Shack Attack

There are a dazzling number of ways to divide humanity into two groups.

There are men and women; morning people and night people; Coke drinkers and Pepsi drinkers; introverts and extroverts; IU fans and Purdue fans; risk-takers and play-it-safers; and those who unroll the toilet paper from the bottom vs. those who unroll it from the top (as God always intended).

This year we can add a brand new way of dividing American readers: There are those who think that The Shack is a dangerous little book that distorts classically mainstream means of understanding God, and those who think that The Shack is a refreshingly imaginative way of introducing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to those who are confused, bored, or outright angry with God.

I count myself a member of the second group.

The Shack, by William P. Young, is a work of “Christian fiction” – two words that don’t all that often come together in a particularly creative or transforming way. Regardless, The Shack has become a phenomenon that cannot easily be ignored. It has rocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Bookstores can hardly keep it on their shelves.

The story spotlights a middle-aged dad named Mack who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Mack suffers a terrible loss – an event so painful that he describes the aftermath as the Great Sadness, an all-consuming heartache that dogs his every step and every thought for several years.

Mack is resigned to the fact that life will never feel safe again. He will never again experience true happiness. At a more subterranean level, Mack is deeply angry with God. Of what value is a deity who claims to be all-powerful and all loving, if in the face of the worst thing that has ever happened to him, God seems abjectly silent and unresponsive?

Within the first few pages Mack gets an invitation. It seems ludicrous. It appears to be from God. “I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together.” I don’t believe it will spoil the book for you to learn that Mack does indeed venture to the shack – curiously, cynically, and bitterly all at the same time – and receives an unexpected opportunity to rethink his entire life.

I have listened to a smattering of pastors and critics express their fear that the theological twists and turns of The Shack will lead people astray. I disagree. Given dozens of opportunities to venture into the deep weeds of confusing contemporary doubletalk about God (something which characterizes all too many recent bestsellers), Young stays within the boundaries of classic theistic orthodoxy, albeit with amazing daring and inventiveness.

My primary reason for recommending The Shack is simple: Here at last is a book that helps make sense of God for those who are so angry with him that they want to shake their fists at heaven. Mack learns something that has escaped a good many of us: God can handle our darkest feelings. Church can be infuriating for many people, especially if there is implied or explicit teaching that being mad at God is a terrible thing, and may actually prevent us from knowing God at all. It’s truer to say that God is far bigger than our wounds and our smoldering resentments.

This couldn’t be plainer than in the lives and the prayers of many of the Old Testament’s key characters. Moses becomes so exasperated with God at one point that he begs, “Lord, if this is the way you’re going to treat me, then just kill me right now.” Job goes toe to toe with God for three-dozen chapters, demanding that the Lord explain why his life has spiraled into non-stop suffering. Elijah, the prototypical prophet, descends into a suicidal depression that is fueled by resentment of God’s apparently flawed management of national affairs. David screams in one of the Bible’s most poignant psalms, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In every case, God can handle the anger. He isn’t offended by human exasperation. It’s not an exaggeration to say that God picks a fight with both Moses and Job. “Come on,” he seems to say, “is that the best you’ve got?” The overwhelmingly message of the Bible is that we can dump a mountain of damaged emotions into God’s lap, only to discover that God’s intention to bless us will not be frustrated, and we ourselves will not be destroyed.

Is The Shack for you? I think it’s worth a try. Warning: If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have read the last 40 pages in a public place. Young makes an earnest effort to connect our fragile emotions and our deepest hopes with God’s amazing provision.

But then, that’s just the opinion of a male, Pepsi-drinking, extroverted night person.