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"Instead, God said, essentially . . . see . . . it’s a pretty good representation of some of my truth, of me"

thats the problem. God doesn't want a pretty good representation of some of His truth. He wants an accurate represenatation of all The Truth.

God the Father is never represented in the Bible as a woman, neither is the Holy Spirit. To do so is take away from the Truth. The author explains in the book why he chose to represent Him that way, but his explanation does not jive with Scripture.

Take Job. God didn't reveal Himself to Job, who went through much worse than Mack ever did, as something approachable or something that Job could handle. When God appeared to Job, He appeared as the Creator of the Universe and put Job in his place. God does not change Himself to accommodate our flawed understanding of Him. He changes us so we can see Him as He truly is.

The real issue I have with the book is on the issue of authority. In the book, Papa (God the Father) tells Mack that authority and submission are a result of sin, and the Trinity is a perfect circle of communion.

"Mackenzie, we have no concept of final authority among us, only unity. We are in a circle of relationship, not a chain of command or "great chain of being" as your ancestors termed it. What you’re seeing here is relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best. Hierarchy would make no sense among us."

However, Scripture teaches that authority and submission are inherent to the Godhead and have existed from the beginning. Jesus was sent by the Father, and He does the will of the Father. He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that not His will be done, by Thy will be done. Jesus submits to the authority of the Father. These are not the results of sin; they are the very nature of the Godhead in which all three persons are equal in essence but exist within a hierarchy of authority and submission.

There are clear examples of authority and submission throughout the Bible. The book of Matthew is focused on the authority of Jesus Christ. The angels have rank and levels of authoirty. Wives should submit to their husbands and we must submit to the authority of God and Jesus Christ.

I understand the book is a work of fiction and it should be approached as such, but when people start treating it as the gospel truth or Scripture, then trouble can arise.

JM

Scripture in the New Testament is clearly

MUCH MORE INSISTENT

about

SUBMITTING ONE TO ANOTHER.

EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER

CONFESSING TO ONE ANOTHER THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED

than it is about hierarchical submission.

That’s just the Scriptural truth of the whole of the New Testament. That’s the Biblical EMPHASIS there.

Of course, as Isaiah said . . . and as THE GOD CHASERS illustrates so well . . .

at times, GOD IS HIGH AND LIFTED UP AND HIS TRAIN FILLS THE TEMPLE and the only fitting response is on one’s face on the floor.

That was not the aspect of God the author of the SHACK set out to emphasize and illustrate with his children.

I have no trouble with that.

When folks are blown sky west and straight by God’s overwhelming Love piercing every corner, nook and cranny of their hearts—they are EAGERLY submitted wholesale to God in ways

NO amount of legalism, lists, authority issues etc. can EVER achieve.

HE LOVES ME makes that as clear (or clearer than) as my 62 years have.

God does not change Himself to accommodate our flawed understanding of Him. He changes us so we can see Him as He truly is.

Amen!

However, Scripture teaches that authority and submission are inherent to the Godhead and have existed from the beginning. Jesus was sent by the Father, and He does the will of the Father. He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that not His will be done, by Thy will be done. Jesus submits to the authority of the Father. These are not the results of sin; they are the very nature of the Godhead in which all three persons are equal in essence but exist within a hierarchy of authority and submission.

There are clear examples of authority and submission throughout the Bible. The book of Matthew is focused on the authority of Jesus Christ. The angels have rank and levels of authority. Wives should submit to their husbands and we must submit to the authority of God and Jesus Christ.

Amen again.

We need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the Romanist holy bath water. We are to submit ourselves to the authority of Scripture where our own personal sanctification by the Holy Spirit is augmented by worshiping as a congregation of like-minded believers in a church led by representatives elected from among the congregation.

That's why I find the presbyterian form of church structuring so productive. It is not a vertical hierarchy of Rome. It is not a horizontal hierarchy of no authority. It is a diagonal hierarchy made up of believers who are all bound by the word of God.

There is a church of Jesus Christ on earth to which we submit for learning and discipline, but only if and when that church is preaching the truth of the risen Christ. If not, we are told to leave it behind and find a congregation that does honor and submit to the word of God above all else.

That's why of the 33 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the very first chapter is "Of the Holy Scripture" while "Of the Church" is chapter 25.