The Shack: Bible Study 10

Chapter 12: In the Belly of the Beasts

P171: Jesus – Sophia is a personification of Papa’s wisdom.

She’s part of the mystery surrounding Sarayu.

Q: How would you define wisdom? Have there been instances in your life when the Holy Spirit shared some of God’s wisdom with you?

Proverbs 8:7-11
7 My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.
8 All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.
9 To the discerning all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge.
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

P172: Jesus (speaking of Sophia) – with her, everything is normal and elegantly simple. Because you are so lost and independent you bring to her many complications, and as a result you find even her simplicity profound.

Jesus – Time, as you know it, presents no boundaries to the One who created it.

Jesus – Would all this be any less ‘real’ if it were inside a dream?
Mack – I think I’d be disappointed.
Jesus – Why? Mack, there is far more going on here than you have the ability to perceive.

Q: How can we be sure reality is real? Can we ever know all that is going on? Why/why not?

1 Corinthians 13:9-12
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

P173: Jesus (talking about Missy’s last horrifying experiences) – Mack, she was never alone. I never left her; we never left her for one instant. I could no more abandon her, or you, than I could abandon myself.

Q: When and where have we experienced the holy presence of Jesus? Do we truly understand that he is always with us? Is that a comforting or uncomfortable thought?

Matthew 18:19-20
19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Jesus – She had no idea what was going to happen. She was actually more worried about you and the other kids, knowing that you couldn’t find her. She prayed for you, for your peace.

P174: Jesus – The darkness hides the true size of fears and lies and regrets. The truth is they are more shadow than reality, so they seem bigger in the dark.

Q: What makes us fearful as children? How do those fearful things affect us as adults?

Matthew 6:22-23
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

P175: Mack – why do we keep all that crap inside?
Jesus – because we believe it’s safer there…then you grow up on the outside, but on the inside you’re still that kid in the dark cave surrounded by monster, and out of habit you keep adding to your collection.

Jesus – We’re meant to experience this life, your life, together, in a dialogue, sharing the journey. You get to share in our wisdom and learn to love with our love, and we get…to hear you grumble and gripe and complain….

Q: How can we share our lives with Jesus? How much of our lives do we actually share with Him?

Matthew 6:31-34
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

P176: Jesus - If the universe contained only one human being, timing would be rather simple. But add just one more, and, well, you know the story. Each choice ripples out through time and relationships, bouncing off of other choices. And out of what seems to be a huge mess, Papa weaves a magnificent tapestry.

Q: How do our choices affect others? How does God deal with 6.5 billion choices each day? What is the affect of those choices on our planet?

P177: Jesus - Only Papa can do it and she does it with grace.

Jesus – Pearls, Mack. The only precious stone made by pain, suffering and – finally – death.

Matthew 13:45-46
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.


P178: Jesus – (about the church) What I see are people and their lives, a living breathing community of all those who love me, not buildings and programs.

My church is all about people and life is all about relationships. You can’t build it. It’s my job and I’m actually pretty good at it.

Q: Why do we perceive the church as a building where we do religious things? How can Jesus help us to get out of our overactive need for programs?

1 Timothy 3:15
15 If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Mack, you don’t need to have it all figured out. Just be with me.

P179: Jesus - As well-intentioned as it might be, you know that religious machinery can chew up people! An awful lot of what is done in my name has nothing to do with me and is often, even if unintentional, very contrary to my purposes.

Q: When and where have we seen religious institutions do things in Christ’s Name that is very contrary to His purposes? What are His purposes anyway?

Luke 11:23 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

Jesus – I don’t create institutions; that’s an occupation for those who want to play God. So no, I’m not too big on religion, and not very fond of politics or economics either.

Jesus – Put simply, these terrors are the tools that many use to prop up their illusions of security and control. People are afraid of uncertainty, afraid of the future. These institutions, these structures and ideologies, are all a vain effort to create some sense of certainty and security where there isn’t any. It’s all false. Systems cannot provide you security. Only I can.

