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Latest ‘Christian’ film blasted as not so Christian

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« on: February 12, 2017, 06:29:19 pm »

Latest ‘Christian’ new age film blasted as not so Christian

It’s a “Christian” new age book featured on numerous bestseller lists for more than 100 weeks – an unprecedented accomplishment in publishing history. Almost 10 years after publication, it remains one of the top selling books at Amazon.com and a bestseller in several categories.

And now “The Shack” has been turned into a movie premiering next month that will bring its message to a whole new audience.

Some Christians might be tempted to rejoice.

But “The Shack” gives audiences false hope, telling them what they want to hear, say critics. And those who know the book and its theology contend it teaches heresy and is leading Christians astray.

Leading the effort to expose “The Shack” is James De Young, a New Testament language and literature professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, who holds multiple degrees from respected seminaries, including Dallas Seminary, Talbot Theological Seminary and Moody Bible Institute.

De Young is a former longtime colleague of “The Shack” author Paul Young who challenges the mega-bestseller in his blockbuster exposé, “Burning Down The Shack.”

De Young asserts “The Shack” promotes a heretical idea of “universal reconciliation,” the concept that all people will be saved.

“The danger from all of this is to distort the gospel, to give people a false hope of being able to change their destiny after death and to distort the meaning of Christ’s death,” he told WND.

“Indeed, the need for Christ to die a sacrificial death for people’s sins is dissipated and eventually erased. But the greatest danger is that universal reconciliation redefines who God is by insisting that the attribute of God’s love trumps his other attributes of justice, holiness and righteousness. Love limits his other attributes. In so doing, some attributes are not fully expressed or perfect. In this way God ceases to be God. Instead we have a man-created, man-centered god.”

Indeed, De Young contends “The Shack” essentially tells Christians their feelings are more important than the Bible. Sadly, according to De Young, it is a message many believers want to hear.

“In the postmodern spirit of our age, the authority of the Bible takes second place to a personal sense of what to believe, who God is, or what God does or approves,” De Young said. “Each person comes to believe and do ‘what is right in his own eyes.’ Ignorance of the teaching of the Bible is widespread. The influence of liberal theology and a culture where entertainment, sport and wealth rule leave Christians heavily oppressed and weakened to withstand such an onslaught against the truth. People prefer what feels good rather than the truth which may hurt.”

Other critics have similar concerns.

“Although I have not seen ‘The Shack’ movie, I have read the book – and found it to be beyond disturbing for its thoroughly anti-biblical portrayal of God,” said Joseph Farah, founder of WND and the author of “The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age.” “Of course, if you want to think of our Creator as Oprah, you’re welcome to do so, but you will be chagrined on Judgment Day. We don’t serve a do-your-own-thing God. We serve one who invites relationship and offers grace through repentance and eternal life, but He does have rules and demands obedience and accountability to them.

“I was invited to see the movie. I declined. I would rather spend the time reading the Word of God or even watching a movie like ‘I’m Not Ashamed’ or some biblical epic. I hope people will not be led astray by the heretical message of universalism – everyone goes to heaven, from Hitler to Stalin to serial rapists and murderers – that pervades the book.”

“No way on Earth this has anything to do with Christianity,” he said.

Jan Markell, founder and president of Olive Tree Ministries and an evangelist featured in the film “Trapped in Hitler’s Hell,” echoed Farah’s criticism.

Video150-Year-Old Wedding Dress Found

“The missing art of evangelical discernment is one of the primary problems in the church today,” said Markell. “It suits society today to have a God who is non-judgmental and who suggests that all humanity is redeemed. But the spiritual wreckage that has come from this is shocking, and it is about to get a lot worse with the release of the film. Expect a tidal wave of confusion thanks to the ongoing nonsense propagated in both the book and film.”

