The Shack Movie

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The Shack Movie is not another C.S. Lewis’ Narnia.

Several well-meaning friends have expressed the idea that The Shack is no different than the very creative Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Again, we turn to the writing of Tim Challies where in his blog “Why Papa of The Shack Is not Aslan of Narnia.” He suggests three reasons why the two are not the same: different genres (allegorical fiction vs didactic fiction), different persons (Jesus vs God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), and different messages (Aslan is like Jesus vs Papa is God). Challies wraps up his blog with the following:

I have argued on three grounds that Papa of The Shack is not Aslan of Narnia. They appear in different genres of literature, represent different characters, and teach different messages. Narnia is an allegorical tale; The Shack is didactic fiction. Aslan is a Christ-like figure from a parallel world and its fabricated mythology; Papa is God the Father in the real-world and its Christian faith. What Narnia teaches by analog is generally consistent with the historic Christian faith and meant to create confidence in it; what The Shack teaches using literal characterization is subversive of the Christian faith and meant to undermine it. My counsel, then, is to enter Narnia but stay out of The Shack.


The Shack teaches fundamentally flawed theology.

Albert Mohler recently edited and republished his initial critique to The Shack as a book in his blog “The Shack – The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment.” He details multiple theological arguments that differ from the Bible. I agree with Mohler and would point to some of the primary doctrines affected as the doctrines of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the problem of evil, and salvation. Mohler writes: 

In evaluating the book, it must be kept in mind that The Shack is a work of fiction. But it is also a sustained theological argument, and this simply cannot be denied. Any number of notable novels and works of literature have contained aberrant theology, and even heresy. The crucial question is whether the aberrant doctrines are features of the story or the message of the work. When it comes to The Shack, the really troubling fact is that so many readers are drawn to the theological message of the book, and fail to see how it conflicts with the Bible at so many crucial points.

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