The Story ' The Shack '

By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.

Various religions define good and evil in various ways. However, one thing is certain. Since our society has existed, good and evil have also been in existence and many religions see them as two sides of the same coin. Some religions see them as counterparts, one of which focuses on promotion of happiness and the other on everything evil or all that is contrary to happiness. Every religion and mythology define them in its own way and they find representation in various forms like demons and angels in Christianity and Devas and Danavas in Hinduism. But the concept of good and evil has always been there and in old times

The image of God can be interpreted many ways. Most envision Him as a Father Time figure that sits on a cloud thumbing his long, silver beard. Some view God as an uncompromising demiurge, while others choose to believe He is a loving deity with bountiful grace. While some consider the Holy Trinity one being, others believe it to be three separate entities. William P. Young, in his fictional novel, The Shack, takes a very different approach on his view of God. The author personifies the Holy Trinity in terms that very few have ever considered. In the formative years of William P. Young’s life, significant events occurred that shaped his presentation of God. The images portrayed in his book conflict with the belief of many

In the book of Genesis in the Bible, God created the heavens and the Earth and all was good. God told Adam and Eve that they can eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden except for one, The Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil. God was and is compassionate enough to give the beings he created freedom of choice. Nobody wants someone who is forced into love. God also does not want us to be made to love Him but wants us to do so out of our own free will. That free will that God gives us is the source of evil. Just as Adam and Eve used the free will God gave them to be disobedient and sin, human beings evil because of their freedom to do so. In addition to free will God allows evil to exist because without it, the beings he created could not develop ethically. The Problem of Evil states that God cannot be all loving, all good, all powerful and everywhere because evil exists. Philosopher, John Hicks states that evil is necessary for soul and moral development. How would humans know that is good without it counterpart for comparison? In situations like the Charleston church shooting, where loved ones lives are violently taken by evil, the families of the victims are made to develop morally. When confronted with evil, violence, and grief, they either exhibit patience, love, courage, forgiveness, acceptance, and/or faith. Otherwise they conform or give into evil and become timid, weak, angry, or even become violent themselves. Without evil our world would be blissful.

A possible solution to the problem of evil is the Augustinian theodicy which is based on Genesis. St Augustine argued that in genesis 1 God is seen as creating a world that is perfectly good and free from defect. He said that this was clearly outlined in G1:31 where it says “God saw what he had made and it was very good.” He believed that evil itself is not a thing or substance therefore God did not create it. Augustine argue that “evil was the going wrong of something good and as a result Augustine termed evil as a “privation of a good” that did not come from God but entities with free will such as angels and humans who were willing to give

My book is The Shack By: William P. Young The Characters are Mackenzie (Mack) Dad), Willie (Mack’s friend), Nan (Mack’s Wife), Missy (Abducted Daughter), Jon, Tyler, Josh, and Kate (Other children), Papa (a name the family calls God), Elouisa/Papa- african american (God she meets at the Shack), Sarayu- asian (gardener of Mack’s Heart), Jesus-Hebrew (Meets and talks to Mack at the shack)

When I started to read The Shack by William P. Young, I was expecting a gory memoir of a child who was kidnaped and brutally murdered. But it is so much more. The book goes on to tell the story of Mackenzie Allen Philips, or Mack, who had a drunk for a father that regularly abused him. Over his childhood, he struggled in his relationship with God, which lead him down the path of the “Great Sadness” after his youngest daughter, Missy, was kidnapped. The so-called serial killer “Little Lady Killer” takes his daughter while on a camping trip with his three youngest. The police and Mack search desperately for Missy, and end up finding her bloody dress in a shack in the remote wilderness of Washington. Three and a half years later, Mack receives a strange letter in his mail box telling him to go to the shack where Missy’s dress was found. It’s signed at the end with “Papa”, the name Mack’s wife refers to God as. He goes to the shack only to find himself being faced with the Holy Trinity; God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. Only, God appears as a female version of Morgan Freeman, Jesus appears as a modern-day carpenter, and the Holy Ghost appears as an almost translucent Asian lady called Sarayu (pronounced Suh-ruh-yu). There he is faced with having to learn to trust in God even though it feels as if he is no where to be found, and cope with the death of Missy. Mack has, to say, run-ins with stories from the Bible that were made reality for him, for example walking on water with

