Two things that bothered me about "The Shack"

When I was in Ghana last time I read the popular novel, "The Shack". Shortly before I left, my dentist had told me it was about meeting The Holy Trinity. Sounding intriguing. Soon I got caught up in a very compelling and heart-warming story. I had advance warning that God was portrayed as a woman, so that wasn't shocking, and I recognize besides authority qualities that we recognize as male, God also has nurturing qualities that we usually identify as being female. Through most of the book, the thing that bothered me most was the depiction of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't that He was an Asiatic female. It was the half unreal, fairy-like quality that disturbed me.
I also noticed that God was all kindness and love, and His authority and judgment were overlooked.

But the thing that bothered me at the most came at the end of the book. After the author had resolved the issue in such a heart-tugging way, came the shocker that what happened wasn't real--well, not totally real. Well, maybe partly real. Not real in an historical way that it really happened. The author encourages us to believe it was real in some other sort of way that is never really defined. Francis Schaeffer! Hold still in your grave! This bothered me a lot because it amounted, in my opinion, to a redefining of reality. It was as if something could be real and not real at the same time, true and not true equally together. Francis Schaeffer! Your bones are shaking!

This week I listened to other critiques of the book on Janet Parshall's radio show, "In the Market". Many problems were discussed, but to me the problem of reality is still the most troubling of them all. After you've redefined reality, you can redefine anything and everything else without impunity.

Fetal Heart "Tones"

What do you think of the You-Tube videos where an undercover woman TRIES to talk to a Planned Parenthood doctor before an abortion? She asks him if the fetus has a heartbeat. He squirms around and says there's no heartbeat, but there are heart TONES. Hmm. Always interesting to invent new uses for words, depending on the purpose for doing so. She asks when it becomes a heartBEAT. He says simply, "birth". So let me get this straight. In the womb the heart is pumping blood to oxygenate the body cells, but that's only heart TONES. After birth the heart does the same thing for the same purpose, but that's called heart BEAT. What deceptive use of words! Oh, the wicked deception of the human heart! Does it have no limit?

Trust Women

I've been seeing pleas for funds from NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) making the abortionist George Tiller into a hero because his motto was "Trust Women." Right off let me stop and say this, lest anybody misunderstand me: I don't condone murder and I don't condone the murder of George Tiller. The one who committed that act did a terrible thing. But--to make an abortionist into a hero is certainly a stretch in my book! His murder may have been a tragedy, but that does not make him a hero.

Now--about trusting women. The same group that is distributing wristbands in "honor" of Abortionist Tiller is the very same group that works against all attempts to make sure women have full information when they are considering their response to an unplanned pregnancy. NARAL does not want women to learn about fetal development, get ultrasounds or see pictures of their unborn children or even models showing development at each stage. They apparently don't trust women to make the "right" choice if they were presented with all the facts.

"Trust women" is just a nice-sounding myth, just pro-abortion rhetoric. If pro-abortion groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood really trusted women, they'd trust them not only with the choice, but with all the information to make the choice. I suggest something better. "Trust God and Trust His Holy Word", where He said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.
Jer 1:5 (NKJV)" It is God who is forming us in our mother's wombs, and when we suck out or cut up or poison His handiwork, it is a great and sad loss for us and for the world. That's one more reason why I am pro-life.