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Hack the Theologian – Frank Viola

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This is part of an ongoing series where I briefly interview a theologian, pastor, author, or Bible scholar that I highly respect, and ask them to tell us a bit about themselves, their most current teaching project, and the one most important truth (the hack) they wish every Christian could learn.

I call the series “Hack the Theologian.” This doesn’t mean I think these theologians are hacks. Far from it! It means that I am trying to find (and share with you) the one thing that makes them tick, the one insight that keeps them writing and teaching, the one truth they are most passionate about, the one idea that turned their life and theology upside down. You can read the other posts in the series right here.

(Do you know an author I can highlight in this series? Have them contact me!)

So Let’s “Hack” Frank Viola

Frank violaFrank Viola is the author of numerous books and heads up an online discipleship group called “The Deeper Christian Life.” Here are Frank Viola’s answers to my questions:

1. Can you tell us who you are and what you do in 40 words or less?

Just an Italian guy who is captivated by Jesus and shares the same name as the MLB pitcher. Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve known in my heart that there must be more. So my spiritual journey has been that of discovering the “more” and sharing my discoveries with others.

2. Tell us something about yourself that few people know.

I used to pitch in high school, and I was also the lead singer of an incredible music band. (Sadly, I never made the Majors — without counting in my dreams. The other Frankie V. did.)

3. What is the best book you have read this past year? (It doesn’t have to be theological!)

Shaped by Vision – the biography of T. Austin-Sparks (second time around).

4. You have a new book called There Must be More. Tell us a bit about it. What is the main point and what do you want people to learn or do?

Frank Viola Titan There Must be MoreWe are calling this monstrosity my Titan. It’s an oversized, 800-page, limited edition hardcover that contains over 380,000 words. It includes all of my published writings from 2008 – 2016, some of which were rejected by my publishers because they were too controversial. I (and others) regard the Titan to be more radical than Pagan Christianity, my 2008 book with George Barna. It’s also a robust follow-up to Pagan Christianity.

Here is what it covers and who it’s for:

Serious Reasons

  1. It’s for those who have read some (or all) of my other works and want some of my best writings that have never been printed, which go deeper into the themes.
  2. It’s for those who are part of a Christian community or plan to be in one. It includes my memoir about church and body life with dozens of lessons learned. It also addresses the dangers and the common problems, along with how to deal with them based on my experience in body life since 1988. It’s more detailed in this regard than any of my other works.
  3. It presents a fresh look at God’s eternal purpose and driving passion through the sections on “Magnificent Obsession” and “Rethinking the Mission.”
  4. It’s for any Christian who knows in their hearts, “There has to be more than this” (meaning, more than what they’ve been taught and what they’ve seen).
  5. It’s for those who are interested in a totally different take on the baptism of the Spirit and spiritual gifts than the Pentecostal view and the cessationist view.
  6. It’s for those who wish to have in print my critique of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire.
  7. It’s for those who desire to get a fresh perspective on Christ and His kingdom that will warm the heart, edify the spirit, and inspire the soul.
  8. It’s for those who want all of my unpublished writings in one place. The Table of Contents gives readers an easy way to navigate the content.
  9. It’s for those who wish to contribute toward helping some of the poor and sick people we are trying to help.

Humorous Reasons

  1. It’s for those who are looking for an excuse to buy a new coffee table (there’s a good chance that the Titan will break it immediately upon placement).
  2. It’s for those seeking a blunt force object for a time of need (who needs guns when you have a copy of the Titan on hand).
  3. It’s for those who are looking for a heavy, unmovable door stopper.
  4. It’s for those who own fireplaces and are looking for good kindling material that will burn for at least 8 hours (the 800 pages are constructed in such a way that they roast slowly).
  5. It’s for both my fans who desire to collect all my work. (My mother being one of them.)

5. Karl Barth was once asked to summarize his life’s work in one sentence. He answered, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” How would you summarize your life’s work? To put this question another way, if you could get people to understand just one idea, what would it be?

Jesus Christ is ALL, everything else is commentary.

The Titan will only be printed once and never again. It’s presently on discount until August 20th. Check it out and get your copy at ViolaTitan.com

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Why Christians should not Celebrate Christmas or Easter, Drive a Mazda, or Use a Calendar

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pagan ChristmasThis time of year I see article after article from Christians about why it is sinful to decorate Christmas trees, wrap presents, and sing “Deck the Halls.”

