Hello Again!

After a long break from blogging, I am back. I am still working on Total Truth, but took a break to read Women's Ministry in the Local Church and The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood. I will be blogging on those books soon.
I have learned that there is so much information in Total Truth, that to really soak it in you absolutely must use a highlighter pen. My husband is reading Total Truth for the second time. He wants to go back to the beginning and reread it in light of what he learned through the historical section at the end.
I have often wondered how church came to be like it is today. For example, have you ever wondered why we go to a building on Sunday, listen to someone talk for an hour then sing facing a stage, the music leader, and possibly a screen? I mean, that is not how the first church did it. While we know they met, and prayed together, ate together, encouraged each other, and confronted each other's sin, we don't know exactly how that looked. Reading Part 3 of Total Truth sheds some light on the developement of the church service as we know it today. It also reveals why so many Christians today are ignorant of their own faith. Nancy Pearcey leads us through the time line starting with first colonists who all looked to the church and the pastor for insight and knowledge of Scripture, then she moves on to the shift from looking to the educated, intellectual pastor to the regular man reading and understanding the Bible on his own. Then, we see how the Revivalist movement brought about the abundance of emotion and the calling on the people to "make a decision for Christ" on the spot. This was a change from the organized classes, memorization of creeds and public confessions people once had to make. Isn't it starting to sound familiar? The emphasis that was made to me growing up in a Christian environment was the "decision for Christ". Really, after that, as long as you looked like you had it together, you were set. I want so much more for my kids.