Unpacking Forgiveness: A Book Review

If you live in this world, it's a given that at some point, you will offend someone else. The other reality that is much more obvious to us is that if we live in this world, someone else will offend us. Recent events around me have reminded me just how critical it is that we continue to grapple with this great challenge of repentance when we have offended and forgiveness when we have been offended. I'm an observer of one whose life is crumbling around her because she will not forgive wrongs--real and perceived--that have been committed against her in the past. And I'm watching as a church self-destructs because its members have so little understanding of these two most important things. Jesus teaches us to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors," and the health of our Christian lives certainly depends on our genuineness as we pray this and implement it in our lives.

So if there is anyone out there who is still looking for a New Year's resolution, I have a suggestion, and it's a relatively easy one to accomplish: read Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds by Chris Brauns. I used to work in a Christian bookstore, and I can tell you from experience that there is no shortage of books by Christians on this subject. But Brauns sets his book apart from others early on when he points out the truth that our definition of forgiveness must be based on how God defines it: "The first thing to do in developing an understanding of how we should forgive one another is to understand how God forgives us. This simplifies defining forgiveness because the Bible says far more about how God forgives people than it does about how people should forgive people."

Brauns describes the characteristics of God's forgiveness: it is gracious but not free; it is conditional, in that only those who repent and believe are saved; it is a commitment by God to those he forgives; it lays the groundwork for and begins the process of reconciliation; it does not mean the elimination of all consequences. The rest of the book "unpacks" this definition as Brauns writes with pastoral empathy, great clarity, winsomeness, and, at times, with humor. He contrasts his own understanding of forgiveness with the idea of therapeutic forgiveness, a concept introduced by author Lewis Smedes. For Smedes, forgiveness means letting go of anger and bitterness over a real or perceived offense. Brauns points out the flaws in this view that is widely held by many Christians.

One of the points Brauns drives home that made an impression with me is the urgency of reconciling with those who have offended us. He spends several chapters explaining Matthew 18, a key chapter that addresses how Christians should be reconciled when a relationship has been broken. He gives the example of two women who have been friends for years. One becomes angry at the other when she learns she has been talking about her behind her back. The one who has been offended approaches the other, who refuses to apologize. The offended friend then takes her case to an elder in her church, who counsels her to just let it go. The author then asks readers what the offended friend should do and gives these options: go to her house and hug her; write a loving note but give her friend some space; keep her distance and not communicate at all; or other.

After setting this scenario, though, Brauns continues with the anecdote. The offended friend learns that the only daughter of the friend who has offended has been tragically killed in a car accident. Brauns asks readers what the offended friend should do, giving the previous options. He explains that most people answer that she should go to her sorrowing friend and hug her, without delay. He concludes:

"The point from Matthew 18 is that [the offended friend] should have had that same level of urgency before the tragedy. . . .  She should have gone to [her friend] and hugged her in the first place. Christians should urgently pursue conflict resolution all the time."

Brauns also provides practical wisdom on matters such as what to do when someone is unrepentant, how to combat bitterness, how to stop thinking about a hurtful situation, and what to do when we just can't agree.

Unpacking Forgiveness is available at many booksellers, but my favorite one is right here.

Book Review: The Next Story by Tim Challies

"I'd like to invite you to join me as we think about the 'next story,' a story we are living right now--life after the digital explosion. We'll explore some suggestions and ideas for how we as Christians can live in this new reality with character, virtue, and wisdom. And we'll examine how we can respond to these revolutionary changes as followers of Christ in a digital age, learning to live faithfully as the next story unfolds."

So writes popular Christian blogger and author Tim Challies, in the introduction to The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion, which takes a look at the digital world of mobile phones, computers, and the Internet. Part 1 considers "how God intended technology to function in the world he created." From that Challies seeks to gain an understanding of "what is always true about the relationship between humans and their technologies." Finally, the author addresses the history of technology--how we have gotten to where we are today. In part 2, Challies proposes ways we can live wisely in the digital age, using our technologies instead of allowing them to use us.

In the first part, then, Challies lays down foundational principles about technology and its use. Christians must understand that technology is a good, God-given gift  that is, like everything else, subject to the curse. Humans can use technology in a manner that glorifies God or to further our own sin by turning it into an idol.

