Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 4345
 My meandering analysis... July 30, 2010
Clarinerd85 (Earth)
A couple of personal preferences: There were just enough grammatical errors to drive me crazy. That won't bother most people, but I was like geez, how much did his editor get paid for this?? The other thing was that I would have liked it better if God the Father was represented by a man... black, white, Latino, whatever, but it would have been easier for me to make the connection.
Anyway, I'll start with the good stuff. As strictly a work of fiction (i.e. you overlook the theological implications or "take them with a grain of salt"), it's quite beautiful. The story is fast-paced and engrossing, and Young's writing style is easy and entertaining.
Now, theologically speaking, his lessons about love and relationship with God are very deep and meaningful. Young boldly tackles extremely difficult questions that have been asked for centuries. There are two questions that I regularly hear from non-Christians: One is, if God loves me, how come I can't do whatever I want? The second, while only slightly less selfish, is a lot deeper: If God loves me, why do I have to suffer? Why do others have to suffer? And if he really knows what's going to happen to everyone, why doesn't he just prevent the suffering in the first place? Well, if you get nothing else out of this book, I think this is the most important paragraph in the whole story: "There are millions of reasons to allow pain and hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them, but most of those reasons can only be understood within each person's story. I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are also not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome" -- Papa, pg. 125. Seriously, wow.
Now on to the negative. First of all, parts of it came across very much like a typical anti-Christianity book written for Christians. Secondly, questions were raised and then just left there. A few things were brought up, but "God's" answers to Mack were something like, "It's okay, you don't have to understand this" or "Don't worry about asking those questions. Love is all that's important." All I could think was... why not? Why isn't this important? Why shouldn't we ask these questions? Because we won't like the answers? Because they run counter to Young's particular brand of theology?
So anyway, I thought the book was pretty good, and more accessible than other Christian apologetics type books. (For example, most, if not all, of Young's ideas about pain, suffering, and forgiveness were covered in Lewis's "The Problem of Pain," but that is a tough book to read. Most of his ideas about God's love were covered in Mannings' "Ragamuffin Gospel," but it's not as easy to read as fiction.)
So yeah... there you have it.
 The Shack July 30, 2010
Taranr18
This product came on time and was in the condition it said it was in!
Amazing Reading! July 30, 2010
Chris
I am not a reader and never have been but on a road trip to Texas I started reading The Shack. Once I started the book I could not put it down. Excellent reading material.
 Christians beware. July 30, 2010
no.go
Two problems.
1.So tediously written, I had to skip over pages to keep interested. So poorly written, it's a wonder it ever got published.
2.This book clearly does not follow traditional Christian teachings. It is absolutely NOT a book that should give any comfort to a Christian, as defined in the new testament. A Christian finding this book comforting needs to reassess their beliefs in the actual Bible, and maybe consider being a Buddhist instead.
One of the best books I've read July 29, 2010
Zachary J. Myers (Northern Virginia)
I loved this book. I believe it's one of the best and most memorable I've read. I really enjoyed it and it relates so much to things in my life. There was a part in the book about a struggling star that was flickering and having trouble shining that really reminded me of my father. Thank you Mr. Paul Young. I have bought 15 copies and have given them to friends. Your book was inspriational and a great read.
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