As indicated 'The Shack' has some blasphemous portrayals of the godhead. Yet there are a number of equally blasphemous things in the book. Such as absolutely no mention of sin or repentance in the book, despite the fact it had ample opportunity to. It also portrays a form of universalism.
I myself have read the book about 9 years ago, mainly because I was told by a teacher whom I had a lot of respect for at the time, that it was one of his absolute favourite books. He said that for the last several years he used it as a class assignment for his grade 6 classes.
As for readability, although this is somewhat subjective to the person reading it; I found the fact that it had the ability to tug at the heart strings, in such a way that if I was not careful I would forget all about discernment. Perhaps, this was the most dangerous aspect about the book.
Shortly after I read the book, I was invited to an internet forum to talk about the book. What I found was very shocking to say the least. The audience in the forum were people of all kinds of religious persuasion, including Reformed Christians, whom I soon learned were ridiculed for their views on the book. For a time I participated; but found it to be a waste of time. A common thing I read was that the book gave them a new understanding of God and His love for us. Another person said that anyone who criticizes the book is being nitpicky, saying it is a novel not a theology book.
This simply is not true, because the author wrote it to reflect his beliefs.
The thing that actually made me leave was a dialogue I had with a Southern Baptist professor who stated something to me that I had not heard before. He said that the only reason I don't like the book is because I am a Calvinist and Calvinists are not true Trinitarians, they are Tritheists. Where he got that I have no idea.; even Dave Hunt, a noted Calvinist hater, wrote against the book.
About CS Lewis, not sure if portraying Jesus as a lion is blasphemous or not. However, I do have a problem with CS Lewis’s “ransom theology”(i.e. a ransom paid to Satan).
Tom


Last edited by Tom; Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:59 PM.