I was reading through the comments … read my own that I posted right after reading the book for the 3rd time and felt that it was time to expand on that .. it seems that each chapter confirmed something going on in my life … and in many ways it seemed that Mack could have been myself , actually , it would be cool to spend quality time with God in that way . Need to read it thru again a couple times , when ever my wife finishes it , but she can’t get passed the center of the book yet , so she layed it down to deal with a few issues ,which , I believe is what this book calls us to , that is to allow God to get to the real issues , the buried ones , and drag them to the front , where they can be realisticaly dealt with … I hope she resolves the deep issues , that have been “hidden ” so long … I hope that forgiveness runs it’s course … and not knowing us , please keep us in prayer that healing in our lives will come soon . That said , all this led us to find your web site , uh , The God Journey site , Lifestreams , and other sites that help shift the thought patterns of an abusive god , to the knowledge of a very Loving and concerned God … Big shift …Thanks
Oh, don’t change a thing if this ever hits the movies … everything needs to stay the same……… would oprah play Papa????? hummmmm

I wanted to drop a line, and THANK YOU personally for the best book I’ve ever read in my life. I have to also tell you that’s no small feat, for I own nearly a thousand books!! This one has touched me in a way I never even knew I felt. I see the world and all it’s Creation in a whole new light! I will be ordering more to pass around…….EVERY soul on earth should read this book!

Again, thank you!

Thank you Papa for giving such a wonderful gift to Willie to share with the rest of us, a truly amazing insight of the nature of a truly wonderful father.
Thank you for loving us so perfectly, thank you Will for sharing your story,I hope one day I can share the amazing journey I have been on and indeed am still on, through the amazing grace of Abba, bless you and yours always.

Your book was absolutely wonderful. I saw God in a whole new light. I’ve been a Christian for decades and didn’t realize how much I had limited God. Your book really opened my eyes to what He is really all about. Thank you for being so open to the Holy Spirit in writing this down-to-earth rendering of the triune God. I cried so many times as it brought home many of my own areas that needed changing. I plan on recommending this book to everyone I know. It is truly life changing.

Thank you and God bless you,

Linda

I haven’t read a book this good in…I don’t know how long. What a refreshing wind. I hope you write another book, and then another and another and another.

Your book made me weep. I wept for many years I have spent with such a limited understanding of my relationship with the very precious Three in One. My relationsship was based on my perspective, having no idea of the reality of the awesome love that surrounds me at an earthly level. I do not have to climb a mountain to meet with God. Through His Son He climbed down to meet me in the very kitchen of my soul where He has His residence.
Thank you.

Family Decorating Is Awesome - Five Things I love About Decorating With My Family…

The first time you do a decorating project as a family you’ll be asking yourself why didn’t we decorate this way before. The children will be eager to help and your spouse can’t wait to show the neighbors what you have accomplished. Here are 6 thing…

This book is heretical. You need to repent brother! You will lead many people astray with this universalist anarchist type of rhetoric. I hope all your books get burned, and that you are anathematized as a heretic, and handed over to Satan so that you might be saved. Consider a full recant my friend before it’s too late.

Just finished it. You know? I had some minor critiques of the writing style, but as I put them down in writing here I was checked in my spirit. Choosing instead to say this: Tell them that overall, there were paragraphs that brought you to tears. That overall, some major questions of theology are wrestled with, and though you may not agree with everything implied, the grappling was well worth the time spent. Tell them that you have latched onto and needed deeply some of the lines that pertained to “forgiveness”. Tell them that the book was shared with you by a friend, and now you cannot wait to share it with another.

I hate reading. I really do. The only thing i read is what i have to. So last week, i realized i had to pick a book for my book report which is due tomorrow. Both of my grandmas told me “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK” and i was just thinking “whatever”. So, when i couldn’t figure out what to read, i thought i’d kill two bird with one stone and read this story for school, and to make my grandmas stop bothering me about it.

When i started, i was like, “oooo, it’s a mystery” and I was only reading to get it over with. But, when i realized what Mack was going to encounter at the Shack. Wow, It was intense. I don’t think i’ve ever learned so much from a story. I never imagined God in the way which was written! I have a whole new persepective, and seriously-I LOVE THIS BOOK! I’ve recommended it to EVERYONE I know. I’m so excited to write my book report and turn it in tomorrow. It’s just an awesome book and EVERYONE should read it.

