Friday, July 25, 2008

The Shack Discussion

Tonight was our first Shack discussion group. It would be impossible to recapture the dynamic so I will not even try. What I will do is share the discussion questions we used

THE SHACK
DISCUSSION GUIDE QUESTIONS
Ch 1-3

PAGE
7 Willie describes Macks family as committed to calloused hands and rigorous rules…externally religious, etc…
How common is this today?
8 How does being overly religious leave a child feeling?
9 Why would Mack “see the landscape of human ideas and experiences differently than everybody else?”
Mack claimed to have a way of pointing out people’s faults and humiliating them while maintain his own sense of false power and control. How and why do people do this?
10 What is a “love/hate relationship with religion?”
How would childhood experience effect marital relationships?
11 Explain: “most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing”.
Why does “grace rarely make sense for those looking in from the outside?”
Are you totally at home in your own skin? Why or why not?
Willie says Mack is no longer just wide, he has gone way deep. But the dive cost him dearly. Does it have to cost dearly?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

For reasons I do not know my computer will not let me format this tonight. The guide is just for the introduction. Most of the questions are open ended with no right or wrong answer, just your personal experience. Please feel free to post your comments. They just may bless someone else in a way only Papa can know. I'm sure he will mention it to you when you see him.

Jodi said...

I loved this study at your house last night. Thank you so much for walking me through this journy of learning how to be really LOVED by God and to feel comfortable in my own skin :). Love you so much!

Laurie said...

How I wish I could have been there!

Anonymous said...

If you have not read the Shack, please feel free to comment anyway. Your observations and opinions are just as valued. Live free

Shauna said...

I have not read "The Shack" but I do plan on buying it soon. My husband was a youth pastor for 10 years, then a pastor for 4 years, and is about to head back into youth ministry. One thing we noticed in youth ministry is this: some families have no rules and no relationship, some families have lots of rules and no relationship, some families appear to have a relationship but no rules, and the families whose kids seem to be the most well adjusted come from families who have rules inside of a relationship. I think that applies to the parent child relationship and to the God - human relationship. There are rules meant to keep us safe, but God loves us even when we break the rules, He is always waiting right there to catch us when we fall, pick us up, give us a hug and send us on our way to try again. My hope as a parent is to try to mirror God's love to my children - there will be rules meant to keep them safe, but when they mess up - and I know they will, I want to be there to give them a hug and encourage them to try again. That is my intent - unfortunately I fail as a parent sometimes too.

Shauna

ray stone said...

I browsed the pages of The Shack and ended up reading about three and a half chapters, plus the ending. Voom! Powerful. Despite some awkward sentencing and obivous theological loopholes, the book is creatively absorbing. Clearly is does not line up one hundred percent with scripture (no book does), but this is why it is FICTION. Does it dishonors God? I think not. Is is leaven and heresy? That is debatable. It simply is what it is. Let the reader beware. An equally intriguing and controversial work is A Step Into Deliverance by T. Pugh. It is a riveting autobiography about a pastor's amazing journey down the road to the deliverance ministry. It's a real page-turner