Here is an example:

Whenever I see these blog posts, Facebook articles, and YouTube videos, I always want to ask if they celebrate Easter, drive a Mazda, or use a Calendar.

Why?

Because the exact same logic people use to say that Christians should not celebrate Christmas can also be used to say that Christians should not celebrate Easter, should not drive a Mazda, and should not use a Calendar.

Here is the logic some Christians use to teach that it is sinful to celebrate Christmas:

  1. Christmas has roots in the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. It was celebrated with decorating trees, baking cookies, putting up lights, passing out presents, and singing songs.
  2. If we do these things for Christmas, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

This is the basic logic, and some Christians occasionally find passages like Jeremiah 10:1-5 to support this view.

But let us plug the same logic in to the holiday of Easter:

  1. Easter has roots in the pagan holiday that celebrated Ishtar, the sex goddess. Among other things, the spring celebration of Ishtar was observed with sunrise celebrations, decorating eggs, giving candy, and cute bunnies. It reminded people of new birth and new life.
  2. If we do these things for Easter, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

Ishtar Easter

And how about driving a Mazda:

  1. The Mazda car is named after the chief Persian deity, Ahura Mazda. Even the early symbol of the Mazda line of cars (1936-1962) resembled the dual-winged image of Ahura Mazda   and can still be seen in the modern winged “M” logo of the Mazda (see the three images below).
  2. Therefore, driving a Mazda is a tribute to Ahura Mazda, the pagan Persian deity, and is sinful for Christians. The same thing can be said, by the way, about driving a Saturn or a Mercury.

Following the Christmas logic, we also cannot use a calendar:

  1. All the days of the week are named after pagan deities.
  • Sunday = Sun’s Day
  • Monday = Moon’s Day
  • Tuesday = Tyr’s Day
  • Wednesday = Woden’s Day
  • Thursday = Thor’s Day
  • Friday = Frey’s Day
  • Saturday = Saturn’s Day

And most of the months of the year are also named after various pagan deities.

  • January = Janus’s month
  • February = month of Februa (pagan purification)
  • March = Mars’ month
  • April = Aphrodite’s month
  • May = Maia’s month
  • June = Juno’s month
  • July = Julius Caesar’s month
  • August = Augustus Caesar’s month
  • September = the seventh month*
  • October = the eighth month*
  • November = the ninth month*
  • December = the tenth month*

*The Roman calendar originally only had 10 months, with the first 60 days of the calendar being “monthless.” January and February were later added to the Calendar, but the final four months of the year retained their numbered names.

  1. Therefore, to talk about the days of the week or the months of the year is to give honor to the false gods and deities after which they are named.

As long as we are at it, we should also stop wearing Nike clothes and shoes, eating Mars bars, using Venus razors, buying Hermes handbags, or investing in Janus funds. And since all the planets are named after pagan Roman deities, we shouldn’t talk about our study our solar system. We also shouldn’t visit the Statue of Liberty. And no matter what, we should definitely stay away from the Washington monument and churches with steeples since they are symbols that come from pagan rituals that celebrated the male phallic.

Do you see where all this is going? As soon as Christians start to try to avoid and condemn anything and everything that has pagan roots or symbolism, we end up having to just sit at home twiddling our thumbs. Of course, even that is fraught with danger, because as Paul himself writes, every single human being has a background that is filled with paganism (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11). So we cannot even be around ourselves!

Yes, this has now crossed over into the realm of the absurd.

But that is exactly the point.

All these condemnations of various aspects of life because those areas of life have pagan origins are nothing but absurd.

They also deny and reject the absolute fact that our God is a redeeming God. That Jesus Christ is a redeemer. That everything in heaven and on earth has been placed under the feet of Jesus so that He is all in all. That everything can be received with joy and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. That everything is “Yes” and “Amen” through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

So this Christmas season, go put up lights on your tree. Go bake cookies and pass out presents. Go drive your Mazda to your job on Monday while you wear your Nike shoes and snack on a Mars bar. And while do you do all these pagan things, give praise to Jesus because He has redeemed everything, including you and me.

Jesus is a redeemer

So go ahead! Cut down the tree, decorate it with silver tinsel and gold ornaments, bake the cookies, hand out presents, sing the carols, and do it all with praise to Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer!

If you want to read more about this, I have written a short eBook on the subject, titled Christmas Redemption. Get your copy on Amazon today for $2.99.

Better yet, “Hope” and “Love” Members of RedeemingGod.com will get this book for free a few weeks after signing up. Join now.

