Random Acts of Linkage #61 : Subversive Influence May 17th, 2008

[...] Steve Brown interviews Paul Young [...]

internetmonk.com » Blog Archive » William Paul Young (author of “The Shack”) on Steve Brown, Etc. May 18th, 2008

[...] William Paul Young on SBE. [...]

The Shack: More to Love « Life Under the Blue Sky: The View From Below May 18th, 2008

[...] First, Tim over at CRN.Info and Analysis has a short post with several links. Writes Tim, There's this little book called the Shack that has gotten some people all hot and bothered. If you're interested in truth rather than rhetoric you might want to amble on over to Steve Brown Etc and listen to the author himself. [...]

Jesus Has Left the Building (So Did He Go To The Shack?)… « adventures in mercy May 19th, 2008

[...] of good podcasts, Steve Brown Etc., just did an interview with William P. Young, author of The Shack, that I thought was well worth the listen.  Since Chuck Colson just said stay the heck out of The [...]

Book Review: The Shack by William P. Young « Everyone’s Entitled to Joe’s Opinion May 20th, 2008

[...] Review: The Shack by William P. Young UPDATE:  Here is an interview of The Shack's author William P. Young on the Steve Brown Etc. [...]

No more secrets « A Ruach Journey May 20th, 2008

[...] a book by Paul Young. A link on Internet Monk this morning led me to his site and to another one where I listened to an interview with Paul Young by Steve Brown who is apparently a radio talk show … As I listened to Paul talk about the book and his own life, I want to read it more than ever (have [...]

Steve Brown Etc. » Blog Archive » Etcetera - 05.20.08 - Vehement! Stupid, stupid, stupid. May 21st, 2008

[...] – Author of The Shack on SBE. [...]

“Shack”-ed « Grace & Peace May 22nd, 2008

[...] now, in just the past two or three days I've heard Steve Brown do an interview with the author and read a review of the book by Tim Challies.  (Click for .pdf [...]

Shirley Stinnett Grant June 8th, 2008

I have been an avid reader for all of my life and I`am 61, The Shack was a very profound opinion of how our relationship could be with our God,It really impacted me as I lost a 21 year old grandson to sucicide in Janurary,I`am writing a book myself and only could pray my book could be half the book as the Shack.God bless you ,Shirley

Linda Hill June 9th, 2008

Never have I read anything that so resonated with my spirit. As a young girl I did not have a good relationship with father, grandfather, etc. They were all abusive and not having a good role model to relate to, it was difficult to accept God as a loving, kind Father that would provide for his family. It was later in my teens that my concept of God changed to that of a loving grandfather in a rockingchair with an old comfortable cardigan sweater. I could crawl up on his lap and he would hold and rock me and whisper such comforting words. As with Willie and his "Papa", God knew just the image that I needed to help turn me around. The loving relationship and mutual respect between Papa, Jesus and Sarayu is as it should be in the body of Christ. Such insight can only come from Holy Spirit. Thank you so much for writing The Shack. It is definately worth the read, worth sharing, worth giving. Linda Hill

Considering Steve Brown and the Shack « Cavman Considers June 10th, 2008

[...] 10, 2008 by cavman Steve Brown interviews William Paul Young about his book The Shack.  Steve says that he initially gave up when the main character got to the shack.  After lots of [...]

susana June 13th, 2008

You always crack me Up Steve (Brown). I can never get enough of your humor! (I swear thats why I am here!) But tell me, how can you convince a person whose mentally retarded that they are also senile?(not you!, A relative!) I am related thru marriage to some real douseys! And if it was not for your sound advice, I think I would be losing it, being around THEM! But thank G*D I dont have to live in the same house as them! Just visit them to se if theya re still "kicking" for I would surley have had myself commited to an insane asylum by now just to get away from them! Thanks for YOUR random acts of humor!susana

Mary Ann June 18th, 2008

How wonderful to have such an expansive understanding of our loving God. Yes He exists…..yes He is involved….you can't get more involved than Creator to creature…I especially will remember the line where you said that God's grace working in us to make us truthful souls is a greater miracle than the raising of the dead..it goes against our natural instinct to be truthful with each other and yet what greater grace…thank you, thank you, thank you for this beautiful book.

the Shack « one degree of glory… June 27th, 2008

[...] you have some time, listen to this interview with the author by Steve Brown, Etc.  Hearing the author's life story after reading the book gave me an even greater [...]

