The Shack Author is Christian Universalist

I am not putting this in the book thread because that is a fellowship thread and this would be seen as stirring things up. I posted a link there several weeks ago to my article on The Shack but couldn't really discuss it. (The thread is gone now).

Here is an article by James B. De Young, someone who has known William P. Young, the author of The Shack, for over 12 years, and he says that Young became a Universalist about 4 yrs. ago. Young does believe you need Christ to get into heaven but he believes eventually everyone will be reconciled and believe. The author calls this Chrisitan Universalism. (Don't get De Young and Young mixed up! The names are so close).

http://theshackreview.com/content/TheShackShorterReview.pdf

This can be seen in a subtle way in the book, which was something that bothered me (among other things).

De Young says that more universalism was originally in the book but that the editors took it out. The book was rejected by quite a few publishers at first (perhaps because of this?).

I have not finished reading the article yet but it's good so far.

 

Here is my article on The Shack:
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_TheShack.html

 

After so many wrote on the BB Books thread that they read this and liked it, I was hoping they would come to this forum and at least learn this about the author.

I'm surprised no one has criticized me for putting this up, but maybe it's too soon. There are some really strong defenders of this book.

Betsy, you made a good decision not to read this book. You don't want the images of God he has in the book in your head. It's not just the universalism, but the flawed view of God's nature and of the Trinity that are disturbing.

 

Please read my article - the link is here
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_TheShack.html

Here are the main problems as I list at the end of my article:
Portrays God the Father and the Holy Spirit in human form

Portrays God the Father and the Holy Spirit as female

States that God the Father and the Holy Spirit incarnated as flesh and blood

States that God and the Holy Spirit became God the Son

A demeaning of God's majesty

Undermines sin and the price Christ paid on the cross

Undermines God's righteous wrath and justice

Undermines the Bible, the authority and written word of God

The book's Jesus character rejects the label "Christian" for those he will "join in their transformation"

Sophia presented as a real person with divine powers

Statements reflecting problematic views of Paul Tillich

Implications of inclusivism_________End excerpt from Marcia's article

Of course, now I see the inclusivism is really his universalism.

It also explains some of the other problems, such as a lack of God's judgment & wrath on sin.

 

I don't know. I am still reading the article by De Young but so far he does not say that Young is a calvinist universalist. Someone PM'd me and said this view of Young's is also called Universal Reconciliation.

 

Here's an excellent article on the book by Norman Geisler (on someone's blog):
http://thechristianworldview.com/tcwblog/archives/934

 

But Matt, the story is about God! The purpose of the story is not just to tell a good story but to communicate beliefs about God and other things to do with God. Therefore, what he says about God counts very much.

Here is what I wrote at the beginning of my article:

 

Here's another good review of The Shack by an Australian named Paul Grimmond:

http://matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5395/

 

Good decision! :thumbs: I am still working on getting those images out of my head.