I am in the middle of reading the book The Shack. It is one of those books that you can't put down. I have been staying awake until midnight reading it for the last few nights and even then, I want to keep reading! God is speaking so clearly to me through this book, but in one area in particular: His incredible, unmeasurable, beyond any comprehension, deep and abiding love for you and me. With His love comes His almost unrealistic mercy for us.
In our culture, we seem to demand restitution or punishment from those who offend or harm us. But this is not the attitude we see in Jesus, whose life was a continuous manifestation of the mercy of God.
The Pharisees wanted to stone the woman who was caught in adultery, but Jesus, in mercy, pardoned her. When He saw the multitudes, compassions moved Him to heal them, feed them and teach them.
If you had seen Jesus, you had seen the Father. And God always acts in mercy, because He is merciful. Even when Jesus hung on the cross, listening to the jeers from the crowd, cried out in mercy, "Father, forgive them." How important is for us to see this? Because Matthew 5:7 says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
So unless we are merciful, we will not receive mercy. And if we are going to be merciful, we must forgive others because mercy meets the need of forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness are like conjoined twins with one heart...they can't be separated.
4 comments:
All I can say is Amen
Though "The Shack" correctly states many good and beautiful things about God, it does so while weaving serious heresy around those truths. One example would be Young's denial that there is any hierarchy within the Trinity. Scripture clearly teaches the opposite. This false belief causes him to then deny the need for any human institution or hierachy, even the church. There is also a direct rejection of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement because Young's god is one that does not demand justice. I could go on, but suffice it to say that we are much better off learning of God through scripture and not from popular books.
Here is a decent review of the book:
http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/a-review-of-the-shack-download-it-here.php
and another:
http://byfaithonline.com/page/arts-culture/the-shack-what-god-should-have-said
best regards,
Ronnie
I stayed up till 3am Thursday night finishing the last four chapters. This book has been incredible for me. It has taught me more than I ever could have imagined. I love how it shows God's love and the true meaning of forgiveness.
By the way, you look great!
I went into this without any preconceived notions. I have not read any reviews. I only knew that there was some controversy. So I decided to read it for myself. I borrowed the book and read it. What I found was horrible. With a strong mix of God’s truth, pluralism, tales of love and even the occult, a god was created, and with over a million copies in print, I fear that millions will not have the opportunity to know the real God. They will only know a false version of Him.
Please be careful.
My Review
http://www.thechristianpolitico.com/?page_id=86
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