The Shack and the Problem of Evil

I just finished reading The Shack by William P. Young. WilmoreUMC, the church we attend, is doing a book club as part of the Wednesday night programs, and this is the first book being discussed. I'd heard about the book before a few times. The first time was at the Community Life Interns retreat when students who were taking classes that had the book as a required text were talking about it (the class was Christian Psychodynamic Therapies, which may give credence to criticism that the book is more about using counseling/therapeutic language than it is about making a theological argument). They also were talking about the fuss created in a Christian bookstore where one of them worked, all over whether or not this book should be on the shelf. Personally, I think it should just stay on the shelf! Let people decide for themselves.

In any case, I enjoyed the book. Not the best I ever read, and when it comes to literary style, it was good, but not great. Fairly predictable, and for all the talk in the "forward" about Mack being such a bright guy, he sure was dense. Show me, don't tell me, please. I don't have major beefs with the theology/philosophy laid out, though it definitely relies more on personal relationship and feelings than it does on scripture to make its points. I don't think this has to reduce the strength of the argument, rather I think Young does an excellent job of discussing what are often thorny and confusing theological issues in a way that is very down to earth and understandable. At the same time, however, I was a bit frustrated with how easily he blows by disagreements with his theology. Not that I disagree with him, but the other ideas about God are not formed soley by people trying to control others, but sometimes people have struggled long and hard, and developed strong Biblical proofs for their positions. Doesn't mean I agree with them, but I think certain respect to their intentions should be made.

However when all is said and done, I don't think The Shack is about soteriology, ecclesiology, or anything like that; and only barely about theology. Instead, I think it's about theodicy, that is, the Problem of Evil. What do we do with God in the face of horrible evil? Is God good? Strong? Powerful? Trustworthy? When little girls get brutally murdered, the answer to some or all of these questions may seem to "no, definitely not." Young definitely explores how God can be good and love and powerful, and yet evil can happen. The exploration of the relationship of the Trinity certainly is a good way to do this. But in the end, the answer is the same as it often is: from Human eyes, on this side of eternity, we can't know what's truly going on. So just trust and believe, already! While I understand this argument and think it has strength, I still find it profoundly personally unsatisfying. It is hard to consider how eternity will be better because little girls get raped, or millions of people get executed, or because we have had two miscarriages.

Ok, fine, Young says it isn't; that's not God's plan; God is just letting us be free humans. Yes, the freewill argument does hold strength. But the question on God's character remains because of this: God says pray and ask and we shall receive; Jesus says that God is a good Father who loves us and gives us good gifts. Yet when we pray, people still die. Yes, I understand the point of prayer is relationship (Young hammers the relationship point to death) and not a cosmic vending machine. Yes, I understand that God gives good gifts, but doesn't always intervene. But when we know God can intervene and does intervene, it makes it hard to understand why certain evils remain while others do not. If that family was blessed with healthy pregancies, why not our family?

Yes indeed, it is about trust and belief. But that becomes hard because humanly we expect trust in a relationship to mean that it benefits us. Utilitarian, I know, but I think it is true. People intentionally build relationships that benefit them. The benefit may be through building community, through learning more about love, through satisfaction in helping others, or in knowing that when hard times hit, I have loving, caring people who will help me. We can't go it alone in this life, we definitely need others, and we fill this need through building relationships. That's not bad, it's God ordained. Yet with God, we ask for protection and don't always get it. We ask for good things, and don't always get them. I do not doubt that in eternity, questions will be answered, we'll see the greater picture, and understand why it all happened the way it did. But here, now, in the midst of pain, that answer fall short, sounds horrible, and seems to suggest that our job in life is to quit asking questions and engage in blind faith. I do not think that The Shack successfully combats this shortfall.