There are multiple definitions to the word evil. Although being immoral or malevolent is the main definition, there are more that contribute to the word. For example, evil could be considered the way someone speaks or treats someone else in a hateful manner.The word could also be perceived religiously. A very religious person will consider an object, action, or even a person to be unholy or “evil’ because it contradicts their beliefs. Despite these definitions being correct none of these are the way I see the word evil.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy defines theodicy as “a defense of the justice or goodness of God in the face of doubts or objections arising from the phenomena of evil in the world.” How could evil exists in a world made by God, the Omnipotent? In an article by Lee Strobel titled, Logical Problem of Evil, he contracted George Barna to conducted a poll to see what was the one question most people would ask God if given the chance. The most common response at 17% was “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” If we were made in his image, how can we commit such horrors against mankind or any of God’s creations? Merriam’s Dictionary defines evil as “morally reprehensible; sinful; wicked; arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct.” Are we inherently evil? To suggest that God represent evil is blasphemous, so we must be careful not to come across that way in any of our thoughts. When most of us think of

The whole idea for the Problem of Evil revolves around the fact that unnecessary evils in the world exist in which could have been prevented. The deductive argument states that, “If God does exist then he’s all powerful, all knowing, and all good(PKG). If an all PKG god exists then there would be no evil. There is evil. Hence there is no God.” Thus, when referring to evil as a whole we

Instead, the evil we know is merely the product of a limited, human perspective on “the true character of God’s creative bounty” (Cahn, 252). In this theory, there is only one element: God’s benevolence. The “evil” that humans perceive is not the opposite of God’s will, but simply the absence of his will. This theory is similar to the idea that “darkness is only the absence of light,” or “badness is only the absence of goodness.” If this reasoning is correct, then God could not have created evil because evil does not actually exist.

The problem of evil, if one believes in the great and powerful God, is something that most will think about at some point in their life. It’s one of the greatest objections to the existence of God. It’s basically the problem of figuring out to what extent does the existence of evil count against the existence of God or if it even does at all. First and foremost, we can most likely come to an agreement that when thinking of the sufferings and evil in the world we think of either inhumane acts or natural disaster, both of which we’d assume God could prevent being that he’s the creator of everything. With that being said, most will agree that there are two types of the problem of evil, the emotional and intellectual. A lot of people will experience

The novel The Shack by William Paul Young proved to be a very enlightening read. I was able to connect to the questions the protagonist had about God and to the struggles he had with his faith. One part that spoke to me the most was when Mack speaks about the “hierarchy” that the Trinity seems to be in. For myself personally, I look at the Trinity as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Just as Mack believed, I find myself believing that the Father is the one in charge who orders Jesus around. I have also never seen how the Holy Spirit fits into the Trinity. I know that the Trinity is three persons in one, but I could never imagine this without the Father as being the leader of the three. Reading the book somehow made it clearer that there

Evil cannot be disproven and it is beneficial to existence overall. Atheists and Christians alike may be troubled is the question of why evil exist? Why does God let evil exist? If he is all-powerful and good why would he do that? The idea of a forgiving omnipotent God allowing the presence of moral evil seems conflicting. We are created in his image, if God is good why do we tend to sin? To understand this it is important to know the distinctions between the two primary categories of evil. Theologians and Philosophers such as Aquinas or Nietzsche recognize that with

I don’t work today, its teachers conference so an extra day to relax and do some cleaning. Seriously cleaning on an extra day off I must be delusional. I began my day with my cup of coffee and finishing rereading the book The Shack. For the rest of the day doing some writing for a class. That’s how serious I am on my day off.