Q: Is this what Jesus really thinks or are the above thoughts those of the author? How do religion, politics, and economics prop up our insecurities? Are they delusions?

Matthew 6:24-27
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money .

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

P180: Jesus - If you try to live this without me, without the ongoing dialogue of us sharing this journey together, it will be like trying to walk on the water by yourself. You can’t!

P181: Jesus – All I want from you is to trust me with what little you can, and grow in loving people around you with the same love I share with you. It’s not your job to change them, or to convince them. You are free to love without an agenda.

Q: Why do we try and change people for God? Whose job are we trying to do?

John 14:1-2
14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

Mack was thinking of his friends, church people who had expressed love to him and his family. He knew they loved Jesus, but were also sold out to religious activity and patriotism.

Q: Do we know people like this? Are we in danger of becoming like them? How?

P182: Jesus – Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformations into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.

Q: Is the author guilty of putting into Christ’s mouth words that he would hope He would speak? Does Jesus have no desire to make us Christians? If that is the case, then why did He establish the Church?

Colossians 1:21-23
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Mack – does that mean that all roads will lead to you?

Jesus – Not at all. Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean that I will travel any road to find you.

Q: What do you think of the above statement? Does it conflict or support universalism? Are we not supposed to seek Christ?

Romans 10:20 And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."

Heb 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The Shack: Bible Study 09

Chapter 11: Here Come Da Judge

P151 Mack – Taking a deep breath and with his hands outstretched in front of him, he ventured a couple of steps into the inky darkness and stopped. Fear seized him as he tried to breathe, unsure whether or not to continue.

Q: What was Mack afraid of? How did this moment test his faith?

Psalm 23:3-4
3 He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

P153: Mack – “She is beauty…everything that sensuality strives to be, but falls painfully short.”

Proverbs 8:11 For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

P154: Sophia: In some sense every parent does love their children…but some parents are too broken to love them well and others are barely able to love them at all.

Q: Have you ever experienced this kind of broken love? Do parents today want to befriend or love their children? What’s the difference?

P155: Mack (responding to Sophia’s question about which child he loves the most) Come to think of it, it’s like when Papa says she is especially fond of someone. When I think of each of my children individually, I find that I am especially fond of each one.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God !

Sophia: You are wise in the ways of real love, Mackenzie. So many people believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it.

Q: What do you think of Sophia’s statement above? How does this affect us in loving relationships?

P156: Sophia to Mack – You didn’t move beyond your father’s inability (to love you) on your own, it was God and you together who changed you to love this way. And now you love your children much the way Father loves his.

Q: How can God change the way we love? Are we aware of such an influence?

1 John 5:1-2 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

P157: Sophia (in response to Mack’s question about being dead): I am sorry to disappoint you, but you have not fallen asleep in your world….

Mack: This hardly seems fair! Does this happen to other people – getting judged, I mean, before they’re even dead? What if I change? What if I do better the rest of my life? What if I repent? What then?

P158: Sophia – You have judged many throughout your life. You have judged the actions and even the motivations of others. You have judged the color of skin and body language and body odor. You have judged history and relationships. You have even judged the value of a person’s life by the quality of your concept of beauty.

Q: What makes us judge other people? Is it a defensive mechanism? Are our judgments fair and balanced?

Matthew 7:1-2 "Do not judge , or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

P159: Sophia – tell me, by what criteria do you base your judgments?

Judging requires that you think yourself superior over the one you judge.

P160: Mack – So, who is it that I am supposed to judge?
Sophia: God and the human race.

Q: How often do we judge God’s intentions for the world? How often do we judge God’s intentions for ourselves?

John 8:15-16 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge , my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.

Sophia: Surely there are many people in your world you think deserve judgment. There must be at least a few who are to blame for so much of the pain and suffering? What about the greedy who feed off the poor of the world? What about the ones who sacrifice their young children to war? What about the men who beat their wives?...Don’t they deserve judgment?

