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A La Carte (10/28)
- 10/28/08
- 8
William P. Young Responds
In an interview with the Christian Post, the author of The Shack responds to critics of his book. “‘These men do not know me at all,’ he said of critics such as Mohler, Challies, and Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle who Young said had not even read the book before criticizing it. ‘[B]ut in the process,’ he continued, “what they have written have actually told us much more about them than about the book.’”
Fireproof
Rick Pearcey writes an excellent article on Fireproof. “No one is confusing Fireproof with Hamlet. But the creative rebels in that church in Georgia are crafting a humane entertainment alternative that has Hollywood scratching its head. There’s no telling where they will end up, but they’re heading in the right direction. Should they pass by C.S. Lewis, he’ll no doubt wave. We look forward to their next stop.”
Kaleidescope
I think some of the most interesting and poignant blog posts come from overseas. In this case it comes from Ali who is “a pediatric nurse with Mercy Ships on board the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship, the M/V Africa Mercy.”
Dangerous Time to Be a Black Baby
This is tragic. “Currently, white women’s rates of abortion have declined to 10.5 abortions per 1,000 women while black women’s rates are an alarming 50 abortions per 1,000 black women. Put in terms of actual pregnancies, the figures are shocking: Nearly half of all African American pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973, the number of abortions by African American women has totaled more than twelve million. ”
Jerry Bridges on The Beatitudes
Jerry Bridges recently preached four messages on “The Beatitudes: Humility in Action.” They are available here for free download.
The Osteens as Spiritual Midgets
Newsweek’s Lisa Miller has a reflection on the Osteens based on “Love Your Life,” the new book by Victoria.
Palin Deserves Respect
I thought this was an interesting article. It is written by the director of Women’s Watch Inc., a nonprofit women’s advocacy group based in Cape May. She laments the sexism that has been so evident in the Sarah Palin saga. “Instead of engaging Palin on the issues, critics attacked attributes that are specifically female. It is Hillary’s pantsuit drama to the power of 10. Palin’s hair, her voice, her motherhood, and her personal hygiene were substituted for substance. That’s when it was nice.”
In an interview with the Christian Post, the author of The Shack responds to critics of his book. “‘These men do not know me at all,’ he said of critics such as Mohler, Challies, and Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle who Young said had not even read the book before criticizing it. ‘[B]ut in the process,’ he continued, “what they have written have actually told us much more about them than about the book.’”
Fireproof
Rick Pearcey writes an excellent article on Fireproof. “No one is confusing Fireproof with Hamlet. But the creative rebels in that church in Georgia are crafting a humane entertainment alternative that has Hollywood scratching its head. There’s no telling where they will end up, but they’re heading in the right direction. Should they pass by C.S. Lewis, he’ll no doubt wave. We look forward to their next stop.”
Kaleidescope
I think some of the most interesting and poignant blog posts come from overseas. In this case it comes from Ali who is “a pediatric nurse with Mercy Ships on board the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship, the M/V Africa Mercy.”
Dangerous Time to Be a Black Baby
This is tragic. “Currently, white women’s rates of abortion have declined to 10.5 abortions per 1,000 women while black women’s rates are an alarming 50 abortions per 1,000 black women. Put in terms of actual pregnancies, the figures are shocking: Nearly half of all African American pregnancies end in abortion. Since 1973, the number of abortions by African American women has totaled more than twelve million. ”
Jerry Bridges on The Beatitudes
Jerry Bridges recently preached four messages on “The Beatitudes: Humility in Action.” They are available here for free download.
The Osteens as Spiritual Midgets
Newsweek’s Lisa Miller has a reflection on the Osteens based on “Love Your Life,” the new book by Victoria.
Palin Deserves Respect
I thought this was an interesting article. It is written by the director of Women’s Watch Inc., a nonprofit women’s advocacy group based in Cape May. She laments the sexism that has been so evident in the Sarah Palin saga. “Instead of engaging Palin on the issues, critics attacked attributes that are specifically female. It is Hillary’s pantsuit drama to the power of 10. Palin’s hair, her voice, her motherhood, and her personal hygiene were substituted for substance. That’s when it was nice.”
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (8)
Do you have any info on his quote about Al Mohler wanting the book banned but Southern Baptist theologians finding nothing wrong with it? Mohler wanting it banned from where? What theologians? When did all this happen? This doesn’t sound familiar. Did Young embellish a more minor event?
I hadn’t heard about Mohler trying to ban the book. If he did that, I can’t imagine where he would have tried to ban it from.
Regarding the article about the Osteens… “When I asked her how she kept her two children interested in church, she answered that even though they were a broccoli and lean-meats household, she gave them doughnuts as a special treat on Sundays.”
Hey, wait a minute…doesn’t that mega-mega-mega church have enough cool stuff to keep the kids interested??
Actually, I find her statement very sad, but not at all surprising.
Regarding Mohler, if I had to wager, I’d bet that Young’s use of the word “banned” is akin to when someone says that so-and-so is “racist” simply because he disagrees with someone of a different race.
On another note, I don’t understand why more people aren’t turned off by Young’s whiny and vacuous defenses of his book. It reminds me of Frank Schaeffer’s “defense” of Crazy for God. To paraphrase Young, “what he has said has actually told us much more about him than about the book.”
That article about the Osteens is right on the money. Perhaps someone should remind them that knowing what the Bible says does not make one a spiritual giant. Even the demons believe and shudder.
The Young article was quite the puff piece. Just like in the official response to critics on the Shack page, there’s no substance, just personal attack. And reporting on Mohler’s “book banning” without any real depth was silly.
It’s a shame to have to “know” an author to effectively critique him. I have heard this defense of this book too often. It does not matter what Young personally believes, his doctrinal statement, how he lives, or who his friends are; the only thing that matters is what he wrote. That is how this book is being judged. I am positive if Piper, Macarthur, or Mohler wrote this book the response would be the same, but not as gracious.William Young could be the best living example of Christ on earth today and his book would still have to be viewed in light of Scripture, and judged accordingly.
Why does the endorsement of hundreds of favourable reviews of The Shack have legitimacy when those reviewers do not know Young but the handful of negative reviews from folks like Challies, Driscoll and Mohler lack credibility because they do not know Young. If personal knowledge of the author is the means by which a book can be properly assessed then both the positive and the negative reviews should be dismissed together. It seems though that Young celebrates the hundreds of positive reviews from people who don’t know him but ignores the negative reviews because the reviewers don’t know him.
Further, I wonder if his complaints about Driscoll, Mohler and Challies are even legitimate for surely he does not know these men personally. If Young criticizes them for criticizing his book in the absence of personal knowledge then it should follow that Young’s crticism of them presupposes that he has personal knowledge of them.