Sunday, October 17, 2010

What is Christian Mythology?

Someone at church asked me today about the progress of my book, Christian Mythology. Then they wanted to know what it is all about. For those of readers who are also authors, you know that part of a book proposal is the Competition. What recent books on the shelves are like your proposed book? Here's my competition list along with their amazon.com links so you can check them out. Most of them have free previews.

When I first started writing the book, there wasn't much competition. This concerned me because I wondered if this massive burden God put upon me was mine alone. But soon it was clear that God was working in the hearts of other authors with the same message;

Spencer, Michael, Mere Churchianity, Waterbrook Press, 2010

Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank, Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ, Thomas Nelson, 2010

Platt, David, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, Multnomah Books, 2010

Mr. Viola has many other titles around the theme as well. These are all thought-provoking works. What sets mine apart from the competition is this mind-bending question:

What if we all stopped going to church? What if we stopped doing all the "churchy" things we are so familiar with, the traditions, the feel-good experiences, and instead, we started being the Church? What if started by doing and being exclusively those things explicitly found in the Bible? Nothing else? What would be different about us, our churches, and our reputations in the eyes of the world? Would we be more like Jesus?

Christian Mythology examines some of the thoughts, teachings, and beliefs in our American Christian culture and holds them up to Biblical authority. The three verses that God put on my heart for this book are:

Ephesians 5:25-27 - "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Is this how Jesus will find us at any moment?

Romans 6:11 - "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Do we continually transact this before God and literally believe it?

I Corinthians 15:34a - "Awake to righteousness, and sin not."

God woke me up seven years ago and put this message on my heart and keyboard. He did the same for many others too. Are you awake? Do you hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today? His message to the last seven churches was, "Repent, repent, repent." Shall we do likewise?

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