Fact and Fiction

Many have read the book The Shack by W. Paul Young across the world. It is currently one of the best selling books in print. Yet despite this, many people have rated it poorly, wrote defaming reviews and began many an argument about the nature of biblical content. I read this book a while ago, so a lot of what I read has now been forgotten. What I do remember however is, how much I liked this book and how much it made sense to me when I thought about it. Problem is/was my naivety and my willingness to accept anything that made sense without actually doing some research to see what the Bible said.

Since I finished the book, I have begun listening to Ps. Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I suggest watching this video on what he had to say about The Shack from a biblical viewpoint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK65Jfny70Y

If you watched the video you would have seen a pretty black and white picture painted before you. Yet despite this, I don't want you to take his word for it. What I would encourage you to do is to read the book and compare what it says to what it says in the bible, so to define your own beliefs about it.

Finally, The Shack is a work of fiction, which is the explanation I have recieved when I asked both my mother and my friend about it. This opened up a whole new set of questions for me. As an aspiring writer, is it okay for me to say whatever I want in a novel? Can I write about something so essential to christianity and not have my facts right?

Surely writing a novel about the God of the Bible is not the same as writing a novel about war or crime. After all what is prison time in comparison to eternity? But I'm not so sure. I really wish there was a difference between the two.

And finally, is there such thing as a novel about God?