P161: Sophia - How far do we go back, Mackenzie? This legacy of brokenness goes all the way back to Adam, what about him? But why stop there? What about God? God started this whole thing. Is God to blame?

Q: Why do we blame God for terrible things that happen in our lives? Would we honestly want Him to interfere in our lives? What would happen to us if God decided to change everything?

Sophia: Isn’t this where you are stuck? Isn’t this what fuels The Great Sadness? That God cannot be trusted? Surely, a father like you can judge the Father?

God knew that one day your Missy would be brutalized, and still he created. And then he allowed that twisted soul to snatch her from your loving arms when he had the power to stop him. Isn’t God to blame, Mackenzie?

Q: Why is Mack so angry with God? Have you ever felt the same way? Why doesn’t God intervene where suffering occurs?

If you are able to judge God so easily, then you can certainly judge the world.

P162: Sophia: God knows every person ever conceived, and he knows them so much deeper and clearer than you will ever know your own children…You believe he will condemn most to an eternity of torment, away from his presence and apart from his love. Is that not true?

Q: Isn’t this what we are taught to believe? Why do we not feel comfortable with this today? Do we think God will change His ways to suit our modern sensitivity?

Romans 3:5-6 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

Mack – How could God ask him to choose among his own children? There was no way he could sentence Katie, or any of his children, to an eternity in hell just because she had sinned against him.

P163: Mack – Could I go instead? If you need someone to torture for eternity, I’ll go in their place. Would that work? Could I do that?

Sophia: Now you sound like Jesus. You have judged well, Mackenzie. I am proud of you!

Q: What do you think about the above conclusion to the discussion? Would we be willing to sacrifice ourselves for our children? Is this why God sent Jesus into the world?

John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

P 164: Mack – I just don’t understand how God could love Missy and let her go through that horror. She was innocent. She didn’t do anything to deserve that.

Sophia: Your world is severely broken. You demanded your independence, and now you are angry with the one who loved you enough to give it to you.

Q: How does our fierce independence cause suffering in the world? Where have we broken our world with our selfish ways? Why does it trouble us to give up our free spirited ways and submit ourselves to God?

Romans 1:21-23 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Sophia: He chose the way of the cross where mercy triumphs over justice because of love. Would you instead prefer he’s chosen justice for everyone? Do you want justice?

Q: Which would we prefer from God: mercy or justice? What would happen if we only received justice from God?

Jeremiah 10:24-25 Correct me, LORD, but only with justice --not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name.

P165: Sophia – Papa (God) never needed evil to accomplish his good purposes. It is you humans who have embraced evil and Papa has responded with goodness. What happened to Missy was the work of evil and no one in your world is immune from it.

Q: Why are we not immune from evil? What causes humankind to embrace evil? How does God counter this?

Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

P167: Mack (about Missy) – She’s really okay, isn’t she?
Sophia: More than you know. This life is only the anteroom of a greater reality to come. No one reaches their potential in your world. It’s only preparation for what Papa had in mind all along.

Q: What are we being prepared for in this life? Why can we never reach our full potential?

Romans 3:22-24 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

P168: Sophia – if you remember, you were saving your son. Only you, in the entire universe, believe that somehow you’re to blame. Missy doesn’t believe that, nor Nan, nor Papa. Perhaps it’s time to let that go – that lie.

Q: How is Sophia trying to help Mack here? What does she want him to let go?

P169: Sophia – Mackenzie, judgment is not about destruction, but about setting things right.

Q: Why do we often envision judgment as being destructive and not re-constructive? What do you think about Sophia’s statement? How could we put this into practice in the church or in the world?

John 12:47 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.

The Shack : Bible Study 08

Chapter 10: Wade in the Water

P140 What Jesus had been suggesting, Mack finally allowed into his consciousness. He was talking about walking across on the water. Jesus, anticipating his hesitation, asserted, “C’mon, Mack. If Peter can do it…”

Q: What is Jesus trying to do with Mack when he asks him to walk on the water? Why does this request make Mack hesitate?

