Al Mohler reviews The Shack on his blog today. I read the novel back at the end of 2008 and posted about it here. I thought Mohler’s review was worth posting about because of the greater concern he raises:

It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals – and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe... We desperately need a theological recovery that can only come from practicing biblical discernment.

I’d encourage you to read the entire review for yourself, but I think Mohler raises a valid concern. It hits me squarely between the eyes, both as a pastor, and as a father. I think it goes beyond merely teaching the Bible (that’s a given – or at least, it had better be). I think it also involves teaching people how to think biblically.

I’m not talking about merely filling our heads with more Bible knowledge. The Pharisees had an abundance of knowledge, but completely missed Christ.

I’m talking about the ability to evaluate everything through the lens of Scripture. A great example of this would be the way Jesus responded to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4). He met each and every temptation with Scripture – “It is written...” Now obviously, in order for us to respond with Scripture, we must first know Scripture. And in order to know Scripture, we have to study it, which brings us back around to the concern being voiced by Mohler.

By the way, this is one of the reasons why our youth pastor is taking our teens through a study of the great doctrinal themes of Scripture. He started in Genesis and is working his way through Scripture, showing them how everything in the Bible ultimately points to Jesus. I love it! I’m equally stoked about the fact that our teens are loving it! They are having some dynamic discussions each week.

Some might be tempted think, “You’re teaching Bible doctrine to teenagers? Shouldn’t you be doing something more practical? Yeah, they need the Bible, but not DOCTRINE.”

Paul wouldn’t agree. Neither would Luke. Neither would Jude. Neither would Jesus.

I appreciate you, Tim, and I’m proud of you! Thanks for loving our kids enough to feed them the Word! You’re making a difference!

Mohler concludes:

The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us – a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.

What do you think? God, through the prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge (4:6). Can discernment survive without doctrine?