There was an email from Jamie, my pastor’s wife, in my in box when I got up this morning. It said Jay’s brother in law died of a massive heart attack last night. He left to be with his family in their time of grieving.

That changed the tenor of my early morning Resurrection meditation. I sent a message to them, saying I would be the “pressure valve” if Jay found preaching too much in the fatigue of grief and lack of sleep.

John 20 and Luke 24, the story of discovery by John, Mary Magdalene, and the disciples, drew my attention. The women were the first to go to the tomb, their love showing in a very personal way: they went very early in the morning, while it was still dark, to anoint his body with burial spices. Perhaps they knew that Joseph and Nicodemus had begun the work (Matt. 27:61; John 19:40). Perhaps they just wanted to make their own contribution to the one they loved so much, the one who had driven seven demons out of Mary (Luke 8:2-3). She had already courageously stood with Him at the cross.

John focuses on Mary while the other writers put her in a group of women. Perhaps it’s because he was with her at the cross (John 19:25-26). He’d seen her faith and love personally.

Seeing the stone rolled back surprised her. Luke tells us angels were inside the tomb, telling the women that Jesus was alive. The Apostles, men of great faith (!!), refused to believe their nonsense. But they sprint to the tomb to check out the report, Peter leading the way. John passes the older man, and arrives at the tomb first. Peter, breathing hard, rushes past him inside the tomb.

There are grave clothes, laying inside. Grave robbers stealing the body would have taken the clothes or thrown them aside. The “napkin,” the strip of cloth around His head, was still rolled up. There is no chaos, no confusion. Where was Jesus’ body? It is like His body has simply disappeared, the clothing falling down. It is not at all like when Yoda died in the Star Wars movie. His body just disappeared at the instant of death.They had seen His tortured body in all its bloody reality. John tells us John believed. There’s a strange silence about Peter’s faith.

Mary’s tears will not stop. According to Luke, angels had told her Jesus was risen. Why the tears? Perhaps the agony of incredulous faith still emerging from despair and loss. Angels ask her about her tears. She still doesn’t know where the body is.  Then she senses someone behind her. Turning, she sees a man. Her tears blur her eyes. The gardener? He also asks about her tears and more: “Who are you looking for?” She is thinking back to the empty tomb. He directs her forward to a living person.

Other religions celebrate the tombs of their founders. The Christians didn’t give a whit about where He was buried. That came much later as the church got into paganism with its shrines and relics.

When Mary hears Jesus say her name, she immediately recognizes her Lord. Her joy is enormous. Her greeting very personal: it’s not just “Teacher” but “My teacher.”

Some think Jesus’ words, “don’t hold onto me,” meant not to touch Him at all. But He invites Thomas to do so. Some, follow Bultmann, suggesting there is no body to touch, a ridiculous idea for a buried man. They had taken his battered body from the cross to the tomb.

Realizing it was Jesus before her, I suspect she falls at His feet and He lifts her up. I’d like to think she embraces Him. He responds with a gentle, “Don’t cling to me.” Though He is reassuringly, personally, physically  real, that will not last. He will soon ascend to the Father and the relationship will change. Not that it becomes unreal, but it will be completely different. It will no longer be a physical presence, but a presence mediated by the living Spirit.

Neither she nor we can embrace the reality of the garden.

So we live in faith, seeing the power of Jesus in forgiveness, the cleansing of shame. We see Him when demons leave people. We see Him when the little boy goes to Jesus with the little girl. We see Him when He frees from the legal demands of law.

But we don’t see Him. People still look for Him in the terror of the night, in the loneliness of loss. in the pain of brokenness. We pray, “Thy kingdom come, Even so Lord come quickly.

John believed quickly. Mary’s faith emerged, sealed with loving presence. Peter’s took longer but led to restoration. Thomas needed to see the holes, but when he did, it was unwavering faith that went all the way to India.

Like the disciples, like Mary, we cry, “I don’t get you, LORD.” It’s a good starting point.

I continue to be intrigued with this story. but I get really frustrated with those who build on the difference between agapao (supposedly divine unconditional love) and phileo (friendship, warm feeling love) in Peter’s restoration story in John 21. So it goes, "Peter do you love me with a divine love? "Yes, Lord, I love you with a friend love." “"Feed [take to pasture] my lambs." “The second time it goes, "Peter do you love me with a divine love? "Yes, Lord, I love you with a friend love." [same question and response]. “"Take care of [assume total guardianship of a shepherd] my sheep." [a higher level of care] Then the third goes, “Do you love me with a friend love?” “Lord, you know I friend love you.” "Feed [take to pasture] my lambs." 