He then looks at the effects technology is having on society and individuals, pointing out that in our excitement over a new technology, we fail to recognize the disadvantages that come along with it. He also reminds readers that within the technologies we use are biases that predispose us to see the world in one way and not another. In order to maintain our control over technology, we have to anticipate the changes that may result as we use it and respond to the changes with wisdom--admittedly not an easy task. Technology also affects ecology, promotes shifts in power (from old to young), and human biology, as scientists are now discovering the ways that our brains our changing as they are shaped by digital technology. Challies concludes part 1 by tracing the history of the technologies that have led us to the digital world of today.

Part 1 is significant and important, because by examining the theology, theory, and history behind digital technology, Challies moves beyond mere observation and opinion, and places the applications of part 2 in context. We see that technology is a good gift from God and understand that apart from our using it wisely, its effects, which can be bad as well as good, can overwhelm us, and we turn something good into something idolatrous. The chapter on the history of technology follows. As an editor, I might have organized the book differently, putting the history chapter before the others because it just makes sense to me to explain what the subject is and how we've gotten to where we are before we delve into the theology and theory of technology. It feels a little anticlimactic by the time the reader reaches this chapter, but the content is important, and the question of organization is a minor one.

Part 2 is eye-opening, convicting, and thought provoking as Challies guides the reader into a deeper level of thought regarding the day to day use of the technologies that most of us think little of. Chapter 4 deals with the pervasiveness of communication today--has communication itself become an idol, are we using our words well to be an encouragement. In chapter 5, Challies looks at how mediated our communication with others has become; we tend to avoid face-to-face contact and send emails rather than make phone calls. Chapter 6 deals with digital distractions and how they affect the quality and quantity of our work and steal us away from our families and friends. The subject of chapter 7, information and informationism, forces us to consider our information sources and recognize what information actually promotes knowledge and wisdom.

I personally found chapters 8 and 9 particularly informative. Chapter 8 considers information and authority, and takes a close look at search engines and Wikipedia. While I knew that Wikipedia was not necessarily a reliable source of information, I couldn't have explained exactly why. Challies shows how our notion of truth--and how truth is determined--is changing in light of Wikipedia and search engines. The shift to truth by consensus and majority opinion rather than authority is disturbing. Chapter 9 deals with privacy and visibility and how everything we do online leaves a permanent data trail that, were it revealed, would in many cases be at the least embarrassing and at the most incriminating.

The Next Story is important for its pioneering effort to understand biblically what technology is, how it affects us, and how we can use it wisely to glorify God. It answers the questions that not enough Christian technology users are even aware they should be asking, and it answers them in a wise and discerning fashion. With its "application" sections and questions for discussion, this is an ideal book for families and youth groups--in fact, technology users of all ages. Tim Challies has done a great job of showing us how to take our thoughts about technology and its use captive to the obedience of Christ. 

When Character Was King

Until relatively recently, I've had little to no interest in politics. But now that the two men in my life make it a regular topic of conversation at the dinner table (and pretty much anywhere there's a supply of oxygen that makes breathing and talking possible), I don't have much choice. And these are interesting, albeit frustrating, political times. It's easy to become cynical and discouraged, to wonder if there's anyone in Washington--in government anywhere--who believes in principle, who loves America, who really cares about doing what's best for our country and its people.

And that's why I bought Jonathan Peggy Noonan's biography of Ronald Reagan, When Character Was King, for his birthday last November. I wanted him to know that there have been presidents who stand for something, who have accomplished great things, who have earned the nation's and world's respect, who understand what it means to serve their country rather than use the office of president as a platform for demanding their next multimillion-dollar book deal.

I didn't know much about Ronald Reagan. He was actually the first president I voted for back in 1984. (And lest you're doing the math to try to figure out my age, I could have voted for him in 1980 but was a freshman in college, away from home and not interested enough to get an absentee ballot.) I'm not sure why I voted for him; I really didn't know much about him except that he was a Republican, and that's the candidate Christian, small-town Ohio girls vote for. I probably appreciated his anti-abortion stance at that point. At any rate, he won my vote. And in hindsight, I'm glad he did.

A couple of years ago, a friend lent us a documentary about Ronald Reagan. I hadn't realized what an amazing couple of terms he had served until I saw the documentary. Here was a politician who took a stand and wouldn't be swayed from it, who loved his country, who was dignified yet humble, who actually made this country a better place to live, who recognized evil in the world and wasn't afraid to call it that and fight it.

