The Shack- Book Club Discussion Questions....

These are my questions for our Book Club, I thought I would put them up on for everyone to answer and share their thoughts and feelings on it, as well as those in the book club to write them down and think of what they are going to answer in reguards to the questions, and to what to look for and try to answer as they are reading. I chose this book because, it has a great meaning of not being angry with God. Also seeing loved ones again..The book is a great fictional story.

Here are the questions:

Were you drawn in by the plot of The Shack?

How did reading this book affect your faith?

Does it change, challenge, strengthen your image of God?

Why is God portrayed as a woman, what reasons does God give Mack?

What part of the book spoke to you the most, and why?(If you can find it please read it)

Are there any brief quotes in the book that you like?

Why do you think Mack's encounter with God took place at the shack? If God were to invite you somewhere, where would it be? (In other words, where is the center of your doubt and pain)?

Do you think suffering makes people closer to God or causes them to distance themselves from Him? What has been the pattern in your life?

Were you satisfied with God's answers to Mack about suffering? Do you struggle with believing God is good in light of all the tragedy in the world?

How is Young's description of God different from your concept of God? What parts of his description did you like and what parts didn't you like?

Did The Shack change any of your opinions about God or Christianity?

What were some of the things The Shack teaches about God, faith and life that you disagreed with?

Does God answer convincingly the reason for the trinity?

Does the idea of God a character in the book, or God's first-person voice, bother you...or does it work within the context of The Shack's story?

Why did God let Missy die? Do you think The Shack answers convincingly the central question of theodicy, the existence of evil—or why, if there is a God, bad things happen to good people?

What does The Shack say about forgiveness—toward the self or toward those who have wronged you.

Young has been criticized for advocating lawlessness (p. 122) ...or universalism (p. 225)? Do you think that is a fair or unfair criticism?

Many readers find the first 4 chapters of The Shack almost too painful to read. Could they have been written in a way that would be less painful—without changing the book's message?

Does the book's ultimate message satisfy you? Is it possible to let go of control and certainty in life? Is it possible to live only in the present?

Do you think suffering draws people closer to God or distances them from Him? Which has it done in your life?

If you think about your soul as a garden, what do you imagine it being like? Is it neat and all in order? Is it a mess? Do you want it in order? Do you want it to be a mess or in order? Does it need weeding?

Why do you think Missy was buried in the garden?

How did the author's description of God differ from your understanding of God? What parts of the descriptions of God did you resonate with? What parts did you have a hard time with? Why?

Did you have a hard time with the way the author presented God's gender? Why or why not?

Did you find the presentation of the Trinity helpful or totally off balance? Why or why not?

When you pray to or think about God, what is the mental picture that comes to mind of what God looks like?

Mack naturally relates to Jesus the best out of any member of the Trinity? Which do you tend to relate to when you pray? When you think about what is God is like?

Do you think God is too nice in The Shack?

What do you think about how Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu relate to one another?

The Great Sadness goes from being something that is the grief of Mack, to the thing that defines him. How did this happen? How does this happen in people that you know?

In what ways does the Great Sadness in Mack hurt him in his relationships with other people?

In what ways does Mack blame himself for what happened to Missy? How does this define him?

Throughout the story we see that Mack, although he can hardly speak it, blames God for taking his daughter away. When do we blame God? Why? How do we reconcile with God after this?

What were your thoughts about Mack's reconciliation with his father? In what ways do our relationships with our parents define us? Color our relationship with God? With others?

Why is Mack's forgiveness of the killer important? To Papa? To Mack? For the killer?

How does Mack's forgiveness of himself, God, and others get him to the point where he can be a better husband, father, and friend? Do you think this is true of all of us?