The graphic artist who helped design the controversial best-selling novel "The Shack" has come forward to express his regret for being a part of the project out of his concern that it contains false doctrine.
"[O]ver 10 years ago, I was captivated by the story and felt honored to be part of the graphic creation of the book. I was so drawn into it, wanting to know the God it portrayed," Dave Aldrich of Aldrich Design posted to social media on Tuesday. "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 said that the novel led him into reading other authors such as Rob Bell and Brian McLaren, and he found himself at the edge of accepting universalist beliefs before he came to realize the danger.
"I thank the Lord that He pulled me back from that edge," Aldrich wrote.
And while the graphic designer initially liked how God was portrayed as being non-judgmental and all-loving, he now realizes that because God is love, He must judge sin.
"The fact is that there are two inseparable sides to God. He is both love and judge," he said.
Aldrich states that he now has "deep regrets" over his personal involvement with and promotion of "The Shack."
"The movie release of 'The Shack' has brought all this back to my mind and I felt the need to apologize to all who I may have led astray by my promoting the book," 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."
And while some may argue that the book and film are just an imaginary story, Aldrich believes—based on the statements of its author—that the work is simply a means to communicate a message.
"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.
http://christiannews.net/2017/04/10/...enounces-book/
Hmmm? Interesting.