Markell is especially concerned because of the greater power of film compared to books to communicate a dangerous message by playing on the audience’s emotions.

burning_down_shack_bookcover
“Heart strings are pulled much more so in films than in books,” she warned. “Viewers will visibly see the agony on (main character) Mack’s face when he learns of his daughter. They will identify with him if they are going through a great trial. They will want this man to get some comfort from his emotional pain. Imagine your kid being raped and murdered. They will not care that he gets counsel and comfort from a woman who plays the role of God in this twisted novel that millions of Christians have bought into.

“For some reason many Christians give fiction or fantasy-fiction a pass. They should not with ‘The Shack.’ This twists the issue of salvation so that all can be saved in the end.”

DeYoung also believes the movie may do more damage to Christians than the already hugely influential book.

“The real danger of the movie ‘The Shack’ is that it portrays in a visual way the broad theology of the novel,” he said. “It imprints on the mind and memory more permanently and graphically the teaching of the book. And the teaching of the novel is a very subtle and submerged propagation of the ideas based in universal reconciliation.”

DeYoung said the “history of what Paul Young has written in the past, how the novel first openly articulated this universalism and was rewritten to hide it and make it palpable to most Christians is essential to understanding how this universalism can be recognized in the novel and movie.”

“It is also essential that a person becomes knowledgeable about the beliefs of universal reconciliation.”

In “Burning Down The Shack,” DeYoung provides detailed criticisms of the flawed theology contained within “The Shack.” He provided some especially egregious examples in an interview with WND.

According to De Young, the most unbiblical statements include (with God speaking):

    “I am not who you think I am”
    “I don’t punish sin”
    “I don’t condemn most to an eternity of torment”
    “[M]ercy triumphs over justice because of love”
    “I am now fully reconciled to the world”

Besides its universalism, De Young also condemns “The Shack” for having God say, “I don’t create institutions.” Marriage, the church and the government are described as the “man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth”

“It’s all false,” he said.

“In asserting this, Young takes on the mantle of a terrorist, anarchist and subverter of the home and marriage,” De Young said. “He is anti-church, anti-marriage and the home, and anti-American.”

De Young also condemns the book for other “heretical doctrines,” including that the whole Trinity was crucified (patripassianism), and that the whole Trinity became incarnate (and not just Jesus Christ).

Pastor Carl Gallups, author of several books including his latest, “When The Lion Roars,” believes the movie’s entertainment value will conceal the disturbing messages within it.

“As far as pure entertainment value, and serving as kindling for heated theological discussion starters, this movie will be hard to beat,” he told WND. “But the serious-minded Christian and almost every student of solid theology will be more than disappointed. So much in the book regarding the fundamentals of the Christian faith is severely inaccurate and could be dangerously misleading.”

Gallups sees “The Shack” as yet another attempt to water down the Christian message into a vague, “New Age” type of spiritualism.

“It distorts the biblical understanding of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the clear gospel message of salvation, the absolute necessity of Jesus Christ for salvation and the biblical balance between God’s love and His holy judgment that is to come upon the world,” said Gallups. “Brought forward in the book version are the unmistakable teachings of universalism, New Age mysticism and elements of Eastern mystery religions.

“To quote the ‘Jesus’ figure in the book: ‘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.’ Then, the book’s character of Jesus declares, ‘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 [the book’s name for God], into my brothers and sisters, my Beloved.’

“Of course, the very definition of the word Christian means to be a follower of Christ. So the book has Jesus asserting that He doesn’t want to make anyone ‘followers of His,’ He just wants to make them all to be ‘brothers.’ This is the core message of universalism, but it’s not the message of the Word of God.”

De Young argues Christians need to turn to the Bible to truly understand their faith. Only then, he says, will they be able to recognize distortions and heretical teachings when they appear.

