The Shack

So, I've joined the throngs of other people who have recently read The Shack. For a novel, it was great! It was an easy read on one hand, but really thought-provoking on the other.

While I don't necessarily agree with all the doctrine mentioned in the book, it really made me think outside the box of normal "religion." In that way, it reminded me of Blue Like Jazz (another great book). I think it would be a really good book who are questioning "religion" and are looking for something more. I think out of the whole book, there were 2 things I pulled from the book.

1. Religion isn't what it's all about. At all. It's a personal relationship with God that is the key. There is a commercial on the Christian radio station that runs regularly for www.notreligion.com. That's what this reminds me of.

2. Forgiveness is what we're called to do to those who hurt us (and don't necessarily deserve it). And it's really the only way we can move on. And deepen our relationships with God and others. That's hard for me to hear... and do. This book showed this in a really personal way.

I have to say that this is probably the first time EVER I've highlighted a passage from a fiction book, but here it is:

Jesus now spoke again. "Mack, I don't want to be first among a list
of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you,
then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather
than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your
life -- your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities -- it connected
to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible
dance of being."

www.theshackbook.com