Matthew 14:25-31 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

P141 Jesus: Such a powerful ability, the imagination. That power alone makes you so like us. But without wisdom, imagination is a cruel task master. …do you think humans were designed to live in the present or the past or the future?

…now tell me, where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination; in the present, in the past, or in the future?

Q: How much do we live our lives in our imagination? Why do you think God planted that ability within us? When does our imagination help or hinder our faith?

Deuteronomy 28:64-67 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind , eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"--because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.

P142: Jesus – Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?

It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn’t even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear.

The person who lives by their fears will not find their freedom in my love.

Q: What things make us insecure and unfaithful to God? Why do we rarely picture Christ as being at the heart of our future? What does this tell us about our faith?

John 14:1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

P144 Jesus - Our earth is like a child who has grown up without parents, having no one to guide and direct her. Some have attempted to help her but most have simply tried to use her. Humans, who have been given the task to lovingly steer the world, instead plunder her with no consideration, other than their immediate needs.

Q: Why do we dominate the earth and abuse it? How do our modern lifestyles affect our planet’s ecosystem? What should we be doing as Christians to change this?

Psalm 24:1-2 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

P145 Jesus - have you noticed that even though you call me Lord and King, I have never really acted in that capacity with you/ I’ve never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others.

To force my will on you, …is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.

Q: Why doesn’t Jesus take charge over our lives? Would we expect Him to change things to suit ourselves if He did? How can we allow Him to influence our choices? Why are we sometimes resistant to this?

1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

P146: Jesus – I don’t want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.

That’s because like most men you find what you think of as fulfillment in your achievements, and Nan, like most women, find it in relationships.

Q: How can we fulfill our lives in Christ? How would that affect our accomplishments and relationships?

John 17:21-23 Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me . May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

P147: Jesus – Women, in general, will find it difficult to turn from a man and stop demanding that he meets their needs, provides security, and protects their identity, and return to me. Men, in general, find it very hard to turn from the works of their hands, their own quests for power and security and significance, and return to me.

Q: Why do we find it so difficult to return to Jesus? What obstacles get in our way?

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me , all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

P148: Jesus - Power in the hands of independent humans, be they men or women, does corrupt….remember, I am not about performance and fitting into man-made structures; I am about being. As you grown in relationship with me, what you do will simply reflect who you really are.

I came as a man to complete a wonderful picture in how we made you. From the first day, we hid the woman within the man, so that at the right time we could remove her from within him. We didn’t create man to be alone; she was purposed from the beginning.

Q: What makes us identify ourselves through what we do, instead of focusing on who we are in God’s eyes? When we end up glorifying our achievements, do we cheat God?

Isaiah 46:5-7 "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.
They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.

P149: Jesus - Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not trying ‘to be like Jesus’ it means for your independence to be killed. I came to give you life, real life, my life. We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do. But, we will never force that union on you. If you want to do your thing, have at it. Time is on our side.

Q: Are our lives meant to copy Christ? Is he not an example to us? What is the author trying to convey by making Christ speak these words? What do you think he means by ‘time is on our side’?

John 13:15-17 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example , that you should follow in his steps.

The Shack ; Study 05

Chapter 6: A Piece of Pi

P88 God: or if you don’t want to do that, you can do whatever you want.

Q: is this what is meant by free will? What does it mean to you?

P89 Jesus: She loves surprises, and even thought you might not think it, her timing is always perfect.

Jesus: Don’t go because you feel obligated. That won’t get you any points around here. Go because it’s what you want to do.

Q: What causes us to feel obligated to God? When and where do we experience this?

Micah 6:6-8 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

God: I’m in the kitchen Mackenzie. Just follow my voice.

P90 Suddenly Mack wanted to ask a thousand questions, or say a thousand things, some of them unspeakable and terrible.

Q: What do you think are the unspeakable and terrible questions that Mack wants to ask of God? What kind of questions would you like to ask God?

Mack: So God listens to funk?...I thought you would be listening to…you know, something churchier.