And so I took a big risk when I chose Noonan's biography for our book group to read. While I was voting for Reagan, the other members of my book group were playing Barbies and learning cursive writing. They had no awareness of hostages in Iran, Mr. Gorbachev (or the other Soviet leaders who preceded him),  Reagonomics, or Star Wars missile defense systems.

And yet the book--and Ronald Reagan--was a hit with the book group. Noonan writes with a lovely, flowing, eloquent style that makes you forget that you're reading nonfiction. Her story of Reagan reads like a novel. She begins where his life begins, telling the reader that all presidents come from something. She talks about his alcoholic father and Christian mother, the poverty he grew up in, his conscious choice to live optimistically rather than cynically, the Hollywood years and Reagan's first awareness and fight against the evils of communism.

Noonan, who was a speechwriter for Reagan, is passionate about her subject, and her admiration for this great leader shows as she describes the important events of his presidency. But the thing she wants you to know the most about her former boss is that he was a man of character: he was honest, humble, a man of integrity who kept his promises and served his nation well.

Sadly, there don't seem to be many Ronald Reagans in government today, although candidates in both parties have tried to present themselves as being in his tradition--a tribute to him that he was respected by members of both parties. It's an unfortunate reality that today, presidents aspire to be celebrities unlike in Reagan's time, when a celebrity became a president. One of the interesting points that Noonan makes about Reagan, and true conservatives, is that it's an uncomfortable thing for a conservative to seek power, because in gaining it, he or she will then work to decrease the power of the government. What a striking contrast Reagan makes to the power hungry, self-important, camera-seeking crowd that wants goverment control of every aspect of our lives.

I highly recommend this book, one of the best biographies I have read. It will inspire you to know that America has benefitted from such a great president, but it will sadden you as consider the state of Washington politics today.

Potato Peel Book

Dear Miss Ashton,

My name is Dawsey Adams, and I live on my farm in St. Martin's Parish on Guernsey. I know of you because I have an old book that once belonged to you--the Selected Essays of Elia, by an author whose name in real life was Charles Lamb. Your name and address were written inside the front cover.

Dawsey Adams, Amelia, Kit, Juliet, Isola, Eben--all of these are the fascinating characters created by Mary Ann Shaffer, whose work was completed by co-author Annie Barrows, in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I won't say much, because this is piece of fiction so worth reading, and I wouldn't want to spoil it for someone out there who plans to take it up.

Shaffer takes the reader back to a time before e-mails, Tweets, and blogs, when letter writing was really the most frequently used form of communication, which is a hard thing for us to imagine now. In fact, this is a whole novel composed of letters from different characters in the novel to each other.

It is 1946, and World War II has just ended. Juliet is a young writer living in London. She's trying to decide what to write next when she receives the above quoted letter from Dawsey Adams. In the rest of his letter, Dawsey asks Juliet if she could possibly find more books by Charles Lamb and send them to him.

And this is the beginning of the correspondence between Juliet and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, because Dawsey is not the only resident who has developed a love for literature during the German occupation of his beloved home. The book club, formed as an alibi to protect its members during the German occupation, has become much more than an alibi, as the members discover the value of literature and its transforming effect during a very bleak time in their lives. And yes, there is an explanation for the name of the society, but you'll have to read the book to find out.

What an intriguing way to write a novel and to create characters, revealing their traits through their own accounts and also through the accounts of others. One exceptional moment occurs when a member of the society asks Juliet for character references. Juliet responds by sending a recommendation from a minister who is fond of her and from a person who dislikes her. Juliet explains, "Between the two of them, you may get a fair picture of my character." And we do.

Perhaps my only disappointment with this novel was the inclusion of a homosexual character, something that seems to be an unwritten rule these days. To be fair, the author treats the matter discreetly, as it would have been treated discreetly in 1946. And the character's sexual orientation does serve to explain an important relational issue between two of the characters that probably would have been difficult, although not impossible, to explain otherwise. But there are really no details about the character's homosexual lifestyle, and the inclusion of a gay character doesn't detract from the overall marvel that this book is.

So if you're looking for something charming, witty, intelligent, creative, and touching to read, pick this one up. You will not be disappointed.