“Christians who have embraced the teaching of the cross for personal salvation should be jealous to protect the gospel from corruption,” he said. “They need to become informed more deeply with the teaching of the Bible, be willing to confront error where it appears no matter what the cost, and read both the questionable literature and the responses to it. They need to exercise critical thinking and deepen their relationship with, and their love for, God and our Lord. Jesus and the Apostles exhort us to contend for the faith.”

http://www.wnd.com/2017/02/latest-christian-film-blasted-as-not-so-christian/
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« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2017, 10:17:33 am »

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« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2017, 07:51:53 pm »

1,000 ‘Faith Leaders’ Endorse Blasphemous ‘Shack’ Film Based on Universalist Novel Depicting God as Woman

A website dedicated to marketing the controversial film “The Shack” states that 1,000 “faith leaders” have given their endorsement of the movie—a film that is based on William P. Young’s bestselling novel of the same name, which some say contains universalistic doctrine and teaches that God is all love and no holiness, wrath or justice.

Endorsements

The resource site for “The Shack” provides both written and recorded endorsements from many well-known entities, including leaders and representatives of The Salvation Army, Young Life, Family Christian Stores, The Christian Post, K-LOVE, CBN and TBN, to celebrities such as Michael W. Smith, Joel Houston of Hillsong United, Gospel artist Tasha Cobbs and Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” show.

Numerous pastors and church leaders have lent their endorsement as well, including Kent Munsey of Hillsong Chicago, Samuel Rodriguez of New Season Church in Sacramento, California and leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Kenneth Ulmer of Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles, and Steve Munsey of Family Christian Center in Munster, Indiana.

“I would encourage all pastors to make sure that their congregation is able to see this movie,” said Charles Blake, the current presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).

“Honestly, I was apprehensive about seeing it because I loved the book so much. What a wonderful surprise to have my expectations and hope exceeded. I love the message, the very believable message, that God is always with us doing more than we could ask or imagine,” stated Terry Meeuwsen, co-host of Pat Robertson’s “700 Club.”

“It’s not afraid to go into the real issues of life, which is pain, which is dealing with hurt and forgiveness, and what love is,” also remarked Houston of Hillsong, whose music is featured in the film. “And I think those are the things that actually connect with all humanity.”

Samuel Rodriguez said that the film’s portrayal of the Father as a woman—who later turns into a man since the lead character could not handle seeing God as male at first due to a poor relationship with his late father—is God showing Himself to be both motherly and fatherly in His character, depending on the human need.

“[It’s] God basically saying, ‘I’ll take whatever road is necessary at [the] corresponding chapter in your life. So, in this chapter you may need more of a maternal sort of comfort and support and nurturing. And then, in this journey of your life, you need more of a male, masculine friend who accompanies you and who pushes you a little bit harder toward the journey. I am all of that. Don’t limit me. … I am what you need me to be in corresponding chapters of your life,'” he stated.

In addition to urging viewers to forgive the perpetrator, God and oneself, a common takeaway from reviewers is that the film teaches that mankind is not to judge anyone—even those who commit gross evil. In one scene, the lead character is asked to choose which one of his children will go to Hell and which to Heaven, in order to make the point that man is not to judge.

“Every Christian should see this movie to remind us that we don’t get to be the judge unless we want to be judged. All us have [things in the] closet we don’t want exposed,” said Sharon Houston, Garden of Hope, Inc. of Virginia Beach.

“The movie was a powerful message about God’s love for all of us. He doesn’t want us to be judgmental toward others,” also noted Lynn Davis of Bear Valley Church in Denver, Colorado.

“Makes me re-think again all my preconceived notions and religious beliefs of who my God is! Wow—judgment issues—a lot to change in my own views,” said Cheryl Sharp of Monte Vista Christian School in San Francisco, California.

“Thank you, Lord, for not judging us but loving us,” commented Tricia Tisdale of Greater Grace Worship Center in Sacramento, California.

The popular radio outlets Air1 and K-LOVE, along with the prominent news outlet Christian Post, have been among those marketing the “The Shack,” with Air1 and K-LOVE, both owned by the Educational Media Foundation, conducted ticket giveaways and aired advertisements for the film. The Christian Post likewise ran video ads for the movie on its site last week.

