Christus Victor Ministries and Practicing the Presence

I ran across the Greg Boyd's blog tonight. Greg is a pastor, and author. He has a tendency to be somewhat controversial (this might be an understatement). On the other hand, as time goes by, he is helping to answer a question I have had for some time... How much has America's "version" of Christianity diverged from what Christ intended?

One of the most interesting posts that I looked at, however was More "Practicing the Presence". The introductory paragraph really stuck out to me...

One major problem many American Christians face is that we tend to embrace a magical view of the Christian faith. We assume that if a person “prays the sinners prayer,” “surrenders their life to Christ,” and “accepts Jesus as Lord of their life,” this somehow magically “saves” them and will sooner or later magically transform them – if not in this life, then in the next. This is why most evangelical churches place so much emphasis on the “conversion experience.” The trouble is, this magical view of faith doesn’t work. Research shows that, in terms of their core values and behaviors, Christians differ very little from their non-Christian neighbors. We don’t consistently experience, and therefore don’t consistently manifest, abundant kingdom LIFE.

Go read it and let me know what you think.