Book Review: Holding Fast

The jacket copy for Holding Fast, by Karen James, tells the reader that this is "a real-life journey of adventure, tragedy, love, and loss on the summit of Mount Hood." Tragedy occurred in December 2006 when Kelly James (late husband of the author) and two other climbers were trapped on Mount Hood near Portland, Oregon. After it was discovered that the men were missing somewhere near the summit, family members and friends waited and prayed helplessly as storms pounded the mountain with hurricane-force winds so that rescue workers were unable to search for the victims. When the storms finally relented, rescue workers recovered the body of James from a snow cave near the summit. His companions' bodies have never been recovered.

Now, two years later, James's widow, Karen, shares the "untold story of the Mount Hood tragedy." The book also recounts Kelly's past: the challenges of a difficult childhood with an abusive father and then stepfather; the love story that evolved between Kelly and Karen; and Kelly's relationship with his four children from a previous marriage.

Most of the book is devoted to the events surrounding the climbing trip that took Kelly and his two climbing friends' lives. When Kelly and his two companions missed their pickup time at the base of Mount Hood on Sunday, December 10, 2006, Karen received the call she feared the most. Sheriff Joseph Wampler of Hood River, Oregon, called to make sure that Karen hadn't heard something from Kelly before he and his crew launched a search party for the three men.

That Sunday evening, Karen and the children succeeded in getting a call through to Kelly's cell phone, getting what information they could about where he was holed up in a snow cave near the summit. This was to be their heartbreaking last conversation, as Kelly told his sons his location and reported that the other climbers had gone down the mountain to get help. He told them that the only food he had was half an orange. And he and Karen spoke briefly, saying "I love you" one last time. It was obvious that Kelly was in bad shape, and the situation was serious.

Karen and other family members and friends flew to Oregon to await the results of the rescue attempts, to be there when Kelly was rescued from the mountain. Anxiety turned to frustration to despair as the weather conditions prevented search and rescue teams from locating Kelly and the other climbers, who, unknown to Kelly, had not made it down the mountain.

Throughout the account, Karen comments on the faith that provided comfort to her during this ordeal:

"When your world falls out from underneath you and you are on your knees, there is nowhere to look but up. Suddenly everything you have claimed about your God and your faith is put to the test. During such a time, you learn where you stand with your Maker, and the most significant question of your life slaps you right in the face: Do you really believe?"

Of course the sad ending to the story is that once the storms relented, it was too late for rescue. Kelly and his friends were dead. Probably the most interesting part of the book for me was when Karen and others pieced together the clues left behind-- the possessions Kelly left in the snow cave, pictures on Kelly's camera, sent and received calls recorded on Kelly's cell phone, and tracks in the snow--to come to some conclusions about what went so terribly wrong on the mountain that weekend.

I think the greatest weakness of this book is that it is unclear what its purpose is. It promises to tell the untold story of what happened on Mount Hood, and it does. It's a gripping, heartbreaking story--three men in the prime of life, experienced mountain climbers--heading out for a weekend adventure that took a tragic turn that no one could have foreseen. It's a unique story, definitely one worth telling.

Yet the extended portions of the book that deal, in great detail, with Kelly and Karen's life before the tragedy and her grief responses after Kelly's death are not necessarily a story worth telling. Karen's descriptions of her husband indicate that he was a loving husband and father with a lot of personality--one of those warm charismatic people that everyone likes. Yet what makes him unique, sadly enough, is his death. Without that, no one would be writing books about Kelly James or Karen and Kelly's love story. While these things were incredibly meaningful and significant to them (as all of our loved ones and our own love stories are to each one of us), their story beyond the Mount Hood incident is not necessarily book worthy.

And this is often the weakness of many books that deal with personal tragedy and grief. While each one of us in this life will experience the profundity of the loss of someone that we love very much, it obviously isn't by any stretch of the imagination a unique experience. As someone who has lost both a sister who died at age 20 and a husband at age 35, I would never suggest that such losses are not deeply significant; in fact, such losses change the person who is left behind to put the pieces back together in huge ways. It is rare to find a book that deals with circumstances like these in a meaningful way, and my managing editor and I frequently discuss what quality there is that makes the difference. And we haven't found the answer. We just know that authors like Joni Eareckson Tada and, in my opinion, Lisa Beamer, author of Let's Roll, have managed to achieve something that most writers, including Karen James, have not. Some writers successfully find that path between personal loss and the Big Picture, but most do not.