Trying to make sense of this wording difference by assuming significance to the changes from divine love to friend love, feed to pasture, and lambs to sheep quickly gets weighed down with difficulty. For example in the first question, In effect, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you possess a profound love for me?” and Peter responds, “Yes Lord, I am fond of you.” Peter should answer Jesus question about divine love with a “No” not a yes. In effect, Jesus accepts Peter’s lie.

It’s way better to realize that John, ever the Hebrew poet, loves to play with words. As we see in the Psalms, Hebrew poets love synonymous parallelism, saying the same thing with different words.

It is also true that agapao, supposedly divine love is used for Demas’ love for the world that causes him to desert Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). Hardly godlike! On the other hand, phileo is used of the Father’s eternal love for the Son in John 5:20. The semantic domain of two words have overlaps significantly. Ditto for feed/tend and sheep/lambs.

Here’s how the story goes, I think. Peter, who repented deeply of his terrible sin of denying Jesus (Matt. 26:75), immediately (Matt 28:10) went to Galilee to be where Jesus told the disciples He would meet them. What do you do while you wait for Jesus to show up? You could play video games or sip a latte. But Peter suggests going fishing. It’s not to go desert discipleship and go back to his old profession. It’s to fill moments with a an activity that will ease the excited pressures of waiting. As soon as Peter realized the man on the shore is Jesus, he cannot wait a second: he throws himself in the water to get to Jesus. Hardly the act of a deserter!

Then the point of the passage is that Jesus, standing down wind from a charcoal fire, the same kind of fire as Peter was warming his hands over as he denied Jesus, probes Peter. “Do you love me?” Peter quickly says yes. Jesus tells him to be the pastor. Again. The third time, Peter is hurt. “Jesus, you know I love you. Why do you keep asking? Do you doubt me?” Jesus’ third command to do the pastor work overcomes the triple denial. “Peter, you are my man. I don’t care what your failure. That’s done. Your love is what counts. Pastor My flock.”

It’s an incredible act of grace.

I love seeing Peter restored. I’d like to see all Peter’s restored. Grace is such a powerful thing. But it’s not infallible. Sometimes the hurt is too great. So sadness and loss is extended. It is so hard when there’s nothing one can do to help. So the agonizing emptiness of loss goes on. Will there ever be a time of eating fish at the charcoal fire?

Sherry and I celebrated our 41st anniversary yesterday. It began with me letting her sleep in. Very good thing! I have this hugely powerful rule inside me: “Thou shalt not wake a sleeping woman” that goes back to pre-verbal times. But this went even beyond that. It made our hugs and kisses greeting even warmer :).

Church was good. Jay preached and when he spoke of Christians needing to grow up, he used a photoshopped picture of a cute baby sitting down with my head on top. It’s shown up from time to time and never fails to get a laugh. My love for babies is very well known because of my use of grandgirl pictures. This one of Elizabeth shows why!

After a good nap time, I took Sherry on the surprise adventure. We got in the car, headed west on Burnside to a destination unknown to her. As we got closer to the US Bank building, she suspected the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor of the building. That was right and good.

The view looking to the South and East was exquisite. Showers and sun were playing with each other. Patterns formed in the Willamette River between the I-5 and Hawthorne bridges. The tiny fruit fly on the window dropped by from time to time, serving as a QC inspector. He was quite satisfied. Peking Duck and Chinese buns were perfect both in preparation and connection to our love for Taiwan and anticipation of our upcoming trip to Shanghai. The salads (with chilled forks) and entree were set off by the hearts on the table and the welcome card signed by the restaurant staff. Even though we were quite satisfied, the celebratory dessert was outstanding, especially set off by the perfect coffee (one day Sherry will learn to like fine coffee!).

Midway through dinner, motion outside caught my attention. It was a large hawk swooping. As I watched he swirled around, up and down, beautiful in the bright afternoon. I pointed him out to Sherry, but he was behind and she couldn’t see him. After a bit, he responded to my request and flew right in front of the window so Sherry could join in the LORD’s wonderful exclamation point on an outstanding date day.

