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The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
I have found this book to be very interesting and a beautiful look into how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit fit into our lives. This book is about a man that lost his daughter at the hands of a kidnapping murderer. He (Mack) comes face to face with God, almost like in the form of a dream. I want to share a particular section that has touched my heart. And if it interests you in the least, you should purchase it, because the entire book is this powerful.....enjoy.
(Holy Spirit speaking to Mack) You humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that relationship could exist apart from hierarchy. So you think that God must relate inside a hierarchy as you do. But we (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) do not." Mac asks "But how could we ever change that? People will just use us." Holy Spirit replies "They most likely will. But we're not asking you to do it with others, Mack, we're asking you to do it with us. That's the only place it can begin. We won't use you." God said to Mack "we want to share with you the love and joy and freedom and light that we already know within ourselves. We created the human, to be in face-to-face relationship with us, to join our circle of love. As difficult as it will be for you to understand, everything that has taken place is occurring exactly according to this purpose, without violating choice or will". (I want to add here, this is the reason bad things happen to good people. We all have a free will to choose and God allows us to choose for ourselves....people make bad choices. Even though he is God and could intervene, he has allowed us the free will. Hence rape, murder etc). "How can you say that with all the pain in this world, all the wars and disasters that destroy thousands?" Mack's voice quieted to a whisper. "And what is the value in a little girl being murdered by some twisted deviant? You may not cause those things, but you certainly don't stop them!" "Mack," God answered tenderly, seemingly not offended in the least by his accusation, "there are millions of reasons to allow pain and hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them, but most of those reasons can be understood only within each person's story. I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are also not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make to the ultimate good and the most loving outcome." The Holy Spirit said "You see, broken humans center their lives around things that seem good to them but will neither fill them nor free them. They are addicted to power, or the illusion of security that power offers. When a disaster happens, those same people will turn against the false powers they trusted. In their disappointment, either they become softened toward me or they become bolder in their independence. If you could only see how all of this ends and what we will have achieve without the violation of one human will, then you would understand. One day you will." "But the cost!" Mack was staggered. "Look at the cost, all the pain, all the suffering, everything that is so terrible and evil." He paused and looked down at the table. "And look what it has cost you. Is it worth it?" "Yes!" came the unanimous, joyful response (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit). "But how can you say that, it all sounds like the end justifies the means, that to get what you want you will go to any length, even if it costs lives of billions of people!" Mack blurted out. "Mack", God said especially gentle and tender. "You really don't understand yet. You try to make sense of the world in which you live based on a very small and incomplete picture of reality. It is like looking at a parade through the tiny knothole of hurt and pain, self centeredness, and power and believing you are on your own and insignificant. All of these thoughts contain powerful lies. You see pain and death as the ultimate evils and God as the ultimate betrayer, or perhaps, at best, as fundamentally untrustworthy. You dictate the terms and judge my actions and find me guilty. The real underlying flaw in your life, Mack, is that you don't think I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything, the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me, but you don't." The Holy Spirit said "Mack, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me." "I don't know how to change that." Mack declared. "You can't, not alone. But together we will watch that change take place. For now I just want you to be with me and discover that our relationship is not about performance or you having to please me. I am not a bully, not some self centered demanding little deity insisting on my own way. I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I do love you"
I have found this book to be very interesting and a beautiful look into how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit fit into our lives. This book is about a man that lost his daughter at the hands of a kidnapping murderer. He (Mack) comes face to face with God, almost like in the form of a dream. I want to share a particular section that has touched my heart. And if it interests you in the least, you should purchase it, because the entire book is this powerful.....enjoy.
(Holy Spirit speaking to Mack) You humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that relationship could exist apart from hierarchy. So you think that God must relate inside a hierarchy as you do. But we (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit) do not." Mac asks "But how could we ever change that? People will just use us." Holy Spirit replies "They most likely will. But we're not asking you to do it with others, Mack, we're asking you to do it with us. That's the only place it can begin. We won't use you." God said to Mack "we want to share with you the love and joy and freedom and light that we already know within ourselves. We created the human, to be in face-to-face relationship with us, to join our circle of love. As difficult as it will be for you to understand, everything that has taken place is occurring exactly according to this purpose, without violating choice or will". (I want to add here, this is the reason bad things happen to good people. We all have a free will to choose and God allows us to choose for ourselves....people make bad choices. Even though he is God and could intervene, he has allowed us the free will. Hence rape, murder etc). "How can you say that with all the pain in this world, all the wars and disasters that destroy thousands?" Mack's voice quieted to a whisper. "And what is the value in a little girl being murdered by some twisted deviant? You may not cause those things, but you certainly don't stop them!" "Mack," God answered tenderly, seemingly not offended in the least by his accusation, "there are millions of reasons to allow pain and hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them, but most of those reasons can be understood only within each person's story. I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are also not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make to the ultimate good and the most loving outcome." The Holy Spirit said "You see, broken humans center their lives around things that seem good to them but will neither fill them nor free them. They are addicted to power, or the illusion of security that power offers. When a disaster happens, those same people will turn against the false powers they trusted. In their disappointment, either they become softened toward me or they become bolder in their independence. If you could only see how all of this ends and what we will have achieve without the violation of one human will, then you would understand. One day you will." "But the cost!" Mack was staggered. "Look at the cost, all the pain, all the suffering, everything that is so terrible and evil." He paused and looked down at the table. "And look what it has cost you. Is it worth it?" "Yes!" came the unanimous, joyful response (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit). "But how can you say that, it all sounds like the end justifies the means, that to get what you want you will go to any length, even if it costs lives of billions of people!" Mack blurted out. "Mack", God said especially gentle and tender. "You really don't understand yet. You try to make sense of the world in which you live based on a very small and incomplete picture of reality. It is like looking at a parade through the tiny knothole of hurt and pain, self centeredness, and power and believing you are on your own and insignificant. All of these thoughts contain powerful lies. You see pain and death as the ultimate evils and God as the ultimate betrayer, or perhaps, at best, as fundamentally untrustworthy. You dictate the terms and judge my actions and find me guilty. The real underlying flaw in your life, Mack, is that you don't think I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything, the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me, but you don't." The Holy Spirit said "Mack, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me." "I don't know how to change that." Mack declared. "You can't, not alone. But together we will watch that change take place. For now I just want you to be with me and discover that our relationship is not about performance or you having to please me. I am not a bully, not some self centered demanding little deity insisting on my own way. I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I do love you"
Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack one wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
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