A small, but annoying thing that happened throughout the book was the author's recounting of the use of what many would think of as inappropriate language or mild profanity. For example, she tells us that one holiday (Valentine's Day maybe?) after Kelly's death she knew in advance would be a "h--- of a night." I'm not a prude about language, but I'd like to think a good editor would either encourage the author to find a better way to express herself or just have the guts to tell us it was going to be a "hell of a night." Why the consonant/dash when most of us know what word is being left out? If you're going to force the reader to think it, you might as well just say it.

This was my second opportunity, as one of Thomas Nelson's bloggers, to review one of their books at their expense. I have to say that this is a creative program for publicity for Nelson's new releases, and I think it's a great way to get the word out about new releases. Time constraints may take me away from Nelson books for awhile, but we'll see what other options for book reviews arise. It's hard to turn down a free book.

Through the Storm: A Book Review

"Tell me again why you're doing this?" my husband asked after I just read to him yet another passage of a book he has absolutely no interest in. Doing what? Reading Through the Storm by Lynne Spears, mother of Britney and Jamie Lynn. The answer to that question goes back to late September, when Thomas Nelson CEO Mike Hyatt announced on his blog that the first 200 bloggers to respond would receive a free copy of the newly released book.In return for the complimentary copy, bloggers would agree to read and review the book on their blogs. It was a project that involved a free book, reading, and writing. How could I resist? I have to admit that as someone, too, who works in Christian publishing, I'm curious about how campaigns like this one work for big publishers like Nelson and how we might be able to adapt a similar strategy at our own house. So it just seemed like a good thing to do.

Honestly, I have very little interest in Britney Spears. I'm familiar with only two of her songs, and I know something of the drama of her life from the past couple of years because when I check my AOL email account, the headlines and pictures flash before me. I first learned about Britney Spears from my daughter Katie, who was probably about junior high age the first and last time we discussed Britney together. I think there was probably a sound byte on TV, and I asked my little girl if she knew anything about this teenager who had become such a sensation. "I don't like her, Mom," Katie said. "She's not nice."

So this was my introduction to Britney Spears. And I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't just a little bit curious to find out what Lynne had to say. In the introduction to the book, which Lynne wrote with Grand Rapids writer Lorilee Craker, she tells the reader: "It's the story of one simple, Southern woman whose family got caught in a tornado called fame and the aftermath. It's who I am, warts and all, with some true confessions that took a long time to get up the nerve to discuss." She doesn't share any "dirt" on her kids--and she doesn't--and her other purpose is to let us regular people peek into the lives of the rich and famous for a reality check, so that we can see that the other half doesn't necessarily have it made.

I knew that already.

We get the background on Lynne, who grew up in rural Louisiana, the daughter of a WWII veteran/dairy farmer and the lovely war bride that he brought home from London after the war. There really isn't anything remarkable about Lynne's upbringing that would foreshadow the chaos of her future famous life. She married the local basketball star, Jamie Spears, who had already been married. Her parents weren't happy with her choice, and she ended up eloping. Perhaps the future apples didn't fall far from the tree?

Lynne became pregnant almost immediately with Brian, the oldest of the Spears siblings and probably the least well known. It was in her accounting of the events surrounding her pregnancy with Brian that Lynne first gives a hint of what is to come in her discussion of any of the problems that occur down the road. In the grand scheme of things, what she describes seems to be a minor event, and yet I found her description interesting and telling.

Her brother had been working on the farm and was badly injured. The pregnant Lynne was the one who drove her bleeding, moaning brother to the emergency room. It was raining, the roads were slick, and as Lynne rounded a curve, an oncoming car was coming in the left lane. She could also see two boys riding their bikes in the road, and she sensed that she would hit one of them, that it would be impossible not to: "One boy managed to get his bike out of the way, but his friend, a twelve-year-old boy whose house was right by the scene of the accident, was hit." The boy died.

