DOUBLE BOOK REVIEW - ONCE YOU SEE BY JEFF CHRISTOPHERSON AND PAGAN CHRISTIANITY BY FRANK VIOLA AND GEORGE BARNA

 

Yes, Reformation Day was a week ago. But is it a day we should celebrate year round? After all, many (including me) believe in Semper Reformada - always reforming.

I am reviewing not one but two books today, both of which have the Semper Reformada mindset. Both propose ideas for the church that cause us to examine where we're at and propose where we should be instead. 

Allow me to start with Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices by Frank Viola (the baseball player?) and George Barna (the researcher), since it was published first (2012). The focal point of this book is that a lot of our church traditions are from pagan influences rather than the New Testament. The proposed reformation is to replace the institutional church with its senior pastor, sermons, and church buildings, with organic house churches. Here's the review I posted on Amazon:

"There are books that I think are on target, those that are dangerous, those that are neither (more educational or more entertaining), and those that are both. This fits in the last category.

"I've already come to some of the conclusions they came to. While I admire the big beautiful cathedrals, I wonder what would happen if the focus was on building the church through evangelism and missions instead of building bigger buildings. I also believe that there should be less distinction between clergy and laity.

"However, there are several things I disagree with. These include:

1. A view that the NT prescribes a certain pattern of worship. Sorry, it's not in the NT.
2. A view that appealing to the Old Testament is no better than a pagan view.
3. An activist tone that isn't interested in any less than unconditional surrender.

"I did find myself scanning much of this book and reading the conclusions and the Q&A at the end of each chapter.

"They are right that most if not all features of the current institutional church are not from the Bible. The question is if it's from paganism (a bad influence) or if it's godly people desiring to serve Him."

The second book is Once You See: Seven Temptations of the Western Church by Jeff Christopherson, which came out in December, 2022. Like Pagan Christianity, this book looks at shortcomings of today's church and ways to reform - e.g. the pastors being bi-vocational. However, unlike the other book, this book is a novel. Here's my review of that book: 

"Once You See: Seven Temptations of the Western Church by Jeff Christopherson is a novel looking at three men who are in a crisis in their lives and in the church, and realize there is something more that's not being realized. But how does one reach that goal?

"This book would appeal to a Christian audience. Most Christian novels are stories first, and Christian thought is organic to the tale. My hunch is this book reflects concerns of the author and are told through story as opposed to a typical book. Christopherson has previously written missiological books, and is the executive director of both the Canadian National Baptist Convention and Church Planting Canada. This book comes with a discussion guide.

"I thought he constructed an interesting story. I am definitely interested in reading his other books, especially Venal Dogmata: A Parable of the Future Church."

IS THE CHURCH BEING A FRIEND TO THE WORLD OR A FRIEND OF THE WORLD?

 

Courtesy of Abolish Human Abortion in Ames Iowa

This week, I've seen the extremes of where the American Church is. One good via a pair of Christian Universities. The other? Well, let me continue.

One of the two is from my Alma Mater, Arizona Christian University. Actually, when I attended, the school was Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College (also known as Southwestern College, which is easier to write and to speak). Since then, it has changed from being a small denominational Bible College on East Cactus Road in the Paradise Valley suburb of Phoenix. Now, it is a non-denominational Christian Liberal Arts College in Glendale. 

From two different sources, I saw a release from George Barna and the Cultural Research Center, dated August 31, 2021. I'm not going to give a detailed account (you can read it by clicking here), but I will mention that in it, it states between 6-9% American adults have a distinctly Christian worldview. While the report is discouraging, I'm encouraged that my Alma Mater was involved with this project. By the way, today, Becky heard of another Barna report on how many parents are actively making disciples of their children ... would you believe that's only 2%?😱

Are all Christian schools (whose health is not unrelated to the strength of the American Church) on board? Today, I've learned of another Christian University that is inaugurating their new president. Part of it is a prayer breakfast which states guests of all faith backgrounds will join in praying to the Lord for that Christian School. Uh, are they all praying to the same God? If that particular Christian School is training their students to go into all the world to preach the Gospel, wouldn't that put them in opposition to those inter-faith guests? 

Could this be what James is talking about when he writes, "Adulterers and adultresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God?"

Now, one of my favorite Christian songs is by a group called Liaison titled "Friend to the World." Is that encouraging what James is condemning? No - the point of the song is we have the only source of hope for the world (meaning the people in the world). The best way to be a friend to the people of the world is to oppose the ungodly patterns we live with. 

Are we trying to reach the world by fitting in? I mentioned one verse refuting that view - there's plenty of others that agree. 

James Lawson, a Christian cartoonist friend (you can see a review of his book Therapeutic Insanity by clicking here), told me that Christians should be living Sola Scriptura, that is, by Scripture alone. I say a hearty amen, though I don't believe that we'll be able to live it out consistently as long as we are in the flesh. If we attempt to live it out, we'll stick out, and the world will NOT approve.

I need to ask myself where I fall short from living out Sola Scriptura, where my worldview is reflecting the world's perspective as opposed to the Word's perspective, where I'm uniting with those from whom I should be divided from (and vice versa). How many will join me?