Mary B. July 22nd, 2008

With all the wacky things I've seen recently on Christian TV, and all the new age stuff seeping into the church, I was afraid to read "The Shack." While there were things in there that I didn't feel were sound biblically, still it touched my heart. So many of us were raised under the letter of the law, and always feeling the need to be or do good to earn God's love. This book was like a ray of hope that God really may love us right where we're at. What a concept – I think I even feel a some hope that Young could have painted a clear picture of God's love. I'll read it again.

Joy Martin August 8th, 2008

First of all, I love the Steve Brown etc. website!!! The humor you throw in with the "commercials" and your on-going wit are soul-healthy for me I read "The Shack" recently and was blown away by it as well. I'm recommending it to everyone I talk to–so much so that they can't believe I could be so passionate about one little book. We desperately need this kind of stuff—I definitely need this kind of stuff. Thank you so much for airing this and your support and encouragement to what God is doing through this. It was refreshing!!!

Good Jam Session!!! « MPC Communitas Family Blog September 7th, 2008

[...] a great podcast interview with the author that will intrigue you and not give away the story, go HERE. I would LOVE to have you all read this book and then unpack it together. I think we NEED to. [...]

Roberto October 8th, 2008

Do we want answers from God? God always has plans ways beyond our understanding or imagination. And HE does as HE wants, HE is wise. I should be sleeping for my training course tomorrow, but instead, I am here at 12 pm listening for the first time, to Steve Brown etc. radio interviews that I came up with in Internet from surfing http://www.newwayministries.org and http://www.ransomedheart.com
And the Spirit is telling me that God really wants to talk to us. I just listen to Steve's interview with John Eldredge about Walking and Talking with God (not read yet), and when I finished listening to John and Steve I saw the link for William P Young's interview. I can see it clearly that GOD is looking for a true relationship with each of us, as Eldredge talked about intimacy and "come closer", and Young talking about his life, his pains, his secrets, etc.
Look at 3 messages I am being surrounded by lately, for me everything is connected:
Read John Eldredge's Waking the Dead (and eventually read Walking with God)
Read William Paul's The Shack
Read Larry Crabb's PAPA Prayer (and other books)
And listen to the 3 of them talk and or the interviews with Steve Brown (Eldredge, Young)
We are being blessed by them. The Holy Spirit is talking to us by them.

Steve Brown Etc. » Blog Archive » Steve Brown Etc. Pop Program Archive October 23rd, 2008

[...] William Paul Young – Author of The [...]

“The Shack” Strikes Back « The Cruciform Life Blog October 28th, 2008

[...] An interview with William P. Young by Steve Brown [...]

Steve Brown Etc. » Blog Archive » Etcetera - 10.28.08 - Communion in Weakness October 29th, 2008

[...] – The author of The Shack on SBE [...]

Hughuenot November 19th, 2008

If enough people praise it long enough;
if it sells millions;
if pop theologians and musical artists endorse it;
if Steve likes it;
then it MUST be good! Right?

Freedom, your moniker here, is found only in Jesus Christ who said that he and his father's word are/ is truth (John 14:6 & 17:17).

Anything else, any other conception of God, is not.

No matter how "liberating" it makes you feel,
no matter how "blessed" you feel,
no matter how many people like it,
truth is not validated by numbers or feelings.

You think about that.
Amen.

dorsey November 24th, 2008

Good points Hughuenot,
Thanks to God that The Shack harmonizes with scripture, too.

Tony Heringer December 5th, 2008

The Shack resonates with people for good reason. It communicates the love of God. Not the totality of God as any such communication of ths type is by its very nature reductionary in its content. We, the finite, cannot comprehend God the inifitne. Young wrote this book for his kids and was goaded into publishing it by his friends. From there it took off. Praise God for that and if you can utilize it to reach people for Christ go for it. But don't waste your time nit-picking this book.