What I find interesting is the passivity of Lynne's description, and this reactionary thinking seems to be her approach as her marriage ends in divorce, Britney's career spirals out of control, Britney emotionally and psychologically falls apart, and teenager Jamie Lynn gets pregnant. In the margin of the book where I was reading, I wrote, "Did she hit him?" I can't imagine the horror of being responsible--certainly accidentally--for a child's death. And that seems to be what has happened here. But the odd sentence construction--the boy was hit--seems to suggest that even after all these years, Lynne still can't bring herself to say, "I hit him."

And life for Lynne and her family goes on, and the book does with it. Jamie starts drinking, and his alcoholism, of course, has a bad effect on the family and the marriage. One of the big questions I had coming into this book was how in the world Britney--or any child--becomes a rock star. I especially anticipated the chapter, "Why Did I Say Yes?" And the answer is very simple. Lynne tells us she said yes because "I wanted to help my daughter make her dream come true." And here I don't see Lynne as that different from other parents I see around me who drive their children from one sports event to another, from one music lesson to another, activity after activity until family life becomes a distant memory--because it makes them happy. But I think that if my little girl had come to me and said, "Mom, I want to be a pop star like Madonna or Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston," I probably would have said, "Sweetie, you're a smart girl. Why don't you go to college, get a degree, and then we'll revisit the whole pop star thing." Or I might have sat her down and had a big long talk with her about the emptiness of fame, money, and celebrity and how that particular goal doesn't line up well with my hopes of her becoming a faithful Christian woman.

But Lynne chose another option: entering Britney in local competitions and taking her to try out for the Mickey Mouse Club and Star Search. And it sounds like while Lynne was helping pursue Britney's dream, her oldest teenage son was motherless at home with his alcoholic father, and I'm guessing her lengthy absences probably didn't do much to buttress their failing marriage.

It's quite believable to me that Lynne Spears has not been a stage mom, one of the misconceptions that she seeks to clear up in her memoir. It's definitely not her style. Again, it sounds like she reacts rather than taking control, and this led to bad situation after bad situation. How did 17-year-old Britney end up scantily clad in Victoria's Secret type underwear on the cover of Rolling Stone? The photographer showed up at the house to take pictures, and before anybody knew it, he was in Britney's bedroom with the door shut. Lynne figured he was in there taking pictures of Britney with her stuffed animals and posters, but when the agent finally insisted on going in, they all found Britney sitting on her bed in a bra and hot pants. Remember--this is Rolling Stone magazine, not Seventeen.

And on it goes. Lynne is similarly shocked and devastated years later when teenager Jamie Lynn comes home pregnant. One more episode showed for me what seems to be the cluelessness of Lynne Spears. Around the time of Britney's famous breakdown, a nasty character named Sam Lutfi appeared out of nowhere. His first encounter with the family was when he called Lynne to tell her that Britney's ex, Kevin, and Britney's assistant were conspiring and had planted drugs at Britney's house. In a panic, Lynne and the assistant search the house but find no drugs. A while later, when Sam calls again, instead of hanging up, Lynne tells him that they found no drugs. Then Sam offers her a job selling cubic zirconia jewelry on TV. When that falls through for ambiguous reasons, she still considers getting involved with him when he tells her he has a shoe endorsement deal for her daughter, Jamie Lynn. That one, not surprisingly, falls through as well. Lynne and a friend still remain connected with this character when he tells her that he can connect them with an agent for the friend's son, which--surprise!--doesn't work out. Eventually Sam gets his tendrils around Britney, and it ends up taking a court order to get him out of her life. I 'll just let this incident speak for itself.

There are some nice moments. I'm moved by Lynne's relationship with her sister, Sandra, who died of cancer about a year before the book released. They obviously had a loving relationship, and Lynne writes of her sister in a way that is tender and sweet. And I was glad to see at the end of the book that Lynne talks about the things that she wishes she had done differently, mistakes she personally feels she has made. One of the things she wishes she had done differently was she wishes she had taught her children the importance of living a daily, consistent Christian life style.

The book is interesting in the sense that People magazine is interesting to me for a brief time while I'm getting my hair highlighted and am sitting under the dryer. The voice of Lynne comes through, and so congratulations to Ms. Craker for not overstepping as a co-writer. At times the chronology of events gets lost in Lynne's ranbling reflections, and I wonder what order events actually happened in. The history student in me would like a few more dates. It seems that there is an assumption on the part of the writers that all of us have followed Britney's career and the lives of the Spears so closely that we know exactly what they are talking about at any point with little or no explanation.

