James B. Young - Burning Down The Shack: How the Christian bestseller is deceiving millions

BURNING DOWN THE SHACK

How the Christian Bestseller Is Deceiving Millions

JAMES B. DE YOUNG

BURNING DOWN THE SHACK

WND Books

Published by WorldNetDaily

Washington D.C.

Copyright 2010

By WND Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, or otherwise, without
permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief
passages in a review.

Written by James B. De Young
Jacket design by Mark Karis
Interior design by Maria Fernandez, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

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First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-935071-84-6

Library of Congress information available

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I dedicate this book to my companion in marriage and life, my beloved wife, Patricia Ann. Her character and love for me and faithfulness to God have inspired me for these forty-five years that our gracious Lord has given us together.

The Story behind the Story

How The Shack Was Built

What Is It All About?

What Is God Like?

Why Did Jesus Christ Die?

How Does the Holiness of God Relate to His Love?

Does God Punish Sin?

How Does a Person Relate to God?

Are Institutions from God or from the Devil?

Where Is the Devil? What Is the Meaning of Sin?

Do Roles Destroy Relationship with God?

Does Mercy Triumph over Justice?

Whats Wrong with the Institutional Church?

Love and Wrath: How Does the Love of God Relate to His Wrath?

The Condition of Faith: How Does Faith Bring Peace?

What Is Truth?

Does God Forgive and Forget All?

The Serious Consequences of the Errors of the Novel

HOW THE SHACK WAS BUILT

The first aspect of God is never that of the absolute Master, the
Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human
level and limits himself.

William P. Young, The Shack, 88

When we three spoke ourself into human existence as the Son
of God, we became fully human (ibid., 99).

Although Jesus is fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature
as God to do anything (ibid., 99-100).

God cannot act apart from love (ibid., 102).

The Father, the Spirit, and Jesus were together at the cross and
together were crucified (ibid., 95-96, 102, 222).

God says: I am not who you think I am. (ibid., 120).

I dont need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment,
devouring you from the inside. Its not my purpose to
punish it; its my joy to cure it (ibid., 120).

In a circle of relationship involving God and people there is no
authority and no submission (ibid., 122-124).

God cannot send any of his children to an eternity of hell just
because they sin against him (ibid., 162).

Your understanding of God is wrong. Im not one who will
condemn most to an eternity of torment (ibid., 162-164).

God loves all his children the same, equally, and perfectly, but
differently. (ibid., 154-163).

Mercy triumphs over justice because of love (ibid., 164).

Judgment is not about destruction but about setting things
right (ibid., 169).

Every human institution is the matrix, a diabolical scheme
(ibid., 122-124).

I dont create institutionsnever have, never will. The
institutions of the church, government and marriage are the
man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives
those I care about.... Its all false (ibid., 179).

About all people Jesus says: I have no desire to make them
Christians (ibid., 182).

I am now fully reconciled to the world.... Its not the
nature of love to force a relationship but it is the nature of
love to open the way (ibid., 192).

God has opened a path of reconciliation (ibid., 222).

The Holy Spirit says: I have a great fondness for uncertainty
(ibid., 203).

For you to forgive this man [the murderer] is for you to release
him to me and allow me to redeem him.... He too is my son. I
want to redeem him (ibid., 224).

In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against me,
but only some choose relationship (ibid., 225).

Dear reader,

It is my pleasure to greet you among the many readers of The Shackand some who may not yet have read it. I know that many of you have been deeply affected by the reading of this novel by William P. Young. Its record-breaking sales show that it is resonating with many people who feel that they are alienated from God and want a way back. Many of you have not found help in local churches and/or by reading the Bible. The Shack has touched a nerve that many have not known before. You believe that you are now finding a relationship with God deeper than youve ever experienced. The Shack has affected many of your lives, and the catalyst for the authors writing it deeply changed himin ways that few people know.

But the quotes and statements above are just some of the many troubling claims found in The Shack. They go to the heart of many important doctrines, including the nature of God himself; the meaning of the incarnation and the crucifixion of Christ, sin and judgment, hell, the church; and many more. Some reviewers have pointed to the portrayal of God the Father as a black woman and the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman as violations of the Ten Commandments. Many who read the Bible have charged that the book contains bad doctrine, even heresy. Is there a basis for this charge? Because of my personal acquaintance with the author, I will bring new light to this question.

Since January 2008, when I first read The Shack, I have been concerned that people are generally uninformed about the background behind the writing of The Shack so that they do not read the novel with the carefulness that they should. But Paul Youngs (he prefers to go by his middle name) vigorous and repeated denials that he is a universalist, his assertions that he is fully transparent, his claims that his life was dramatically changed several years ago, his peculiar beliefs expressed in interviews, and his aggressive marketing of himself and his book all force the issuesomeone must address the book with knowledge of its background.

In scores of meetings in churches and in the media, Paul Young has acknowledged that The Shack is partly biographical. Like Mack in his novel, Paul has openly acknowledged his immoral past. But, unlike Mack in his novel, he has not revealed the doctrinal wanderings of his pilgrimage. From my vantage point I am convinced that a major part of Paul Youngs real shack experience was where he embraced universal reconciliation. It is this doctrine that changed his life and his beliefs (as he himself has claimed) and originally was the main thrust of his novel.