P91: these kids ain’t saying anything I haven’t heard before; they’re just full of vinegar and fizz. Lots of anger and, I must say, with some good reason too.

Q: Why does the author suggest this attitude of God toward popular music? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Mack gasped voluntarily. He wasn’t used to having deep secret surface so quickly and openly. Instantly guilt and anger welled up and he wanted to lash out with a sarcastic remark in response.

P92 Mack: if you couldn’t take care of Missy, how can I trust you to take care of me?

God: Mack, I’m so sorry. I know what a gulf this has put between us….That’s why you’re here…I want to heal the wound that has grown inside of you, and between us.

Q: What causes Mack to fiercely blurt out this question? How does God feel about the issue? Is this the way that God deals with our issues?

Psalm 44:23-26 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.

P93 God: I’m not trying to make this harder for either of us. But this is a good place to start. I often find that getting head issues out of the way first makes the heart stuff easier to work on later…when you’re ready.

Q: Why does the head stuff often get in the way of the heart stuff?

God: Mackenzie, I am neither male nor female, even though both genders are derived from my nature. If I choose to appear to you as a man or a woman, it’s because I love you.

To reveal myself to you as a very large grandfather figure…would simply reinforce your religious stereotypes, and this weekend is not about reinforcing your religious stereotypes.

Q: What religious stereotypes do we have about God? Where do they come from? What do they accomplish?

P94 Mack…why is there such an emphasis on you being a Father? I mean, it seems to be the way you most reveal yourself.

God: Let me say for now that we knew once the Creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering.

Q: Is this an adequate explanation for God being emphasized as Father? Why/why not?

Matthew 23:9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

God: Of course you are! I’m not interested in prisoners. You’re free to walk out that door right now and go home to your empty house.

P95 God: or we could talk about all the limiting influences in your life that actively work against your freedom. Your family genetic heritage, your specific DNA, your metabolic uniqueness….and then there’s advertising, propaganda and paradigms. Inside that confluence of multifaceted inhibitors…what is freedom really?

Q: What inhibits us from being truly free? Are we aware of them?

God: Mackenzie, the truth shall set you free and the truth has a name; he’s over in the woodshop right now covered in sawdust. Everything is about him.

Q: Why does God suggest that Christ is the truth that sets us free? Have we ever experienced this?

John 8:31-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ."

P96: Love always leaves a significant mark…We were there together. (Calvary)

Mack: How can you say that? You abandoned him just like you abandoned me!

God: Don’t forget, the story didn’t end in his sense of forsakenness. He found his way though it to put himself into my hands. Oh, what a moment that was!

Q: How do the events at Calvary align themselves with Mack’s pain? Why would God allow so much pain to happen to Him and His Son?

Matthew 27:45-46 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Luke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

P97: God: You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.

God: Mack, pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly…And if unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place.

Q: What limitations do pain, loss, and sorrow afflict on our lives? How do they damage and diminish our created capacity to love?

97/98 God: I am God. I am who I am. And unlike you, my wings can’t be clipped.

P98 God: the problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting it to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn’t much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am.

Q: Why do we insist in creating God in our own image? Why do all our images fall pitifully short of who God actually is?

P99 Mack: But what about all the miracles? The healings? Raising people from the dead? Doesn’t that prove that Jesus was God – you know, more than human?

God: Although he (Jesus) is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything.

Q: What do you think about Jesus not drawing upon His divine nature? Where did His healing powers come from?

Mark 5:25-30 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

P100 Mack: So, when he healed the blind?
God: He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone.

God: remember this, humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions that I have for them…

Q: What do you think about the above statement? Does it crush or inspire you?

P101 God: To begin with, that you can’t grasp the wonder of my nature is rather a good thing. Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended?

Q: What makes God so mysterious to us? How does it make us feel that we cannot fully comprehend God?

God: All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within Me, within God myself. Love is not the limitation; love is the flying. I am love.

Q: What do you think about God being the source of our love? How should that help our relationships with our loved ones?