=D

Wow! My wife and I read “The Shack” together over the last few evenings. It was fantastic! We will encourage many others to read it also. We cried and laughed, page after page. I have found myself feeling more loved by Papa, and able to talk to him in a closer way. Thanks!

I finished the book last night. I am curious if anyone else who has read the book had an experience of spiritual healing
that was similar in detail.

For example, that the LORD would have taken them to a cottage (as in your case, the shack,) then brought them through a healing process by His Presence and Love….

I was really taken aback by many of the details of what Mack experienced….

I am realizing with more defined clarity that we, as His Bride— His Church, are at a disarming place—where He is dismantling (tenderly so) theological constructs that have become fortresses in which are very souls have been entombed! (cf 2Cor10:3-5) The book is about His Freedom, the freedom of living in the center of the flame of His Holy Love—Who is a Person!!

Scary? You bet. Threatening? You bet! (The LORD will have pity on Jordan–02-04-08 up there in the blog, SO GREAT IS HIS LOVE!)

Anyway, my one wish is that you would have had a more developed resolution of the months after the finding of Misty’s body….

Bless you and much Love in Abba, Jesus and Holy Spirit!~M

Ooookay, where to begin?

Willie, your life ain’t never gonna be the same again. What a wondrous piece of literary art! But you must now bear the consequences of your boldness (e.g. refer to Jordan’s comment above, courageously left in by you) and I sincerely hope you have a strong community of love around you to uphold you through it all - may the three-in-one be ever present as promised.

My friend (for you’re as dear to me as one), thank you for putting into narrative some radical God-realities. You’ve used story to awaken afresh lessons learned in my own brief journey and drawn me even closer to the One I hold most dear. As I read beyond the traumatic beginning, a fresh breeze blew through my soul and I allowed the tears to freely fall and my heart re-turn again to my first love. I dare afresh to cultivate an intimacy with God that every heart desires.

Like other commenters I too resonate with aspects of the story. As a 40 year old a lover of SciFi, an amateur philosopher, a critical analyst of postmodernism, and a reflective missiologist, I was pleasantly surprised to see truths appear that are not widely held in traditional ‘evangelicalism’. We are inescapably moving beyond the confines of modernist theology into a new day of freedom and grace, and THIS story shines a bright light on the way forward.

As the Director of Pioneers in New Zealand (formerly Asia Pacific Christian Mission) I know a little of Papua Indonesia, we still have missionaries working there. And I can’t help but wonder what it does to foreign children nurtured within its wilds? Your take on God-reality is so remarkably similar to some of the writings of Ted Dekker who also grew up there a few years after you. The similarity seemed so strong that I wondered if you were a pseudonym for Ted as I read. Obviously you’re not but you seem to share some things in common - both in terms of worldview, pain, and the “Third Culture Kid” experience.

We have a young woman who has just left her missionary family in Sentani (Papua Indonesia) to start university here in New Zealand and she too is a phenomenally gifted writer. She’s undertaking a communication degree to refine this gift, and struggling with all it means to be a TCK in a foreign country that’s supposed to be her ‘home’.

You TCKs are such a gift to largely mono-cultural, ethno-centric, myopic, prejudiced, Western ‘Christians’. May we all learn to explore the depths of our God who is present in, and working to redeem, the culture of every people (Acts 17:27 for anyone who finds this line of thinking spurious). Only through exposure to others not like us can we begin to appreciate the utter otherness of God. You, my friend, live in multiple worlds and therefore see the world around us differently than most. It is commonly held that knowledge is power, but knowledge such as yours is probably more pain (an Iranian Muslim friend once told me they have a proverb: “knowledge is pain”), and you have/will help many deal with just that - the pain of our human condition.

I’d better stop my rambling, but I hope this encourages you. Don’t ever for one minute think that your creation is anything less than remarkable. Praise God for you and His/Their work in and through you for His/Their glory (oh, if only language was better at describing heavenly realities).

Future purchaser of many gift copies.

Jamie.

Oh, and P.S. I’m not a universalist either… most roads do lead nowhere, but I’ve seen how Jesus can travel them to find the lost and lead them home.