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What I Appreciate About Pagans

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This post is part of the March Synchroblog, in which each participant writes what they appreciate about another religion. I chose to write what I appreciate about Pagans.

Who are the Pagans?

Christians often refer to any non-religious person as a “pagan” or a “heathen.”

Odin
This is a drawing of Odin, the Pagan deity who hung on a tree and sacrificed his eye to gain wisdom so that he might rescue the world from evil giants.

But did you know that there really is a “Pagan” religion? And no, they don’t worship the devil, cut themselves with knives, or sacrifice virgins in the woods. They do often worship out in nature, and tend to follow the ancient beliefs and practices of Nordic mythology. Don’t know what that is either? Think “Vikings.” They have various gods and goddesses, among which are Odin, Thor, and Freya. They use runes to help them make decisions and understand the times. Many of their stories can be found in The Poetic Edda.

If you have heard of Paganism in the news, it might be in connection with racism. It is true that some white supremacists call themselves “Pagans,” but most members of the Pagan religion denounce the beliefs and behaviors of this racist fringe, and have nothing to do with them. Just like certain radical, hate-filled, and violent people claim to be “Christian,” but have nothing to do with the teaching of Christ, so also, some racists claim to be Pagan but are not representative of the entire group.

pagan christian calendarNow that I live in the Pacific Northwest, I have come to know many people who consider themselves “Pagan.” They are not atheist, godless people, but are quite devout, religious people. As I have had various conversations with them, I have come to respect many things about them and their religion, and believe that there is much that Christians can learn from Pagans. (If the truth be told, Christians have already borrowed a huge chunk of Pagan beliefs and practices. Most deny that this is so, but denying the truth doesn’t make the truth disappear. But this is a topic for another post.)

Here are three things Christians can learn from Pagans.

1. The Rede (or Rule) of Honor

Pagans have a great sense of honor. They understand the importance of honor, how to gain honor, and how to pass it on to their children. They have rules, or guidelines, about how to treat others with dignity and respect, and how to preserve freedom so that all can live a joyful, productive, and vigorous life.

I believe that there is very little honor left in many forms of Christianity. To a large degree, Christianity has become a materialistic, consumeristic religion, which values money, wealth, possessions, power, and position above honor.

world tree

2. Many people connect with God in Nature

I love nature. I love being in nature. I have always felt closer to God when I am in nature. I can pray better, think better, and listen better when I hear the wind in the trees, the bubbling of the brook, and the call of the squirrels to one another in the branches.

I so wish that Christians would feel the freedom to get out of their stained-glass sanctuaries with professional choirs and padded pews, and get into the wild of nature where God builds His own stained-sunset sanctuary every night, orchestrates his own music, and pads his fallen logs with moss and the ground with pine needles.

Why is a man-made building an “approved” meeting place for Christians, but the God-made house of nature not? Why is the music of man to God considered worship, but not the music of a bird welcoming the morning or the sound of snow falling in the woods?

paganism I think many in Christianity would greatly benefit from a move into the woods. Not so that we can destroy the peace of nature by singing our songs and listening to sermons there (God forbid!), but so that we can listen to the songs already being sung, and see the sermons already being preached. Yes, see. I never go into nature without seeing sermons everywhere I look.

3. No required or mandatory services.

While many Pagans have certain prayers they say or practices they observe on a regular basis, there is no hierarchy of priests and pastors who tell everybody else “This is the right way. Do it this way, or else.” There is great flexibility and freedom for each person or group to believe and practice how they feel best.

This sounds scary to most Christians, because if we just let everyone do what they want and believe what they want, won’t people believe and practice all sorts of crazy, heretical, outlandish things?

Yes, they will. And how does that differ from the way things already are? The way things are (and have always been), Christians believe and practice all sorts of crazy, heretical, outlandish things, but people feel like it’s “okay” because they have priests, clergy, and seminary-trained pastors who teach them to believe and do these things.

Nevertheless, one group argues with and condemns another group. They point fingers at each other, call each other nasty names, and condemn each other to hell. (Which is one of the beliefs we borrowed from paganism, by the way. They call it Hel. I find it SO ironic that the same Christians who condemn Christmas and Easter as being “pagan” religions, condemn to hell anybody who observes these holidays, when most Christian beliefs about “hell” are also borrowed from paganism!)

