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What a sales pitch, Ashley Perks. Come watch “The Shack”! – for “An Invigorating Revelation of God”! – “the Trinity”! – you know, the stuffs of “dinner table dialogue and cappuccino conversations”! Because: “Whatever one gets from reading The Shack, or through experiencing the (text-faithful) film version, it is through the eyes of our spirits and the ears of our hearts that revelation comes, rather than our limited intellect.”
Not going to happen. Thanks, but no thanks, though. But, if I’m going to the movies, you can be sure that I’m not going to watch “The Shack (for) An Invigorating Revelation of God” – but, rather, for “A Sad Feel-for-the-Guy Revelation of William Paul Young Himself, the Poor Guy”!
Because, by watching the film, I’d want to know one thing and only that: What made William Paul Jones commit to writing and filming so many things contrary to the gospel of salvation through the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ – at the risk (and he knows this) of losing everything – salvation, blessing, the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God? After all, he is as he says he is – or isn’t he? – “I’m a protestant evangelical fundamentalist.” (William Paul Young, interview, Eden, January 11th, 2013)
I welcome your answer, most definitely, but for what it’s worth, here’s mine for now. Strictly going by his own words, I put it to you, that he has decided to continue doing what he has already been doing because of:
(1) SECULARISM – “contrary to the evangelical heritage I grew up with, which had a very low view of humanity, … I am constantly trying to find … huge amounts of resonance within secularism that religion has created inhibitions to address.” (William Paul Young, interview, Goodreads, September 2015)
(2) SEXUAL ABUSE – “With the kind of history that I have, with growing up in a culture where sexual abuse was a part of my world before I was five years old, … it took me decades to work through the damage with any sense of coherency or integration (and to be) inside the conversation with regard to the healing of the human soul.” (William Paul Young, interview, Goodreads, September 2015)
(3) PATRIARCHY – “A lot of my imaginations of God was a projection of my own damage because of my father (which) end up with a God who’s not even a very good father.” (William Paul Young, interview, New Statesman, 3 January 2013)
(4) ADULTERY – “The Shack is a metaphor; it’s my soul … All I had left was the shame (from my adulterous infidelity to my wife) … and I had to make a decision to either kill myself or face Kim. So I chose Kim (and) her fury … that drove me to the edge to feel every single piece of garbage in my history.” (William Paul Young, interview, BookPage, December 2008)
(5) PUSHBACKED IMAGERY – Because of the character “Papa … God the father … a large, black African-American woman … I have had this pushback about the imagery” (William Paul Young, interview, NPR, December 1, 2012) “Imagery doesn’t define God, it helps us understand the character and nature of God.” (William Paul Young, interview, Eden, January 11th, 2013)
(6) PARADIGM TAMPERING – “I wanted to play with the paradigms we have theologically. … Just because (imagery) tampers with people’s paradigms doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. Because it pushes us to re-think how we view God, how we view our relationship with God.” (William Paul Young, interview, TitleTrakk, 2012) The Shack … opposes my theological presuppositions. (It) is going to tamper with some of your sensibilities just by virtue of what it is.” (William Paul Young, interview, Eden, January 11th, 2013) “I wanted to challenge the existing narrative … part of what I am to the community of faith as well as to the community of humanity is that I’m an interpreter.” (William Paul Young, interview, Goodreads, September 2015)