Selah

Robert Burrows December 12th, 2008

I listened to your interview with Mr. Young with shock and incredulity! Clearly Mr. Young's thoughts on God and the Trinity are both Universal, Emergent, and heretical! I personally read the book, trying to figure out what exactly the hubbub was. The Shack contains about 20% genuine Biblical Truth and about 80% blashpheme heresy! Mr. Young says he wrote The Shack to not confuse his children on the subject of God and the Trinity. Well, he has done just the opposite! He has presented answers that not only mislead but are not Christian. What's even worse, he is leading well-mannered and mostly unread Christians who are clasping on to anything that seems to make sense in this crazy world! And it's wrong and satanic! In this age of information and relevance, even Christianity is trying to fit in to the world's view and not God's view. We must stick with the Bible, God's inerrent Word. The Shack might make you feel good because that is what you worldly want to hear but it's not true. It is a lie! Mr. Young obsviously went through a substantial crisis in his life and was able to get through it. His solution was a means to relate and process and I believe satan was and is using him to corrupt society even further. The Shack is a tool to spread satan's plan in the disguise of God and His infinite love. If the Theology of the book was Biblical, I would say yes, but in reality it is not. This book should not be promoted or endorsed by you or any other Christian organization!

Edward Swyden December 12th, 2008

In response to Mr. Burrows correspondance, I would pose this:
You speak, quite passionately, about what you perceive in "The Shack" as blasphemy and heresy. However, you fail to offer specifics, opting to offer only broad generalities. Because of that, I perceive, and I sincerely hope that it's only a perception, a legalistic view of one's faith, and perceived anger, to those who have read the book with a positive conclusion, more so than the the enemy to whom you credit for the book.
In the book, the Trinity is presented as One being, Three Personalities. Isn't this exactly what God says he is? He wants to be our life. Isn't this exactly what He says He wants to be?. He wants us to let go of our independence, and surrender our total being to Him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't is the Gospel?
Are there passages in the book that may have one scratching his/her head, in an attempt to deal with the confusing nature of said passage, especially when taken out of context? Of course there are. Such is the nature of many writings that deal with our beliefs as Christians. We sometimes, and I interpret "sometimes" as very rarely, may even have challenges with Scripture. For example, Annanias and Sephira can be a hard pill to swallow, but we know that God included that incident in His word for a reason. It may seemingly contradict our knowledge of our loving God and His unconditional love for all of His children. The operative word, here is "seemingly".
Now, I'm not, by any stretch of any imagination, implying that "The Shack" is on even an infinitesimal equal level to The Bible. I would suggest, however, that one read the book for what it is: an allegory that depicts The Trinity and His desire to be our life.
Mr. Burrows, I totally respect the conclusions that you've drawn with regard to "The Shack", even though I disagree with you. I would, however, ask for the specifics of the conclusion which you have drawn from your reading. Perhaps then I may better understand where you're coming from. Thanks and God bless you and yours

Charles December 16th, 2008

I liked it. And hey, it's fiction. Loosen up Francis!

Hans Zaepfel December 17th, 2008

I had trouble with some of the theology in the Shack, other parts I thought quite good. I thought the overall story was so-so. I was dissapointed with Steve Brown's interview with William Young. As I recall (it has been a while since I listened), Steve & Co. were gushing with praise regarding the book, yet no one asked Young any tough questions about some of Young's debateable doctrine.

Andreas Cucca December 29th, 2008

The Shack isnt a book on heavy theology. I bought it at the airport in Amsterdam on my way down to Bangladesh for a campaign among unreached people, what I like about the book is that it really shows the love of God!

John February 1st, 2009

The writer of the Shack thinks he's a theolgian and he has disingeniously used the book under the pretence of it being a fiction (which it is when it comes to his presumptions about God) to deflect criticism of his hotch potch cobbled theology. Of course people want a god who does not have any demands on them, who only nudges them gently when they do wrong, who's love is too great to send anyone to hell, who does not want anyone to become a Christian, who grooves to a mixture of soul and Eurasian funk etc. etc. It is the great deception and seduction of our time.
Look at the list of authors who have influenced his thinking research what they have written. It's a god for itching ears who bears absolutely no resemblance to the God of the Bible.