1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love . This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

P102: God: The God who is – the I am who I am – cannot act apart from love!

Mack: Not that he actually believed any of it. If only it were true. His experience told him otherwise.

Q: Why does Mack doubt God? How do our bad experiences create barriers of doubt between us and God?

John 20:26-28 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas , "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"


God: As much as you are able, rest in what trust you have in me, no matter how small, okay?

Q: Why is it so important to God that we trust Him?

John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

P103 Mack: I’m so sorry that you, that Jesus, had to die.

God: I know you are and I thank you. But you need to know that we aren’t sorry at all. It was worth it.

Jesus: “And I would have done it even if it were only for you, but it wasn’t!” he said with an inviting grin.

Q: Why does Mack say he is sorry? What do we feel about Jesus being crucified for us? How do we communicate those feelings to others?

The Shack: Study 04

Chapter 5: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

P67 Perhaps there is a suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in.

Where does faith fit in these days? Have fact and data based logic overtaken our need for faith?

P68 Besides, acknowledging the note would mean admitting that he had kept secrets from her; secrets he still justified in his own mind. Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy.

Why does Mack not tell Nan of his plans? How can honesty get messy sometimes?

Bible passage: Genesis 12:10-20 Abraham conceals the identity of Sarah from Pharaoh.

P69 He reasoned that he wouldn’t need much if God had sent the invitation, but just in case, he loaded up a cooler with much more than enough….added a sleeping bag, some matches, and a number of survival items.

What does this tell us about Mack’s faith in the note? Have we experienced anything similar about our confidence in God?

Bible Passage: Matthew 14:15-21 loaves and fishes

P70 Mack to Willie maybe I’m just losing it. I know it sounds crazy, but somehow I feel strangely drawn to find out for sure. I gotta go, Willie, or it’ll drive me nuts forever.

What is compelling Mack to make this journey?

P71 Willie: But God doesn’t do stuff like that. At least I’ve never heard of him sending someone a note. Not that he couldn’t, but, you know what I mean. And why would he want you to return to the shack anyway? I can’t think of a worse place….

Mack: I guess part of me would like to believe that God would care enough about me to send a note.

How does God communicate with us today? Would a note be so out of place?

Daniel 5:5-6 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
NIV

Maybe what happened to Missy is God’s judgment for what I did to my own dad. I just don’t know.

Why does Mack feel this way? Is it a common experience? Why/ why not?

Exodus 21:15 "Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death.
NIV

P72 “I didn’t lie to her, “ Mack objected.
“Well excuse me for splitting hairs,” Willie snapped back. “Okay, you didn’t lie to her because you didn’t tell her the whole truth.”

Is holding back the truth lying?

P73 Willie: God, of course. What do you think he’ll look like, if he even bothers to show up…

Mack: I don’t know. Maybe he’s a really bright light, or a burning bush. I’ve always sort of pictured him as a really big grandpa with a long white flowing beard, sort of like Gandalf in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings

How do you picture God? Where does that image come from?

Bible Passage: Exodus 24:9-18

P74 …he sailed by Multnomah Falls without looking. He had pushed away any thoughts of the place since Missy’s disappearance, sequestering his emotions securely in the padlocked basement of his own heart.

Why does Mack do this? How does it help him cope with Missy’s murder?

He knew he was driving straight into the center of his pain, the vortex of The Great Sadness that had so diminished his sense of being alive. Flashes of visual memory and stabbing instants of blistering fury now came in waves, attended by the taste of bile and blood in his mouth.

What is happening to Mack’s emotions? Why are they surfacing this way?

P77 Determined he was done with being afraid, he continued down the path, trying to look more confident that he felt. He hoped he hadn’t come all this way for nothing. If God was really meeting him here, he was more than ready to get a few things of his chest, respectfully, of course.

What things would Mack want to talk to God about? Why would he be respectable about it?

The shack itself looked dead and empty, but as he stared it seemed for a moment to transform into an evil face, twisted in some demonic grimace, looking straight back at him and daring him to approach.