“I had some problems with the theology of this story, but I am remembering that it’s just a work of fiction and perhaps it will be helpful to those that are hurting and have unforgiveness. So because of this, I’m saying I give it a thumbs up,” said Trish Fuhlendorf of K-LOVE in Denver, Colorado.

“There were moments of great humor and plenty (so many) tear-jerking moments. I fought back tears at least four times. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were so cleverly depicted. LOVE the film!” also remarked Kevin Porter of the The Christian Post.

Storyline and Novel Content

As previously reported, “The Shack,” released in 2007, is stated to have sold approximately 20 million copies and has been translated into 39 languages. In 2013, Lionsgate Entertainment obtained the rights to turn the book into a film.

“The Shack” tells the story of a man named Mackenzie “Mack” Phillips who faces a crisis while on a family vacation as his youngest daughter Missy is abducted and presumably killed in an abandoned shack. Years later, the grieving father receives a note from “Papa,” who tells Phillips that it has “been a while” and to meet up at the shack the following weekend.

Reluctantly, Phillips returns to the site, where he meets the Godhead—the Father portrayed as a woman named Papa “Elousia”, who later transforms into an elderly man, the Holy Spirit being a young Asian woman with the Hindu name Sarayu, and Jesus as a Jewish carpenter. Together, they seek to help Phillips deal with his faltering faith and to learn to forgive.

Among the objections cited about the 10-year-old novel are the messages that God submits to men as the Father doesn’t want them to be “slaves” to the divine will, that God will never judge mankind for their sins, that there is no eternal punishment in Hell, that there is no holy justice because God is all love, that God forgave everyone on the cross regardless of whether they will ever repent or not, and that all will eventually make it to Heaven.

“My words are alive and dynamic-full of life and possibility; yours are dead, full of law and fear and judgment. That is why you won’t find the word responsibility in the Scriptures,” God the Father tells Phillips in the story (page 205).

“Honey, I’ve never placed an expectation on you or anyone else. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behavior to get the desired result,” Papa reiterates (page 206).

“I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not My purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it,” she also states (page 120).

“Mackenzie, 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 only be understood in relation to light and good; they do not have any actual existence,” God the Father outlines (page 136).

“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 transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into My beloved,” Jesus tells Phillips (page 182).

“In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against Me, but only some choose relationship,” Papa states (page 225).

Some are also concerned that the fictional story waters down the Godhead to make them look hip and human. When Phillips first meets Papa, in one of the scenes he finds her listening to music and asks what she is playing.

“West Coast Juice, a group called Diatribe and an album that isn’t even out yet called Heart Trips,” she replies.

“West Coast Juice, huh? It doesn’t sound very religious,” Phillips replies.

“Oh, trust me, it’s not. More like Eurasian funk and blues with a message, and a great beat,” Papa declares, and sidesteps as if breaking out a dance move (page 90).

Objections to ‘The Shack’ From a Biblical Perspective

While many who identify as evangelical have endorsed “The Shack,” others have also expressed deep concern and have called upon Christians to use godly discernment.

“If you draw close to the Papa of ‘The Shack,’ you will be drawing close to a false god who does not line up with the Yahweh of the Bible,” writes Roger Patterson of Ken Ham’s Answers in Genesis in an article entitled “Staying Outside of ‘The Shack.'”

Patterson viewed the film, and says that while it may have some positive attributes, the movie is replete with dangerous and false doctrines about the Godhead.

Patterson notes that “The Shack,” which stays true to the content in the novel, portrays the Father as being always all-loving and therefore never punishing sin, no matter how egregious. It also suggests that the Father, who bears nail prints on His (or her) wrist, suffered on the cross with Jesus, a doctrine known as patripassianism.