Look out for an excellent, comprehensive book called "Beware the Shack" coming out in about 2 months which exposes of all the smoke and mirrors used in "The Shack" and examines its various heretical notions in the light of the Bible and exposes Young for what he really believes..

Erik February 2nd, 2009

Kool Aid! Kool Aid! Tastes great!

Skeeter Mcgee February 5th, 2009

i feel your intro music is disingenuous to your personality and program content at large

The Shack Reviews | Shane Trammel’s Blog February 8th, 2009

[...] interview that endorses The Shack – Steve Brown Etc. – Steve Brown interviews the author – [...]

The Shack « Imagebearer’s Weblog February 13th, 2009

[...]  |  | Digg This! | Download MP3 | Play in Popup [...]

The Shack « Imagebearer’s Weblog February 15th, 2009

[...] Paul Young, WindRumors.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Possibly related posts: [...]

ted baxter February 27th, 2009

folks, my heart and head harmonize with the shack, that it is a glimpse into the grace of god, and, with humor intended, the spirit of love and laughter and joy of of his presence. How often we struggle with 'truth' and 'error', and somehow, God manages to bring his light and love to our hearts through dark and deceptive moments in our life.
My thoughts…appreciate to the author.
enjoy a side of God that relates to your very real hurts and wonders…
beyond the shock of interrupting our paradigms, I find this book a genuine expression of the heart and passion of a loving father who reaches out to his father, much like the love of the father towards his prodigal son.
allow yourself to take in and accept the blessings that the graceful spirit of God allows you, not just through this book, but not exclusive of it either.

An Interview with the author of “The Shack” « The Village Pastor’s Weblog March 12th, 2009

[...] An Interview with the author of "The Shack" Filed under: General — villagepastor @ 3:22 pm Steve Brown, speaker, former pastor, writer, radio host, and until last week a full time professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, is no theological liberal. Yet he loves "The Shack," which many of my favorite theological types cannot stand. I'm going to be talking about this book, why it's so popular, the controversy around it, and what if anything we can learn from it. In the meantime it might help for you to listen to Steve Brown's interview with the author, William Paul Young. [...]

So I Started Reading "The Shack" This Morning... April 20th, 2009

[...] how much of this is autobiographical for William Young… You can check out his interview on Steve Brown, Etc.. __________________ Tom Albrecht Member, Covenant URCNA, New Holland, PA. "Besides, who [...]

Steve Brown Etc. » Blog Archive » Go out and offend someone! May 6th, 2009

[...] our time with Joe and John, I got a letter from a financial supporter of Key Life. They had heard my interview with Paul Young who wrote The Shack. As you perhaps know, I believe that Young has enabled a whole lot of people to [...]

James D Vaughn June 3rd, 2009

This book sounds so good, especially to those new believers still on milk.
Butthe trinity does not line up with scripture. Papa OK, I call Him Daddy. But the Father is Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth. Luke 24:39, a Spirit does not have flesh and bones. John 4:24. No man has ever seen God at any time-John1:18. Therefore Mack seeing Papa is a lie and has no reference in the Bible. Jesus is God in the flesh and isthe only person of the Godhead that we will ever see physically. This is such a good story that it will captivate those that don't have the Spirit of truth. My daughter has been caught uin this desception and I am going to be a Watchman for the Truth.

disciple d June 5th, 2009

Mr Vaughn, i appriciate your comments on the shack. they are truly enlightening to where YOUR walk is at. However, you should remember that the book is fiction. And why is it so hard to believe in a God that does LOVE you. with all the hate in the world, it is nice to read a story about a all loving God. Not only that, your scriptures are right, alittle out of context, but right. How about we are to live life in the spirit, not flesh! And by the jugemental attitude you are sounding fleshly. I actually love the book! It does one great thing through out the whole book. It ruins every theology the we(humans) have. God doesn't get into theology! He gets into LOVE! You know are 2 New Testement commandments!! Love GOD, and LOVE others. I know it hard, But that my friend is the truth.
OH, and as your being a watchman over your daughter, just love her no matter what!! that will be the best watchman i know.
God Bless you sir, and plaese don't get offended. remember, blogs are just the opinion of others. thats all, nothing personal. peace and grace to you and your family.