What an immeasureable blessing this book is to me and I am sure millions of others who will be reading this book. A true gift from Papa to all of us using his awesome child William P.

I found myself just waiting to read further so that I could absorb all of the amazing truths being revealed throughout the book. Thank you for using your earthly life to reveal these truths in your book.

I just finished this amazing book yesterday. For the past 15 years, since I lost my dad to cancer, I have completely shut God from my life, blaming him for my and my family’s loss. My dad was a good man, hardworking, a God-fearing man, he loved and supported his family and he was so intelligent. He also loved God very much. So I have had this burning question in my heart for all these years - why would God take someone like him when there are so many destructive people in this world?
For the first time in my life, by reading this book, I kind of understand that God didn’t take my dad, man did. When we made the choice to be independant, God left the whole human race and the world up to us to run. So far we’ve done not too good a job, but I have had the feeling to open my heart to God, whom I have HATED and blamed for the past 15 years. To me, God was dead. This way of thinking has eaten me alive, I have so much rage and resentment built up inside me that I have become clinically depressed, which I have experienced several times in my life. This time is the worst.
I can only hope that this is the beginning of a new relationship with God for me, knowing that when Jesus died I was already forgiven for my sins…..now the question is can I find it within myself to be strong enough to let God back in my life when I have mistrusted him for so long? It will take time and a lot of patience, but I think I can do it.
Thank you for writing such truth.

The book was delivered yesterday and I have just finished it only I don’t think I have finished it. I am searching for superlatives but I think that the best that comes to mind is that Papa is a verb and he is never finished with us as I shall not finish with the insights gleaned from from this book. I will now read this book again but whether I do or not it will continue to have an effect on me or rather the God who is Papa will.

This book is shocking in its intimate portrayal of God, shocking in its story of grace, but we so need to be shocked by the wonder that is God is his grace really so outrageous?

I am a Methodist Minister and for a while I have realized how perilous it is to work full time in the church, how easily God becomes a subject to be studied and preached about. I loved this book that has jarred me from my professional Christianity to remember the Lord who cooked breakfast on the lake shore for his disciples, I also remember how prone I am to relapse and I am hugely encouraged that God knows that too and that it is not about performance but all about relationship.

I could ramble on and speak of narrative theology and the power of story and imagination, the resonances I felt with Narnia and the Lion who is not safe, with Pilgrim’s journey from the city of destruction, with CS Lewis’s Great Divorce and that bus ride from Hell. See I can go on and on but I shall resist the urge now and finish just with a word of thanks to you.

Thank you very much, God bless.

April 29, 2008
Linda Mckay @ 5:12 am:
I have just finished reading “The Shack”.
Wow, so many questions that I had have been answered.
Particulary the one morning, all the questions that were on my heart were answered. I was up to Chpt 10 in the book.
The part about where we spend our times in our imagination. The fact that is was the future and Jesus wasn’t there He was in the present. Also why do I have so much fear in my life, because I do not really believe that I am loved and therefore cannot/do not really trust God.
My heart had been so burdened by the evil in the world. This wonderful creation that God gave us to steward and how we have used it for our own greed. Amazing even that was answered in that chapter.
Submission and relationship….. honestly all the deep questions in my heart that i have difficulty expressing (because it might seem like a judgement on God) even that was answered.
I want to thank you for allowing the Lord to use you so that you could share this message with me. I in turn am going to pass it on…

The best since Lloyd Douglas!!

I recently read the Shack and found it inspiring. It loosenened beliefs in me, it reframed perceptions to the point of extension, stretching and liberty. i struggled at the beginning at the depth of the story plot but later marveled at the fact that because it was so devasting a thing to happen to a family the book now covered nearly every imaginable thing possible that could happen to a human and therefore chunked up to great value. As a Health Professional - Professional Life Coach, I never have enough copies to share with clients. Highly recommended especially for those wishing to practise Epistimology - ” why you beleive what you believe”.

I am reading ‘The Shack’ for the second time. I highly recommend it to you.

Thank you for validating my journey and further stretching my concept and understanding of our triune God.

