Less Perfectly Penned

“Less perfection, more production.” This is one of those repeated messages from God in my life. Do you get repeated messages, too? I wonder sometimes if I am the only slow learner needing so much reteaching!

My first lesson in this area was in delegation. As a young teacher, Sally Beard, a teaching teammate in Lubbock Texas, saw me measuring the spaces between the perfectly-cut letters I had just made for my bulletin board one day and told me I did NOT have time to do that. She did not hesitate to mentor me by sharing some of her effective practices in running a classroom, and I am forever grateful that she cared enough to do so. Needless to say, she was a devoted follower of Jesus and a lover of His soul and of His people. I learned that giving up control of the bulletin board to some trustworthy moms freed me to focus on that which was of greater priority, while also valuing their gifts, service and investment in their children’s lives. It promoted both productivity and relationships. How cool is that?

A second lesson learned was from another fellow educator who took the time to mentor me in school administration. I was the Assistant Principal to Julie Combs, a highly-respected elementary school principal in town. I remember noting how her emails were void of punctuation and capital letters on occasion, and how her plans and notes were oftentimes a somewhat messy combination of typing and handwriting. Neither of these examples appeared perfect to me, yet they were both productive. I learned that the time it would have taken her to perfect her projects was sometimes not worth the payoff. Instead, lack of perfecting sometimes produced a larger payoff, because it provided her more time for other priorities.

As such, I am considering writing less perfectly more often in this venue. Please let me know what you think! Also, if you do not have a blog account set up so you can comment, I encourage you to do so. It isn’t difficult to do, and it will allow more than just me to read your comments, promoting more community and conversation. Many of you email me directly, and I love that. But I’d also love for you all to connect with one another. The purpose of my blog should be more than an outlet for my very opinionated nature. It must be about promoting greater good in the world, and our collective opinions will do more to accomplish that than any one person’s could do alone.

The Shack: Firm Foundation or Shaky Ground?

Although my readership is by no means large, I have had several ask my opinion regarding the bestseller, The Shack by William P. Young. A well-written review would include more than can be boiled down into an easy-reading blog entry, so I may be compelled to revisit this topic in more detail here or in another forum at a later time. For now, having read the book and a theologically conservative review of it by Tim Challies of challies.com, I offer this short opinion for your consideration.

This book is a rare mix of fiction, fact, and falsehood, making it both an engaging and fascinating read, and an instructive vessel of both truth and error. It is fiction by definition, as it is not a true story. It is a made-up story of a man who experiences disaster, and then works through his heartbreak via a supernatural encounter with God at the site of the tragedy, namely The Shack.

Clearly millions are reading the book, and many are coming to a new understanding of the living triune God and His desire for people to enjoy a loving relationship with Him, rather than to endure a lifeless religion apart from Him. For this reason, I must conclude that there is Kingdom value in the work. If one life is saved for eternity, even in the midst of some faulty teaching, I rejoice. Why? Because Paul did. “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice” (Phil 1:18).

Tim Challies, recognized Christian blogger and editor of Discerning Reader, writes:

“The Shack is a fictional tale. Yet though The Shack is fiction, it is clearly intended to communicate theological truths. It is meant to impact the way the reader thinks about God, about love and about life. It is not a book that was written only to share a story, but to share theology.”

Therein lays the controversy. Even biblical scholars disagree on some aspects of Christian theology, aspects covered in detail in this book. Because The Shack addresses the only true theology – the Christian theology of one God as the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit - within the framework of fiction storytelling, the responsibility of the author is to present such truth both clearly and accurately. Two difficulties arise. One, to reach a wider audience beyond the Christian community with a message of God’s love, a Christian author must write in such a way that it crosses over to the desired audience. The greatest challenge in such “crossover works” is to cross over without turning the cross over.

The second difficulty lies in the issue of theology. While one theologian may vehemently disagree with elements of the book’s content, as I do, others may argue that the author’s points are not necessarily inaccurate or misleading. As with any Christian debate, Scripture can be used (or misused) to support more than one view. While there are definite nonnegotiables in Christianity, only God has a complete and unhindered picture of truth. This is one reason I believe He has set eternity in the hearts of man (Eccl 3:11), so that we will continue to seek His truth until we see Him face to face on the other side. Our human-sized brains can never fully comprehend the mysteries of God in this lifetime, nor were we made to. We were only made to seek it continually and fervently. As the author of The Shack writes in the words of the main character, “I can only follow (a certain) line of thought so far, and then I get lost and my brain turns to mush.”

If you choose to read it for yourself, I encourage you to pray before reading, and remind yourself as you turn each page that it is a work of fiction, written by one who likely has the right motive at heart but who misrepresents some basic biblical principles in his human effort. After all, he is human. As such, you should not view this book as a reliable source of truth. Consequently, you should guard your mind to deception, which begs the question “Is it worth the read?” But if Young’s creative work causes you to embrace God’s love, experience forgiveness or explore Scripture for truth at a deeper level, then may God bless it for His eternal and glorious purposes, despite the many misgivings.