Steve Brown Etc. » Blog Archive » Forgiveness & Unity - Tony Campolo on SBE August 7th, 2009

[...] Steve Brown and his good buddy Tony Campolo on this edition of SBE as they hang out and talk about The Shack, uptight Christians, forgiveness and [...]

A Reader August 16th, 2009

The Bible says only two things about God's substance. He is Spirit and He is Love. Do you not think that a spirit could personify, that is limit itself to three dimensions, especially if He decided such a limitation(personification) would lovingly help his creation….. a man directing a woman to get back on the right road, a "ghost" that helps another is some way, et. al

This book is written from grace. The author was given a great gift. You are given the same when you read it. The simplicity of the book belies a very complex and deep understanding from (not of) God.

Remember in the book where Papa refers to herself as a verb. Think about it. What better way to describe a multidimensional spirit that moves in and out of our three dimensional world and loves his creation during the process over time and space.

I truly believe this is a blest work.

Alfred R Jimenez December 22nd, 2009

Bro. Paul, thank you! What a story.

jeremiah johnson February 10th, 2010

Dear Reader, the Bible actually says 4 things about God's substance. The two you missed just happen to be the two that The Shack evades and or denies. He is Holy and He is a Consuming Fire.

The book is written from a place of woundedness. I hoped that Steve Brown would have not played softball with the author of such a popular and impression leaving book, and asked Paul Young some pointed questions about penal substitution, hell, sin, and God's holiness dispayed before man.

Neil Petersen February 23rd, 2010

Charles, et al – you're insistance that because it is fiction it shouldn't be taken seriously is disengenous at best – demonic at worst. Read some of the other posts – " it resonates with me ", "what I like is it really shows the love of God" , "it touched my heart", etc. Obviously these people found more than just an interesting fictional story in he book. It has been that way throughout history. Shakespeare's plays are valued for teaching us about ourselves even though fiction. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is fiction but is credited with heavily influencing the ending of slavery in America. Frank Perreti's "This Present Darkness" is fiction but is credited with awakening Christian's awareness about the unseen spiritual world around us.
The problem goes back to the roots – the Reformation movement and those that venerate its teachings. The Caqtholic church IS, WAS and ALWAYS WILL BE the woman that rides the beast of the book of revelation. And it will be a tool of the one-world ruler in the end times.
Because sometime back in history a man named Luther objected to some parts of the demonic Catholic church and stirred a ruckus about it, modern men have lost track of the ORIGINAL teachings of the first century church. Even with the changes Luther wanted, it still was and is Catholicism.
Why look back on that period of change when you have in your Bible- God's Word – all you need for teaching on how Jesus taught we should live and be and how the first century disciples did it..
The Shack is just another tool to satisfy "itching ears" and get people to ere in their thinking about God. If you get in a sailboat in Los Angeles harbor and sail towards Hawaii , but you sail only one degree in 360 off the mark, you will miss Hawaii by hundreds of miles
" and they said Lord, Lord, did we not (do things) in your name? and HE (Jesus) said 'begone, I never knew you' "
Are you sure you want to risk being one of these ones?

aram March 7th, 2010

My name is Aram and I just finished reading The Shack. I then went online and happened across a bunch of people arguing about it, for what looks like a few years now. People are calling this a heresy, a dangerous book, and warning people not to read it.
Why?
I normally never comment on these things, but being an unbeliever – yes that's right, I am not a Christian – I thought it might be useful for some of these theology spouting authorities to take a moment and look at what I, not a churchgoer in any way, have gleaned from this little book. And then ask yourself – because I really don't know much about the Bible – is anything I learned leading me in the wrong direction? Perhaps all the way to this burning lake of fire so many Christians love trying to scare non-Christians with? If this is the case, then I guess you're right, and based on what you believe people shouldn't read this book.
For me, I don't believe fear and rules to be the answer, I never have. This has been the main reason for my avoidance of the church. However, when you preach love and forgiveness, through whatever means conveys it the best, whether fiction or otherwise, well now, my heart begins to open a tad. It makes me actually want to pick up a Bible perhaps and maybe read a little further.
Teach love my Christian friends, because people like me, we don't respond well to fear tactics. And we definitely don't get turned on by arrogant church leaders who think they have it all figured out.
Below are 57 new ideas I took away from this little book. Many are direct quotes from the book itself.