We tried to remember previous anniversaries. Our fifth was in our first year at seminary. We probably couldn’t even afford McDonalds! Our tenth was at Fuller but not memorable. Our fifteenth was a trip to the Oregon coast. Our twentieth was spent apart. I was teaching at Ecola Hall and Sherry was working. It was super special because Cyndee and Debbie arranged for 10 roses to be delivered to each of us! Twenty fifth was celebrated two years late with our Alaska trip. A highlight was the visit to Glacier Bay with many connections. Our thirtieth was therefore 2 years early with our trip to Israel. Our fortieth was nearly a week at Depoe Bay and the post is on this blog! I highly recommend multiplying anniversaries, especially with total trust and deep love.

Makiya continues about the same. I was teaching at our Sacramento site last week, so I haven’t been down to see her yet. I’ll update her status when I can.

I’m putting a journaling page on the blog (see it to the right). It will be some posts of just stuff so closer friends can know what I’m thinking and doing.

Enjoy Jesus!

I had the privilege of entering into a prayer battle this afternoon. At the suggestion of McKenzie Tompkins, I went to visit Makiya Van Buren and her parents, Dan and La Donna. Makiya was born with a large hole in her diaphragm so her stomach, intestines and such pushed into her chest, interfering with her heart and lungs. The doctors predicted death within an hour but the prophetic word LaDonna had been given that Makiya would be healed prevailed.

Makiya is now six months old. She’s in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Emanuel Children’s Hospital. Neither her lungs nor the blood vessels serving them have developed as they should. LaDonna has found that there are some powerful atheists on the medical staff who remind her that she has the right to pull Makiya’s ventilator and let her “go in peace.” But watching this beautiful little girl do pretty normal six month old things before she slid off to the peaceful sleep in this picture made fighting the prayer battle for healing and life a privilege.

Another of their children had six strokes in his upper brain also lead to a “he’s going to die or be a vegetable” prognosis. Prayers lead to him waking up fully alert and the life of a very normal, healthy boy. His brain is completely free of all marks of the strokes in his brain.

Join with me in praying for Makiya’s healing, for courage and peace for Dan and LaDonna. We talked about Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” They want His testimony to be powerful in the whole situation.

I thought of other prayer battles I’d been in, as I drove through the gorge headed for the CBNW meetings (see below). There was the fight with the spirit of death above the needles, praise prayers at Multnomah Falls, the deep cleansing prayers above Bonneville Dam with the children delighting in butterflies and tiny waterfalls. There were strong battles after The Passion of the Christ and the ones where the affirmations of what Abba did according to Colossians 2:13-15 lead to great victory. There were far too many to count, events of the soul too personal to recount here.

An up coming event is the ‘Nightline’ Face-Off: Does Satan Exist?. (link here). Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson will argue he does not. Mark Driscoll, my co-author, pastor of Mars Hill Church and Annie Lobert, founder of “Hookers for Jesus” will argue he does and that he’s impacted their lives. The debate will be Friday March 20. The “Nightline Face-Off” will be televised on Thursday, March 26, 2009, on ABCNews.com and at 11:35 p.m. on “Nightline”.

I wonder if the devil will tune in?

Sadness is because of a loss or separation. It’s a painful thing to lose someone or something that you care about. Sadness is associated with feelings of loss, loneliness, disappointment or especially with helplessness. It is the feeling when you’ve lost something important or when something bad happens to me or to someone else, something like illness or accident. There is nothing that can be done to restore the relationship or heal the wound.

When sad, people often become quiet, less energetic, and withdrawn. It can be a short term down or a persistent and intense lowered mood when the pain that brought the sadness doesn’t go away.

Sometimes it is hard to think straight because you cannot get your mind off your loss. Sometimes when your mood is sad, you just feel like being alone for a little while. Or you might want someone to comfort you or just keep you company while you go through the sad feeling.

Sadness is something that happens often in Bible. One example is Psalm 31:

9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. 

10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. 

11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends– those who see me on the street flee from me. 

12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. 

13 For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life. 

14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

The best thing is sharing the innermost soul with my friend, with whom I can talk without editing. When that’s not possible, I may deal with sadness by puttering, doing very routine things, like washing the stove top or folding clothes. I may look at interestingness images on Flickr.com. Sitting quietly with Sherry is always good. There is the walk to the top of Mt. Tabor or silent prayer. These have happened many times since the great sadness of two years ago and so many times before and since as I join in the suffering of hurting people.

