back was intriguing. My life hasn’t been the same since. I would advise you not to read it unless you are willing to truly examine everything you believe with a magnifying glass and let God blow away all the chaff. I also advise you not to say one word of criticism against it until you have read it. To do so would be talking out of ignorance. He actually advertises with this slogan: “Pagan Christianity? is the most critiqued book by those who have never read it.” You are welcome to comment on my blog about what I say, but don’t bother to criticize the book until you have read it. Remember that I am human and may inadvertently misrepresent what he is saying. I can guarantee that I will get passionate and say extreme things he would never say. This book more closely examines the practices of the New Testament church and compares that with common traditions we practice in churches today. You would be surprised about how many traditions come from the Pagan practices of the Greeks & Romans rather than the early 1st century church. Here is a list of the chapters of the book:
1-Have We Really Been Doing It By The Book?
2-The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex.
3-The Order of Worship: Sunday Mornings Set In Concrete
4-The Sermon: Protestantism's Most Sacred Cow
5-The Pastor: Obstacle To Every-Member Functioning
6-Sunday Morning Costumes: Covering Up The Problem
7-Ministers of Music: Second-String Clergy
8-Tithing and Clergy Salaries: Sore Spots On The Wallet
9-Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Diluting The Sacraments
10-Christian Education: Swelling The Cranium
11-Reapproaching the New Testament: The Bible Is Not A Jigsaw Puzzle
12-A Second Glance at the Savior: Jesus The Revolutionary
-The Next Step
-Final Thoughts: Q&A with Viola and Barna
5 comments:
Mary you and I defer greatly when it comes to chaff blowing. I believe that God blows away the chaff as I read the Bible, not as I read a book written by a man. I think it is dangerous to spend too much time reading man's opinions and ideas. You certainly can read those books, but if you read them more than the Bible I believe it to be wrong. Over the last two years, I have focused my reading in the Old Testament. Before that it was the New Testament. Now I have decided to focus my energy on the New Testament again. Only when I have completely saturated myself in the New Testament again will I read that book. It is the way to gain discernment. It is how we are not blown by the wind back and forth with the ideas of man. You may go to extremes with your clothes and other things, but you won't when it comes to what you believe if you constantly saturate yourself with the Bible and make it your main book that you read. I challenge you to read as many pages of the Bible as you do other books. Of course, the challenge does not include books you need to read for your job or schooling. So, I will read that book after I have soaked in the Word from Acts to Jude. I want my convictions to come from God's Word not a man's book. If that man's book then complements what God's Word has shown me then it is good.
Rebecca,
Am I understanding you correctly when you say that chaff blowing can happen only when you read the Bible and not also when you read other books? I know from personal experience that lots of my chaff has been blown away when I have read books written by man. I remember that book about fear that you gave me when I was newly married. I'm not saying the author's words were inspired by the Spirit, but He sure used them to convict me to the very core of my being. It brought about some changes in my life. Another book was Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, the book that approached the often "worn out" story of the prodigal son in such a fresh manner that the Spirit used it to bring me to finally forgive my father. I can't even begin to list all the books that have chiseled, blown, or whacked off some bad things from my life. Maybe it is because I'm a librarian, writer, and bibliophile that I can be so impacted by books.
Please do not misunderstand me here. I'm not holding any of these books up to the level or even in the same ballpark as the God-breathed Bible. It is the primary source by which He speaks and all other sources must be evaluated to make sure they don't contradict the Bible. I do believe that He speaks to us by other means--a song, an inner "voice," art, a book, a flower, etc. I say the later because God blew a huge piece of chaff off of me one time on account of a morning glory, but that is another story I'll have to write about.
Right now is a perfect example. He used your exhortation to blow chaff from me too. It was a good reminder when you said we should read more of the Bible than we read of any other book in order to remain mindful of the truth and prevent ourselves from being blown about by men's ideas. You weren't quoting scripture. You were paraphrasing and synthesizing several principles. One of the things I remember a professor in seminary saying was this: "Don't read more books about the Book than you read the Book." That has always stuck with me and I'm reminded of it now. So don't tell me God doesn't use other sources besides the Bible to speak truth into people's lives. He just used you. It is a weakness of mine to read other books more than the Bible. I humbly admit that I needed that word from you and I know His Spirit wanted to use you to deliver it. I ask that you pray for me daily to overcome distractions that prevent me from reading the Bible more often.
Well... I guess maybe you are right about the chaff blowing thing. I guess I just don't like the fact that a lot of Christians I meet don't read the Bible really. They just read other books about the Bible. You can tell by the way they talk. They never refer to verses in the Bible only stuff they read from a person who wrote about the Bible. Sometimes I think we might as well have the Bible written in Latin for how often Christians really read it. I mean how is that so different. In the dark ages, the people from the Catholic church listened to their leaders interpret the Latin Scriptures for them. How is it any different now? We just read books by men who tell us how to interpret the scriptures without ever really reading the scriptures for ourselves. Not that you do that Mary, but I know many Christians do.
It is for this reason I love listening to Ray Comfort because he is always quoting actual scripture. I love Kay Aurther (how do you spell her last name?) for this reason. Her ministry focuses on the Bible. All else is secondary.
We are in total agreement that people should read the Bible more and quote it more than other books. I don't read the Bible enough, but I do paraphrase it alot. I have trouble remembering exact wording or references, but I can usually quickly find a passage I'm thinking about. It is Kay Arthur and I like her focus on the Bible as well.
Mary, I am curious about something: would you be willing to read and study the works of Nichke(sp?), Hitler, or the pope before you can criticize them?
In other words, just how familiar does a person have to be before they understand the mindset of where they are coming from?
While I have not read this book, I am very familiar with Barna, and the kind of information he uses.
Barna is another type like Hybels and Warren who see the church as a place to market the gospel. His books with their novel notions are not new at all. It is the same tired expression of bored "christians" looking to be edgier than the next.
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