As I suspected, when I googled "The Shack" and "heresy", I found the sharpest criticism of the movie reserved for its rejection of Penal Substitutionary Atonement.
PSA is the gospel as far as most believers are concerned.
So many are convinced that God simply cannot forgive sins without inflicting punishment on someone. They make a case for Jesus taking our punishment at the hand of the Father while on the cross, but they never consider this simple truth: sin which is punished has not been, by definition, forgiven.
Any particular wrongdoing is either punished or forgiven.
It's one or the other.
The atonement sacrifices of the Old Testament involved the death of a lamb, yes, but the focus was on the blood of that lamb, not its death. And it was slaughtered as humanely as possible. Pain was minimized.
The blood of that innocent lamb was used to cleanse the temple from sin (temporarily).
Sin was washed away. Not punished.
How is it that God was able to forgive in Old Testament times and then can't in the New Testament?
Take a moment to meditate on the beauty of Psalm 103:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
9 He will not always accuse us,
nor harbor His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins
or repaid us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are dust.
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