Discern

In Hebrews 5, the author chastises the readers who have become "dull of hearing." He writes:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Discernment is acquired as we carefully study the Scriptures and learn to pay attention to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  We have to cut through the narratives that would easily get us off track and be able to follow God's truth.  When we read a piece online or watch a news report or listen to or view a speaker, it's important that we are able to compare what is said or written with what God has said.  God wants us to grow in Him and to come to a place in Him in which we can digest and follow His instruction.

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There's a passage in Acts 17 that portrays a church that was devoted to studying the Scriptures. One of the writers from whom I will be quoting used one of these verses to highlight the importance of discernment. We can read:
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

It's being hailed as a triumph for the faith-based genre of films.  The movie box office website Box Office Mojo said that it "took in $16.1 million on 2,888 screens for the 3rd spot on the weekend chart. That's good enough to prove that the faith-based genre is not dead yet..."  The box office totals are said to be the "7th biggest opening of a film in the Christian genre."

Yes, and the other six include the three Narnia films and The Passion of the Christ.  That means The Shack, based on the book by William Paul Young, outdistanced War Room, God's Not Dead, and Miracles from Heaven on its opening weekend.

Yet, The Shack has not been embraced among a number of evangelicals.  It has been described as a "controversial" book.  Perhaps you've read it or seen the film.  The setup, according to blogger and pastor Tim Challies, goes like this:

It is the story of Mack, a man who has suffered a terrible tragedy and whose faith has been left in tatters. But then he receives an unexpected invitation to return to the scene where that tragedy unfolded. In a little shack, he encounters Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each in human form—Papa, an African-American woman, Son, a middle-aged Middle-Eastern man, and Holy Spirit, an eclectic Asian woman who goes by Sarayu. Together, over the course of a weekend, they deconstruct and reconstruct Mack’s faith. He leaves the shack a transformed man.

Challies says that, "The book has a number of theological weaknesses that ought to be of concern to Christians. Some noteworthy theologians have gone so far as to describe it as full-out heresy. At the very least, it contains much that is foreign to the Bible and some that is directly opposed to it."  He said he would not be seeing the movie due to its "visual representation of God," which he believes to be a violation of the Second Commandment.

Two of the areas in which those who criticize the book's content seem to have problems are the treatment of sin and the suggestion that all people go to heaven. Michael Youssef states that the author "reasons that God will never judge people for their sins because He is limited by His love. Neither will He enact eternal judgment upon those who reject Him or send anyone to torment in hell."
Youssef, pastor of Atlanta's Church of the Apostles, writes that "Young asserts that there is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because all people will make it to heaven."\

The late Chuck Colson said in 2008, in a Breakpoint commentary published at ChristianHeadlines.com:

The Bible, it seems, is just one among many equally valid ways in which God reveals Himself. And, we are told, the Bible is not about rules and principles; it is about relationship. Sadly, the author fails to show that the relationship with God must be built on the truth of who He really is, not on our reaction to a sunset or a painting.

That is not to say The Shack is without merit. The centrality of Christ and God's breathtaking, costly love come through loud and clear. But these truths are available everywhere in Scripture, everywhere in Christian literature. You do not have to visit The Shack to find them.

Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In also highlights the over-emphasis of the love of God at the expense of de-emphasizing God's judgment for sin.  He writes, "God's loving, forgiving nature is emphasized and reemphasized. And that emphasis on God's immanence—his intimate nearness, as theologians define that term—isn't counterbalanced by that other aspect of God's character as revealed in Scripture: His transcendence, a word that encompasses His holiness, and the fact that He is wholly other from His creation.

He writes:

When Mack asks Papa whether those who sin will be punished, Papa replies, "Sin is its own punishment." That response tends to psychologize sin and minimizes the reality that those who die without a relationship with Christ will face judgment and hell for their sinful choices, according to Scripture.

But, he also writes about the film, which was rated 4 out of 5 for family-friendliness:

Despite those theological missteps, however, there's no doubt here that God: • Loves people, even deeply flawed people who aren't yet in a relationship with Him; • Is Trinitarian by nature; • Is sovereign and cares deeply for those who've gone through severe tragedies; • Does not abandon His loved ones during difficult times; • Desires reconciliation with those who don't know Him; • Offers hope even in the most hopeless of situations; • Offers forgiveness that can change a human heart; • Knows the future; • Is good (Papa tells Mack, "Your big [problem] is you don't think I'm good"); • Is omnipresent; • And can do "incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies."

Noted author Randy Alcorn wrote this about Biblical discernment:

I believe that those who are well grounded in the Word won’t be harmed by the weaknesses and deficiencies of The Shack. For example, a friend of mine recently emailed me about someone she knows, who has a solid Christian worldview, and who loves The Shack and finds it helpful as an allegory.

Unfortunately, increasingly few people these days are well grounded in the Word and have both the knowledge and the discernment to filter out the bad while embracing the good. That means that some people, perhaps many, will fail to recognize the book’s theological weaknesses, and therefore be vulnerable to embracing them, even if unconsciously. Sadly, I personally know some who have been led down a path of universalism through their understanding of the book and what they have heard the author say, either publicly or privately.

Be careful what you read...Alcorn writes:

The Berean Christians were commended for carefully examining, in light of the Scriptures, the teachings of the apostle Paul (see Acts 17:11). This is a man who eventually wrote thirteen inspired biblical books. How much more should we evaluate the teachings of everyone else we read, listen to, or watch.

And, whatever you read or watch, if it purports to be theological in nature, allow that piece to stimulate you to study the Scriptures.  We develop true discernment as we allow the "real" Holy Spirit to direct us in our approach to the Word of God and to help us to understand more about His truth.

Finally, there will be material and issues about which we as believers disagree.  We can be challenged to allow our disagreements to draw us closer to our source of truth and to stimulate us toward productive interaction.