When is the sadness going to end? Never, I think. Not so long as Jesus is in heaven and I am here. What happens until then? Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

There is much comforting to do, but only as as comforted from the LORD.

Leading workshops at the Multnomah Mission Conference is a great experience I enjoy a lot. I have done several on themes around “what if I run into a demon?” It struck a chord because this year’s had about 160 participants! My Thursday session was on the theme “Does God want me to suffer?” I didn’t expect many to show since it’s a downer and also the last day has a lot less attendance. But 75 or so showed up and they were eager to wrestle.

The question comes from passages like this:

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
(Mar 8:34-35 NIV)

It surely seems that deny self and taking a cross would hurt! And losing life is an outcome. Many have taken this in a sort of masochistic way: I need to choose to suffer so God will know my devotion. That sort of thing is common in paganism, of course. Christians pick it up, too, particularly in Catholic circles with the emphasis on penitence. I know good people who deliberately choose unhappiness thinking that will please God, proving they love Him. I know I was raised that way. It’s still hard for me to do things that bring only me pleasure. Like buying a tin of Altoids was very difficult. Weird when I think back.

On another level, I hear godly people say they never say they don’t want to do something because they are sure God will make them do it. Margaret Clarkson’s “So Send I You” was deemed the greatest missionary song of the twentieth century. Verses one and four are:

So send I you to labor unrewarded,
To serve unpaided, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing-
So send I you to toil for me alone.

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labor long, and love where men revile you-
So send I you to love your life in Mine.

Kind of a bleak picture, but what is the “ideal” Christian life. I also remember that I was disappointed when I got to the mission field and discovered that while it was hard in a lot of ways, I’d never done anything that was more fulfilling!

As I think of suffering, my theologian brain finds it helpful to categorize. Not all suffering is the same. God does want some, but not all suffering

(1) illness. It seems that this is not what God wants for us. the only time we see God moving illness is in judgment on sin.

(2) sinned against: I just got an email from a student asking me to help her in response to being raped. Long story, but I have to say I can’t believe God wanted that for her. Sin is against God’s will, though not out of His control or something that derails His plan.

(3) Persecution: God doesn’t particularly want us to be persecuted, but He does want us to be faithful to Jesus and that may well get us persecuted. In the US, we don’t get much outright persecution for being a Christian (though Christians get it for being jerks!). We sometimes get snickered at, slandered and passed by because we must be bigots. 1 Peter, our next series at Grace, has a lot to say about people who were having a hard time staying faithful because they were suffering so much.

(4) Joining others in their suffering: This one is God’s will for us. He definitely wants us to be like Jesus, leaving our place of comfort to join others in their suffering. While people can get overboard on this, most are way under committed on this. I just preached the last message in our Isaiah series. self centered life of Judah is what makes God so angry.

So does God want us to suffer? In some ways, yes. What of Mark 8? Deny self? That’s what Isaiah was saying: the life that’s satisfied with personal spiritual growth is a life of sin. It will neither succeed nor lead to fulfillment. Take the Cross? That means identifying with Jesus. Revelation 12:11 puts it very well: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

I know in my own life, the greatest joy and greatest pain comes in joining with Jesus in the sufferings of people, especially the widow and orphan people Isaiah speaks of. They are the forgotten ones, the powerless ones, the ones Jesus lifted up. There’s lots of sadness there. But there is unparalleled delight when God moves and healing comes.

But I’ve learned the hard way: don’t go past the empowerment the LORD gives. Paul puts it this way: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
(2Co 1:3-4 NIV). I can comfort only with the comfort with which I’ve been comforted. If I go beyond that I only jangle.

So much to reflect on.

I am thinking a lot about quiet today. Why? I don’t really know. It’s been a very busy week and more to come. I’ve been doing more teaching this term than ever, I think. I did a workshop with the staff at First Baptist Eugene. My friend, Ben Cross, is the new pastor there. He opened his sermon series on Acts by calling the church to ten days of prayer. The church got into it fervently and it stirred up a bunch of spiritual kickback. So they asked me to come do a three hour session on spiritual warfare. Ben said about 25 would be there. Corey said 35. I brought 50 handouts. Not enough. There were more like 75 people there. It was a lot of fun to show them the biblical patterns for warfare and see the light come on. I’m preaching at Clackamas Bible Church tomorrow, followed by two sessions at the Multnomah Missions Conference, being plenary speaker at the CBNW Enrichment conference and a spiritual warfare class in Sacramento. That along with a lot of church consulting makes me think of quiet.

