The Shack

by William Paul Young

I'm glad that Fran encouraged me to read this book. It presents many interesting perspectives of what God might be like.

Words within quotation marks, unless otherwise noted, are Mackenzie’s, the main character of the book, as he converses with God who appears to him in three persons. Words not within quotation marks are words spoken by God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.

My thoughts are in italics.

We and Our refers to the trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit). Independence refers to separation from God.

p. 26 “Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.” – Paul Tournier
This is one reason I cherished our relationship so much.

p. 94 Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.
We are free to “talk” to Him or not.

p. 97 Only I can set you free. The truth shall set you free and the truth has a name – God.
I do believe that peace of mind can come only from God.

p. 97 Freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with Him.

p. 98 Love always leaves a significant mark.

p. 98 I’m not who you think I am. – God
This book is thought-provoking in many ideas it describes.

p. 98 I’m not like who you think I am.

p. 98 I’m not like you. I am God. I am who I am.

p. 113 Once you really get to know me, it won’t matter to you. – His appearance.
God’s appearance in the three earthly bodies in this book were FAR from what humans would normally think God would choose.

p. 114 Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly face, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade away until they simply no longer matter.
I can relate to this concept. Appearance is very important when I first meet a person, but after they become my friend, it matters VERY little.

p. 122 Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.
I think this is true if a person has a conscience, but I question if all humans are tormented from committing sin.

p.124 We are in a circle of relationship, not a chain of command….
I believe true relationships (especially a committed relationship between a man and woman) should be this type.

p. 124 We don’t need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best.
Again, I think this is important in a committed relationship.

p. 128 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.
Trust is something that has to be earned over time, especially after one feels betrayed.

p. 135 Humans have a great capacity for declaring something good or evil, without truly knowing.
I feel most humans judge others according to their values and beliefs. I certainly tend to judge others according to my own perspective. I realize I should be LESS judgmental. It is something I must work on.

p. 138 Evil is a word we use to describe the absence of good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of light or death to describe the absence of life. Both evil and darkness can be understood only in relation to light and good; they do not have any actual existence. I am light and I am good. I am love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can draw only upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life.
These are VERY interesting concepts. I tend to agree with these ideas. This is somewhat parallel to my thoughts about hell – not a physical place, but NOTHINGNESS or the end of existence; the opposite of being with God or Heaven.

p. 143 Do you think humans were designed to live in the present or the past or the future?

p. 143 Where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination: in the present, in the past, or in the future?
I spend FAR too much time thinking about, worrying about, and planning for the FUTURE. I must concentrate on living IN THE MOMENT and relishing each second of my precious life.

p. 144 The person who lives by his fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you.
I have wasted much of my life worrying about what might happen in the future. Almost everything I worried about never materialized. Rational fears about legitimate dangers are understandable, but the time wasted worrying about what MIGHT happen or what others might think of me was precious time wasted.

p. 148 Like most men, you find what you think of as fulfillment in your achievements, and Nan, like most women, finds it in relationships. It’s more naturally her language.
I am guilty of this.

p. 148 You abandoned relationship with us to assert your own independence. Most men have expressed it by turning to the work of their hands and the sweat of their brows to find their identity, value, and security.

p. 149 By choosing to declare what’s good and evil, you seek to determine your own destiny. It was this turning that had caused so much pain.

p. 150 Power in the hands of independent humans, be they men or women, does corrupt.
I feel power and fame/celebrity are VERY difficult for humans to handle honorably.

p. 150 We want male and female to be counterparts, face-to-face equals, each unique and different, distinctive in gender but complementary, and each empowered uniquely….
This would be the ideal in a committed relationship.

p. 150 We didn’t create man to live alone; she was purposed from the beginning.
Possibly some individuals (both male and female) are better off living alone, for their own sake and others.

p. 150 Our desire was to create a being that had a fully equal and powerful counterpart, the male and the female. But your independence with its quest for power and fulfillment actually destroys the relationship your heart longs for.

p. 160 You have judged many throughout your life. You have judged the actions and even the motivations of others, as if you somehow know what those were in truth. 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. By all accounts, you are quite will practiced in the activity.
I realize this is an area I should work on.

p. 160 Judging requires that you think yourself superior over the one you judge.
Interesting observation.

p. 160 Mack knew he was thoroughly guilty of being self-centered. How dare he judge anyone else? All his judgments had been superficial, based on appearance and actions, things easily interpreted by whatever state of mind or prejudice supported the need to exalt himself, to feel safe, or to belong.

p. 172 “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” – Blaise Pascal
Sadly there seems to be much truth to this.

p. 172 “Once abolish the God and the government becomes the God.” – G. K. Chesterton
Interesting.

p. 175 She was never alone. I never left her; we never left her, not for one instant. I could no more abandon her, or you, then I could abandon myself.

p. 176 It doesn’t seem to hold the same power now. --> K

p. 177 Then you grow up on the outside, but on the inside you’re still that kid….
Yes I am! I still have many of the same insecurities and still think of myself as being young. When I was young, I always thought and assumed that when I “grew up” I’d no longer be concerned about what others thought about me, and I would no longer be shy. Not so.

p. 180 Referring to the church – You’re seeing only the institution, a man-made system. That’s not what I came to build. What I see are people and their lives, a living, breathing community of all those who love me, not buildings and programs.
Institutions tend to have their own agendas. The church should be the community of people. How can they be separated to prevent corruption?

p. 180 It’s all about relationships and simply sharing life. …being open and available to others around us. My church is all about people, and life is all about relationships.
Relationships are really what matter most in life.

p. 180 Perhaps it was because humans are so utterly lost and independent that they take what is simple and make it complex.

p. 181 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.

p. 182 I have no agenda here.
This is unlike religious agendas of some churches, some church leaders, and some church dogmas.

