The book sounds like it has a good point and good things to say, but the title kind of bothers me because of all the places in the Bible that speak of how we are to love our fellow believers. It says that is how we can know we are of God, because we have love for one another. This love is not based on believers being good and perfect the way we want them to be but on the Holy Spirit who lives in them and in us.

I wondered if it talked about that.

The title is meant to draw in people who are currently struggling with their own Christianity because of their relationships with others; it is not titled as such to say that it's okay to "hate" your neighbor.

It is a seeker friendly book; not a book for the well-worn Christian (or, perhaps it is...considering many people fall from Christ becuase they can't get past the way "Christians" treat them).

At any rate, it's in your local bookstore, it's a quick read, and it's not too expensive.

One point I'd like to make about The Shack.

Although a lot of people point out that it shows the loving and caring side of God - which is certainly does, and does very well I feel - I believe the main point of the book in terms of how we relate to God is that we have to give up our independence, and become dependent on God.

This is why the post that says it is about creating God in our image and making him like us has it totally wrong. It is about how we have to trust God and be obedient to Him.

You are absolutely correct.

I Disagree with the major portion of the review presented earlier inthis thread. I have posted my comment on the book in a thread begun by Gail. For another view you may read it there.

Sorry. That thread was begun by Amelia.

For those of you who could not find it, here is what I said:



NOTE: In the above I have corrected a couple of typos.

I am reading a book from ABC called Scandals of the Bible by Sigve Tonstad.

He is answering the puzzle of why God stands back in the face of atrocities that happen, using bible examples; rape, murder, suffering.

He looks at Moses' firing (abruptly terminated as the leader) from what his action of hitting the rock did to God's image in the eyes of Israel and other insights that I had completely missed

It reads fast and the writer is very talented. He also wrote a set of children's books.

A friend gave us the book and I read it in the past week or so. I have little kids and it took me a bit to get past a certain part of the book.

I really like this book for teaching how we need to be dependent on God, and I really actually like his portrayal of God in characters that are different than our normal images of God. I also very much agree with the points this poster makes:



I gained some great blessings from these concepts coming through in this book!

I also felt sad to see that the author obviously doesn't see the Adventist viewpoint on the state of the dead. Also, his part on the role of the law seemed so... well, missing the essentials! I so wish he had it a bit differently in that area - it could have been so much more powerful.

I found it interesting, looking at the author's site and personal blog, to find that this had originally been written strictly as a book for his 6 kids.... He seemed to be trying to share with them lessons which God had been teaching him. And then others read it and convinced him to get it published. To me, that changes my perspective on some things of the book...

He definitely includes some theology which I do not agree with (death and law-related), but there are many other things which are a great blessing.