Sherry and I went to Ya Hala’s restaurant for our Valentine’s lunch. We love Lebanese food. It reminds us of time together in Beirut. Thinking about nearly 41 years of marriage makes me smile. I reflected on what makes our marriage work and keep coming back to deep trust. There has never been and never will be secrets between us. We do confidentiality, not sharing things entrusted to us by people we pastor. But never secrets. There’s nothing I don’t want Sherry to see or hear. So we can talk openly about anything. What a joy to live in trust and smiles. When I’m quiet, I smile.

Perhaps quiet is because I’m avoiding writing. The time frame for Doctrine: What the Church Should Believe is approaching. I should be writing. The lock is still on. It must change, but I don’t know how to get it going.

Pastoral ministry continues to be hugely demanding. I can’t put details here, of course. But I consistently realize the impact of sin to break people and ruin relationships. Trying to help them move to grace when fears overwhelm is so challenging. It’s particularly hard when the fear is about me breaking boundaries. Sometimes I get to see amazing growth by the power of the Spirit, and life returns to the place of deadness. But the challenge is patience when there is no apparent change or when hard won growth is shattered by the evil one. That’s what wakes me up at 1:30 in the morning. I often end up my little study upstairs wondering about the little girl and praying quietly.

Quiet is a wonderful place.

P.S., This is a totally cute ad

We had a great time with family here for Christmas/New Year’s. There are lots of pictures here. I found myself think about a lot of things. As Cyndee came from a horror soaked "family," it was powerful to see her connecting with us and with her biological brother and his family. What a difference Jesus can make. Skype allows Nicole and Joy to see Elizabeth even though she’s in Kansas City. It was wonderful fun for the older folk. Elizabeth at just one wasn’t so impressed. Photo sites like Picasa and Dropshots are wonderful ways to keep up with people who are very far away. The trick is finding where the pictures are. It is a great joy when they are found and one can see how much girls have changed.

I preached on Isaiah 11 and focused on how the LORD works in stumps. We actually had a stump in front of the podium and dishes of woodchips around for people to write their stumpishness on and bring it to a manger if you need the unlikely help of a tender shoot or a tiny baby. Tiny babies are very precious and way more helpful than one would think when they can come out. The response was amazing as I asked people to get out of their seats and go act on stumpish things in their lives. We sang the super powerful song, "This is our God." You can hear Hillsong do it here. It was a very very emotional time for me as I reflected on my own stumpishness that caused so much hurt to my friend. I wonder if there will ever be a shoot there. A family came to talk with me after, who were in a rough spot in their lives. They wanted me to say everything would be OK. But that I can’t say. The life in the stump comes when there are responsive hearts and not always even then. The impact of sin is huge. But the tenderness of the LORD is awesome. So much to perplex.

This is the scene outside our home tonight. It’s a winter wonderland!  seems the snow will never cease, though the weather guy says this is the end for a week at least. I’m ready, I think. I do love the snow as long as it doesn’t shut things down.

I also went to see Twilight, the movie sensation that’s super big with teenage girls. Bella, a 17 year old girl, falls in love with Edward, a 17 year old vampire. It’s pretty amazing.  

I’m reading the third novel now. It’s really amazing to see her imagination and the basic morality of the story. Protecting innocent people, keeping instinctual cravings under control, forming friendships with people who are your natural enemies, maintaining sexual purity until marriage, honoring parents (if not always obeying them), are just some of the virtues there. The picture is me with Laurie Bloomquist, one of my students, You can pray for her. She heads off of Kenya in a few days to continue ministry there.

Next week I preach on Isaiah 40. What’s between comfort and hope? It’s proving to be a hard sermon to get nailed down. Especially I want to handle 40:31 well. Ideas?

A while back, the editor of Christian News Northwest sent me an email saying that they were going to publish a quite critical review ofThe Shack by my colleague Jim DeYoung. They had contacted William Paul Young, the author, inviting him to reply. Paul declined firmly, suggesting that they contact me!