Sometimes I feel like God has taken me beyond sanity and into a place from which I may not be able to return. And I do not want to return most of the time. However, I feel isolated from many of my Christian brothers and sisters. Then, here I go and read The Shack. It not only validates where I am but it stretches me further (not beyond the breaking point but, certainly, beyond the bending point.)

For me, it confirms things I have come to understand after many years of seeking, stretching and trying to understand more of God and how He is love. It also takes my understanding and challenges me to consider some different perspectives of Him. There are moments of pondering and moments of heart-touched tears.

There are some who think it is heretical. I believe they just can’t handle the challenges to their theological concepts. I do understand them. I used to be in that place myself.

I have had many books recommended to me. Some I have purchased and even a few I have read. Please carefully consider this one.

My friend and pastor told me about this book several weeks ago, my sweet husband bought me a copy last week. I read it straight through! I am an avid reader and I promise you, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read!

God is in the middle of shaking up my life and tearing up all the junk I’ve believed for a long time. This book was a gift from Him or her, as the case may be. After reading the Shack, I’ll never again see God as the “Abe Lincoln Memorial” I used to invision. A beautiful, big, loving black woman is much more to my liking! Just thinking about a hug from her makes me happy!

I have bought an extra copy to share (I marked mine up too badly for someone else to read) and I have told three friends about the book so far and they have purchased their copies. I guess I’ve joined the Missy Project.

I just finished the book a couple of hours ago - I read it over the last 5 days - at times I put it down because I had to ponder how the words touched my own history - other times I put it down to savor the love that welled up in me from, and for, my Papa, my Jesus and my Sarayu.

I chuckled, I cried (and sometimes sobbed) and felt warm and fuzzy all over. I was nearly halfway through when I had to stop and order 6 copies to give away. I am already thinking about several other people I want to give it to. At one point, near the end of the book, I found myself weeping and interceding for a friend that is desperately hungry to know the Lord intimately, praying that he would have an experience like Mack.

I never, NEVER read fiction, and would never have thought of reading a story with such a painful, brutal beginning - I am never comfortable hearing of children as victims - but I am SO VERY GRATEFUL to the friend that gave me this book - and so very thankful to my Lord that He nudged me into reading it - I have already shared deep truths from it as I have counseled a couple of friends dealing with deep wounds and sorrow from the past.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of redemption, healing and love indescribable - I almost believe that it can’t quite be fiction - you have been given the gift of expressing the inexpressible - the vastness of Papa’s great love!

Thank you for such an inspiring book which was recommended
to me by my neice and I have since bought several copies and
given them away –even before I finihsed reading it all the
way through myself.

Words really cannot describe the freedom it gives you to
just let Go and Let God do His thing in your life….and
trust Him completely no matter what is going on…

It came at a time where we have dealt with cancer with my Dad and my husband in this year….God is so good to be
there through it all..the love of the Papa is overwhelming..

The Shack is so different from my normal reading, but I could not put it down. I finished it and began immediately re-reading it. I have ordered copies for my friends. I cannot describe the feeling this book has given me. It is a “freedom” I think. I have a degree in Philosphy and Religion from Auburn University in Alabama. I graduated as my children say “before electricity was here.” I haven’t really read any religious books in years. But this one, The Shack, has changed my life for the better. It was fantastic, the best book I have read in years and years. Thank you for writing it!

The book is a treasure! Just wonderful. A guy that I do not even know told me about it while making a line at a grocery store. He was just amazed about it that it made me curious. I got the book and could not put it down. It is fiction, but it is much more than that. The message is clear and uplifting. It really brings that awesome joy we long for when it comes to God. It opens a giant door in your soul. I will go back to read so many special parts again. Willie, you did something special here for so many people. This book is out of the ordinary. It is hard to describe all it brings to your mind, to your heart, to your life. We all have our shacks! This is a way out of those places. Thanks!!!

I was lent this book by a friend on Thursday and have really enjoyed the story, the setting and the wisdom contained within. Like others I have wept buckets, had ‘aha’ moments and pondered deeply.

The deepest words for me from the book were ‘It’s not your fault’. Only a week ago two people had said just that to me and so the truth leapt from the page for me again …. yes, it’s true. Thank you Jesus.

