 | Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by Frank Viola
Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $10.75 This is a great book that gives good history on the Church. After reading this book, it will surprise you that what we know of as the Church today has nothing to with having a close friendship with our Creator, Lord, and God. This book did more for me in a week than 5-1/2 years did in seminary; it got me to thinking beyond the box of churchianity.
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 | Free Indeed?: Are Christians Free Indeed or Enslaved by Religion? by Shean A. Smith
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $4.35 I authored this book. This is also the revision. This book is about how the rules, routines, traditions, and going to church are duties that having nothing at all to do with having a friendship with God. Having to go to church and perform duties is not freedom in Christ; it's slavery to religious details.
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 | Revolution by George Barna
Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $2.94 A great book and audio about how people are bypassing the walls of the church to be closer to God.
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 | unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman
Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $6.99 Are Christians the picture of who people think Christ is like? Read this book to discover how today's generation views those who calls themselves "Christian" as well as how they see the Church. Then check out Reimaging the Church by Frank Viola.
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 | The Normal Christian Life (Hendrickson Christian Classics) by Watchman Nee
Buy used from: $5.99 A great look into the authentic life of a believer in Christ.
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 | So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Jake Colsen
Buy new: $8.63 / Used from: $6.14 A great story about how one man finds freedom and God's love outside of the Church.
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 | The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament by Frank Viola
Buy new: $10.79 / Used from: $6.82 An interesting look into the first followers of Christ and the spiriual freedom they enjoyed.
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 | He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection by Wayne Jacobsen
Buy new: $8.63 / Used from: $5.90 This book will really help you understand God's amazing grace and his love.
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 | Authentic Relationships: Discover the Lost Art of "One Anothering" by Wayne Jacobsen
Buy new: $10.19 / Used from: $5.30 Have you ever longed for relationships with others in your church? Have you ever been lonely as a church member? This book shows how to have meaningful friendships with people that are people-based--not building-based.
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 | Paul's Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in Their Cultural Setting, Revised Edition by Robert J. Banks
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $4.00 Do we fellowship facing one way and doing what one person tells us to do for 95% of the time we are in church? That's neither community nor fellowship, that's a room full of robots! This book gives an idea about what Paul thought about community and fellowship.
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 | The Naked Church: Revised Third Edition by Wayne Jacobsen
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $10.40 Wayne Jacobsen tells it like is in this book. This is an honest look at what goes on behind the walls of church. If you cannot find this book new on Amazon.com, try Wayne's web site, lifestream.org.
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 | Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
Buy new: $15.57 / Used from: $11.85 A good book about being God's community where you and your believing friends are.
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 | Tithing: Low-Realm, Obsolete & Defunct by Matthew E. Narramore
Buy new: $10.39 / Used from: $6.85 Have you ever wondered about the tithe? This book will show by using Scripture that the church uses the tithe--something that deals with only produce and livestock--to get people to support the buildings, its expenses, and clergy of the church that have nothing to do with true charity. This is a real eye opener.
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 | Holy Bible: New Living Translation, New Testament, Leatherlike (Bible Nlt)
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $9.98 This is an excellent modern translation that puts the Bible into words that are easy to understand. Being able to understand the Bible is the first step to freedom in Christ from religion, guilt, and shame.
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 | Beyond Tithes & Offerings by Mitchell T. Webb
Buy used from: $15.25 This is another book on tithing that sheds light on an extinct Old Testament law that dealt only with produce and livestock to be used as food and sacrifice.
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 | The First Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) by Gordon D. Fee
Buy used from: $20.00 This book gives a common sense approach to the controversial issue about women being silent in church. The Church as used 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 as a knife they hold to the throats of women to keep them quiet in church. Could it be that this passage of Scripture was added by someone much later, or was the Law Paul spoke of here that demanded women be silent based on inapplicable rabbinic oral law?
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 | Word Study Greek-English New Testament: with complete concordance by Paul R. McReynolds
Buy new: $29.69 / Used from: $24.00 This a great study tool that is even better when used with Vines Complete Expository Dictionary. This New Testament has the English words below the Greek. The translated Bible passages in the margins are a Bible translation that represents the translators' opinion of what the Scriptures are saying. Compare the differences and see for yourself.
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 | Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Word Study Series) by W. E. Vine
Buy used from: $4.43 A great word study tool for those who are not clergy. This books sheds light on many words that seem to have a clerically veiled meaning.
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 | How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $2.97 It is quite difficult to grasp meanings that have been lost in Bible translations and culture. This book will help you understand how the 2,000 year-old New Testament (and Old Testament) can apply to you today.
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 | The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (Story of Christianity) by Justo L. Gonzalez
Buy new: $21.59 / Used from: $4.73 A very detailed historical account about how the church has come to where it is now. The reason why I placed the Christian history books at the bottom of this list is not because they are least important; I placed them here because after you've read the previous books, you'll say, "Oh yeah. So that's why the Church does what it does. So what do church activities have to do with knowing Christ?"
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 | The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day by Justo L. Gonzalez
Buy new: $21.55 / Used from: $8.44 This is volume two and tells about the Church after the reformation until the present day. This a very interesting book.
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 | Christian History Made Easy: 13 Weeks to a Better Understanding of Church History by Timothy Paul Jones
Buy new: $7.46 / Used from: $3.80 This is an excellent overview of Christian history. It records the major events that explain how the Church got to be like it is today.
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 | A Summary of Christian History by Robert A. Baker
Buy new: $25.55 / Used from: $17.00 This is also an excellent overview of Christian history. I enjoy using this book, as well as the other ones I've listed here, as a guide to better understand where a friendship with Christ ends and where religion begins.
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