When one Pagan encounters another Pagan who believes and practices Paganism differently, they might argue a bit about these things, but in the end, they both just shrug their shoulders and decide to “live and let live.” I love this, and am trying to follow Jesus this way in my own life as well. Just as I believe Jesus is leading me to live a certain way, I trust that He is able to lead and guide others also, and I have to believe that He may lead them in a completely different direction than He is leading me.

Do you have any “Pagan” friends? Have you ever encountered people who are part of the “Pagan” religion? Let me know through Facebook or Twitter by sharing this post below.

Here is a list of the other participants in this month’s synchroblog:

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Make the Younger Generation Good Pagans

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Pagan Wheel of the YearI attended a seminar recently on the topic of Paganism. You know… those people who worship Thor, Freya, Odin, and engage in mystical rites out in the woods, usually around a fire. No, they don’t worship Satan. No, they don’t practice black magic.

Today, of course, is Winter Solstice, one of the most religiously significant days of their year. Today is the day when they believe that the dividing wall of separation between men and women and gods and goddesses is the thinnest.

In the seminar, I was shocked at how “Christian” the Pagan belief system really was. Of course,  if you ever told a Pagan this, they would smile and say, “What you mean to say is how Pagan the Christian belief system really is…. Most of Christian theology and practice was stolen from Paganism, after all.”

Though most Christians are shocked to hear it, the Pagans might have a point. In fact, Frank Viola wrote a book about this very thing a few years back (Pagan Christianity?), and I wrote one specifically about the Pagan roots of our Christmas traditions (Christmas Redemption).

But in the seminar I attended (which was taught by a Pagan High Priestess, by the way…), I noted the belief of a creation, of an ongoing battle between good and evil, and of a coming final last battle, in which humans will join in the fight to defeat and vanquish evil from the universe. There was talk of a tree, and getting knowledge from the tree, but at great sacrifice. The similarities go on and on.

C. S. Lewis on Paganism

The reason I bring this up is because of something I read from C. S. Lewis a while back. As he watched the world slide into debauchery and atheism, he believed that while we ultimately want people to accept Christian beliefs about God, Jesus, and the afterlife, it is not easy to lead a person to that point straight from atheism. C. S. Lewis said that before a person can believe in a divine law, they first need to believe in a natural law. The way the world is going, people tend not to believe in any law. Paganism, at least, believes in a natural law, and it is an easy jump from there, says C. S. Lewis, to teach people the divine law as recorded in Scripture and revealed through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

CS Lewis on PaganismI am butchering what C. S. Lewis said. Here is his exact quote:

But… certainly I feel that very grave dangers hang over us. This results from the apostasy of the great part of Europe from the Christian faith. Hence a worse state than the one we were in before we received the Faith. For no one returns from Christianity to the same state he was in before Christianity but into a worse state: the difference between a pagan and an apostate is the difference between an unmarried woman and an adulteress. For faith perfects nature but faith lost corrupts nature. Therefore many men of our time have lost not only the supernatural light but also the natural light which pagans possessed.

But God, who is the God of mercies, even now has not altogether cast off the human race….We must not despair. And (among us) a not inconsiderable number are now returning to the Faith.

So much for the present situation. About remedies to the question is more difficult. For my part I believe we ought to work not only at spreading the Gospel (that certainly) but also at a certain preparation for the Gospel. It is necessary to recall many to the law of nature before we talk about God. For Christ promises forgiveness of sins: but what is that to those who, since they do not know the law of nature, do not know that they have sinned?…Moral relativity is the enemy we have to overcome before we tackle Atheism. I would almost dare to say ‘First let us make the younger generation good pagans and afterwards let us make them Christians’ (Yours, Jack; p. 219).

Any Youth Pastors out there? Try suggesting in your next planning session that you are going to start teaching Paganism to your youth so that they will learn the natural law. See how well that goes over.

But seriously, I think Lewis might be on to something here.

Jesus Walks All Roads

Someone once said (though I do not remember who) that while not all roads lead to Jesus, Jesus walks all roads to lead people to Him.

I think this is true of many of the world’s religions. They do not necessarily lead people to Jesus, but Jesus has no qualms whatsoever about walking into such religions to lead people to Him.

celtic treeI think that the reason there are so many similarities between Christianity and other religions is not because Christianity borrowed or stole from these other religions (though some of that might have happened too), but because the Spirit of God was at work in the hearts and minds of the people who developed these religions to write eternity into their hearts, to foreshadow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to give men and women a longing for grace that could not be achieved in any other way than through Jesus.

