Dear Harley,
I think you misperceived some things wholesale . . . beginning with getting the books wrong.
The excerpts were from THE GOD CHASERS, and NOT from THE SHACK.
I hope to comment later . . . on your specific complaints about what Tommy had to say in THE GOD CHASERS.
OBVIOUSLY, you’ve NEVER BEEN IN that kind of service else your assumptions and perspectives would be wholesale different. There is NO comparison with conventional services.
And, you seemed to not notice and assumed quite INCORRECTLY, Tommy had NOTHING to do with folks thronging to the church. That phenomena was 100% God. Tommy was as much along for the ride as the rest of the folks. Evidently you missed the part about there being absolutely no preaching and even little music. GOD WAS ON THE SCENE WITH HIS PRESENCE. NOTHING ELSE COULD HOLD A CANDLE TO THAT.
Obviously you’ve never EXPERIENCED that on anything close to such a scale or your perceptions and biases would have been forever changed about it and you could not have written what you did that I’m responding to.
Then I guess my comments were for The God Chasers.
OBVIOUSLY, you’ve NEVER BEEN IN that kind of service else your assumptions and perspectives would be wholesale different.
Actually I have been in many types of services including ones like these. I mean this as kindly as I can in this type of forum; as I have grown older in Christ I have come to realize that these types of Christians normally are very spiritually immature. There is way too much emphasis on "feelings" and who can be "slay in the Spirit" more than anything else. Christianity is not about trying to "feel" good but resting on God's promises. It's not about dancing but about resting at His feet.