Loved the chapters ‘Here come da Judge’ and ‘A Festival of Friends’. I too have dreams that represent my ‘Great Sadness’ and I know that the God of Love is helping me to see I’m wrapped round with love and closeness as I journey through emotional turmoil close to Papa, Jesus and Sarayu. I can sense the pattern of the rich tapestry that is spoken of being woven by God in my life.

A truly inspiring book, Willie. May many find God ‘their heart’s true home’ as they read your book.

My friend was passing through a bookstore, about to leave, and The Shack caught her eye at the last minute. She picked it up and took it home. After reading it, she told me I had to read it. She has been conflicted about “religion” and within the pages, she found common thoughts to her own.

I, too, have experienced the same thing, just having finished the book. I am going to get my own copy now and re-read this. I know it is classified as fiction, but is it fiction….or was it meant to be written by inspired thought, passing through Willie? It certainly makes more sense than the churches I keep visiting and then stop visiting, that leave me cold and empty and searching for something that means something, that touches the heart.

Pam

Your book has a lot of truth in it, and i am thankful for the truth that comes across in the book. at the same time, i think it’s dangerous to create God in our own image and to try to make him who you want him to be for us. The Bible is true and beautiful and God’s word is sufficient. Yes, fiction can illuminate scripture, but i believe you have taken great liberty where you should not have. i’ve heard many say that oh, it’s just fiction, but if it’s changing so many lives, it goes beyond just a good story. you do communicate some great biblical truths, but you also are very dismissive and somewhat come across as “this is what the bible REALLY meant”. i also think that scripture does clearly teach that Jesus was abandoned and forsaken on OUR behalf. he took on that punishment for us, so we did not have to. that is the truth of the gospel that is freedom!

God is a spirit, infinite, eteral, unchangeable in his being, power, justice and holiness. God should not be personified as a lady named Papa. I am sorry this image is in my head. May the truth of the gospel be found, the real truth. I do think you depicted some beautiful pictures for us and gave “life” to some freeing biblical truths. i just think portraying the trinity in this way is dangerous.

I regestered on the forums, but I wanted to say something anonomously and thought here would be a good place.
I have been sexual attracted to little girls and trying to change that, but it’s extremely hard. I feel a kinship to the man who murdered the little girl, and from that two things: 1) I want to be as far separated from that as the east is from the west. that far from the perversion which has clung to me.
2) I feel compassion for those people, for the perverted and twisted murderers who are not so unlike me.
I’ve been praying for God to separate what is good and holy out of my twisted and perverted fantasies and take the rest and far from me as the east is from the west, not only the guilt of it, but the behavior. (behaviour as in fantasies and stuff, I have not ever acted on it for real, but this includes potential behavior.)
Someday I want to have children of my own, and I used to be terrified that if I had children of my own I might hurt them. But I think God has changed me and will continue to change me so that this problem will be irrevelent to my kids, completely in the past.
As I read this book, I feel an intense longing for innocence, and I think this is part of what is holy and intended which had been mixed with the perversion. But I’m not sure what to do with this longing. Our most real and truest desire is for God, I trust Him that someday it will be fullfilled.
Jesus grew up and matured and remained completely innocent and he said that we should come to Him and His Father like children. but children which grow up and mature (..and remain innocent..) There is no return to Eden, but there will be a complete fullfilling of Your Kingdom, and we will see you not through a glass but face to face. ..and we will be innocent and mature, childlike and grown up.

Um.. I wrote part of that as a prayer in a different file and pasted it into here, and forgot to change the ‘You’s to ‘Him’s at the end. oh well

It took me almost a full week to read The Shack, not because I wasn’t wrapped up in the story, but because I was so shaken by the truths contained within. Once I even threw the book onto the floor because you either probed too closely to my own pain or because you banged against my life-long, preconcieved notions of the mystery which is the Trinity. It’s not easy for a Southern Baptist girl to picture the Father as a female…but you certainly nailed some truths about our world and how our relationships with fathers/father figures inevitably shape our image of God the Father.

Because I am a voracious reader and easily swayed by what I put into my mind, I censor my reading. I was intrigued by the book cover the first time I saw it, but did not seriously consider reading it until I saw it in a Lifeway store (they’re very careful about what they sell). Long story short, I found a copy at the library and checked it out. Now I’m going to have to buy a copy for myself and read it again, this time with pen in hand! I’ve been recommending it to anyone I talk to because its truths have sunk deep within my soul. Thank you for the reminder that it’s all about living in the present, in a dependence upon the One who is the Way because He lived the way.

