A few years ago, noted pollster George Barna published a book, entitled Revolution, in which he argues in favor of Christians freeing themselves from the traditional church, and living their lives as “Revolutionaries.” The premises in the book were based on a horrific hermeneutic. (For example, in a portion of the book in which Barna sets out to survey what the Scriptures say about the church, he mentions only a series of passages in the book of Acts. There is no mention of anything in an epistle that has to do with the church. Now, if you have READ the epistles of Paul, or James, or Peter, or John, you know that there are a few mentions of the church and how the church is to function within the New Testament epistles.)
Well, it seems that Barna is back to strike another blow on this nail. He has a new book, which I have not yet seen, titled Pagan Christianity. I have read some reactions from those who had advanced copies of the book. (The book is not shown as available currently on amazon.com, so it has either sold out there, or hasn’t made it into their warehouse quite yet.) I’ve also read some Q&A published by Barna’s co-author on the new book, Frank Viola. Before you ask how I can attack the book without having seen it, note that I’m not doing that. I am asking a question about something Frank Viola said in his Q&A.
I was in the institutional church for thirteen years. During that time, I was part of about a dozen different Protestant denominations and five different parachurch organizations.
Tell me, do you think that having been in a dozen denominations and five parachurch organizations all during a thirteen year span qualifies one as an informed critic of their practices?!? Was he with any one church/denomination long enough to evaluate the fruit of the pattern of ministry they practiced? I think not!
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