Some Thoughts on the Shack Book

Staying on the cutting edge, as always, I just finished the wildly popular Christian book, The Shack.  People have been asking me for a while to read it and “give my thoughts.”  I am not a huge reader, though I go through spurts of reading, and of course, like most of us I wish I read more.  (At least I wish I wanted to read more)

So I finally did get around to read it, and to be honest I am kind of scared to write a full review of the book.  Why?  I am not sure there has been a more polarizing book in a long time.  There are two, very distinct, categories of people that want my thoughts on this book.  First are those that think this is the greatest book ever and is now the definitive Christian book on answering the question of how a Christian should deal with pain and suffering.  The second group are ready to reinstate heresy panels whereby the author may be tried, convicted and excommunicated.

Let me just say that my feelings on the book are, well, shall we say, somewhere in between the two.  I am afraid that whatever I say, I won’t love it enough or hate it enough to satisfy anyone.  “Come on, you spineless weasel! Take a stand.”

I think what he has to say about the “problem of pain” is actually pretty sound and comforting.  He pictures God as not the cause of pain, but one who will use the pain in our lives to bring some good.  All pain, in one form or another, is derived from the world’s separation from God and independence.  Again, God does not cause this pain, but it is a natural consequence from the collective rebellion of people.  Why then does God not choose to intervene and prevent pain?  The author gives a solid two part answer.  God desires to give us freedom and choice, and who knows how much pain and suffering he is preventing.  We will never know, because he prevented it.  Does that leave you unsatisfied?  Probably, and rightly so.  There are some questions that cannot be answered simply, and I don’t believe that even 48 hours in the physical presence of God can give satisfactory, complete answers to some of these questions.

Does the author go too far some times?  Yes.  I would say that he is not a theological scholar when it comes to the Trinity.  Is that going to bend me out of shape?  No.  Was I shocked by his portrayal of God as a black woman?  No.  Was he trying to be shocking?  Yes.  Again, does some of what he does go too far?  Well, what do we even mean by that?  He reduces God to human form as three separate people.  Even the author recognizes this will be incomplete.  Should he have therefore not done it? Of course not.  Anytime we describe or try to explain who God is, we will use limited analogies and words.  It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.  We just need to recognize the limits, which I believe the author does.

All that to say, I am not a big fan of trying to be shocking for shock value sake.  “God’s a black! woman!  Ooooooohh.”  I found the book to drag in parts.  It still was a pretty quick read.  It is worth your time to read, especially if you have a personal interest in the question of how can their be pain and a loving God.  If you are a theological, doctrinal watchdog, as I can be sometime, you will have to turn some of that off at times and say, “it’s a fiction book.  It’s a fiction book.”

Well, despite my original intent, I did comment some on this.  Did you read it?  What did you think?  Any specific questions that you wish I had answered? Topic I should have covered?  Let me know.

Even More about the Alphabet

January 11, 2010 by cloften  
Filed under General Insanity, Silliness and Rants

Some of you may (unfortunately) remember my inane post about the alphabet.  Relive the insanity here:  http://www.cloften.com/?p=226

Brad Herndon has continued the conversation here: http://bradherndon.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/mindnumbing-alphabetic-insanity/

Who’s next?  I feel a wave is coming.

Fellowship Journal

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to make sure that you all knew that I am the blogger o’ the week at Fellowship Journal this week.  Check it out:

http://www.myfellowshipjournal.com/

Blog organization

The blog is now about six weeks old, and just like my desk, car and life, I wonder if it is getting little disorganized.  Give me some feedback and some advice on how it could be organized differently or if you think that is just fine.  I am especially concerned about the “Lists” section, a few more of those and the drop down menu will be unmanageable.  Come on organized people, what do you think? If you think, it’s fine, relax you OCD freakshow, that’s good too.  Just let me know what you think.

Baptizing Children

Before we get started, if you are looking for a post about whether or not our church baptizes infants and why the other churches are wrong, you will have to go somewhere else.  I will intentionally inject controversy into this site at another time, and certainly with a different topic.  Suggestions?

Anyway, one of my most favorite parts of my job is when I find out that children want to get baptized.  They have received Christ and want to take the next step.  Typically they will come up to me and tell me and the parents will ask, “what do we need to do?”  This is where, sometimes, pastors and parents can get a little squirrely. (Hmm, the spell check did not recognize the word squirrely.)  We feel this pressure at times to “make sure” that the child has become a genuine believer and we can put together a checklist of things that a child must say or do to be “ready” to be baptized.

I get this.  I have been there myself.  I was hesitant to baptize both of my kids when they were young.  As a parent, you want to make sure that they are making the decision to get baptized for the right reason, not because their friends do it, parents want them to, or (I’ve heard this one) it looks cool and I like water.  This is important and is why I want to talk to not just kids but adults as well before they are baptized.  We want their baptism to be a memorable moment that came from a genuine decision.

However, we go too far when we begin to inflict upon our children a very rigorous theological test.  How well do they understand Trinitarian theology and do they have a full grasp on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement?  You may be thinking, what?  If so, in part you have made my point.  We want children to have a depth to theology that they aren’t capable of having yet and we get nervous if they don’t.

Mark 10:13-16

13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Jesus says that all of us need to receive God’s kingdom like a child.  He doesn’t say that children need to receive the kingdom like an adult.  How do children receive?  They very believe simply and sincerely.  They know that God loves them.  They know that their sin is wrong and they know that Jesus gave his life for them.  Is it intellectually deep? No.  Is it sincere and passionate? Absolutely.

