The Shack by William P Young (2007)

Although this book is fiction, you would never know it. It has totally changed the way I view everyday life. I think of things in the book constantly, and can tell you I believe God blessed William Young in the writing of The Shack. What an amazing mind to write so beautifully about what we all imagine. It is a fairly short read, and a very easy read. It is a book I have purchased several extra copies of and have given as gifts. If you think you want to view God in a more vivid way-READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Anyone who is wondering if Christianity is for them should read this book. I loved the unique way the author portrayed the Holy Trinity. He wrote in a way that speaks to both seekers of faith and to those of us who enjoy a close spiritual walk with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I had read a borrowed copy but after I returned it, I realized I had to have my own copy to read again. The first reading is for the story, but the second reading will be more of a worship experience.

I could NOT read this in a single day or just a few sittings-I found myself having to 'come up for air' to process what I was reading!
What I read did not hurt my religious pride,but rather,confirmed an evergrowing suspicion that we are not looking at life's disappointments from God's point of view,but from man's well-intentioned,but manipulative view.
It is fact that the more we are hurt,the more we want to control situations surrounding us so that we won't have to suffer hurt again. Man has been walking this earth with deep emotional wounds for so long that we have,for the most part,evolved into a mass of manipulators-all in an effort to fend off pain.
Man has grown to believe that power protects from pain. This is the real reason behind our power hunger. We don't trust God because sometimes,He lets us hurt.In not trusting Him, we trust the next best thing,ourselves.
This story is about TRUSTING GOD to take us through even the very deepest of despair & pain. Pain so dark, we cannot possibly see through it-get throuth it, alone.
It's about letting go of who we've decided He is & the limitations we've come to believe He has.
It's about letting go of lies.
It's about seeing His love, more from HIS end of it,and understanding-KNOWING that He loves us.
It doesn't try too hard to teach us how MUCH we're loved-how useless such an attempt would be! For if HE loves us at all,(and He does, but in our heart of hearts we don't really KNOW or BELIEVE it),then the 'how much' isn't the point. There are no levels of love in God, He's GOD, and what we would consider to be a mere ounce of His love is enough to gain our trust through Eternity. The point is in the KNOWING He means His Love for ME. It comes in understanding that I, yes I, am ESPECIALLY dear to Him. It comes from understanding that those I may consider to be the 'worst of the worst' are ESPECIALLY dear to Him. Really and truly and ESPECIALLY dear to Him!
A life-changing exchange takes place in a cave in this story. You don't want to miss this part. You will understand that where you unconsciously thought you want to be God, to make decisions the way you see fit...Well, you will come out on the other side knowing you really do NOT want to be God-not even in the smallest things.
I think you will understand and want more of forgiveness. Not so much for yourself, although that's certainly covered...but for others.
You will see Heaven differently and if you're anything at all like me, your heart and spirit will vibrate with the rightness of what is proposed...and perhaps more than ever, you will look ever so forward to Heaven!
This book, it's brilliant style, brilliant descriptions and bold statements...it is NOT an offense to Christianity! Rather, it is a joy and offers profound hope that we can truly do all things, forgive all things, and happily obey all things He asks of us.
We can, because we KNOW He loves us-I can because I understand 'us' to be 'me'.
Did I know this before? I did. I am not a stranger to God's Word. It was His Word that first convinced me.But this book with its simple language & heart-rending story line-It can bring the Non-Believer to a place where he will want to believe & create a bridge to God's Word & God's World.
As well, it reminds the long-standing Believer of why he believed in the first place, renews the freshness of those first moments of giving over heart & trust, and for some of us,challenges rigid, man-made, religious thinking.

This book is aimed at the heart, and I notice that a lot of negative criticism seems to be coming from people who have a difficult time understanding the difference between heart-level teaching about the nature of our Father and his love for us, and fire-and-brimstone preaching that is geared to creating the "cowering Christian syndrome."

If you are looking for a teacherly doctrinal treatise containing a lot of pulpit pounding that is designed to instill fear and foreboding, this book will be a disappointment. If you are needing a look into the heart and mind of God, and a revealing of how God wants humankind to view the unspeakable evils that happen here in this present evil age, then this book will definitely be of great value to the reader. This book is for the Big Picture thinker, and, if you are not presently one of those, this book will definitely help you to become one.

Contrary to what some have said, the book is not doctrinally dangerous, or even grossly inaccurate. Just because the author does not choose to address every issue of doctrine in one fictional piece does not mean that it is without value and merit, or that it is somehow misleading and dangerous. In fact, many of the doctrinal stances that the critics that I have read allude to are not shared by all other theologians and students of the Bible. They are debatable, and for good reason. Many are more able, for some reason, to see God as more ready, even eager, to judge and condemn, than they are able to see him ready to comfort and forgive. God is love first and foremost, and even God's judgement is driven by love, not the other way around. This book shows the reality of that doctrinally sound fact.

Many will also be offended and angered at the author for expressing the truth, in his novel, that God can choose to manifest himself in any way and in any place and manner that he so desires. They won't like the way God is depicted as showing himself to the protagonist. Some will be taken aback by the fact that God actually sees the "Big Picture" viewpoint when it comes to heinous crimes, and some will be offended that God's willingness to completely forgive can actually reach as far as it does, to the very perpetrator of these crimes.

If you are brave enough to lay aside some of your previous biases and prejudices and doctrinal assumptions, and read, and finish, this book, you may be blessed with a new understanding that touches and changes not only your intellect, but also has the ability to reach into the depths of your heart and produce healing and needed change there, also.