What would the conversation be like if you spent a whole weekend in a shack with God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit? That’s one of the questions addressed in William P Young’s best-selling novel The Shack. The book tells the story of a man who receives a mysterious invitation, apparently from God, to return to a remotely located abandoned shack where his youngest daughter had apparently been murdered four years earlier.
If God is good, why does he (or she) allow us to suffer pain and loss? How can God be three persons yet one at the same time? Does God love some people more than others? What effect does our behaviour have on God? What is involved in true forgiveness, and why should we forgive people who have done terrible things? Does God love everyone equally, or does he love each person differently? What does it mean to trust in God? All these issues and more are discussed at some length in the book.
Numerous people are very enthusiastic about the qualities of this book. I personally found it OK to read, but after a while I found that some of the conversations with God dragged a bit. The story seemed to be an excuse for the philosophical explorations. There were numerous places where I disagreed with the ideas put forward, and perhaps my biggest overall concern is the way faith is portrayed as something individualistic, rather than something to be lived within the context of a community.