Patsy's Book Reviews

Have you read “The Shack” yet? It’s everywhere – even in Tesco’s. It’s a heart-warming allegory based around the true life experience of deep suffering, forgiveness and restoration of a guy called Mack written by his friend. I can't tell you any more or I might give the game away. Well worth reading.

John heard that Bill Hybels of Willow Creek fame had read and then insisted his entire staff (mega bods) read this book as well. It had obviously had a great affect on him so John decided that I should read it – no surprise there!
I have waded through it, put my brain cells into meltdown and struggled to grasp what the author was getting at. For me, the bottom line is what I want to know about. It’s laziness on my part but this book won’t let you off any hook – you have to actually “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” this one. Eventually I was able to find a bottom line of sorts (apologies to author) and here it is:-
“So, the revolution starts in us – in our minds, our hearts – as an act of faith, a transfer of trust from the dominant system to a new way of seeing, believing and living.
Our dominant societal machinery does not make this defection easy. It entices us to keep faith in its current program by making big promises: to increase wealth, cure depression, create constant sexual excitement and fulfilment, stop oppression, increase security, end poverty, overcome injustice, end discrimination, liberate the oppressed, educate the stupid, entertain the bored, and defy or reverse entropy. It never keeps these promises. Instead, it faithfully does the opposite; it increases the cost and decreases the value of prosperity, spreads depression, creates constant sexual frustration, institutionalizes oppression, universalizes terror, widens the gap between rich and poor, popularizes injustice and discrimination, oppresses the liberated, stupefies the educated, makes the entertained boring, and everything sucks into a vortex of entropy. Yet, so many of us keep on believing its false promises.”
Oh, and the book is “everything must change” by Brian McLaren