While I think there are valuable things we as a culture could learn from this family's experience, I don't think we'll learn it from reading this book. I really didn't need to read a cautionary tale to realize the emptiness of the modern celebrity lifestyle. But the problems are far deeper than Lynne realizes, more than an aggressive force of papparazzi or greedy people who take advantage of the vulnerability of celebs. So I'll keep waiting for that celebrity memoir that will tell us that we'd all be better off serving others with our talents rather than seeking the momentary adulation and shallow successes that seem to be the goal of so many in twenty-first-century American culture.

A Better Country: Preparing for Heaven

Editors who work for small publishers often get to do other kinds of publishing duties! This week, I find myself "hosting" a blog tour for one of our awesome DHP authors, Dan Schaeffer. We just released his wonderful book, A Better Country: Preparing for Heaven. So, dear readers, you are the beneficiaries of my inexperience: I'm trying the whole blog tour thing out on you before I send this out to the blogosphere at large! (Whoever said that being an editor is boring? And that all we do is read all day?)

BLOG TOUR!
Dan Schaeffer, author of A Better Country: Preparing for Heaven, will be visiting my blog on July 31, 2008. Please help me out by posting any questions or comments you may have on heaven. Let's have an interesting blogosphere conversation--ask the questions about heaven that you have always wanted to ask! I will randomly choose two of you commenters to receive a free copy of this excellent new release from Discovery House Publishers. Employees of Discovery House Publishers may not enter (but you can post your questions). Please submit any question you may have on heaven, and Dan will be responding to your comments on July 31, 2008. Remember: two of you will win free copies of this book--and it's a really good one!

THE BOOK
What picture comes to mind when you think about heaven? Most of us have heard that heaven is a wonderful place and everyone wants to go there, but we don’t know much else about it. Maybe you’ve decided, like author Dan Schaeffer once did, that there is little that can be known about heaven in this life, so there really isn’t much point speculating.

He observes: “I think if the truth were known, many Christians are at best ambivalent, or at worst afraid, of heaven—or at least of the vision they have in their minds . . . We’re far more attached to earth than we think. This may partly explain why it can be so hard to get Christians to think beyond this earthly life to greater spiritual realities.”

And yet, Schaeffer reminds us, there is a restless yearning in our hearts that moments of pleasure cannot long quench and sorrow only intensifies. And that desire has been planted by God Himself—a universal “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). In these pages you will discover the thing you’ve always wanted; the world you’ve longed for; the life you were meant to live; the goal you were meant to pursue—in a word, heaven.

Based on biblical evidence, Schaeffer’s insights about our heavenly desire, the heavenly location, the heavenly life, and heavenly preparation, show us that God wants that “better country” to be the passion and purpose of our present life. As we understand what heaven will truly be like, our priorities will shift and we will no longer live for this life alone.

THE AUTHOR
Dan Schaeffer pastors Shoreline Community Church in Santa Barbara, California. He is an award-winning writer whose articles have appeared in Reader's Digest and A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. His books include In Search of the Real Spirit of Christmas, When Faith and Decisions Collide, and Defining Moments.

More Shack News

World magazine has another interesting article on The Shack. Check it out here.

The Shack

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters below" (Deuteronomy 5:8).


People know about the Trinity, but they only have a vague understanding of the relationship between The Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus. "The Shack" gave me a greater understanding of how God can be the Trinity at the same time. I also gained a greater understanding of what "God is love" really means. ~customer review on Amazon


The Shack is a fascinating phenomenon for a person like me who works in the publishing industry. By all rights, no one should have heard of this low-budget, self-published novel by first-time Oregon author William Young, but the book has defied all the rules and sits comfortably at the top of the bestseller lists. And that's what first captured my attention about this novel and made me so curious that I wanted to read it.

The novel has been praised by notables like Eugene Peterson and Michael W. Smith, but it has been condemned by evangelical leaders such as Albert Mohler and Chuck Colson. It has been the subject of articles in USA Today and Christianity Today. And most recently, Hachette Book Group has partnered with Windblown Media to bring a global readership (and a lot of money!) to the author and original publishers of this title, which to date has sold more than a million copies. A movie is in the works.

