Pagan Christianity – Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices

Pagan Christianity Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices

Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning? Why do we "dress up" for church? Why does the pastor preach a sermon each week? Why do we have pews, steeples, choirs, and seminaries? This volume reveals the startling truth: most of what Christians do in present-day churches is not rooted in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Coauthors Frank Viola and George Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence in the first-ever book to document the full story of modern Christian church practices.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Very informative hard to find truths
Great book. All the info makes complete sense. Information that pastors and leaders shove under the carpet. God bless this man for getting the truth out.

5 Stars very informational
This book is very enlightening and is hard to put down once you start reading

5 Stars Turned my thinking upside down!
This book takes the ideas that are "assumed" about church and lays out the historical and spiritual aspects – what a shock. Highly recommended for seekers, "sleepers", or people who just want to know more about Christianity and the early church. Chapters can be read out of order…be sure to have a magifying glass because the footnotes are the best part. Dare to read this and you'll never think the same way about "church".

5 Stars Painful, but necessary
Reading this book is like walking through concentration camps after the holocaust. Painful, but necessary. It reveals a level of devastation in the church that few really understand. The authors show how many of our "sacred cow" practices in the church are actually keeping us from being the body of Christ.

If you are perfectly happy with the state of the church, you will probably reject what you read in this book. If you find the average church rather meaningless and irrelevant, your gut feelings will be validated and you will find hope in the fact that God means for us to experience so much more.

Read it with an open mind. You may not agree with every point they make, but you must agree that the church has strayed far from its roots. I only wish that the authors had taken the space to provide more detailed constructive solutions, because quite honestly, this is a depressing book.

5 Stars Saving Pastors
"Pagan Christianity" is one of the top four books that have influenced my beliefs the most. The others include Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy," Scot McKnight's "The Jesus Creed," and Calvin Miller's "Into the Depths of God." Viola's and Barna's historical research is excellent and even high-church clergymen such as N.T. Wright ("Surprised by Hope") concur that much of what we practice as religion or church today has its roots in paganism instead of true Judeo-Christianity. But what we can discern from Scripture and history do not necessarily lead to the same conclusions.

I've noticed that other reviewers disagree with Viola/Barna's "cure" for the state Christianity is in today. But beyond that, I don't feel that a return to "being the church" (the Body of Christ) as opposed to "going to church" is a threat to pastors. On the contrary, I feel it is the best thing to happen to pastor/teachers since the Great Commission. The solution frees up pastors from all of the high-demand expections we now subject them to. The proof of that is in the high burn-out rate among them. And that includes my last pastor who now spins records at a nightclub.

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Related posts:

1. Pagan Christianity – Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices
2. Counterfeit Christianity – How Ancient Paganism Mixed with Christianity
3. Christianity's Egyptian Roots
4. Celebrating The Pagan Soul
5. The Mysteries of Mithras – The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World
6. Christless Christianity The Alternative Gospel of the American Church
7. Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century – The Classic That Woke Up the Church
8. The Roots of Reconstruction
9. The Jesus Mysteries – Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God
10. Cakes and Ale for the Pagan Soul – Spells, Recipes, and Reflections from Neopagan Elders and Teachers

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