Pagan Christianity?

Frank Viola and George Barna have done an excellent job producing a priceless resource about the church for every Christian willing to read with an open mind. I recommend this book to any Christian of any denomination. Packed with truth!

It is a shocking discovery to come to realize that a majority of how we ‘’church’’ comes from pagan traditions. As a protestant you come to realize that the Protestant Reformation was basically reformed catholicism, and not to what we read in the book of acts. This is an awesome eye opening read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants more than just a sunday service each week for years. Highly reccomend it.

Some books are just so good that you just have to read them twice and this is one of them. Pagan Christianity is an eye opening read - a result of in depth research of the origins of many of the current practices of many modern churches. I actually dare you to read this one.

What this book revealed about the origins of the mechanics of my long-practiced Christian "worship service" was startling. Yet, I was compelled to continue reading and investigating Viola's and Barna's research and claims to know the truth. I could wish that they were wrong, but then would I really be a "truth seeker?" After all, Jesus said that if His disciples abided in Him and His words abided in us, THEN we would know the truth and be free. In my experience, it seems that those who stand to profit the most from the corporate church system are the ones least likely to read this book (if they are willing to read it at all) without prejudice. If what this book claims is, in fact, historically and biblically accurate, then the institutional church system as we know it today needs to come crashing down. Yet, as the religious leaders of Jesus' day were unwilling to accept any notion that they could remotely be wrong before God, similarly, my experience is that most religious leaders today share the same sentiment. To challenge their business-model empire is, in their minds, to challenge God Himself. Yet, Scripture teaches us to "examine ALL things and hold fast to that which is good." We are also to "test the spirits to see if they are from God." Actually, what this book has revealed makes sense. And it gives strong and compelling reasons why the institutional church system just does not work. It was not the idea of Christ nor His apostles. Just as the synagogue was not from God, neither does the institutional church system marry up with Christ's intent for His body. So why are we spending so much time, energy and resources trying to make it work? I cannot speak for the masses; I can only walk away from it myself, and encourage as many as will investigate these claims to do the same. Not to abandon Christ, but to walk away from a religious system that stunts spiritual growth and does not honor Christ. I do not believe that simply meeting in homes solves our need for intimate fellowship and edification. Why not? Because merely moving the assembly to different postal addresses brings with that move the same infected mindset that permeates the corporate assembly. Only by abolishing the entire clergy/laity system and the weekly scripted liturgy can all Christians function as the priests Christ intends for them to be. But before this will happen, Christian leaders will need to submit to the lead of the Holy Spirit themselves. Give up control, lead by example, and allow the household of priests to edify the body of Christ. This will never happen as long as we are tethered to a scripted liturgy, where the household of priests must remain muted. Hats off to Viola and Barna for compiling such a gutsy work. This book will not make them popular with men, but our reward comes from God, right?

In reading a previous review, I was saddened that the reader missed the point of this great work by Frank Viola and George Barna. There are many reasons why believers are disappointed and dissatisfied with their church experience. The authors strongly suggest, and I concur, that it's because we have been a part of something that is not what it was originally meant to be - namely, the institutional church as opposed to the organic expression of our Creator. "The meetings of the early church (ekklesia) were marked by every-member functioning, spontaneity, freedom, vibrancy, and open participation." The shared life experience was one of brothers and sisters caring for one another to the extent of dying to self in order to give God more ground - to be a counter cultural community. A visible expression of God. A community whose primary focus is Christ: because He is truly the Chief Cornerstone; and God's eternal purpose. This work is one of a collection and should be read in conjunction with the others. A visit to Frank Viola's web site will assist you in locating the other book titles. Blessings!

I'm not the only person out there that knew "something's wrong" with what we practice as church. This book establishes a surprisingly concrete footing, as to why, the institutionalized church will NEVER really work. More importantly the book tries to re-teach us that -WE- are the church and that God is able to lead us if we would trust and believe he can! Life changing book, if there ever was one. Brad Baerwald, Studio 51

I loved learning the fascinating history behind many church traditions we just take for granted. Two things I didn't like was that I found it too extreme in its conclusions and completely disregarded the Old Testament. First, sometimes the Bible is prescriptive (how things should be done) and sometimes it's descriptive (how things were done, but not necessarily how they should be done now). Also, as wonderful as the new testament church model was in a number of ways, it was massively plagued by heresies and divisions from the get go (just read Paul's letters to see the issues they dealt with). Also, movements do change overtime (for better and worse), but any growing organization I feel must keep the things that helped it grow and be effective, but also set up a appropriate infrastructure to support future growth (but not to protect gains and become reactionary). Fascinating read but it failed to address the weaknesses of the NT model we see in scripture and history and just took a "startup" as a one-size-fits-all ideal. Google, Facebook and Apple are all very innovative, but they no longer operate out of someone's garage run by a couple unpaid college dropouts (or as implied here... out of thousands of garages with thousands of unpaid college drop outs). They had to grow up, but maintain an culture of innovation and excellence. This should be the church handles growth in my mind (instead of becoming reactionary, entrenched and traditional).