After his daughter’s murder, a grieving father confronts God with desperate questions — and finds unexpected answers — in this riveting and deeply moving #1 NYT bestseller. When Mackenzie Allen Phillips’s youngest daughter Missy is abducted during a family vacation, he remains hopeful that she’ll return home. But then, he discovers evidence that she may have been brutally murdered in an … she may have been brutally murdered in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness.
Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note that’s supposedly from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment, he arrives on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
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Great book. You have to keep an open mind and just let this book happen to you. I have read it several times and it remains something to really think about.
I know this book has come under some controversy within some Christian circles, but I found it to beautifully illustrate the love of God and His relationship to those who seek a “great physician”.
I really enjoyed “The Shack”, it was a different perspective on the 3 parts that are all God, The Father,Son and Holy Spirit. Some may think its mockery, this book is fiction and not a real representation of God and the Bible.
Really made me think and evaluate my own attitudes and thoughts.
Loved, loved, loved this book. Very inspirational on a deeper level.
Before I address the book itself, I’d like to address the “controversy” about the book.
1. This is a work of fiction*. It isn’t a Bible Study nor a book on theology or doctrine or the teachings of scripture
2. It is a *story*, a *vehicle* to create an *experience* – a true experience from a fictional story & it does so powerfully & well
3. Having said that, I am not ignorant of the fact this story may challenge your current knowledge or beliefs about theology, doctrine & scripture in some way
4. That *may* not be bad thing. Unlike a cult, you are fully free to leave those things right where you found them & be no worse off for the experience
5. On the other hand, I know no believers – myself included – that “know all truth” & have not picked up some misunderstanding of Who G-d is & what He thinks & feels about you that couldn’t *benefit* from a bit of challenge about these “sacred cows”… if not for the “come now, let us reason together” exercise of looking at some things from a different *perspective* if nothing else – regardless whether anything *changes* for us or not as a result
The voices I’ve heard & read warning people away from this book on “theological & doctrinal grounds” often haven’t bothered to read it themselves. The bulk of the others seem to have been predetermined to find fault with it as a form of work it was never intended to be & dismiss the *point* of the story… to invite one to experience a fellowship with the Lover of their soul in a very special & unique way that, often, changes their walk forward in positive & endearing ways. It did mine & every one of the people I shared it with the first time: we bought 15 copies & gave them as Resurrection Sunday gifts.
Even though we all had very strong relationships with Him & had for decades, a fundamental positive change occurred… not unlike that of spending a special time with a loved one soon before their passing that had deepened & strengthened that relationship in a way you’d never known was – or could be – missing.
To me, it seems the difference is that of how a Pharisee would describe meeting Yeshua (Jesus) … and how the woman at the well would describe a meeting with Him. I warmly invite you… challenge you… to read this & *decide for yourself* rather than take anyone else’s word for what it is & what it isn’t. I promise you’ll not become a Moonie or Hare Krishna or something as a result nor will your eternity be in *any* lethal jeopardy.
This is the heart and soul of this book (& of the Gospel): Love is relationship. True love is patient. True pure love never forces. Love makes a way where there is no way. G-d is True Pure Love. G-d has done *everything* that can be done & continues to do all that can be done from *that* side of the relationship to bring us into the fullest relationship possible. There is nothing left undone on that side. Ever. The *only* limiting factor is *your* choice/choices to accept, embrace, trust, discard lies & walk in fellowship… always & forever. He meets you where you are & will do every thing you will *permit* to create a fuller fellowship. Always. “Evil is the *absence* of goodness,” & “exists” in the absence of G-d’s fullness. G-d does not orchestrate evil but also will not violate the free will choice of those who choose any measure of evil, but will always exert creative power to redeem everything that falls short of Who He is for your ultimate good, given any measure of permission… regardless what you *feel* or *believe* to the contrary. Always. For with Him *nothing* is impossible.
If you come away from this book with *any* other message, it is the result of what you brought *with* you into the story.
If you are still unsure, read “Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan): Updated, Modern English” edited by Donna Sundblad – http://amzn.to/2uyPRiO – *then* read this. Many who have read Pilgrim’s Progress relate this story to that one. I highly recommend “Learn the Bible in 24 Hours” by Chuck Missler, http://amzn.to/2uz1Oor – especially if one found this fictional story challenging. It *might* help bridge some chasms. “Hinds Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard – http://amzn.to/2uyFDPn – might establish a different kind of bridge.
With those caveats: Start this book with the Foreword, even if you normally skip that. The Foreword in this book is not the Foreword to the *book*; it is a Foreword to the STORY & is actually *part* of the story. The “author” is telling you about the “main character” & how the book came about… as a character *in* the story. Please don’t skip it. It gives you an important “jump start” in understanding the main character, Mack, and in relating to the story forward. (Yes. I caught that pun too.)
The story starts with a description that reminded us of our first ever ice storm, our second winter after moving to the Portland, Oregon area… as native Southern Californians who had also spent a number of years in the Phoenix Valley of Arizona. It captures so much of our experience those several days that were so biting cold that all normal life was temporarily suspended everywhere. It was an ice storm for the record books. We’d never heard the *term* “ice storm” before!
Chapter Four is dark but not gruesome or graphic, essential to all that follows. Stick with it, skim the parts you need to if especially empathic. Embrace as much of the darkness as you are able if it feels hard for you because the contrast to that darkness will be so much more powerful if you endure. If anything, the darkness one might feel in real life is understated but sufficient.
The more “religious” one is, the more this book could maybe be a challenge. It is about *relationship*, not *religion*. It is about *knowing* Abba Father G-d, not knowing *about* G-d. The more one demands the doctrine & tradition & institution of man to inform their experience of G-d & His Word, the more one may struggle with some concepts presented. It was intended to do precisely that. It is a feature, not a bug.
Gave me a new way of imagining God’s persona. Hurts from males is side stepped with a black mama.
This is a very misleading book about God. Not only do I dislike it, I wish it had never been publshed. It twists the Bible and outright lies. I would give it a very large negative rating if possible.
Loved this book. Read it twice and will read it again. Beautiful esu to explain God in three person!! Real life tragedy, but this book is helpful to come closer to God!!
I don’t and will never agree with this garbage..read the scriptures
I didn’t like that the author, in the preface, tried to make me believe this was a true story.
Not serpentine authors take, but is interestingness. Makes you question,which is always a good thing.
I like to read spiritual books that open my heart to the love of God. I read the book and watched the movie. I would neither recommend reading or not reading the book. I was able to look for the characteristics of God the Father and Jesus. I missed the role of the Holy Spirit in the book, but was able to relate in the movie. The one important thing I got from the movie was the male and female parts of God and how he is whatever we need—– he is complete and able to meet our every need.
Great insight into the world of abused & homeless people; how they see each other, & how others see them.
A difficult read for me. Too other worldly. Maybe the movie is better.
This is a wonderful book! I loved every page of it and would recommend it to anyone because it truly makes you think about life and death in a wonderful new way. I cried while reading some of it and I cant say anything better about a book than one that can make you emotional while you’re reading it. Read it, it’ll break your heart and make you smile all in one book and you wont want to stop reading!
It was a great Christian read.
It was so Biblically incorrect, I could never recommend it.
Unbiblical
unrealistic.