Book Review

Hey Y'all,

I just finished two books this weekend. Both fiction. I am a very quick reader which is why I keep a couple going at the same time. The first one I read was "The Lucky One" Nicholas sparks latest. It was very good. Typical Sparks if you read his stuff. It is nice to read about places you really know. He lives in North Carolina too and I think has always written about the Tarheel State. the second book I read I finished about 15 minutes ago. It was "The Shack". Needless to say it left me..........unsettled? I am grasping for the right word here. On one hand I sobbed through many parts of it. Yesterday I cried so hard in a chair in my own front yard I ruined the front of my t-shirt wiping off my own make up. I was not so pretty at supper. Today I took it to the gym and I had to leave while I was on a stationary bike. I hope the guy beside me thought I was sweating extra hard. I tend to be a deep thinker. A real question asker and a real ponderer. "The Shack" left me feeling things I don't really like to feel. Parts of it made me feel very angry. I do not like the way that this world treats God. He is Holy. first and foremost. I cannot derive from that. For me, my relationship with God is one of utmost respect and reverence and I believe that God is not fond of our constant treatment of Him as one of the boys or our homeboy or anything other than God. I need to keep Him in that perspective because I believe that He prefers it and I am so prone to wander. To leave the God I love. Also, I struggle with the idea of ever making God female. If you have not read the book. God appears to the main character, Mack, as a black woman. Jesus is a working blue collar kind of guy and the Holy Spirit is a floaty, spritual kind of gal. I am all about freedom in Christ but parts of this book really, really disturbed me. I would never reccommend it to anyone who was not firmly grounded in the Word. It is too easy to imagine that this is how God works. Many parts of this book were really good and the actions of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were so meaningful to things going on in my own life. Forgiveness is hard, letting go is hard, living is hard. Even though it is a fiction book and the author lets you know it is fiction. Too many people today are looking and searching to fill the hole in their lives with anything. The world needs the truth. The real, hard and not so easy to hear truth. Jesus Christ is Truth. This book made it too easy for people to allow God to be on the human level and to rationalize behaviors. A friend told me this book helped her get God out of the "box". I do not want to keep God in anything like a box. But without building our relationship with God on the "cornerstone" we have scattered things all over. God pursues us anywhere we go to escape Him or to hide from Him I have no doubt. He has found me hiding and running many times. There is no mention of sin and it's consequences at all. No mention of the devil or hell either. They are not so great to think about but they are a real part of the truth in this world. I wanted this book to really work for me. But it didn't. When talking about the Creator I need things to go along with the Word. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we should cast down "arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." "The Shack" was not that for me. It took liberties that I fear may offend more than enlighten. I would rather err on the side of my own fear of God than His dealing with my own arrogance in trying to bring His thinking down to my own level. God will never change for us nor adapt to our ways. I don't understand a whole lot but i do know that for me I cannot learn from Christ and grow in Him if I don't stick with His ways. Sorry if I sound confusing. I really do not mean to. That is how this book left me. Confused. Am I too serious? Am I too shallow and dogmatic in my beliefs? I don't think so but I better spend more time in the Word than in books about God and His Word. I need to really sharpen my sword and hold up my shield.

Bless Y'all

Cindy