After a lot of reflecting, I agreed to do a parallel review which would express my much more positive perspective. Those reviews were published in the December edition of CNNW.

I was extremely reluctant to go public in a debate format between Jim and me. While we differ on some important things, I’m not interested in making it seem that we are battling at Western! But on reflection and interaction with Marc (the dean) and Randy (the president), I decided that it could be dialogue. Beside I do appreciate deeply the lavish grace in The Shack. Now I need to have coffee with Paul and see what he’s thinking!

What do you think?

My Review: The Shack is a story of the lavish grace of the triune God. That powerful focus is both the book’s strength and weakness.

Mack’s despair after his daughter is kidnapped and brutally murdered in a decrepit, remote shack, leaves him coldly bitter toward the God who allowed it. But God won’t leave him alone in his bitterness. Papa (the Father) invites Mack to meet Him at the shack. The place of horror becomes the place of renewing.

I was deeply impacted by this powerfully written story. I appreciate his exposition of Genesis 3, the models of incarnation and forgiveness, the power of the presence of God in evil places, among others. I resonate with God pursuing Mack to help him face the deep sadness so he could overcome his bitterness and brokenness. But God does not stop with helping a victim of evil. He takes Mack on to face his own sinfulness and find true forgiveness. God goes to the root of things in the gentle power called grace.

Isn’t Papa too familiar, too much the buddy? Where is the Isaiah 6 "holy, holy, holy is the LORD" whose presence brings Isaiah to cry, "Woe to me! I am ruined!"? It’s the question of the balance between God’s otherness and closeness. Many in my camp (Reformed Evangelical more or less) tend toward otherness. They also tend to see holiness, justice and wrath as God’s key attributes. Grace and love are primarily seen in the setting aside of His righteous anger rather than as a genuine compassion and desire to come alongside and help. But zeal for the holiness of the LORD must never keep one from wondering praise as the LORD moves graciously to cleanse sinful Isaiah.

Genesis 18 is a "Shack-like" story. The LORD comes to Abraham, Then three guys (I think I can show this is the Trinity at work) accept Abraham’s invitation to sit down for lunch and conversation. Note how gentle the LORD is here. He repeats His promise of a child. When Sarah cannot contain her bitter laughter, the LORD hears her unbelief and pursues her. But instead of rebuking her, He gently reaffirms His promise. How "Shack-like." Then He and Abraham discuss the LORD’s righteousness. "How can You destroy innocent people?" Abraham dares ask. Instead of rising to His throne of omnipotent holiness, the LORD gently interacts with Abraham so he will understand gracious justice. How "Shack-like."

Now I’ll quickly admit that The Shack’s portrayal of the Father as Aunt Jeremia mixing up pancakes for the boys isn’t a picture that resonates with me. But instead of blasting it as heresy, perhaps it would be good to listen to the explanation of why the Father comes to Mack in this particular form and why He later comes as a strong male figure. You’ll understand some of Young’s reasons if you’ll watch his "Story behind the Story" at www.livinghopechurch.com. Go to videos, past series, and you’ll see The Shack. As you watch you’ll see Young’s hope that God’s wrath is like his wife’s wrath when she discovered his infidelity. That kind of wrath redeems.

Young’s point is that the shack is a metaphor for all the trash in our lives. Religion teaches us to build a facade in front of it hoping that God and others will be impressed and like us, all the while desperately hiding the shack with its sin, ugliness that is our shame. The message of The Shack is that the LORD is not sitting on his heavenly throne disappointedly demanding that we clean up our shack. He is waiting to meet us in the shack and help us with the cleaning.

Does The Shack teach universalism? It doesn’t. Can the lavishly gracious picture of God be read universalistically? It could. But you’d have to ignore some key points in the book. For example Papa says He is reconciled to the whole world (192). But since reconciliation is a two way street, it must be received. Papa will not force His love on anyone.

In a key passage designed to provoke, Jesus tells Mack that those who love Him come from every kind of system (182). He declares that He has no desire to make them Christian, but to make them brothers and sisters, into "my Beloved." Mack asks, "Does that mean that all roads will lead to you?" Jesus responds, "Most roads don’t lead anywhere." This denies the common form of universalism, that all religions lead to the LORD. However Young’s response falls short of the biblical answer that the only way to the LORD is through Jesus. All religious roads lead to worship and service of other gods and eternal separation from the LORD in hell.

