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Julieb's comments:

on Relationships and Religion

The "church" was never intended to be a place or a thing you do, but a belief or a foundation. When Jesus asked His disciples who people were saying He was in Matt 16, Peter responded "you are the Christ, the Son of God". In the greek Christ is Christos...or Messiah, savior. Jesus commended Peter on his statement based not in the afterglow of a witnessed miracle, but by the revelation in his heart from God. He then says "on this rock shall I build my church". What is the rock...not Peter for he was a man...but on the statement or truth of which he just proclaimed...that Jesus is the Messiah...the one that would save all men. It's John 3:16 at it's finest..."for God so loved the WORLD He sent His one an only Son..." Jesus didn't come just to save "Christians", He came for the World as Messiah. The church's foundation should always be about Jesus...they talked about that on the show. Christianity should not be about what we do, but about what He did, is doing and will do for those who choose to accept Him as Messiah. And that is precisely what the Shack was getting at.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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on Relationships and Religion

You were hurt by people with good "intentions" but people none-the-less. The show did touch on that about what a "Christian" is. A lot of people have done, are doing and will do many unchristlike things in the name of Him. I suggest that is the reason for communion...to remind us of what Christ did for us...to remember our personal debt that He paid for on the cross and thus reach out to others with the same love and understanding. It's much harder to point fingers at people when you've first looked at yourself.

I think you did experience the love of Christ through His Word and the actions of others, but you also experienced the shortcoming of believers and they ruined Him for you. The Shack totally addresses that issue in the way the trinity is portrayed. God is a black woman because Mac would not have accepted an old man with a white beard. The Spirit is a small asian woman because of the gracefulness in which she moved and the softness of her voice. And Jesus...well, He was who He is. God's character is revealed throughout the pages of scripture...along with the shortcomings of man. But in Christ, He became flesh so that we could relate to Him with what is familiar to us...a human body...but see how different God is than us because He was without sin and He loved perfectly and sacrificially.

I think that your feelings are very similar to Mac's in The Shack and to many others...thus the reason for the success of the book. For now we see through a glass dimly lit...for following god is a "faith walk" and faith is not seen but is hope yet realized. I pray you will not reject the living God as if He were one of the men or women who hurt you.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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on Relationships and Religion

The reason God the father was portrayed as a large black woman in The Shack was because if He'd been portrayed as your stereotypical old man with a white flowing beard, He would not have appealed to Mac. Mac had been severely abused by his own father...so he could not relate to a "loving father" or "Papa" like his wife would call God. And that is very much why it is so hard for people to grasp the fullness and goodness of God...because we've really not experienced such perfection and often were hurt and or disappointed by those who were supposed to love them. It is easier to turn to legalism with a God stamp on it rather than open oneself up to relationship with the Living God and those He created to be loved.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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