend sent me the above via e-mail ....Its true what someone once said ..."People will believe anything as long as it is not the bible"
God bless you brother
dale
I've been speaking out against this book for a while, and I get slammed for it a lot! But I am with you!! It kills me how deceived even Christians are these days.
Ah. I see now that there is another author. Point 4 needs Romans 13 added. Excellent point-and-counter-point post.
This is certainly worth thinking about!!
I hadn't even heard of the book myself. I shall avoid.
Thanks for the info!!
I've seen stacks of this book in the Christian section of Borders, so I figured it was the New Big Thing for Christian booksellers. From the list above, I figure it's about as theologically accurate as Left Behind, but it still looks like it would mainly appeal to middle-aged women.
Is this something that, as a pastor, I need to have an opinion on? Will people ask me about its contents? If not, I don't think I need to insert it into my reading list. But if people will care about it in six months, I guess I'd better review it.
What do you think? Is it a flash in the pan, like The Late, Great Planet Earth, orsomething with some staying power in Christian culture, like Narnia?
-NDSR
Wow I didn't know much about it. Thanks for this info.
@sirnickdon@revelife - I can speak from experience that you will probably be asked about it in the future. It's a best seller and is flying off the shelves at the rate of books like The Secret, and such. You might want to keep it in mind.
@sirnickdon@revelife - @Papillon_Mom - @Simbathe2nd - @Croteau_4_Christ - @LucyWrites - @guestbrief - @roamingchile - Thanks for your comments - my own personal thoughts are, that if this gets promoted enough much like the purpose driven lie, then people will do as they did with Warrens book and flock to buy it.
God bless
dale
thank you soooooo much for posting this
@PerilousTimes - Was "Purpose Driven Lie" a typo on your part or commentary? Just curious. I began to read Warren's book... didn't finish the study, but I didn't see anything awry.
@roamingchile - No "typo"....sorry just sarcasm ....Here is an earlier post I had regarding Warrens book by John Mccarthur ( 3 min video ) and for what its worth I read Warrens book long before I saw the errors.
Click Here
dale
I actually agree with this post. Good job. Even if it from an e-mail. lol
@J_Goldens_Shadow - Interesting that you as a Mormon would agree with points 6, which confirms the doctrine of the Trinity and 12, which confirms the inerrancy of the bible ...Dont Mormons believe they can become as God and that the bible is only true as far as it can be interpreted properly ?...When the bible contradicts the book of mormon, is not the book of mormon preferred because after all we cannot truly understand the bible ?
dale
@PerilousTimes - It's interesting that you think that point 6 points to a 3-in-1 God. Those verses point otherwise (as well as many others). Point 12 has nothing to do with the Bible, but with how Salvation is obtained.
The Bible is not perfect, but it is the word of God. The same thing is said about the Book of Mormon. The Bible has been through numerous translations that it is impossible to know which one version is the most correct, which is why we say, "so long it is interpreted properly". One of the reasons for this is to show that the only way to know truth is to go to the source: God Himself.
The Bible does not contradict the Book of Mormon. Extra-biblical doctrines that people want to disguise as Biblical do (e.g. the doctrine of the Trinity).
To understand the Bible, we must understand everything about it. The things it teaches is only one aspect in beginning to understand. We must also know the history of how the Bible as we have it came to be. When you understand that aspect a lot of scriptures come into greater context (the Pauline Epistles for example).
The doctrines presented in those verses above agree 100% with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The last paragraph of your original post (in bold) is a great example of your fallacies. That paragraph contains two loaded statements, one of which also happens to be an ad-hominem attack.
The inferences which you are quoting out of "The Shack" are inferences. That means that they are the product of analytical thought and logic (particularly, deduction and elimination by counter-example).
The replies which you post to those inferences are filtered quotes out of whichever version of the Bible you happen to have at your disposition. You did not analyze anything and you did not post any inferences.
In fact, the only evidence of thought in your original post is the filter which you applied in selecting those quotes out of whichever version of the Bible you possess.
I read the Shack at the encouragement of a friend. It was not too interesting to me, but I had more trouble with the cast of characters and story line. I did not take it as a serious theological dissertation on Bible doctrine, but I would not recommend it for reasons you have shared.
@J_Goldens_Shadow - Point 6 says " The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. This doesn't
mean that one Person is higher or better than the other; just unique. "
This point refers to the trinity and what surprised me was that you could agree with the comment "no person (of the trinity) is higher or better that the other" ...You and I both know that Mormon doctrine teaches that God the Father is higher up the ladder so to speak than Jesus.
---------------------------------------------
Point 12 says "Jesus said, "Only those who believe in me will have eternal life"
This confirms that salvation comes through faith alone no works...Again you and I both know this contradicts the Mormon message of salvation through good works.
dale
3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not.
Yes and no. Â
You do me wrong, I can have a readiness to forgive you, but You MUST ASK for it.
In God's case it's there for THE TAKING you MUST ACCEPT it.
But that is only part of it. Â The other is HE came to redeem that which was lost. Â Get back that which was rightfully His. Â Predestination.
Good post. Â The discrepancies only fit which with what is going around in the religious world "Many roads to Heaven" Â "We are all one"
Sorry - Many roads without Christ = Lost. Â All one - Tares are bound too, and the wheat is put in the garner.Â
Have you actually read the book, or did you just copy and paste this?
True Christians will reject The Shack, lukewarm,carnal
hypocritical "christians" will see nothing wrong with the above
critique, and still go ahead and buy the book.
Before I go further, I will tell you plainly I did not fully agree with the Shack, but I would never dare to make such accusations as the ones in the above statement. For one, no man can judge the heart of another man, where he is in his understanding and faith, nor to what amount of grace has been apportioned to him by God. I do think "the shack" should be read somewhat cautiously, as should ANY piece of literature with man's theology intertwined. That does not mean I think anyone should discredit it - in fact I have known many solid, bible-believing followers of Christ to have gleaned from it enormous breakthroughs in their lives.
A lot of the arguments listed here taken somewhat out of context. One I have the biggest problem with is #3 - because the statement made in the book is absolutely true, and is written more so as follows: God has made a ransom for everyone, and forgiveness is accessible to everyone, some people choose to accept it and some do not.
Also, the book does insinuate that everyone is on their own journey to salvation, but it never makes conclusive statements on it. It leaves it somewhat open-ended, insinuating rather that it is not for us to decide what God is doing in the life of another man.
There is a lot more I can say...
@sirnickdon@revelife - I think a lot of people are already over the phenomenon of this book - but, with that I would say it might be a good idea to read this book for YOURSELF, instead of reading the tidbits someone copied to get certain people riled up. There actually is a lot of deep truths woven throughout this book that don't get discussed a lot otherwise, but there is some wacked out theology that should be avoided and understood properly also. I think this post is written very poorly and is very biased...
I don't think anyone who cannot think for his or herself should read The Shack. It is like a juicy, well-cooked T-bone. You have to know how to realize what the edible parts are and which should be left on the plate. I doubt there are many people who write Christian books who are perfect in their theology. I will say this, though, the American church is plagued by a spirit of religion that is not of God. I think The Shack emphasizes the relationship aspects of Christianity that religion tries to choke to death. While this should not be someone's doctrine, it is helpful for mature Christians who need a reminder of the love and power of God.