Susy Flory » God

God as “a big black woman” in THE SHACK, a new million copy bestseller

Susy Flory — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:21:35 +0000

“Well, Mackenzie, don’t just stand there gawkin’
with your mouth open like your pants are full,”
said the big black woman as she turned
and headed across the deck, talking the whole time.
“Come and talk to me while I get supper on.”

–Elousia/Papa/God in The Shack

If you haven’t yet heard of The Shack, by William P. Young, you probably will soon. This new novel, written by a Christian who wanted to portray a very personal God, has sold over a million copies in the last year and is currently at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Not only that, The Shack (Windblown Media) has been acquired by Hachette Book Group’s Faith Words division, which will now market the heck out of the little paperback that could. I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon; Hollywood is reportedly knocking on the Shack’s door.

Here’s an overview: The book tells the story of the spiritual awakening of Mackenzie Phillips, whose daughter is abducted by a serial killer while on a family camping trip. Evidence of the crime is discovered in a rundown old shack in the woods. Years later, a still grieving Mackenzie receives an unusual note inviting him to meet “Papa” at the shack.

Curious, Mackenzie goes and discovers three people: “Papa,” a middle-aged black woman with a Southern accent, who also calls herself Elousia; Jesus, a Middle Eastern young man; and “Sarayu,” a mysterious (and hard to see) Asian woman. These three, who turn out to be God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, invite Mackenzie to spend the weekend in the shack. He does, resulting in the opportunity for long conversations and the chance to ask all of the hard questions revolving around his recent tragedy.

I don’t want to give much away, but there are lots of mystical occurrences, revelations about God’s nature and how the Trinity functions, and a “did it really happen?” twist at the end.

As you can imagine, The Shack has been pretty controversial in evangelical Christian circles. Reaction is polarized, with gushing praise (“it changed my life and I’m buying a copy for everyone I know”) to passionate denouncements (“it’s heresy; read it and burn”). One of the
most clear and cogent non-endorsements comes from well known Seattle pastor Mark
Driscoll, who has labeled the book as pro-goddess worship.

I just finished reading The Shack, and here’s what I like:

God is portrayed as personal, loving, full of grace and forgiveness, and anxious for relationship with Mackenzie. This is a God who repeatedly tells His children, “I’m especially fond of you.”
Anyone who’s experienced a tragedy can relate to Mackenzie’s overwhelming grief and anger at God. The book attempts to address the question of evil, and why bad things happen to good people.
The author has the guts to tackle a subject that is nigh untouchable in evangelical circles–how to understand a Triune God and how the Trinity might work.
Because of the controversial subject matter, Christian publishers wouldn’t take it, and general market publishers were leery of the blatant Christian content. So, the author self-published it! I love that, and that it’s been a success.
Much like The Da Vinci Code, the ruckus surrounding the book gives people of faith a chance to talk about what we believe. I’m of the mind that anything that gets us thinking about the character of God and talking about how He works in our lives is a good thing. In the current culture, it’s almost anathema to talk about Jesus outside the walls of the church; it’s as if it’s in poor taste or reveals us as intolerant.

Here’s what I don’t like about The Shack:

The “did it happen or not?” dream twist, an overused device that often shows up in tired TV shows.
God the father is not a person, but a spirit. He is personified and fully present in Jesus. Period. He can’t be characterized as a black woman, a white woman, or any other kind of woman. It’s just so limiting. I think it’s a very false picture of an all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, holy Creator God. It’s a little something like
trying to bottle and label a massive forest fire.
Further, God is who he is. You can’t just create your own pleasing image (whether it’s a woman, a man, a puppy, or a flower) and force him to conform to that image just to increase your comfort level.
Putting words in God’s mouth is foolish. Who are we to put ourselves in God’s place and say what we think he might say? God has already spoken. He took great care to make sure his words were delivered flawlessly through the prophets, through the Bible, and through Jesus himself. Here’s a quote from Annie Dillard on our sometimes too casual approach to God:

“Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists
on a
packaged tour of the Absolute? …
Does anyone have the foggiest idea
what sort of power we blithely invoke?
Or, as I suspect, does no one
believe a word of it?
…we should all be wearing crash helmets.”
–Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk

When God has spoken, it’s precise, it’s logical and clear, it’s consistent, and often unexpected. But the God of The Shack is talky, long winded, touchy-feely, and sometimes folksy (a slangy Southern accent comes and goes).
The Trinity is portrayed as a “circle of life” type community with no hierarchy. The three are just very, very good friends. The Bible, however, shows Jesus willingly submitting himself to God’s authority. Jesus said repeatedly that he did what God the Father asked him to do. Portraying themselves as Father and Son in Scripture creates a very clear picture of hierarchy.

My pastor read the book and said people who read it need to know their theology. I’d agree; like any other book with spiritual content, read it, but don’t swallow it. The author, after all, is only human and The Shack is not a revelation.