Wow! First of all - I am from South Africa and a warm hello!! to you from a cold and rainy Cape Town. However, I love the cold and rainy weather. And I love God (Papa) and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I want to give everybody I know the book. The way you portrayed the Trinity spoke to my heart and soul and I felt so much joy while reading the book that I danced through my house even when I cried. The book changed the way I look at other people. When I see broken people I want to cry with love for them. I am at a loss for words to explain the effect the book had on me, but I think the most important for me was that everything in my spirit said a loud “YES” to the way you described the Trinity.

Thank you my brother in Jesus Christ. I would love to meet you in heaven and hear your story.

He restores my soul. It is so refreshing to see the many people who are being ministered to through The Shack. I attended a The Shack Panel Discussion last Thursday. This book is a wonderful blessing to God’s people. Mind you that I am a person vowed to never reading novels, and with fist shaking resolve declared reading fiction books senseless. I crave for true stories, history, and facts. The thousands of lives of real people chronicled in the Holy Scriptures and their various encounters with Almighty God who is neither male nor female; neither is Jew nor Gentile, African nor European And maybe to some a suprize, neither is God Baptist, Catholic, Protestant, or Pentacostal. The need is great to grow beyond the human desire to understand Almighty God. Too many try to analyze the Holy Trinity. I pray many more will recieve the understanding they seek and that it will cause us the be better for the Lord. But Jesus told Thomas that they who Trust Me thru faith will have the greater reward. The Shack is increasing faith for thousands of God’s people. I hope to purchase at least 12 copies tomorrow for persons in my ministry whom I’ll invite to the panel discussion group next Thursday. God as a Black Woman. Only the Holy Ghost could have come up with that one. In plain language, The Shack is “off the chain” and I feel led to share it in a way that will most impact my loved ones. God is doing something real special in America and this book is a part of it.
Humbly;
pastor enoch fuzz
Nashville, Tennessee
enoch.fuzz@yahoo.com

My wife and I buried our son and we retreated to a small town in Colorado for our healing journey to begin. It is eight years ago this month that he died. We returned to this small town in Colorado for another visit and I have just finished your book. Thank you for such a wonderful story. I remember the anger I had at G-d after he died. (The ’o’ is removed out of respect for His name.) The many questions I had regarding his sovereignty and refusal to intervene to save his life were flowing in me as fast as a raging river.

I love your viewpoints and perspective of The Holy One. I now do see G-d in a different light. A better light if you will. I think too often we paint the picture of what He looks like, expects of us, etc. all from our upbringing and are afraid to see…no…look at Him differently for many different reasons too many to explain here.

I am not a Christian, but a Believer in Christ. He is my savior, my ALL in ALL. Thank you Willie for writing this story so that I can grow in my understanding of and relationship with G-d. It is a refreshing story that I will hold dear as I believe it has given me a new perspective in how to relate to my Lord and Master.

I read most of the comments here and now sort of feel a bit different about the book than I did before. I see a lot of comments that rejoice in seeing God as someone whom they can relate to in an almost casual sort of way. It is as if these have found an old pal or a buddy and I wonder if we haven’t missed the point. Maybe I am wrong but what I felt was that the author clearly knows that God is a Spirit and as such is able to relate to us in the manner in which He deems neccessary. I didn’t feel your book was about revealing the physical attributes of God or the Trinity to us but more about the nature and character of Who He is. The fact we overlook so often is that God truly loves us as children and desires to be in a relationship with us. I felt like you did a stellar job of presenting these truths. Personally I felt the greatest moment for me is when the author brought to light the truth that, it is not about prioritizing God and making Him the head of the list, or even giving God most of me but that God wants all of me and who really wants to surrender to God every aspect of their lives. Can disease or death or tragedy really be good. I believe it can be in a life surrendered to God. Thanks for a great read that I will share with others and will read again.