Just as Paul wrote that the Law was given to lead people to Jesus (Gal 3:24), so also, other religions and pagan traditions and ideas about creation and the afterlife and defeating evil were given to lead people to Jesus. I have written about this previously here: Merry Mithras!

Don’t worry. I am not about to start teaching or practicing Paganism.

I will, however, wish you a Happy Winter Solstice: Tomorrow, may the light of God’s love in Jesus Christ shine brighter and longer through your life than it did today. May the Son of God be made flesh again as you love and serve others.

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I Am an Idol-Worshiping Pagan Heretic

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Golden CalfSo someone left a one-star review of Christmas Redemption on Amazon.

My books certainly seem to attract negative reviews. Someone left a one-star review of Finding Church before they had even read the book! She claims she doesn’t need to read it, because the title tells her everything she needed to know. So her one-star review was because she didn’t like the title… sigh.

Anyway, regarding the one-star review of Christmas Redemption, the man said that with this book, I am leading people into idol worship. He equated me with Aaron building a Golden Calf for the Israelites and telling them that it was their God. He says he is writing a full-length rebuttal, but wanted to put a short warning up on Amazon.

I appreciate his honesty, and look forward to reading his rebuttal, if he sends me a copy.

But here is the thing, Aaron and the Israelites did the exact opposite of what I am encouraging Christians to do. God led the Israelites out of Egypt, and delivered them through the Red Sea, and then at the foot of Mount Sinai, Aaron built a golden calf and called it Yahweh, and said that this was the god that rescued and delivered them from Egypt. When Moses found out, he became enraged, destroyed the calf, and called people back to giving glory to God alone for what He had done.

I am not calling people to take the things of God and then construct idols for our worship and call them “God.” That is what Aaron did, but not what I am doing. No, I am doing the exact opposite. I encourage people to take the things of the world, which used to give credit and glory to pagan idols, and calling on people to give the credit and glory to Whom it really belongs, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It is He who is the light of the world, the giver of all good things, and the true Spirit of generosity and grace.

This is what Christianity has done with most of our history and traditions (church buildings, Easter, paid clergy, etc), and what Moses himself did with much of his writing. Many Christians do not realize it, but Genesis 1-2 is mostly borrowed from Egyptian Creation Myths. So also, the “contract” between God and the Israelites in Deuteronomy is based off a Mesopotamian Suzerain-Vassal treaty, which often used pagan deities to guarantee the terms of the treaties. But Moses, who was trained in the Egyptian courts, took these documents, and changed the names and a few of the details so that stories and treaties which used to give glory to pagan gods, now directed people’s worship, honor, and glory to the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even most (maybe all) of the Jewish holidays and festivals were borrowed in one way or another from Egyptian and Canaanite festivals at the time.

GenesisThis does not mean that Genesis 1-2 is myth, or that God didn’t really say the things He said in Deuteronomy, or that the Jewish feasts have no significance or meaning.

Quite to the contrary! If anything, God told Moses to write these things, telling him that He was redeeming this stories and treaties and festivals to Himself. Though the Egyptian Creation Myths gave glory to pagan deities, Genesis 1-2 now gives glory to God alone. The redemption of the Suzerain-Vassal treaty shows how God behaves fairly with His people. The redemption of the festivals shows that God can redeem holidays and rituals for His own honor and glory, and that even as His people, He still wants us to enjoy life with parties, laughter, and celebrations. God is not a kill-joy; He’s a joy amplifier.

We could go on and on like through most of the Old Testament and find numerous other examples of writers taking pagan ideas, stories, practices, and customs, and reworking them so that they no longer give glory to idols, but bring honor and worship to the God of Israel. This is what redemption is all about!

Christmas RedemptionAnd this is what I tried to show in Christmas Redemption. There are many pagan practices which used to give glory to pagan deities, but the church can take some of these practices and symbols and point them to the One who really deserves the glory and honor of bringing light into this dark world – not Saturn, but Jesus Christ. I am doing the exact opposite of what Aaron did. He took the things of God and gave credit to a golden calf. I am taking the things of Saturn and giving credit to Whom they really belong – Jesus Christ.

Anyway, I am not really trying to convince this person who left the one-star review. There are many Christians who will always see things differently. You don’t need to go argue with him. That is not why I am posting this. Of course, maybe you want to post a one-star review of your own… Ha!

As for me, I am convinced that redemption is a key theme in the Bible, and if we don’t really understand redemption, we will not understand Scripture, God, Jesus Christ, ourselves, or our task in this world as followers of Jesus Christ.

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