Watching the Olympics on TV sure makes China look like a wonderful place.  We need to remember our Christian brothers and sisters who are brutally persecuted by the Chinese government.  Pray for the persecuted church in China.

So have you read “The Shack” by William P. Young yet? I haven’t and I probably won’t any time soon (I have too many textbooks to read for the course I’m working on right now). However, in the spirit of those Christians who will picket a movie they haven’t seen, I’m still going to blog about it.

**** SPOILER WARNING ****

I’ve read a few reviews of the book. It is creating quite a buzz. The book is largely a conversation between a man and God who is represented in three persons and God the father is represented as a large black woman. Zoinks! Therein lies part of the controversy. Not having read the book I can’t really say much, but the reviews I’ve read seem to be divided between those who say “let creative people create!” and “HERESY!”

However, those reviewers can hardly be objective since they actually read the book. Here are my unbiased thoughts. Part of me fears it will be a modern equivalent of Jonathon Livingston Seagull -  a wildly popular “spiritual” book written in the 70s. However today most agree that Johnny Seagull was a zeitgeist of 70s hokey self help, up-with-people, power-of-positive-thinking pap.  I just think that anything as popular as “The Shack” is can’t possibly be truly profound.  I know… I’m a bad cynical person.  Sorry.

Another fear I have with this book is that it will be like another Left Behind.  Millions of Christians read that series and accepted carte blanche each one of its eschatological assumptions.  I hope the readers of The Shack will remember that Young is but one voice of many and not confuse his fable with the Gospel.

is from above.  Proof of James 1:17.  I always knew it was good for me!