I have almost finished “The Shack” and to say that it has impacted me is an understatement. I greatly enjoyed the story, and would have enjoyed reading it, even if it had not stirred up my beliefs about God so deeply. It has left me with many, many questions, and a revelation that I need to re-examine what I have accepted as truth.
I am the wife of an evangelical pastor in a very conservative denomination, but I am a little more open to ideas that are not traditional than most of our congregates. I don’t agree with every idea in the book, but I don’t have to.
I will share this book with my adult daughter, who I know to be struggling in her relationship with God. I will probably also recommend it to a few friends who I know would not be angered at having their ideas about God challenged.
You have done an amazing work, sir, and I thank you for your willingness to pour yourself out for the rest of us.

Finally..some real clarity of the Trinity! We don’t believe in 3 gods, but 3 aspects of One Wonderful God! Thanks Willie! (However, as a simple, somewhat under-educated Christian man, I did have some moments of “brain-ache” trying to understand the author’s vocabulary in God’s responses.)

I just finished the book,the best book i have read in a long time.You say it is not true I doubt that very much.I sent a copy to my son in prison.I hope it effects him as it did me.Thank You Willie,Thank YOU PAPA…..Marie

I have to respectfully disagree with you about Jesus being abandoned. I do believe he felt that way and so cried out his anguish. We can’t assume our way of interpreting the bible is the correct way. We must approach it with humility. There are so many denominations because people fight over what the bible is really saying, convinced that their interpretation in the correct one.

How would you portray the Trinity? This is one of the clearest, most beloved portrayals of the Trinity I have ever read. I have read lots of theologins describe the Trinity but never really connected deeply. This story depicts the Trinity the same way the theologins do, but in story form. Jesus often taught with parables to help people understand so I see nothing wrong with it. God is Good, loving, and gracious beyond anything we can imagine. If Willy has made some kind of terrible error, then I am sure the Holy Spirit will show it to him. Though I don’t see the error. I see beauty and love and grace and joy and relationship and healing and wholeness and wonder.

Some of my friends & I read the book. Weloved it!! We were just having a hard time getting past the portrayal of GOD being a woman in the book when we think of him as ABBA FATHER/ DADDY. Why did you go this route? Thank You.

I received this book from a friend and as I began reading it I realized it was different from any other book I’ve ever read. I’m so pleased that this book fell into my hands and I had the privilege to read it. I have a new perspective on what the Father wants from me and how I need to respond to Him.
Thank you for that.

I just finished your book tongight and I wanted to tell you what it meant to me, how your words moved me. Like the beautiful picture of the trinity you portray, it was tender and painful and beautiful and vulnerable and horribly honest and anointed. I have already begun to go back and re-read parts that felt a little over my head. There is more than a story here–there is revelation, and I feel my spirit’s eyes opening to some of the things I thought I knew all my life but are just now making sense. I love how simple Papa makes those things we have complicated. Not only is the story life-transforming, but the writing is so sensitive, poignant and beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with me. I am forever grateful and changed by the words God spoke to me through you.
Thank you.

You’ll find out as you read…=)

I work at a small bookstore in a very small town in North Carolina. I read The Shack completely unaware of the impact it would have on me. I loved it, honestly. I have never read another book like it and have recommended it to everyone that comes in and asks “read any good books lately” to which I reply “YES!!!!!” as I hand them a copy of it. I have bought four and I just cant keep it. I always seem to find someone else who “needs” to read it. Thank you so much Mr. Young for writing this book!

It was important for me to read The Shack. I am not able agree with all of its theology. However, I will read the book again because it gave me a clear blue print to explore, without fair and with hope, my own relationship with Papa.

still wondering about the GOD portrayal?

GREAT!!!

To Sue Miller, did you finish the book yet? If not, I’ll wait until you find out about God being portrayed as a woman…if so, let me know and I’ll remind you of the parts in the book that explain this…

Two points:

One - In my counseling with Soldiers, most who are spiritually sensitive are disillusioned with institutional Christianity. I think *The Shack* will help them — especially the parts pertaing to theodicy and forgiveness.

Two - I think this story based presentation of God as Trinity will have a powerful affect on Muslims. I hope someone has plans for translating into languages like Indonesian, Urdu, Farsi, Turkish, etc. There’s not a large purchasing audience in those languages but a potential evangelistic impact among billions who are desperate for a relational God.