Book: The Shack

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A friend of mine from my parish has recommended me this book and after reading Catholic’s reviews on this book, I do not feel comfortable reading the book. He gave it to me and said the book is wonderful and that it will help u with ur relationship with God.

How can I tell him that I didn’t feel comfortable reading the book anymore after reading Catholic reviews without hurting his feelings or letting him down?

And how can I help him see that the book has theology against the Faith?

:blessyou:
 
A non-Catholic friend of mine gave me this book. I hadn’t heard anything about it, so I read it. Afterward we had an interesting conversation about it and it was an excellent opener to explain some aspects of the Catholic church to her. Even though it did have anti-Catholic aspects, it ended up being an excellent apologetic tool!
 
Th0t said:
A friend of mine from my parish has recommended me this book and after reading Catholic’s reviews on this book, I do not feel comfortable reading the book. He gave it to me and said the book is wonderful and that it will help u with ur relationship with God.

How can I tell him that I didn’t feel comfortable reading the book anymore after reading Catholic reviews without hurting his feelings or letting him down?

And how can I help him see that the book has theology against the Faith?

:blessyou:
Click to expand...
I also have a friend who read the book that had the same reaction as the person who gave the book to you. He was really struggling with his relationship with the Lord after a close family member died after a long illness. It didn’t change his beliefs or faith, but it was a tool to help him past his issues.

Go ahead and read the book with the understanding that it is a work of fiction and nothing else. It has some very interesting ideas, but that doesn’t change anything that the Church teaches because the book is fiction. And as doffy3 noted, this could turn into a great teaching moment.

Peace

Tim
 
Our parish actually did a book club study on it. I have to say, I really felt uneasy about it. I am a new convert, and it seemed to me that it was completely geared toward the beliefs of my protestant background and was anti-organized religion.
Here I was, going through RCIA and then being in a roomful of lifelong Catholics raving about the book. I tried not to be confused! There were a few people that would speak out that certain passages in the book didn’t fall in line with their faith. I kind of wished our pastor could have sat in our meetings to give his thoughts. Overall though, I can see how it could help someone through a tragedy in their life.

Liz
 
Whether your catholic or reformed this book is blasphemous and should be avoided.
 
In one part of the book Jesus (I think it was) talks about how the 10 Commandments don’t need to be followed anymore. He also talks about the Church as his bride, but later says He is against organized religion.

I looked a little into the author’s background. He seems a little, well, troubled.
 
Th0t said:
A friend of mine from my parish has recommended me this book and after reading Catholic’s reviews on this book, I do not feel comfortable reading the book. He gave it to me and said the book is wonderful and that it will help u with ur relationship with God.

How can I tell him that I didn’t feel comfortable reading the book anymore after reading Catholic reviews without hurting his feelings or letting him down?

And how can I help him see that the book has theology against the Faith?

:blessyou:
Click to expand...
I think where a person is in their faith journey plays a huge role in how they receive this book. I also think that, in order to have a worthwhile discussion with your friend regarding the errors in the book, you should read it. Yes, you will find some parts of it offensive and it is presented as though God is anti-organized religion, (which baffles me in light of the instructions given in the OT) but I admit, there were some parts of it that really spoke to my heart.

The only way you’re going to help him see what’s wrong with the book is to read it for yourself, and then ask your friend, “What did you think about the chapter where Jesus says we no longer have to keep the commandments?” or whatever else jumps out at you.
 
My daughter-in-law, a Baptist gave me a copy and said it helped her to understand and appreciate the Trinity. I read it and found that despite the gender assigned to the members of the trinity that their personalities were refreshing. Yes there is a tone of being anti-organized religion and yes there are other parts, in addition to the gender assignments, that are in contradiction to Catholic teaching. Any semi-educated Catholic should have no trouble recognizing those. I enjoyed the read.

