"Try as he might, Mack could not escape the desperate possibility that the note just might be from God after all, even if the thought of God’s passing notes did not fit well with his theological training. In seminary he had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated Westerners’ access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was the guilt edges."- William Paul Young
Source: Young, William Paul. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity. Newbury Park
First, let me qualify: 1) I have never read The Shack, so I don't have any context, and I'm neither defending or attacking the book; 2) I would never in any way cast doubt on the inerrancy of God's word. But now, allow me to suggest that this excerpt brings up an excellent point about the way many churches and church organizations strive to present the infallibility of themSELVES, not of the Word. It is the MEN who are interpreting Scripture correctly, is the direction Young seems to be heading. The focus is on the men, not God; and the focus needs to be on God. Who is to say that God's word is restricted to gilt pages? Young's sarcasm (at least it seems from this paragraph) is directed at those who admire theologians and big Bibles for the sake of intellectuality and human success– not God.
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