The Presence Of God In The Shack By Stuart Hazedeline

In chapter seven, “The Land That God Forgot,” the author Wes Moore talks about different paths and how it influences the lives of both Weses. He clearly provided an example of a different course the other Wes took and how this worked out for him. The other Wes found Cheryl, his third and fourth children’s mother, unconscious on the couch from a drug overdose. He discovers that she has been addicted to drugs and was even using drugs during her pregnancy.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

Growing up in Minnesota, David Triemert has lived much of his life on the wild side and has challenged the status quo every step of the way. Proud to share his stories of having been jailed three times for exposing local government corruption, he now serves as an activist for political prisoners and the wrongfully accused. All this, while running a construction business and educating himself on both Common and Commercial law.

Often times we are at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the person of the Holy Spirit. Beth Felker Jones in her work entitled “God the Spirit” serves as an introduction to the study of the Holy Spirit in a distinctly Wesleyan and Ecumenical Perspective. Jones is working against the notion that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is often the most neglected of all Christian teachings (1). She recognizes her experience within the Wesleyan tradition as one that shapes her pneumatology and this book. She asserts that one of Wesleyan Christianity’s special gifts is it’s “leaning against any tendency to neglect the Spirit” (4). Even with this framework she aims to place the Wesleyan perspective in a larger ecumenical milieu that shows the continuity of a Wesleyan pneumatology with the Tradition of the Church. Overall, her approach is very accessible, as she assumes very little and writes in such a way that allows her to cover large dogmatic topics clearly and concisely. By merit of simply being an introduction only style book, there is the risk of glossing over topics and not providing enough in depth discussion to fully understand and comprehend the doctrine discussed. A reader should feel confident that Jones has indeed provided us with a solid introduction to Wesleyan pneumatology that has the ability to bear fruit and initiate growth in the life of the believer.

As days went by in the concentration camp, many begin to lose their faith in religion just like Elie. The book, Night is written by Elie Wiesel, a winner of the Nobel Peace prize. In the book Night, Elie is the main character who is very religious at first. It begins with his family and him traveling to Auschwitz which his little sister and mother die. With only his father and him, they went through many hardships and moving from camp to camp. Unfortunately, Elie father did not survive the Holocaust but Elie did. By the end of the story, Elie did entirely lose his faith in God because he did not celebrate the important holidays, questioned God and his justice, and tries to forget his existence.

"I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live as if there isn't and to die to find out that there is" (Web). This quote by Albert Camus describes the journey Elie Wiesel goes through in the story. Elie fights back and forth from thinking that God exists or that he doesn't exist. Night is a memoir about Elie's life during the Holocaust. Elie is captured in 1944 by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp because he is a Jew and throughout his journey, his religious beliefs are shaken.

Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

In this paper, I will review Charles Ryrie’s book The Holy Spirit. I will detail what I feel the book is about. I will emphasize various points given by the author that stood out to me. Finally, I will give my personal evaluation of the book.

The Shack is a riveting book that presents an answer to the question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The reader learns the communications of three theological truths revealed through Young’s words: revelation, salvation, and the Trinity. The amazing story challenges the reader to understand God’s plan in its entirety.

The Child of God describes the life of a social outcast and his violence. The character is known as Lester Ballard. The story starts with an auction being held for Ballard’s family’s property. The auctioneer attempts to sell the land which was taken from the bank. However, Ballard began to act out. He threatens the auctioneer with a rifle. However, Ballard, is taken away and the auction continues. This is the beginning of his violent outburst.

Within many known religions, the devotional practices has been known to acquire great importance. The essence of practicing what you preach has scolded many religious groups, introducing true beliefs, righteousness, and a wider connection to the supreme being . In the book entitled “ Living religions” by Mary Pat Fisher, clarified and firm descriptions were introduced about religious rituals. Surprisingly; the author utilized small parts of modern concepts, limiting the reader from a full comprehension of religious practices today, therefore; I will only discuss the basic and traditional rituals. To elaborate; in this paper, I will be providing an opinionated but also, comparative description of the major practices and rituals that undergo in both the Abrahamic and indigenous religions.

Catching Faith is a Christian film that wrestles with concepts such as what is and isn’t

The first time I read the novel “The Shack,” I immediately empathized with the main character. The story is about a little girl who was abducted from a camping site and found murdered. Its main story line follows the emotional roller coaster of her father, Mack. Not to give the entire story away, I will not discuss exactly what Mack experienced. However, losing his daughter filled him with so much pain and anger. Mack could not understand how this could happen, why this would happen to his daughter. Ultimately he struggles with God, wanting to know why God would let his daughter be taken away in such a brutal murder. I have faced struggles and sadness in my life that made me cry out to God asking,

The meaning of religion is something that scholars, along with society at large, have attempted to define for centuries. Although the term cannot truly have one solid meaning, it is clear that religion is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. In Religion: The Basics, author Mallory Nye discusses his approach to studying religion. In arguing that culture and religion strongly influence each other, he explains that those studying religion must make people and culture their focus, as variations even within the same religions exist and must be considered. Moreover, Nye explains how religion is, essentially, a universal concept, as it takes form in an array of shapes across the globe. With Nye’s argument, I have developed new insights