p. 183 The whole thing is a process, not an event. 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.
Changing myself will be a life-long process.

p. 183 I can give you freedom to overcome any system of power in which you find yourself, be it religious, economic, social, or political. You will grow in the freedom to be inside or outside all kinds of systems and to move freely between and among them. Together, you and I can be in it and not of it.
Young believes most systems (or institutions) are corrupt and have their own agendas – religious, economic, social, political (and even marriage). He believes they have taken the simple and made it complex. When Mack questions God about the institution of marriage, God corrects him stating that marriage is NOT an institution, it is a relationship.

p. 184 Who said anything about being a Christian? I’m not a Christian. – Jesus
We tend to want to LABEL people. And what do labels REALLY mean?

p. 184 Those who love me have come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims; some are Democrats, some Republicans and many don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and may who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jew and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.
Again, labels are meaningless. And they just encourage judgments.

p. 187 Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes. That will only least you to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets….
Tragedies sometimes tend to bring out the best in people.

p. 194 It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but it is the nature of love to open the way.
I can’t force someone to have a relationship with me.

p. 197 I am always with you; sometimes I want you to be aware in a special way….

p. 199 Just because you believe something firmly doesn’t make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don’t want to trust them more than me.

p. 200 You didn’t think you could live the righteousness of God on your own, did you?
I need his help to live the my life the way He wants me to live it. I pray that he leads and directs me.

p. 200 You might see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in creation, or in your joy and sorrow. My ability to communicate is limitless, living and transforming, and it will always be tuned to Papa’s [God’s] goodness and love.

p. 204 Why do you think we came up with the Ten Commandments?
“I suppose, at least I have been taught, that it’s a set of rules you expected humans to obey in order to live righteously in your good graces.”
If that were true, which it is not, then how many do you think lived righteously enough to enter our good graces?
“Not very many, if people are like me.”
Actually, only one succeeded – Jesus.

p. 205 “Are you saying I don’t have to follow the rules?”
Yes. In Jesus you are not under any law. All things are lawful.
Trying to keep the Law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of keeping control.
“Is that why we like the Law so much – to give us some control?”
It is much worse than that. It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge.
Rules cannot bring freedom; they have only the power to accuse.
“Are you telling me that responsibility and expectation are just another form of rules we are no longer under?”
Yes.
I don’t agree with this. I feel we should strive to live the way we feel God wants us to live. We might not be perfect, but we should do our best to live by those guidelines.

p. 208-209 “But don’t you want us to set priorities? You know: God first, then whatever, followed by whatever?”
The trouble with living by priorities is that everything is seen as a hierarchy, a pyramid…. If you put God at the top, what does that really mean, and how much is enough? How much time do you give me before you can go on about the rest of your day, the part that interests you so much more?
You see, I don’t just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were abele, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day.
I don’t want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than the top of the pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities – is connected to me….
This is an interesting concept.

p. 211 “You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” – Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth
I can feel those I love with me when we are apart. And when we reunite, it usually feels that no time has passed since we were last together.

p. 215 Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you.
This is an interesting observation that I can relate to. Each of my friendships IS unique.

p. 220 “An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others. – A. W. Tozer
This is something I should keep in mind. I feel special “in God’s eyes,” but I must remember that God has that individual relationship with every man and woman. This is another reason I must be more mindful to treat EVERY person I come in contact with, with the utmost respect.

p. 224 I knew that my creation would rebel, would choose independence and death, and I knew what it would cost me to open a path of reconciliation. Your independence has unleashed what seems to you a world of chaos, random and frightening.
I’ve often wondered WHY God allows bad things to happen. This book offers an interesting perspective that addresses this question.

p. 225 This is not about shaming you. I don’t do humiliation, or guilt, or condemnation. They don’t produce one speck of wholeness or righteousness….
I’m so glad that God is above this.

p. 227 Forgiveness is first for you, the forgiver, to release you from something that will eat you alive, that will destroy your joy and your ability to love fully and openly. Do you think this man cares about the pain and torment you have gone through? If anything, he feeds on that knowledge. Don’t you want to cut that off?
This is an interesting concept that I have heard before.

p. 229 “So is it all right if I’m still angry?”
Absolutely! What he did was terrible. He caused incredible pain to many. It was wrong, and anger is the right response to something that is so wrong. But don’t let the anger and pain and loss you feel prevent you from forgiving him….

p. 230 Don’t ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak.
Tears CAN be SO healing.

p. 233 “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” – Thomas Moore, “Come Ye Disconsolate”
I must keep this in mind, especially when I lose loved ones.

p. 237 Everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again.
This is important to remember. This is why I pray for God to guide me and help me to have a positive effect on others.

p. 235 Excerpt from the epitaph for Missy:
Till you and I are one
And we will dance among the tombs
Until all death is gone
And no one knows that we exist
Wrapped in each other’s arms
Except the One who blew the breath
That hides me safe from harm
Till you and I are one
And we will dance among the tombs
Until all death is gone
This is similar to part of my “sympathy thoughts”:
A person never really dies as long
As someone remembers.
And after there is no one left to remember
It doesn't matter - because then you're together.

p. 237 “And I really believe that you will never leave me or abandon me….”
I suppose He is my rock. When I need Him, especially when I am under pressure or when I realize what a miserable failure I am, I feel His presence.

p. 248 Humans continue through a process of change. While some welcome change, most tend to resist it. Those who feel close to God tend to love more, are quicker to forgive and even quicker to ask for forgiveness. Perhaps they also live life with more simplicity and joy.
I certainly resist change. It takes me a while to adjust to the idea. Although I feel I have an intimate relationship with God and I pray to him frequently, I’m not sure He communicates with me.
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