The Shack

Chapters 5-7

Chapter 5 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

ELOUSIA….. Elousia….El = God  ousia = 'that which is truly real', so the name means the Creator God who is truly real and the ground of all being.

1.     Why would Papa reveal himself as a woman to Mack? 

2.     Think of instances where God has revealed himself to you…….

·          How did you know it was God and would you feel comfortable sharing that with just anyone? A non believer?   Your spouse?  Mack thought he would get locked up and the key thrown away…..pg 70.

3.    Mack had given up on God……”I can’t do this anymore.  I’m tired of trying to find you in all of this.” He was determined that this would be the last time he would go looking for God.  If God wanted him, God would have to come find him” (pg 82)

·         Can you think of a time or times when you felt as Mack did?  Where was God in your life?  What happened?

SARAYU-   ……a tributary of the Ganges which meets two other rivers at the confluence. 

4.    “Mackenzie, we all have things we value enough to collect, don’t we?”     “I collect tears.”   “Then she smiled and her scents seemed to wrap themselves around him and lift a huge weight off his shoulders, as if he had been carting his gear in a backpack.” (pg 86-87) 

·         Do you feel that the author has captured the essence of the Holy Spirit?  Why or why not?

JESUS   ….”My mother called me Yeshua, but I have also been known to respond to Joshua or even Jesse.” Pg 88

5.    Do you think that the author did a good job of representing the Trinity?

Chapter 6  A Piece of the Pi

6.    Does God have a sense of humor?  List some examples. 

7.    Why do you suppose God gave us free will?  “Don’t go because you’re obligated.” “Go because it’s what you want to do.” Pg 91

·         What influences work against your freedom?

·           Ref.  John 8: 25-30     What is the truth?

·         What happens when we choose to go “it” on our own?

Chapter 7  God on the Dock

8.    What did you think of the devotional time that was represented in the story? 

9.     “To see me is to see them.”  Pg 112. Ref. John 14: 6  What is the point that Jesus is trying to make to Mack?