But don’t lose sleep over it either; God doesn’t need us to defend him. He’s already spoken.

Part 5 & Conclusion: So a Goddess-centered Pagan and a Christian sat down to talk…

Susy Flory — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:38:35 +0000

“The message of the Bible makes two great promises.One you’ve already referred to: it offers forgiveness of sins. The other we haven’t discussed–the hope of
eternal life. What do you believe about the afterlife? What happens to a pagan after death?”

It’s funny … Grian and I are just two ordinary women who decided to have a conversation about our spiritual beliefs. No harm in that, right? Yet both of us were nervous, afraid of being attacked by the other, or ridiculed, or misrepresented. It’s not often that pagans and Christians sit down to talk. We pretty much live and move and worship in separate circles.

I can’t speak for Grian, but I also worried about what my Christian friends, family, and colleagues would say. I wondered if they would think it was okay to talk to a pagan or a witch, and to let them share their beliefs on my blog.

There are so many opinions and judgments and opinions and denominations floating around in the
Christian world that it can be very confusing to know the right path.

This is how I solve that problem: I look to Jesus. What did he do? Did he have conversations with pagans? Yes. Did he argue with or judge them? No. He listened, he cared, he offered hope and healing. If they weren’t interested, he let them walk away.

Being a Christ follower is at heart about relationship–with Jesus and with people. In that spirit, here’s the last part of my conversation with Grian.

GRIAN: Now… I’m about to touch on another touchy part, but I want to be honest. Please forgive me if the statements that follow are offensive.

After much study I have come to see all mythology equally. What I mean by that is that I see the Bible as mythology – Jewish/Middle Eastern mythology to be more specific. For me it is no different than Greek or Roman mythology. I think that taking mythology literally is dangerous but that myth can also serve a wonderful purpose to the human psyche. Mythology can teach lessons through parables, yet they remain parables. I have a hard time with the literal interpretation of the Bible (or any myth for that matter) and thus cannot subscribe to Christianity itself. I honestly feel as though I grew out of those beliefs. I do know that sounds a little condescending and I really don’t mean it to. It’s simply the only way I know how to describe it. I respect and honor anyone who follows their faith with a true heart and mean no disrespect at all.

SUSY: I’m not offended; in fact, I’m honored and grateful that you would open up and share your own personal beliefs with me. I think we could probably have a long conversation about the Bible, but maybe that’s for another conversation. But let me just say that the Bible is widely accepted as a historical document, with more textual support than any other ancient document. In addition, it has hundreds of fulfilled prophecies, and it transforms lives.

The message of the Bible makes two great promises. One you’ve already referred to: it offers forgiveness of sins. The other we haven’t discussed–the hope of eternal life. What do you believe about the afterlife? What happens to a pagan after death?

GRIAN: On the Bible… I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, but I honestly believe the Bible (and any spiritual text for that matter) is entirely open to interpretation.

On the afterlife… I believe life continues through the process of reincarnation. I believe all life returns to the Goddess at the time of death and then the spirit chooses whether or not they are ready to live another lifetime. The ultimate result of those lifetimes is similar to what Buddhists call Nirvana. Trideans refer to this
god-head level of existence as Completion. To sum up a bit, I believe in life after death – that energy cannot truly be created or destroyed, only transformed.

********************************
So that’s it. Perhaps in the future we’ll get to talk again, but my hope is that Grian’s words will help Christians to understand some of the core beliefs of paganism. To end, here’s a quick summary of some of the differences between Christianity and paganism:

Pagans believe God is an energy force, existing and part of everything in the universe, and composed of both feminine and masculine aspects; Christians hold that God is a unique being, holy and all powerful, separate from his creation.
Pagans believe Jesus was a good, holy, enlightened man. Christians believe Jesus to be the only son of God, the only sinless man who ever lived, who died sacrifically and rose again, conquering death.
Pagans have no concept of sin or salvation. Christians believe we have all broken relationship with our creator God by going our own way, following our selfish natural impulses.
Pagans believe people have divinity within, and that ultimately God/Goddess can be discovered and cultivated inside each person. Christians look to God as separate, holy, creator, sustainer, redeemer. We can have a relationship with him, but we are not the same as him.
Paganism promises reincarnation and rebirth while advancing towards personal godhood. Christians believe human life and death happens once, and after that, judgment.
Pagans feel that no savior or salvation is needed and that all religions lead in the same direction. Christians look to Jesus to save us, through grace, from our sin and despair. His grace, if accepted, results in the gift of eternal life. All religions are not the same; “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Pagans embrace magic and other occultic practices as the empowering practice of harnessing the energy of the universe to effect positive change. Christian fear and avoid any sort of magical practices as condemned in the Bible, looking instead to God alone to lead, guide, act, protect, heal, and bless.

Click here to read the earlier parts of “So a Goddess-centered pagan and a Christian sat down to talk…”