1. The different appearances of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were used to help Mack break his religious conditioning.

2. You don't get brownie points for doing something through obligation; only if you want to.

3. Life takes a lot of time and a lot of relationship.

4. How free are we really? – family genetics, social influences, personal habits, advertising, propaganda & paradigms etc. Freedom is an incremental process that happens inside a relationship with Jesus Christ.

5. When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of God.

6. Pain has a way of clipping our wings, so we can't fly. After awhile we forget we were ever created to fly.

7. When Jesus became a man he gave up his own ability to heal people and do miracles. His miracles were accomplished by Jesus' (a man, a dependent limited human being) trust in the Father God. We are all designed to live like that, out of God's life and power.

8. God exists in three persons so we, his creation, can also live in love and relationship, just like God does. If God didn't, we couldn't. "God cannot act apart from love."

9. Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid wanting power is to limit oneself – to serve.

10. Sin is its own punishment, devouring from the inside. It's not God's purpose to punish it; it's God's joy to cure it.

11. When people choose independence over relationship, we become a danger to each other.

12. If people learned to regard each other's concerns as significant as their own, there would be no need for hierarchy. God does not relate inside a hierarchy; God wants us to trust him because he will never use or hurt us.

13. When Christians don't trust God it's because they don't know they are loved by him. They think God is not good.

14. Mack says: "I just can't imagine any final outcome that would justify all this (pain, suffering etc)." Papa replies: "We're not justifying it. We are redeeming it."

15. The choice of God to hide so many wonders from man is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life.

16. For any created being, autonomy is lunacy.

17. When something happens to us, how do we determine whether it is good or bad? By whether we like it or if it causes us pain. This is self-serving and self-centred.

18. We become the judge of good and evil; so when each person's good and evil clashes with someone else's, fights, even wars, break out.

19. Eating of the tree tore the universe apart, divorcing the spiritual from the physical. All of us died, expelling the very breath of God.

20. We play God in our independence. The only remedy is to give up the right to decide good and evil and choose to live in God and trust and rest in his goodness.

21. God is light and God is good. Removing ourselves from God will plunge us into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from God, you can only draw on yourself. That is death, because you have separated yourself from God, from Life.

22. This concept is difficult for us because the good may be the presence of cancer or the loss of income, or even a life. Sarayu answers: "Don't you think we care about these people who suffer too? Each of them is the centre of another story that is untold."

23. About having 'rights': "'Rights' are where survivors go so they won't have to work out relationships."

24. Jesus gave up his rights so his dependent life would open a door that would allow us to live free enough to give up our rights.

25. Each of us is wild, beautiful, and perfectly in process when God is working with a purpose in our hearts. We are an emerging, growing, and alive pattern – a living fractal.

26. We tend to live either in the past or the future; dwelling on the pain and the regret of the past, instead of a quick visit to learn something from it. Or fearing the future, letting our imagination run wild with worry, and forgetting to see the future with Jesus. This happens when: a. we don't really know we're loved and b. we don't believe that God is good.

27. Apart from Jesus' life, we cannot submit one to another. Jesus' life is not an example to be copied. Jesus came to live his life in us; so we will see with God's eyes, hear with his ears, love with his heart, and touch with his hands.

28. Some say love grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is the skin of knowing.

29. We human beings are constantly judging others because we are self-centred.

30. We say: "Predators deserve judgment, their parents, too, for twisting them, and their parents, and on and on, until finally we go right back to Adam, and then, why not judge God? He started it all…isn't God to blame for our losses? He could have not created, or he could have stopped the killer, but he didn't." If we can judge God so easily then, of course, we can judge the world. We must then (e.g.) choose two of our five children to go to heaven and three to go to hell, because that's what we believe God does. Mack could not choose any one of his children because he loved them no matter what they did. So instead, he begged that he could go to hell for his children. This response is exactly what Jesus did. Mack judged well. He judged his children worthy of love, even if it cost him everything. This is how Jesus loves. 'And now we know Papa's heart."