You can find the authors’ responses to criticisms of The Shack at www.windblownmedia.com. Paul Young’s playful response is in an article called, "The Beauty of Ambiguity (Mystery)" on www.windrumors.com.

The lavishness of grace in The Shack can bring legalists and religionists to a grace sourced repentance and to a life with Jesus filled with compassionate love and exuberant joy. But that same onesidedness can encourage people caught up in the naive universalism that plagues the church today. Tolerance and being nice, the supreme American virtues lead so many to refuse to believe the reality of people rejecting the Jesus or the LORD’s wrath against unrepentant sin.

Let me suggest that you read The Shack if you haven’t. Then reflect on Genesis 18 as well as Isaiah 6. Perhaps, like Mack, a deepened picture of the LORD will help you face your deep sadness, to repent of your sin as Mack does, to join me hoping for the day of healing in the friend whom I hurt so deeply, to face the people I’ve disappointed, and all those Shackish things. Above all, know that the Lord who meets us in our shack really is the Lord of glory, the LORD of Exodus 34:6-7.

Jim DeYoung’s Review:

Revisiting The Shack and Universal Reconciliation

    Seldom does one have the opportunity to review a work of fiction written by a friend that has risen to the top of best seller lists. Recently The Shack has been approaching sales of three million or more. There is talk about making a movie of the book.

    What is so unusual about this success is not only that this is purportedly a Christian work of fiction but it espouses a view of God that is creative but biblically ch
allenged. It is novel literarily and theologically. But does a work of Christian fiction have to be doctrinally correct?

    A brief look at the book uncovers an unremarkable plot. Willie retells the story of his friend, Mackenzie Phillips, who as a child was abused by his father which left him bitter toward God, the Bible, and the ministry. When his youngest daughter is kidnapped and brutally killed in a mountain shack, Mack’s anger freezes his total outlook in sadness and despair. Years later God invites him to return to the same shack. He encounters the Trinity in the form of a large African woman ("Papa" =the Father), a Jewish carpenter (=Jesus Christ), and a small Asian woman by the name Sarayu (=the Holy Spirit). These three lead Mack to discover a fresh meaning of God’s love for him and forgiveness.

    Who is the author? For over a dozen years I have known William P. Young. We have discussed much theology in a "think tank." Over four years ago Paul embraced Christian universalism and defended it on several occasions. He has claimed that Christian universalism changed his life and his theology.

    The number-one belief of Christian universalism (also known as universal reconciliation) asserts that love is the supreme attribute of God that trumps all others. His love reaches beyond the grave to save all those who refuse Christ before they die. Even fallen angels and the Devil himself will be conquered by God’s love and join the saints in heaven. This view of future destinies claims many texts that seem to assert that the reconciliation that Jesus accomplished on the cross extends to all creatures (Rom. 5:18; 2 Cor. 5:16-20; Col. 1:19-20), that all will lovingly confess him as Lord (Phil. 2:6-11), that God’s will that all be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) will be accomplished without fail.

    After he wrote The Shack the editors assert on their web site that they worked for over a year to eliminate the universalism from the novel. More recently Paul has sought to disavow universalism. But like all universalists he affirms that he "hopes" that there will be none who experiences eternal suffering. And by comparing the creeds of universalism with The Shack one uncovers the universalism and other errors.

    1) There is a subjugation of God’s justice to his love. The creed of 1878 asserts that God’s attribute of justice is "born of love and limited by love." In his novel Paul asserts that God "cannot act apart from love" (102, 191), that God chose "the way of the cross where mercy triumphs over justice because of love," and that this is a better way than that God should have exercised justice (164-165).

    2) The creed of 1899 asserts that God "will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness"; there is no future judgment. Similarly Paul denies that Papa (God) "pours out wrath and throws people" into hell. God does not punish sin; it’s his "joy to cure it" (120). Papa "redeems" final judgment (127). God will not "condemn most to an eternity of torment, away from his presence and apart from his love" (162). To judge is to act contrary to love (145).

    3) Universalists deny a personal devil; and he goes unmentioned in the book (134-137).

