Christianity Inside

A Review of “Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices” by Frank Viola and George Barna.

While I certainly understand and sympathize with the concerns of the authors of this book, and I have enjoyed the fellowship and intimacy with God and His children that can be found in home groups, I cannot disagree more with some of their conclusions that many contemporary Church practices are pagan in origin.

For example, the Old Testament records that, on God’s command, the Israelites constructed a Tabernacle, and later – on David and Solomon’s orders, and with God’s approval – a Temple that became a center of worship for all Israel. Furthermore, on God’s orders, the Israelites established a hereditary priesthood that was given the primary task of performing atonement sacrifices to temporarily pay for the sins of the nation.

These priests were also called to memorize the Torah, apply it to everyday life, and faithfully teach the people in their care to do likewise. Therefore, contrary to the conclusions of the authors, the idea of the priesthood, a trained clergy preaching the Good News, and official church buildings do have biblical counterparts, and are not pagan in origin at all!

The real problem is not that these institutions exist, but that Christ’s ministry to mankind abolished the need for a paid priesthood, and specialized temples dedicated to making animal sacrifices, which were no longer required when Christ became our perfect High Priest and atonement sacrifice, and invited us to co-reign and co-minister with Him in His Kingdom.

Also, the authors fail to note that wherever Paul went to preach, he always located the Christians in these communities if he could find them, and requested their hospitality before preaching. Then, when Paul preached, he entered the synagogues first. There, he delivered the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the Jews and Gentile acolytes in that community before going to the local town squares or forums to preach to the Gentiles.

This practice clearly suggests a need for centralized gathering places that Christians can use as a springboard to share their faith with the world. This also means that the Church has been called to hold open forums and discussions about the Gospel in public places whenever they are allowed. In other words, to be more biblically correct, congregations should hold their Church meetings and love feasts on the lawns of their churches rather than indoors whenever possible as an outreach to their communities!

Rather than seeing house church groups as superior to institutionalized Churches, there has always been a need for home churches to work in tandem with centralized houses of worship that can serve as gathering places open to believers as well as non-believers. In this way, they would be able to more effectively share the Gospel, and the love of God with outsiders in their local communities.

Remember that the First Century Church was often a persecuted church, and it went underground, and behind closed doors to protect itself from angry Gentiles and Jews that hated the Gospel. It was hated because it gave all people the freedom to govern themselves with the light of the Holy Spirit, and to see to their own salvation by accepting Christ’s reign in their hearts in the spirit of a true and democratic theocracy.

Sadly, that is the main problem with the Churches in the West today. They have hidden the light of Christ inside their Church buildings instead of taking it to public places to share with anyone who wants to attend their meetings. In the process, they are now losing, and have – in many cases – lost the enormous privilege they once had to share the Gospel openly with the spiritually bankrupt world around them in the West.

Secondly, most Churches are so busy promoting missionary efforts in other countries that they have forgotten to take care of the financial and emotional needs of their own parishioners – something that could easily be done if everyone in the community gave their surplus goods and cash to help everyone in the Church like they did in New Testament times (Acts 2:44-47, Acts 4:32).

Don’t you think it would be easier to spread the Good News if everyone in the Church gave whatever they could to help the poorest and neediest people in their own communities and congregations before worrying about the unsaved in Africa or China? If this were done, modern Churches would likely grow so fast that there would be no need to spend money sending missionaries, for they would witness to people visiting from those communities, who in turn would take the Gospel to their own communities.

The New Testament story of the Ethiopian eunuch who practiced Judaism, but then became a believer in Christ and was baptized is an example of this (See Acts 8:27-39). Though it is not recorded in the Bible, this eunuch is traditionally attributed with sharing the Good News of the Kingdom of God with the Queen of Ethiopia, as well as other Ethiopian Jews and Gentiles, and thus helping to establish the Ethiopian Christian Church, which may be the oldest Orthodox Church community in the world!

I can see no greater way to achieve the Great Commission than to win converts from among every local community, and among all the foreigners who visit the United States, and the other countries of the West for an education. Isn’t it sad that telling others about God the Father and Christ in American and European schools and business places where those foreigners congregate has been outlawed?

No wonder God is judging the washed up, watered down, and ineffectual Christians of the world so harshly today by allowing terrorism and religious persecution! Terrorism and persecution are directly tied to the secular and Muslim world’s assault on the loving Gospel of Christ, and it won’t stop until Christ and His Spirit are allowed a chance to be brought back into every home, church, school and workplace in America, Israel, and the world.

Rating: 1 / 5

Oh, for goodness sake. What did Barna ever do to earn all these silly slathering groupies? He’s just a second rate pollster with an ax to grind. He’s made a fortune telling the church how awful it is, and now he’s ready to burn the whole thing down.

Yes, he appeals all these wierdo types (“Uh, yeah, like, I was a student in a seminary and I, like, bought the line about the church. But then, uh, I read Barna and now I see the light. so uh, drop out, man.”

But he’s neither a serious scholar, nor a serious historian, and I’d say, he’s an untested statistition.

Here’s my criticism of the church: We can be so gullible as to let authors and publishers create a cult of celebrity.

George, keep leading the drop-outs brother. And, like we were before you and will be after you, we true “pagan” pastors and “pagan” church-goers, will keep pushing forward the kingdom of God with this “pagan institutional” Church that often stumbles but never retreats.
Rating: 1 / 5

It is good to see it all in print. As one who has been accused of syncritism in Native American Churches, this book reveals the extent of the practice of syncritism inheirant in Christianity. Some of the repetition weakens the argument of the book; but, over all, every Christian should read this.
Rating: 4 / 5