As anyone who has an interest in this book knows by now, the novel is the story of Mackenzie Philips, whose youngest daughter was abducted and murdered during a family vacation. The story picks up about four years after this event, frequently referred to in the book as the Great Sadness, one of the literary contrivances that an experienced fiction editor, undoubtedly, would have gotten rid of. Mack has received a note inviting him to the shack deep in the Oregon wilderness where his daughter's murder presumably occurred. The note is signed from Papa, and Mack fairly quickly determines that this is an invitation from God. He accepts the invitation, travels to the shack one weekend, and has a life-changing encounter with the Trinity, which Young depicts as a jolly African American woman who calls herself Papa (God the Father); Jesus; and Sarayu, an Asian woman depicting God the Holy Spirit.

A reader's response to this novel will depend on how seriously he or she takes the Word of God as the only source of truth. If a reader believes that we can know God only as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word, this novel will be difficult reading, as it was for me. While some would argue that this is fiction, and there is room to "play" in Christian art, I would argue that truly Christian art will not go beyond what Scripture teaches to create a new "truth." What Young has done in this novel is to create a god in his own image, a god who appeals to him and who at times resembles the God of Scripture but in the end is a far cry from the great I AM who revealed Himself to Moses and Isaiah.

As someone who has studied literary theory and criticism, I find the writing itself to be poor quality fiction. The dialog is often silly, the plot contrived, and the author really could use a good writing course on literary conventions like plot and narration. But those are trivial objections compared to the content itself. The author clearly has been influenced by writers like C. S. Lewis and John Bunyan-- Eugene Peterson has made the unfortunate comparison of this book to Pilgrim's Progress, an endorsement that I believe he'll live to regret, if he doesn't already--but the novel doesn't come close to the level of excellence that Lewis and Bunyan have achieved. In fact, read their works if you're craving something in this genre. It will be time much better spent.

This novel is the fiction of the Emergent Church, with all of its attack on doctrine, creeds, institutional religion, the church, and authority. Young takes each of these on, at times attacking the Bible itself. Young's disrespect for the Scriptures is clear here: "It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated Westerners' access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that guilt edges?"

Young has portrayed a god who becomes what we want him (or her) to be. Because Mack has had a difficult relationship with his father, God the Father (or Papa) comes to him in the form of an African American woman--something completely different from a white man's stereotypical image of a father figure. But later in the novel, Mack's father-figure issues resolved, God the Father appears to him as a hippie old man, with beard and white pony tail. Often the interactions among the members of the Godhead are portrayed in what seems to be sexual language, and when the three are together, the dialog reminds me of an episode of the old TV comedy series Three's Company.


Young creates a god not to be worshiped; this is a god to pal around with, one who is a little bit smarter and nicer than most humans--one who bakes well, stargazes, gets careless and spills batter, and at times is just plain silly. The Trinity, justification, the transcendence of God, authority--Young gives his own spin on these significant doctrines of Scripture, and his take has little resemblance to the truths we read of there.

I would not recommend this book. If we want to know the truth about a historical figure, we turn to the best source about the person. Imagine this scenario: A novelist writes a story about George Washington. Many of the incidents in the plot and the writers' characterization of Washington are different from what we know to be true from historical accounts that have been derived from Washington's own writings and the writings of his contemporaries--the product of imagination and not fact. A PhD student writes his dissertation, but bases his thesis on this novel, which contradicts what history tells us to be true. How foolish will this student appear to his advisors when he presents his findings!

And yet millions of readers are reading The Shack, a work of fiction that portrays the Trinity very differently from the way God portrays Himself in His Word, and claiming that they now understand the Trinity, forgiveness, and salvation in a way they never have before. And how disappointing that they have not come to know God through the truth of His Word, which is sufficient: "The holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped of every good work" (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

For an excellent and easy-to-read review of this novel from a soundly biblical perspective, check out respected blogger Tim Challies. He's written the review I wish I had the time to write, and with his graphics, it's enjoyable to look at too.

It is sad that so many can be persuaded by so little. All that we read--whether it is fiction, nonfiction, science, or history--must be evaluated by the ultimate source, Scripture. This does not mean that we may only read those things that are in accord with and based on Scripture. It just means that we may not derive our understanding of God and His truth on works of art that have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. While Young's ideas are disturbing, how much more disturbing are the responses of those who are adopting his ideas--the product of his imagination--as truth and reality? May we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.