Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, by David Gregory

On the heels of reading The Shack, in which a man struggling with his faith gets a written invitation to meet with God, I picked up David Gregory's Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering.  In spite of the similar set-up and theme, these are two very different books.  Gregory's slim volume is less ambitious, but achieves more.

Nick, a workaholic who is distant from his wife and skeptical about church, receives an invitation in the mail to "a dinner with Jesus of Nazareth."  Convinced it's a prank by his buddies, he decides to play along and shows up at the appointed time.  By the time dinner's over, he's convinced that Jesus himself, not some actor, was sitting across the table from him.

Over the course of the evening, Jesus and Nick carry on a wide-ranging discussion about life, God, and salvation.  (I seem to remember another Nick who had a lot of questions for Jesus. . . .)  Gregory skillfully weaves many familiar apologetic arguments and evangelistic messages into their conversation.  Readers familiar with apologetic literature will recognize allusions to C.S. Lewis and others.

For example, they discuss the "many paths to God" as Nick offers what he knows of other world religions.  Jesus flatly states, "There is no path to God."  He elaborates: "A path is something you travel down by your own effort to reach a destination.  But there's no such path to God.  There is nothing you can do to work your way to God."

As you might expect of Jesus, he is warm and engaging, yet probing.  He patiently answers Nick's concerns, eventually winning him over.  You may never get an invitation to dine with Jesus, but Dinner with a Perfect Stranger might leave you longing to spend more time with him.

The Shack, by William P. Young

I know The Shack has impacted many people, some of whom glow about how it has changed their relationship with God.  I don't want to completely dismiss all those people's experiences; I can only tell you my own experience.

 In my experience, The Shack was annoying to read.  It wasn't just that Young portrayed God as an African-American woman.  I know God has no gender, but there are many more masculine references to God in the Bible than feminine.  Represent God as a woman if you want to.  Whatever.

And it wasn't just that the theology is weak.  I won't go so far as to say it's blasphemous or anti-biblical.  It's painfully incomplete.  Young presents God as a buddy, a pal.  Young's point throughout the book is that Christianity is not about religion, ritual, or rules, but about relationship.  I agree completely.  But I thought Young went too far, and it ended up with a watered-down, philosophically and theologically weak presentation.

Of the many theological criticisms out there (And there are many; some people have written whole books discussing the theology of The Shack.) the one I was most curious about is that Young devalues the local church.  The dismissal is there if you're looking for it.  "God" says he didn't create institutions and seems to dismiss the institutional church.  Fine, but perhaps he could say something nice about the earthly manifestation of his bride.

One theological theme Young was supposed to be dealing with was the problem of evil.  The main story has to do with Mac's dealing with the kidnapping and murder of his young daughter, Missy.  He harbors a great deal of anger against God for allowing such evil to happen.  God invites Mac to spend time at the shack where Missy was killed, and Mac spends a surprising weekend with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, all appearing in the flesh.  While he does get a sense of closure on his daughter's death, I was disappointed that Young couldn't address Mac's complaints more convincingly.

My main complaint with The Shack is Young's amateurish writing style.  Have you ever received those forwarded e-mails with the emotional, maudlin stories, that tell you you must forward them to 10 friends?  The Shack is a book-length version of those e-mails.  Just awful.

That's not to say there's nothing of value here.  Young's theme of friendship with God is a great message.  And I loved God's assertion that God is "especially fond" of all of God's children.  I'll end with this quote, God's reminder to Mac that his life is meaningful:

"Because you are important, everything you do is important.  Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."