“When Mack brings up her wrath, Papa replies, ‘Wrath? You lost me there.’ Here the Papa of The Shack is surely not the God of the Bible,” Patterson outlines.

“Further developing this point, Papa downplays sin, telling Mack that she doesn’t ‘need to punish people—sin is its own punishment.’ In another scene where Mack is challenged regarding his thinking of Papa as judge, the concept of Hell is brought up. But the real sense of the scene is that no one will be punished for their sins in Hell—even murderers and abusers—because Papa loves them just as Mack does his own children,” he explains.

He additionally notes that the movie does hint at or at least “leave open” the concept of universalism as it uses “very inclusive language” and features a scene, without explanation, that depicts a host of spirits from all nations in Heaven—a group that includes Mack’s father.

“In another scene, the Jesus character tells Mack that ‘religion is way too much work,’ and that He wants friends, not slaves. He goes on to say that ‘Christian’ is a title He is not crazy about. He only wants all people, regardless of their religious expression, to be changed by Papa and know what it means to be truly loved,” Patterson divulges.

“While we must not deny that God is our loving Father, as Jesus so clearly modeled for us, that is not all that He is. In the film, Papa expresses only love and has no room for wrath, justice, or holiness,” he outlines. “While taking the first, apparently delicious, bite of a meal prepared by Papa, Mack exclaims, ‘Oh my G*d!’ then quickly apologizes, thinking he had been irreverent. Papa laughs it off and excuses what Mack thought would be a sin.”

Patterson points to a 2012 quote from Randy Alcorn of Eternal Perspective Ministries, who said, “My concern is for those who think they are coming closer to God, when they may actually be altering the biblical revelation of God into a form that is more pleasant to them because He seems less holy and fearsome. If that’s the case, then they’re not closer to God at all, just closer to a false God, an idol constructed in the image of our contemporary need for acceptance, and forged by our resistance to repentance, submission, and accountability.”

Alcorn outlined in the same article that he finds it unnecessary and unbiblical to portray two out of three members of the Godhead as female just to soften up the concept of God for those who have been hurt by men.

“In real life, though God certainly reveals Himself through any number of godly women, I don’t see biblical examples of God the Father portraying Himself as female to people simply because their fathers are absent or aren’t good role models,” he said. “Because I had a very poor relationship with my earthly father when I came to Christ (later that was redeemed), the Fatherhood of God meant all the more to me.”

“I certainly believe that God transcends human gender, and I would not discredit the book on this basis. Still, in a New Age culture that is trying to elevate goddess-worship, portraying two of the three members of the triune God in female form for most of the book may not be entirely healthy,” Alcorn noted.

Patterson has therefore concluded that while the film may tug at the heartstrings and appeal to one’s emotions, it does not convey the God of the Bible.

“If you rely on personal experience for determining what is true, The Shack will be very appealing. If you rely on the Bible for determining what is true, The Shack will leave you disturbed, though not unmoved by the hope of love, healing, and forgiveness found in God,” he writes.

“You will find distorted shadows of the true God in the pages and scenes of The Shack, but you will not find Him in His full, Triune glory,” Patterson says. “That can only be found in the pages of Scripture. Only that God can truly heal the wounded heart and satisfy the longings of the soul.”

http://christiannews.net/2017/03/07/1000-faith-leaders-endorse-blasphemous-shack-film-based-on-universalist-novel-depicting-god-as-woman/
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« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2017, 07:48:21 pm »

Box office hit 'The Shack' called 'theological disaster'

After debuting at number three at the box office last week and taking in $10 million last weekend at number four in the nation, The Shack is causing more and more evangelical leaders to warn Americans that the movie designed to attract Christians is a “theological disaster.”

Gaining popularity from being based on the bestselling novel by William P Young donning the same title, The Shack is reportedly one of the most successful faith-based films to hit the big screen in recent years – a trend that is making many Christian leaders concerned about its reportedly false interpretation of the Gospel.