All that to say, I love talking with children and hearing them express their love for God and their desire to follow him.  I love hearing their simple passion that comes from deep inside their hearts.  They come to talk to me in part for me to teach them more about the gospel.  Often they teach me more in the faith that they model.

Great Metaphors and Similes

It has probably come to the attention of most of you that I have a bit of a grammar nerd in me.  If you don’t know that, click on “lists” above and check out the Ain’t List or Words We Like to Misfronounce.  Anyway, I found this (Writing Inspiration) on a friend’s blog and it made me laugh and inspired me.  This made me laugh like you know one of those hyenas that laughs a lot, you know like on the Lion King, yeah, you know one was played by Whoopi Goldberg and one Cheech Marin and the other never talked, wasn’t his name Ed?, yeah I laughed like that.

Questions to ponder as we get ready for American Idol

January 7, 2010 by cloften  
Filed under General Insanity, Silliness and Rants

We are getting ready for Season 9.  (Wow, season 9).  As we get ready here are some things we need to be thinking about:

1) Will we miss Paula Abdul?

Of course, she was fun to make fun of.  People enjoyed speculating as to if and why she seemed, well “off” on certain nights.  Her banter with Simon was at some points fun and some points contrived and annoying.  I wouldn’t say she added anything in the insightful commentary arena, so we’ll see if we miss her.

2) Will Ellen DeGeneres be a positive addition?

There is no doubt that she is funny.  There was a time when everything was political with her and she stopped being fun.  We seemed to have moved past that.  Will she try too hard in the commentary?  Will she not want to be funny but “helpful” and lose who she is?  Will she just be funny and be somewhat pointless?  Can she find a good balance?  I’m optimistic.

3) Will Idol make any subtle or not so subtle rule changes to make sure their favorite wins?

The overwhelming support from a small area (here in Arkansas) took Kris Allen to a huge victory.  Any fans of the show would know that the producers and judges were not happy about this.  What will they do, if anything, to try and prevent that?  Will they relentlessly shove someone(s) down our throat?  Will they make sure that someone with local appeal and charm never gets to be voted on?  Or is there no conspiracy at all and Idol just loves cashing checks and they don’t care who wins?

4) (ongoing debate question)  What percentage of the bad singers know they are bad singers and just want to get on TV?

I think most do know.  Heidi says most do not.  We will be discussing this here in detail over the first couple of weeks.  Clearly, the ones who dress up are just trying to get on TV.  What about the rest?

5) Is it possible that without the local rooting interest that Cloften will still be as “into Idol” as he was last year?

I can answer this for you.  Yes.  We were into Idol all the way back to the Clay/Reuben debate back in 2003.  We were major Rueben supporters.  Last year was not new for us/me.  It was just the first time I had such a public forum to expose it.  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, just wait.  Follow me on Twitter or FB and sit back and watch.

Thoughts?

BONUS

6) Will Simon be “mailing it in” this year?  If he is really out, does he even care any more?  He gets paid the same 36 million if it’s successful or not. He doesn’t care about next year.  If he does mail it in, wouldn’t that make him meaner and care less and therefore even more funny?  Is it possible that X Factor could be bigger than Idol in 3 years? Is all of this a gimmick like the first seven Brett Favre retirements?  Are they just generating more hype for the most hyped show in television history?  I’m going with the publicity/conspiracy theory.

Men’s Leadership and Braveheart

Say it with me now, "They may take our lives, . . ."I am putting together a series for our Men’s Leadership class that uses scenes from Braveheart.  Something along the lines of Biblical lessons on servant leadership from Braveheart.  I hate title.  We’ll get a better one.  As the series unfolds, we will put on cloften.com so people could go through it online or use it in other ways.  Anyway, what are the most inspiring scenes from Braveheart for you?

Caption My Favorite Family Photos

January 6, 2010 by cloften  
Filed under General Insanity, Silliness and Rants

The Fam Riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster at Disney Studios at Walt Disney World

The Fam Riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster at Disney Studios at Walt Disney World

This is one of those family photos that I like to say tells you just about everything that you need to know about my family if you look hard enough.  Caption this photo.  Give it a title or even better give “thought balloons” to each one of us.  Get your creative juices going.

Can Pastors Like Each Other?

January 5, 2010 by cloften  
Filed under Family and Parenting

Something happened today that was fun for me and seemed normal to me.  I saw a fellow pastor drive past me and pull into a restaurant.  (Ok, I will tell you who it is.  It was Paul Luman from Grace Family Church.  Website here).  I immediately pulled out my phone and texted him (I wasn’t driving.  I would never text and drive.  It’s against the law, you know.)  I said “I just saw the coolest pastor in town pulling into Colton’s.”  (I like inserting links).  We texted back and forth teasing each other.  It ended with him complementing this blog and me saying thanks.

Does that seem unusual to you?  Shouldn’t I be sending him hate mail?  Shouldn’t I be jealous, resentful and disdainful towards other pastors?  In our world, it is not unusual.  I really like Paul.  Would it surprise you that I spoke at one of the men’s groups at his church? Would it surprise you that men from his church come to one of our men’s groups?  Would it surprise you that some of my best friends in Cabot are “rival” pastors?  Would it surprise you that I recommend their churches to people?  Would it surprise you that I have recommended their churches to people who were currently visiting our church?

We are not rivals.  We are not competitors.  We are on the same team.  How can two churches trying to accomplish the same goals, led by the same God be on different teams?  The answer is rhetorical and obvious, if not rightly applied by people.

I hope that wherever you go to church, that God is blessing you and using you to impact the world.  I hope that all churches in Cabot and Central Arkansas and around the world prosper.  We are all on the same team.  Do you believe that?  I hope you do.

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