Near the back flyleaf of the book there is a page that describes an on-line web site that has discussions and questions . not unlike these forums, for those who are interested. I checked it out and found it was not my “cup of tea.”
 
I have just read this book. I knew from the start that it was completely fiction and it is full of the author’s ideas.

I found the book good in the way it shows that God-the trinity, is beyond our understanding. God is not a gender he is beyond that, he is bigger than that. I liked the way it broke sterotypes and our preconcieved ideas of what we think the trinity is like. But I could see right through the attack on the church and then the 10 commandment and all serving the same God (muslims buddhists included). I found the absence of the devil quite disconserting.

BUT I think it shows beautifully God/Jesus/Holy Spirit wanting a relationship with us. A personal relationship at that. He wants to hear us talk to him no matter how big or how small. And it is good how it shows that God longs for us to listen to Him but we don’t stop to trust him.

I was really surprised at how many of my protestant friends actually believed it to be based on a true story. Not one person questioned it…interesting.
Primrose
 
I mentioned to my friend that I have had trouble starting the book because it has issues against our faith. He said well everyone has their opinions, but there are meetings about this book and everything. It’s a great book. etc. etc. and I mentioned to him that I read reviews of this book and well, he seems to disagree. I told him I’ll read the book and well talk about it so I could better show u since I haven’t read it and cannot explain.
 
In several interviews, the author (William Paul Young) has asserted that this *is not *just fiction. He meant it as a parable to pass on his theological beliefs to his children. So, I think that opens the book up to be read more critically than just a fiction book. Hopefully Catholics and Protestants can both agree that this book should be avoided.
 
My parish priest recommended reading it in his homily one Sunday and actually read an excerpt from it. I had already read it and agreed with his assesssment. I found the relationship among the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity particularly delightful. True, there are anti-organizational church elements, and the Ten Commandments seem to be brushed away (or maybe the author was thinking about the Two Great Commandments–I read it awhile back and am not sure about this), but I think it’s worth reading and even discussing in a book club.
 
I would like to Ask why should this book be avoided. I am a Hard Core Catholic and to be honest None of this book Goes against the Church that Christ set up.

To the person who got up set about how Jesus was portrayed, Guess what Jesus was a Man and God at the same time. Yeshua, was a Middle aged Jewish Carpenter. In the Jewish world that is pretty Hick.

To the Person who got upset about God Being against Organized Religion, It is true he is.

There are Two kinds of Catholics in this world. The kind that sees the church as an institution and feels they are obligated to preform the Sacraments and Follow the Pope and Priests And really has no idea why they do what they do, It is just what they were told. This kind of Catholic is Organized Religion.

The other kind of Catholic, is the Kind that sees our Church and our Holy Father and our Priests, as a Loving Relationship from our God to his creation. This Catholic Follows the Sacraments because they are in Love with Christ and wants to Follow him and have him every Sunday or Daily if they can. They Obey him because they Love him, They understand that God created Confession for us to work out or grace, That God created the Eucharist as a way for Christ to Never leave us. He made the Church so that we as stupid men don’t go around and self interpret his words and fall to the lie of the devil. This is not Organized Religion, but a loving relationship that says, I obey because I love you! not because I have to.

If you don’t agree with the second kind of catholic, Which by the way is what the Book puts out and is what the Church teaches, then your in the Organized Religion and you need to go and read the catechism and follow were and why we believe what we Believe.

See I dont follow a Religion, I am not Catholic, because it is a fun thing to do. I am Catholic, because I love my God and savior. And because i love him I obey him, that means His Soul body blood and divinty are in the Eucharist, I need to get my Butt to confession and often because i am Sinning man. I need to listen to my leaders because they are the authority placed over me and Ordained by God. I Follow all of what the Church says because I love Christ, not because I have to.

If you truly Understood what you believed and followed you would understand this book. You would understand how exactly it fits into our Catholic relationship with our God and you would Understand why God is sometimes so disheartened with us.
 
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