Teaching false doctrine

Addressing the incongruities with Scripture on his daily podcast, The Briefing, last week, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler, Jr., alerted his audience that the movie is most likely giving Americans a false portrayal of what Bible-believing Christians believe.

"The real danger – the seductive danger of The Shack – is that it's presented as a retelling of the Christian story," Mohler expressed on his program.

The theological expert went on to warn believers and non-believers alike about the deceiving nature of the film that should be regarded only as entertainment – not as a true Christian testimony.

"Christians armed by Scripture and committed to the Christian worldview should highly value fiction and thus evaluate it by Christian norms,” Mohler continued. “But we can never value a vehicle for importing heresy into the Church or misrepresenting Christianity to the watching world."

The gender-bending of God in the film is one of the main complaints raised against it.

“One of the more controversial aspects of the movie – which deals with deep loss and tragedy – is its depiction of the Holy Trinity,” The Christian Post (CP) reported. “God the Father (Papa), for instance, is played by Octavia Spencer – portrayed as a woman – while the Holy Spirit is also presented as a woman.”

A New Age depiction of the Bible

Another Christian leader agrees that The Shack pushes the envelope as heresy.

It was argued by Jerry Newcombe – who serves as a senior producer, on-air-host and columnist with D. James Kennedy Ministries – that depicting God as a woman could validly be considered by many as heretical.

"I felt the movie was too New Age for my tastes,” Newcombe expressed in his CP column. “If Oprah Winfrey were to make a 'Christian' movie, The Shack would be it. I felt it took too many liberties with the Person of God. God commands us to not to make any graven images."

According to Mohler, the depictions of God and the Christian faith in the controversial movie were “profoundly unbiblical” … to the extent that it promotes a vice commonly warned about in the Bible – idolatry.

"The Bible warns against any false depiction of God and calls it idolatry,” the biblical scholar told the Baptist Press. “Making that into a compelling story just compounds the theological danger, and when all of this is added to the creative storytelling power of Hollywood, it also becomes very seductive."

Blindly standing for The Shack?

Sam Worthington, who is one of the stars in The Shack, defended its controversial content without making a biblical case for it.

"The Shack helped him understand his own relationship with God,” Worthington told CP in an interview while reflecting on his character. "I came to religion very late – in my 20s – and it was never something that was thrust on me as a young kid. It's something that I discovered – and [it’s] my choice,"

The actor avoided directly speaking on the controversial portrayals in the movie by conceding that he is still learning about God, his own faith and the Bible.

"I'm still on this journey of discovery [myself] and I think part of my journey was getting involved with The Shack," Worthington shared.

Also asked to address the controversy surrounding The Shack, country music star Tim McGraw – who plays a leading role in the film – justified the movie’s depiction of God by implying that the Bible does not clearly represent God as a masculine or male figure.

"We don't know … I don't know,” McGraw told Know News. “I know if I told you what God looked like and felt like, then I'd be telling you a story. I just think we don't know. God manifests Himself, herself or itself in a way that we need it – in a way that we can grab a hold of and a way that we can put our arms around."

Promoting the movie’s themes of “love, compassion and forgiveness,” McGraw went on to insist that The Shack can be used as a “tool” to help people in the journey of life – without indicating whether its so-called guidance leads audiences on a biblically correct path … or on a road to destruction based in false doctrine.

https://www.onenewsnow.com/business/2017/03/15/box-office-hit-the-shack-called-theological-disaster
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« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2017, 08:28:46 pm »

‘I Have Deep Regrets’: Graphic Artist Who Designed ‘Shack’ Novel Renounces Book

The graphic artist who helped design the controversial best-selling novel “The Shack” has come forward to express his regret for being a part of the project out of his concern that it contains false doctrine.