31. God's love is so much larger than our sin could ever be.

32. Evil was never a plan of God's. We must return from our independence, give up being his judge, and know God for who he is.

33. When we receive God's love and stop judging him we let go of the guilt and despair that had sucked the colours of life out of everything.

34. God never abandons his children. We are never alone. God could no more abandon us than he could abandon himself.

35. "Live loved."

36. When we leave the light of God and retreat to the darkness all alone, the darkness makes our fears, lies, and regrets bigger in the dark. Sometimes, as a kid, doing this is part of survival, but now we must come to the light.

37. Jesus will travel any road to find his children. But only one road leads back to heaven.

38. Stories about a person willing to exchange their life for another reveal our need and God's heart.

39. Even though God can work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies, it does not mean God caused it. Where there is suffering, you will find grace in many facets and colours.

40. 'Love' bothers to keep trying to touch people and never gives up.

41. Sometimes we hide inside lies that justify who we are and what we do.

42. Ask for forgiveness and let the forgiveness heal you. Take the risk of honesty. Faith does not grow in the house of uncertainty.

43. Our transformation is a miracle greater than raising the dead.

44. All evil flows from independence.

45. God's purposes are always and only an expression of love. God works life out of death, freedom out of brokenness, and light out of darkness.

46. Emotions are neither good nor bad. They are the colours of the soul. They are spectacular and incredible.

47. The more you live in the truth, the more our emotions will help you see clearly.

48. Trying to keep the law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of keeping control. Keeping the law grants us the power to judge others and feel superior.

49. Responsibility and expectation are dead nouns, full of judgment, guilt, and shame. Our identity becomes wrapped up in performance. The opposite is when God gives us an ability to respond that is free to love and serve in every situation, with God in us; and expectancy is alive and dynamic with no concrete expectation – only the gift of being together.

50. To the degree we live with expectations and responsibilities is the degree we fear and the degree we don't trust or know God.

51. If God is the centre of everything, then together we can live through everything that happens to us.

52. Forgiveness is big.

53. When bad things happen, what God had to offer us in response is his love, goodness, and relationship with us.

54. God doesn't do humiliation, guilt, or condemnation. They don't produce one speck of wholeness or righteousness.

55. Forgiving isn't about forgetting; it's about letting go of another person's throat.

56. Forgiveness does not create a relationship; it simply removes them from your judgment.

57. Because you are important to God, everything you do is important.

I gotta tell you, this book made me want to explore the idea of God a little more, and I just can't see how that is a bad thing.

Sandra April 14th, 2010

To Aram, Wow those are quite some insights you gleaned! (I especially liked the line: "Some say love grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is the skin of knowing." Is that from the book, or did you come up with it yourself?)You also seem to have a good amount of knowledge of Jesus for one who is not a Christian.

I have only started reading the book. I have found it to be a good story so far. I just got to the part where Mack meets the trinity and I must admit it is quite strange to me. I am just uncomfortable with it, but I will see how the rest of the book goes. I do understand that it was not written as a theological book, contrary to what some claim.

Onyx May 15th, 2010

Wow Aram, you've come up with an awesome list there! And you are so right that there are many judgemental "christians" out there…ready to stone the first person who disagrees with their pet doctrine. It is precisely that attitude that comes from the pit of hell. I apologize on behalf of Christendom for their attitude, because I used to wear it like a robe self-righteousness too.

Mark Graham November 17th, 2010

Wow. That was incredible. In my writing I deal with the 'problem of inconvenience'…about as deep as I get into that philosophical quicksand. I did try to read his book once but, as a dad, I just couldn't get past the horrible scene early on. So I may never know if I like his writing or not. But I like the guy after this interview for certain. Only Jesus can put a real smile on a man after a childhood like that.

Phil June 10th, 2011

Feel like I've read the book now. Wonder how many people do that with the bible?(read commentary but never go through the whole Bible)
That said, y'all should check out http://www.dailyaudiobible.com (click listen [lower right] then the red box that says 'Daily Audio Bible'. It's great when you are so busy to have someone read the bible to you and then others throw in prayer requests at the end. Vert nice way to get some Jesus into your day, eh?