WOOHOO!!! I finished the book last night
Couple of key points
1. I think chapter 11 was written by the second author. Because the author of that chapter seemed to contradict some points. such as house churches being the ideal setting. And the author of that chapter pointed out how sometimes people are just getting together to eat dinner and still are not about business.
2. I agree with the author (forgot what page) but this book does take quite a bit of courage to read.
3. In one delving deeper section the question was something along the lines that the instutilionzed church is needed to help prevent the spread of false teaching.
The author countered saying essentially that it is a double edge sword because if bad teaching is taught it can spread much faster.
I thought the response was interesting but it wasn't enough to sway me because this particular argument goes either way.
4. I did not care for one of the sources the author use. Where somebody attempted to put the new testament in chronological order and reconstructed what they believed to be the original letters to Paul. So that way the reader can read both the question to Paul and Paul's response. (I may be wrong about the source since I did not read it myself but this is what I gathered from reading)
To me that is just shooting into the dark. The person is guessing at a lot of information. Archeology is mostly guessing and coming up with theories that make sense. *sigh* my blood pressure is rising moving on to the next point
5. The hardest part for me reading this book is when the author provides and example and I'm like well we don't do that at MY church. Or the opposite where I say we already do that at my church.
6. In the end, this book does make me think more about my relationship with God. Even though I was already taught this (see told you #5) but it made me compare my relationship with God to my relationship with my wife. It is staggering the amount of time I spend with my wife. How much I talk and listen to her. How strong my desire is to work for her. The lengths I will go to make sure she is happy. it just does not compare at all.... not sure what I need to do but something has got to change.
