The Shack "Bible Project"

The Shack Bible Project [Excerpts]

In talking with people about [The Shack], I heard one thing over and over again: “Wow, THE SHACK’s vision of God is awesome! Too bad it doesn’t sound much like the God of the Bible…”

I got tired of hearing that, so I decided to do something about it. That ’something’ is The Shack Bible Project — my way of suggesting that Jesus, Papa and Sarayu are a faithful portrayal of the One whom English-language Bibles call “God.” By speaking the Scriptures in the language of THE SHACK, I intend to show that the book’s vision of God jives nicely with the Bible’s vision, not to mention the vision of ancient Christianity.

When the early Jesus-followers sat down to write down a summary of the Bible’s message, they produced the ancient ecumenical creeds — documents that don’t have much to say about a faraway solitary [angry] elderly white dude. Instead, they speak of a man named Jesus, the one he called Father, and the elusive third one he called Spirit. The creeds speak of a life of love shared by these three, a life that is transforming the universe by incarnating itself within it. In other words, when the creeds look at the Bible, they see what The Shack sees.

I think our culture’s way of reading the Bible is skewed. Our unacknowledged assumptions form a lens which distorts our interpretations of the biblical text. In The Shack, Paul Young gave us a new lens through which we might see God more clearly. In The Shack Bible Project, I am trying to read the Bible afresh through that lens.

As I do that, I am seeing wonderful things that I never saw before. I hope you will find some benefit from my attempt to put what I see into words.

http://www.patheos.com/community/shackbible/about-2/

[TBC: In past issues of the newsletter we have addressed the many problems of Paul Young’s The Shack. Its unbiblical portrayal of God may give insights into Young’s own concepts (in his own image), but not of the Almighty God of All Creation. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews:4:13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
See All...). In seeking to defend Young’s imaginings, it is not surprising that the same tactic used by every cult or aberrant teaching is used. “we have a new revelation…a new way of looking at things,” etc. So it is with the “Shack Bible Project.”]