Opening up my understanding of traditional church....I hope.

A portion of the opening of Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola/George Barna.

"...But we are conditioned to read the Bible with the lens handed to us by the Christian tradition to which we belong. We are taught to obey our denomination (or movement) and never to challenge what it teaches.

(At this moment, all the rebellious hearts are applauding and are plotting to wield the above paragraphs to wreak havoc in their churches. If that is you, dear rebellious heart, you have missed our point by a considerable distance. We do not stand with you. Our advice: Either leave your church quietly; refusing to cause division, or be at peace with it. There is a vast gulf between rebellion and taking a stand for what is true.)"

I like that last bracketed paragraph for some reason. There is a peace about it.

"...Warning: If you are unwilling to have your Christianity seriously examined, do not read beyond this page. Give this book to Goodwill immediately! Spare yourself the trouble of having your Christian life turned upside down.

However, if you choose to "take the red pill" and be shown "how deep the rabbit hole goes" ... if you want to learn the true story of where your Christian practices came from... if you are willing to have the curtain pulled back on the contemporary church and its traditional presuppositions fiercely challenged... then you will find this work to be disturbing, enlightening, and possibly life changing.

Put another way, if you are a Christian in the institutional church who takes the New Testament seriously, what you are about to read may lead to a crisis of conscience. For you will be confronted by unmovable historical fact.

On the other hand, if you happen to be one of those people who gathers with other Christians outside the pale of institutional Christianity, you will discover afresh that not only is Scripture on your side - but history stands with you as well."

I am diving in.....sounds fascinating. I need some answers!