Is this out of your reasoning?

[Stranger]

Just to inform you that not only does the film not really follow the book, but also that the author, himself, plainly states the book is a work of pure fiction. So, no one is trying to find out if a note was ever delivered to someone.

You mean the letters I got in the mailbox are not real?

Stranger

 

[Willie T]

You mean the letters I got in the mailbox are not real?

Stranger

No, those are probably real since you didn't write a book about them.

 

[Stranger]

No, those are probably real since you didn't write a book about them.

How does me making a book about them make them real or not?

Stranger

 

[Willie T]

How does me making a book about them make them real or not?

Stranger

I wasn't clear. I meant that they aren't part of the imagined plot of a book that you came up with.

 

[Stranger]

I wasn't clear. I meant that they aren't part of the imagined plot of a book that you came up with.

I didn't say they were imagined. I said I got letters. From God.

Stranger

 

[Willie T]

I didn't say they were imagined. I said I got letters. From God.

Stranger

Well, why haven't you written a book about them yet?

 

[Butterfly]

hmm, i'm not real comfortable with "have to have" there, but categorically yes. i'm more inclined to believe it was a person possibly led by the Spirit anyway; imo God has written all He needs to for us already? But i'm not fam with the source, or the note, etc, so really i'm just spitballing.

oh, The Shack. Guess i'll hafta get through watching it just to stay relevant lol. Tried twice already

I do not believe that God has said all he needs to with regards to the individual lives of those in a relationship with him - prophecy still comes to individuals, guidence, assurance, wisdom ect is still needed on a personal level. The Holy Spirit still communicates with pictures, words, dreams ect . Also God understands us as individuals, in the book Mack needed a prompt, something that would get his attention - the note did that.
Butterfly

 

[Butterfly]

BTW, I have compiled 28 pages of questions and comments on this book if anyone is interested. Just ask me for them.

I thought you were working through the questions on the website - so are your questions on different aspects to those ?
I would be interested?
Butterfly

 

[Naomi25]

Most of you know from where this excerpt comes...… To me, it poses a real question that today's Christians should be able to answer in their minds. Can you? How say ye? "Yea" or "nay?"

"Try as he might, Mack could not escape the desperate possibility that the note just might be from God after all, even if the thought of God passing notes did not fit well with his theological training. In seminary he had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated Westerners’ access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that 'guilt' edges?"

I'm not a fan on the book, to be honest, but that's not really the point.
...are we really having a conversation about what God "can and can't do"? Because I think the answer is blindingly obvious, isn't it??
The real question would be: would he?
In all the ways he gets peoples attention and speaks to them...I'm not sure I've heard of a hand written letter, but that doesn't mean he hasn't. I think usually it's dreams and visions and promptings from others through their dreams and visions...but who knows? Someone may have received a letter and *felt* it to be from God...but how would you prove such a thing? Standing on top of the roof shouting "look at this hand written letter I got from God" is a good way to be mocked. So my guess would be that if people honestly thought they had received something like that, they would hug it to themselves and perhaps a few very close people.
But...I'm just guessing!

 

[ScottA]

Maybe I need to be more bluntly specific....
Would God ever leave a note in someone's mailbox... or, in your mind, is that a flat-out impossibility? (I'm deliberately moving away from "the small, still, inner voice" speaking to our hearts.)
Would God use this sort of communication today?

I don't know the quote, but God certainly communications in all manner of mysterious ways, even today. If anything, His communication has gotten all the more complex, as is befitting of one born into a time of increased knowledge. We still hear of simple communications and miracles among primitive cultures...and then somehow expect that God would continue to keep it simple for the less primitive.

I love it, even laugh, when God reveals Himself in complexity as if to wink while increasing the challenge. But which is really greater, the apparent, or the subtle nuance?

 

[bbyrd009]

But which is really greater, the apparent, or the subtle nuance?

we live in such a miracle it is hard to say, huh

 

[bbyrd009]

I do not believe that God has said all he needs to with regards to the individual lives of those in a relationship with him - prophecy still comes to individuals, guidence, assurance, wisdom ect is still needed on a personal level. The Holy Spirit still communicates with pictures, words, dreams ect . Also God understands us as individuals, in the book Mack needed a prompt, something that would get his attention - the note did that.
Butterfly

hmm. Having not read the book nor seen the movie i hesitate to comment there, imo God speaks to us all of the time but generally speaking we lack hearing? So this note could just be a literary device or something...i'm mostly curious why @Naomi25 is not a fan, and i'm wondering if the movie is close enough in intent to the book that i can just watch it?

 

[VictoryinJesus]

Nothing is impossible for God. We all have a love letter from God: The Word. Written by His right hand. An invitation into a relationship.

 

[bbyrd009]

Nothing is impossible for God. We all have a love letter from God: The Word. Written by His right hand. An invitation into a relationship.

that is my take too, and i dunno but something about notes in the mail from God just strikes me as running counter to that; an emotional play or whatever. Gotta read it i guess, or watch it. Have you seen it?

"
The Shack/Film synopsis

After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips spirals into a deep depression that causes him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever."

 

[brakelite]

I am not going to argue whether God would intervene personally, but what I know is that angels most assuredly do, and often. So it would be quite legitimate to give God the glory for a miracle such as Willie described with his fall, but I would be quite certain it was an angel doing his Master's bidding.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

that is my take too, and i dunno but something about notes in the mail from God just strikes me as running counter to that; an emotional play or whatever. Gotta read it i guess, or watch it. Have you seen it?

"
The Shack/Film synopsis

After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips spirals into a deep depression that causes him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever."

For you: I recommend the book over the film. Of course it is fiction but it makes you think. There is a lot of insight about life and struggle in the book where often I had to stop after a page. My favorite was ‘the judge’ scene.

 

[Willie T]

hmm. Having not read the book nor seen the movie i hesitate to comment there, imo God speaks to us all of the time but generally speaking we lack hearing? So this note could just be a literary device or something...i'm mostly curious why @Naomi25 is not a fan, and i'm wondering if the movie is close enough in intent to the book that i can just watch it?

You will probably lose about a third of the impact by only watching the movie. And, I would recommend reading the book first.

 

[Willie T]

I thought you were working through the questions on the website - so are your questions on different aspects to those ?
I would be interested?
Butterfly

They are sets of questions I gathered from different sources. Some of them do overlap a bit since there are only just so many questions you can come up with from a small 248 page book.

 

[Willie T]

hmm, i'm not real comfortable with "have to have" there, but categorically yes. i'm more inclined to believe it was a person possibly led by the Spirit anyway; imo God has written all He needs to for us already? But i'm not fam with the source, or the note, etc, so really i'm just spitballing.

oh, The Shack. Guess i'll hafta get through watching it just to stay relevant lol. Tried twice already

Since this is the kind of fascinating book most people can hardly set down if they are truly hearing the author, I would suggest you just forget about reading it. If you have already tried watching the movie twice and get nothing, reading the book will likely just be an unpleasant task to you.

 

[Frank Lee]

Watchman Nee, a brilliant theologian and educated Christian, lamented that the ignorant villagers in remote Chinese places knew the savior better than he. Their uncluttered minds were able to readily accept the simplicity of the message of salvation. Let me pray for an uncluttered mind and a right heart. Lord protect my head.
He told me once to "put it in a safe place".



It is possible to receive a letter from God. He dictates you write. The prophetic gifts are in operation for those receiving them...