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.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
The Right Stuff:
Pagan Christianity is one of the most provocative and courageous books written about the church in recent years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and cannot wait to see Frank Viola's next book, Reimaging the Church. As a pastor who ministers like a missionary in the inner-city with at-risk youth, bikers, the homeless, ex-felons, AIDS patients, and other people not always warmly welcomed in the mainstream, I have found I have to be "non-traditional" in my approach to church. What I learned as I read this book... more info
Excellent Exposure of Apostasy in Your Church:
I am the publisher of James Russell Publishing.com and the author of "The Lost Gospel of John". I do not publish this book, but the book "Pagan Christianity" is an excellent "in-your-face" exposure of the great apostasy taking place in 99.999 protestant churches. No beating around the bush. The authors are directly to the point and back up all their claims with solid historical and biblical evidence. It is powerfully written, brutally truthful and is terribly relevant today in these last days. The book is... more info
"WORDS IN RED":
TO ALL NEGATIVE REVIEWS: IN SHORT, I BELIEVE THE REAL PROOFTEXTING IS FOUND IN INSTITUTIONALISM - READ THE WORDS IN RED - JESUS THE MESSIAH RESTORED INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND OPPOSED ALL FORMS OF INSTITUTIONALISM; OTHERWISE HE WOULD'VE SET UP HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH. INSTITUTIONALISM NAILED HIM TO THE CROSS! THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT...
History, not Criticism:
This book is essentially an abbreviated history of where all of the common practices (outside of Christmas and Easter) of the Protestant church came from. I felt that the author made every effort to present the facts as cleanly as possible. That said, you probably noticed that many reviewers are very critical of the author's "opinions", but I got the impression that he was very up front about what was opinion and what was fact, and most of the disturbing parts of this book are undeniable facts. This is... more info
