Genetic Fallacy
There has been a lot of talk about the origins of church practices since George Barna and Frank Viola published their book Pagan Christianity. Many in the house church movement seem to whole heartedly reject common modern church practices simply because of their perceived origin; this concept is known as the genetic fallacy. In a Genetic fallacy a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone’s origin rather than its current meaning or context.[i]
The question shouldn’t be “Where did this idea come from” it should be is it anti-biblical or perhaps “Is it detrimental to the proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible gives us very little prescription on how church should be. It gives a good deal of description and but offers few hard examples. We see no order of service, no explicit direction by Paul for the exact way Church should go.
I suppose it is my more conservative nature coming to the surface but I have trouble saying that almost two thousand years of church practice and study is completely wrong. To completely agree with Barna and Viola one must assume that no one in orthodox Christianity has correctly interpreted scriptures. Luther, Edwards, Calvin, Wesley, Augustine and all the other great minds of Christianity have been completely wrong.
Of course the length something has been believed is not evidence alone either.
Just a thought…
[i] “Genetic fallacy.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 Jul 2008, 23:33 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4 Aug 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genetic_fallacy&oldid=224466787>.