Comments on: William Paul Young (author of “The Shack”) on Steve Brown, Etc.

By: tracy

tracy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:18:23 +0000

Paul,
I read the book following your interview on Life Today. I don’t have enough room to tell you how many things this bool touched in my understanding and heart for God.
I would like to share one of the tings that hit and shattered my own feelings of inferiority and condmnation over my own failures on a daily basis: When the Holy SPirit explains to Mack that if God knows it takes 42 times for us to “get it” and we’re only on #(fill in the blank), He is not disappointed or frustrated with us, He is rejoicing that another time is down and we only have #(fillin one less number!) to go!
That perspective not only is helping me to be less legalistic with myself but iis teaching me to grace others with that same lee-way!
Thank you!!

By: Jeff Moore

Jeff Moore — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:08:15 +0000

Michael, I heard you on the Steve Brown Etc. program. I also heard Paul Young. I read his book and recommended it to Erik (Steve’s producer). I was completely moved by this book. I too can’t figure out what the total cricism is about and the slamming of the book. I like Mark Driscoll’s teaching, and I heard his comments about The Shack in one of his messsages. The comments were such that I wondered if he had read the book at all. I think that if people would follow what Tal Prince said in the above comment that everyone would be better off. I wonder if CS Lewis got this kind of criticism with The Narnia series?

To be sure, there is a lot of junk out there that probably isn’t worth commenting on. I find that most of it is in the Christian self-help books.

By: Tal Prince

Tal Prince — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:51:02 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of having Paul on my show twice. The second time we had him for the full hour, and you can go listen to the archive by clicking on this link:
http://www.talprincelive.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=41919&PID=563341&Style=

He’s a very engaging an honest man, and again, let’s all pay attention to genre – It’s FICTION.

We look forward to getting you booked on the show, Michael! You did a great job with Steve. He’s a blast, isn’t he?

By: Skerrib

Skerrib — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:06:27 +0000

I thought it was a beautiful interview…I love the insight that comes from hearing directly from an author about his/her background, influences and such.

From the related thread I’ve been sitting on the idea of discouraging the book for the sake of protecting those who are theologically naive and might be basing their spiritual worldview on this (or any other) work of fiction. It sounds arrogant to me to say “hey we know what’s going on but we’d better tell those guys over there to stay away from it.” And I don’t think it solves the problem…if they really are that weak, they’ll just look for the next thing. Better to engage, offer input and guidance, but leave some room for the Holy Spirit do his work also in the way of discernment and protection. There’s a big difference between “this is bad; stay away” and “this is a good picture, but remember it’s not the Bible” (like the author himself said).

By: Former Leader

Former Leader — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:06:58 +0000

Michael, why do you think that when you write a post such as this one, no one comments? It puzzles me. People are so vocal on other topics but one such as this leaves your pages cold.

There is such a message of grace in what you are referencing here. I hope many really do follow your links. I can sense a change in you since you did and it seems huge to me.

By: expat

expat — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:01:17 +0000

He also gave a very moving hour-long interview on the Drew Mashall show on April 26th.

http://www.drewmarshall.ca/listen2008.html