Graphic Artist Regrets Involvement In 'The Shack' After Concluding That It Contains False Doctrine
One of the people behind "The Shack" has expressed "deep regrets" over his personal involvement with and promotion of the controversial 2007 best-selling novel, which was made into a movie and released last month.
Dave Aldrich, the graphic artist who helped design the novel written by Canadian author William P. Young, wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday, offering his apology "to all who I may have led astray by my promoting the book."
He said it was only after "The Shack" was shown in theaters that he came to realize that the book it was based on contained false doctrine.
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Aldrich said he joined the book project more than 10 years ago after he was "captivated by the story and felt honored to be part of the graphic creation of the book."
At that time, he said he was fascinated by the God portrayed by the author. "The Shack's story wonderfully painted this picture to me of an incredibly knowable and loving God, one full of forgiveness, but without being judgmental," he wrote.
He later realized that that was a misleading notion. "The fact is that there are two inseparable sides to God. He is both love and judge," he said.
Aldrich said he was at the point of accepting universalist beliefs when he came to realize the danger. "I thank the Lord that He pulled me back from that edge," he wrote.
"I look back and see how little discernment I had. And I regret and apologize also for waiting this long to publicly share this," he wrote.
To those who argue that the book and film are both works of fiction and should be treated as such, Aldrich believes the danger lies in the fact that the author is not just sharing his imagination but is seeking to convey a religious message, albeit a false one. "Many will still say that the book was intended as just a work of fiction, but the author himself, William Paul Young, is quoted as saying, 'The Shack is theology. But it is a theology wrapped in a story,'" Aldrich noted.
Despite its controversial theme, the movie has drawn the endorsement of more than 1,000 faith leaders, according to the resource site for "The Shack."
The movie has become a subject of intense debate among Christians from various walks of life, as CP earlier reported.
"I felt the movie was too New Age for my tastes. If Oprah Winfrey were to make a 'Christian' movie, 'The Shack' would be it. I felt it took too many liberties with the Person of God. God commands us to not to make any graven images," said Jerry Newcombe, the senior producer and on-air host and a columnist for D. James Kennedy Ministries, in an op-ed piece for The Christian Post.
National Catholic Register's Steven D. Greydanus, agrees that the film and book contain controversial theology.
However, he argued that people should not place a limit on how God might chose to present Himself.
"The Shack doesn't say God is actually like this; it says that this is how God chose to manifest Himself to one particular person: one Mackenzie 'Mack' Philips, played in the film by Sam Worthington. Well, who can say God wouldn't choose to appear this way to someone?" Greydanus said.
Far from limiting the popularity of the film, the controversy appeared to have done the opposite. Forbes reported that "The Shack" hit a "divine" box office opening despite the controversy, pulling in $16.1 million from 2,888 theaters. It says it was the best performance of a Christian movie since "Heaven Is for Real" in 2014.