    4) Paul teaches that the entire Trinity became incarnate, and that the whole Trinity was crucified (99). Both Jesus and Papa (God) bear the marks of crucifixion in their hands (contra. Isa. 53:4-10). These ideas suggest the errors of patripassianism and modalism, that God is singular who assumes the different modes of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (proclaimed heresy by the church).

    5) Reconciliation is effective for all without exercising faith. Papa asserts that he is reconciled to the whole world, not just to those who believe (192). The creeds of universalism never mention the need to believe in Christ.

    6) Universal reconciliation rejects the idea that God willed humans to have a will that allows them to reject him. This is determinism and coercion.

    7) All are equally children of God and loved equally by him (155-156). In a future revolution of "love and kindness" all people will lovingly confess Jesus as Lord (248).

    8) The institution of the church is rejected as diabolical. Jesus claims that he "never has, never will" create institutions (178). This counters Matthew 16 and 18.

    9) The Bible is only a revelation of God. And in the novel it is given scant attention, if not ridiculed.

    The history of universalism goes back to Origen of the third century. In the sixth century it was condemned as heresy. In modern times universalism undermined evangelical faith in Europe and America. It opposed the Great Awakening in the 1730’s-40’s. By 1961 UR had evolved to join with Unitarianism to form the Unitarian-Universalist Association, with its denial of the Trinity and the deity of Christ.

    How does one answer the errors of Christian universalism? From Scripture. See my reviews of this book at www.theshackreview.com.

    Near the beginning I asked: Does Christian fiction have to be doctrinally correct? In this case the answer is yes, for Paul deliberately teaches theology in The Shack. But if one uses doctrinal impurity to teach how to be restored to a redefined God, one is not restored to the God of the Bible. Jesus warned that a house built on the wrong foundation will collapse (Matt. 7:24-28). So will a shack.

Heather Johnson had an internal shunt inserted surgically last night. That will drain the fluid that’s causing pressure in her brain into her stomach (or some such place) eliminating the risk of infection from an external drain. She’s been in ICU for two weeks now. A LONG time. Hopefully she will be able to go into a regular room soon. You can see updates at HeathersUpdate.blogspot.com

Each year I take some personal time to meditate on thankfulness. There is so much to be grateful for but there’s also the deep sadness. Keeping them both in mind at the same time is a place where I’ve grown. I tend to get lost in the sadness or a bit giddy in the gratitude. Psalm 23 illustrates the balance. It begins with green pastures and still waters but goes on to the oppression of the shadow of death. In both, it’s the presence of the LORD that is the constancy. He restores my soul in the calm and prepares a table of goodness when fearsome enemies surround me. And when His presence is lost, I sing Psalm 13 and express the lostness in the context of trust in for His unfailing love. I’m so thankful for the depth and dimensions of relationship with the LORD.

How can I express thankfulness for family? Nicole and Joy brightened my life a lot Tuesday morning (more pictures here), David and I had an excellent talk about life and ministry. Sam’s smiles and love for her family delight me. A little over a year ago, Elizabeth was barely alive in the NICU and we were wondering if she would survive meconium aspiration. She celebrated a totally healthy first birthday, toddling around the yard with contagious giggles. You can get infected here, Donn and Susan are wonderful parents. Cyndee spent two weeks of vacation in Portland, so we had some wonderful Poppa Daughter times remembering our Grand Canyon trip. Sam and the girls will help her with Christmas decorating at the Conference Center next week. All our family gets along well, a huge blessing.

I came home last night from a first post wedding session with Bruce and Annie to a wonderful surprise: Sherry’s aromatic Thanksgiving feast for us to share. As I’ve worked with couples wrestling with serious problems in their marriages, including two extremely painful divorces (my first to supervise), I continue to be astounded at Sherry’s constant love, the openness and deep trust we share.

Small things are good: Sherry asked me to get some cheddar cheese on my way home. I got to Fred Meyer to discover how MANY kinds and sizes there are. I found myself wishing I were in Taiwan where there’s no cheese! Cell phones are wonderful gifts for confused husbands! I’m thankful for Celtic Christian tunes on Live365, Facebook, saved Thanksgiving cards, my mug of coffee, memories of the children praying together, Interestingness on Flickr, squirrels eating the maple twirlees in my trees and not in my attic, crunchy cereal in the morning, quiet walks on Mt. Tabor.

There’s so much. I think it will take a few minutes more.