Home Church - Pagan Christianity

I know that many if not most of the people on this board are non-believers but for those of you who are religious, there's a recently released book, Pagan Christianity, that is causing quite a furor. It's currently No. 19 on Amazon and is and to my understanding (I'm just starting the book) is a really detailed look at the home church.

Does anyone on this board attend a home church? If so, can someone explain it to me? I've read some articles but I don't really understand how anyone is qualified to lead the church. My understanding is that there really isn't a pastor.

What's making this book controversial is that it really takes on the traditional church. A statement on the back of the book reads: "Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted, not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles." The premise is very controversial but the research in the book is impressive. It essentially says that traditional church is just pagan ritual and isn't at all how church is described in the New Testament.

Has anyone read Pagan Christianity? Can anyone provide me with more info about what is a "home church"?

 

I think Homer, wearing bear-claw slippers and a robe, tried this on an episode of the Simpsons. His house burned down.

That's all I got.

 

I don't have much either, but it's certainly true that Christianity has always borrowed from pagan traditions. Co-opting pagan customs was often the way that missionaries earned converts. There are thousands of examples of this. Pick a Christian holiday, and there's probably a pagan tradition somewhere there.

 

You mean there was no mention of a rabbit in the Bible when Jesus died and then came back from the dead?

 

So does this book suggest that we go back to the good ol' days of Christianity when early Christians were hunted, killed, tortured and imprisoned when they weren't spreading a couple fish and five loaves of bread among thousands?

 

Don't know that particular book but "The Pagan Christ" by Tom Harpur is a similar theme.

 

WTF is a home church?

I once had a woman get very pissed off at me for saying that the Christmas tree was lifted from paganism. Sorry. Yeah, and while, you're pissed off, go look in the Gospels for the part about the cute, pink-and-yellow bunny that sat atop the stone that had been rolled away from the tomb. "He is risen!" the bunny chirped to the astonished apostles. Then he passed out kosher Cadbury eggs.

 

The date of Christmas is taken from Paganism. If you look at the historical record, the census that caused Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem didn't take place in December. It was spring.

 

OK, OK. The Xmas tree and Easter bunny were aftermarket add-ons.

But I ain't budging on Santy Claus.

 

Io Saturnalia!

 

Did you know baseball was in the Bible?

"In the big inning."

 

God must have laughed when He saw Bob Stanley waddling out from Satan's bullpen to "put out the fire." Big inning, indeed.