Friday, March 07, 2008

LOGOS MADE FLESH HAS MOVED

This is just another reminder to everyone that reads this blog on google reader or another method. Logos made flesh has moved to www.logosmadeflesh.wordpress.com.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

ATTENTION: LOGOS HAS MOVED

As of today I've moved to Wordpress. You can now find all past, present and future posts at logosmadeflesh.wordpress.com.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Is the Shack True?

"I think it's a true story." my friend said. He had been talking about the Shack for the last several days, reading portions, and raising a number of interesting conversations. When he told me he thought it might be a true story, my curiosity was peaked all the more. "I thought it's fiction," I responded. He replied, "you're just going to have to read it for yourself."

After I finished the book I realized what he was talking about. William Young, the author, places himself as a character in the book. He's a friend of the main character, Mack. Young also appears in the forewords and afterwards, speaking in the first person as if the events described in the book are true. This tying together of a real author and the events strongly suggests that the events are true.

There's nothing wrong with this approach. It makes for a good story. Who hasn't told their kids a made-up bed-time story while placing themselves in it. And William Young isn't trying to deceive anyone. He makes it clear in the book and elsewhere that the Shack is a work of fiction.

But the blending of the real and unreal, truth and fiction, is at times within the Shack very hard to distinguish. More than simply making himself a character, Young makes the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit charters as well. And they speak a great deal more than him. It was in their conversations with the main character that I had the most difficult time distinguishing truth from fiction. Clearly Young does not regard the words he places on the lips of Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as untrue. Young has a point in writing and he uses God, as a character, to make it. I believe Young had the purest of motives in writing this book. But the way in which it is written leaves little room for differing views. The book's warm personal approach leads us to nod our heads in agreement at everything that the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit says though it's really William Young who says it.

In this manner Young touches on a number of controversial subjects. For instance at one point in the book Jesus tells Mack that he's not a christian. While this is technically true, Jesus is not a follower of himself, Jesus goes on to say that he doesn't care whether or not someone is Buddist or Muslim, he'll meet them where their at. Although Young is not to specific on what he means by this some could understand this to imply that Jesus is really the end goal of every religion. All will be saved in the end. Since reading the book, I've had people say to me "Jesus isn't a Christian" as if it was Jesus who said it and not William Young. Is it true? This is first and foremost the question that needs to be addressed.

John tells us in 1 John 4:1-3 to test to see if something is true.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming, and now it is already in the world.

I used this quote, not because I believe that William Young is the Anti-Christ. As I have already said I believe William Young had a good and godly heart in writing this book. Instead I quote from 1 John to remind us that not everything that appears to come from God is from God. So remind yourself always to "test the spirits."

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Blog News

Trevin Wax at Kingdom people has justed posted a link to the Longing of Man. Kingdom People is ranked in the top 1000 baptist websites. Thanks Trevin for you support. You can find the original posting of that video here.