  • ver 10 years ago, I was captivated by the story and felt honored to be part of the graphic creation of the book. I was so drawn into it, wanting to know the God it portrayed,” Dave Aldrich of Aldrich Design posted to social media on Tuesday. “The Shack’s story wonderfully painted this picture to me of an incredibly knowable and loving God, one full of forgiveness, but without being judgmental.”

He said that the novel led him into reading other authors such as Rob Bell and Brian McLaren, and he found himself at the edge of accepting universalist beliefs before he came to realize the danger.

“I thank the Lord that He pulled me back from that edge,” Aldrich wrote.

And while the graphic designer initially liked how God was portrayed as being non-judgmental and all-loving, he now realizes that because God is love, He must judge sin.

“The fact is that there are two inseparable sides to God. He is both love and judge,” he said.

Aldrich states that he now has “deep regrets” over his personal involvement with and promotion of “The Shack.”

“The movie release of ‘The Shack’ has brought all this back to my mind and I felt the need to apologize to all who I may have led astray by my promoting the book,” he wrote. “I look back and see how little discernment I had. And I regret and apologize also for waiting this long to publicly share this.”

And while some may argue that the book and film are just an imaginary story, Aldrich believes—based on the statements of its author—that the work is simply a means to communicate a message.

“Many will still say that the book was intended as just a work of fiction, but the author himself, William Paul Young, is quoted as saying, ‘The Shack is theology. But it is a theology wrapped in a story,'” Aldrich noted.

As previously reported, “The Shack,” released in 2007, is stated to have sold approximately 20 million copies and has been translated into 39 languages. In 2013, Lionsgate Entertainment obtained the rights to turn the book into a film.

“The Shack” tells the story of a man named Mackenzie “Mack” Phillips who faces a crisis while on a family vacation as his youngest daughter Missy is abducted and presumably killed in an abandoned shack. Years later, the grieving father receives a note from “Papa,” who tells Phillips that it has “been a while” and to meet up at the shack the following weekend.

Reluctantly, Phillips returns to the site, where he meets the Godhead—the Father portrayed as a woman named Papa “Elousia,” who later transforms into an elderly man, the Holy Spirit being a young Asian woman with the Hindu name Sarayu, and Jesus as a Jewish carpenter. Together, they seek to help Phillips deal with his faltering faith and to learn to forgive.

A number of groups have published reports pointing to concerning material in the novel.

“My words are alive and dynamic-full of life and possibility; yours are dead, full of law and fear and judgment. That is why you won’t find the word responsibility in the Scriptures,” God the Father tells Phillips in the story (page 205).

“Honey, I’ve never placed an expectation on you or anyone else. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behavior to get the desired result,” Papa reiterates (page 206).

“Mackenzie, 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 only be understood in relation to light and good; they do not have any actual existence,” God the Father outlines (page 136).

“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 transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into My beloved,” Jesus tells Phillips (page 182).

“In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against Me, but only some choose relationship,” Papa states (page 225).

Nonetheless, as previously reported, more than 1,000 faith leaders have endorsed the new movie release based on the novel, according to the resource site for “The Shack,” which provides both written and recorded endorsements from many well-known entities.

Leaders and/or representatives of The Salvation Army, Young Life, Family Christian Stores, The Christian Post, K-LOVE, CBN and TBN, as well as celebrities such as Michael W. Smith, Joel Houston of Hillsong United, Gospel artist Tasha Cobbs and Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” show have backed the film.

The movie has grossed $54 million at the box office to date.

http://christiannews.net/2017/04/10/i-have-deep-regrets-graphic-artist-who-designed-shack-novel-renounces-book/
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Mark
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« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2017, 12:56:54 am »

Well, there we go, Hovind endorses the Shack.   Tongue around the 3:17 mark he starts on it also at the 9:30 mark he says he recommends the book and says its a good read

« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 01:24:56 am by Mark » Report Spam   Logged

What can you do for Jesus?  Learn what 1 person can accomplish.

The Man from George Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkjMvPhLrn8
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