What is Mack seeing in the shack? How do we confront evil?

P78 Turning his eyes heavenward, he began screaming anguished questions. “Why? Why did you let this happen? Why did you bring me here? Of all the places to meet you – why here? Wasn’t it enough to kill my baby? Do you have to toy with me too?”

“God, you couldn’t even let us find her and bury her properly. Was that just too much to ask?”

Why is Mack so enraged? Who does he believe God to be? How do our own frustrations and anger shape our communications with God? Why do we expect God to look after us?

Bible Passage: Job 19

“Well, I’m here God, and you? You’re nowhere to be found!! You’ve never been around when I needed you – not when I was a little boy, not when I lost Missy. Not now! Some ‘Papa’ you are!” He spat out the words.

When do people feel really disappointed with God? Why? How can other believers help them through those times?

P79 Oh to stop caring, to stop feeling the pain, to never feel anything again. Suicide? At the moment that option was almost attractive. “It would be so easy,” he thought. “No more tears, no more pain…

Killing himself would be one way to strike back at God, if God even existed.

Why does Mack consider suicide? Is it the answer to his problems? Why does he want to strike back at God in this way? What stops him?

1 Kings 19:3-5 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.

P80 “I’m done, God,” he whispered. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m tired of trying to find you in all of this.”…if God wanted him, God would have to come and find him.

Why did Mack give up trying to find God? Is this defiance, exhaustion, or frustration?

P82 He now faced another dilemma. What should you do when you come to the door of a house…where God might be? Should you knock? Presumably God knew that Mack was there…And how should he address him?...Father…Almighty One…Mr. God?

How should we address God? What will we say when we meet God at last?

…just as he raised his fist to do so, the door flew open, and he was looking directly into the face of a large beaming African-American woman.

How does this image of God affect you? Why does William Young do this?

P83 AfAm woman: I have been really looking forward to seeing you face to face. It is so wonderful to have you here with us.

Suddenly, he was overwhelmed by the scent emanating from her, and it shook him. It was the smell of flowers with overtones of gardenia and jasmine, unmistakably his mother’s perfume that he kept hidden away in his little tin box.

What do we expect God to look like? Had we ever considered what God would smell like?

AfAM woman: …go ahead and let it out. It does a soul good to let the waters run once in a while – the healing waters. (referring to tears)

How do tears heal us? Why don’t men like to cry?

P84 the large black woman gathered his coat and he handed her the gun, which she took from him with two fingers as if it was contaminated.

Is this telling us something about God or the author?

Asian woman: …we all have things we value enough to collect, don’t we?...I collect tears.
He appeared Middle Eastern and was dressed like a laborer, complete with tool belt and gloves.

How do these depictions of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit affect you? Are you delighted, intrigued or offended?

P85 Mack: Are there more of you? Woman: We is all you get, and believe me, we’re more than enough.”

But he knew all this as more an impression of her than from actually seeing her, as she seemed to phase in and out of vision.

Mack suddenly felt lighter than air, almost as if he were no longer touching the ground. She was hugging him without hugging him, or really without even touching him.

How does the Holy Spirit affect us? How would we describe our encounters with the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2:1-4
2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

P86 woman: I am the housekeeper and cook. You may call me Elouisa.

Jesse: I try to keep things fixed up around here…I am a Hebrew to be exact, from the house of Judah.

P87 I am Sarayu…Keeper of the gardens, among other things.

Mack: Was one of these people God?...Since there were three of them, maybe this was a trinity sort of thing. But two women and a man and none of them white? Then again, why had he naturally assumed that God would be white?

Which one of you is God?..... “I am,” said all three in unison.

How do the names relate to their divine owners? What do you think about this?

Bible Study: The Shack

The first book that our group will be discussing is William P Young's best seller, The Shack. The study will take approximately ten weeks and will offer questions for consdieration, as well as apposite Bible texts.

If you would like the studies emailed to you, please contact me at traqair@aol.com Put "Shack Study" in the subject line.