A compelling read...

I just finished one of the more compelling books I've read in a while. The title drew me in right away: "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience". It's by a guy named Ron Sider who shot to fame in the evangelical community in the 70's with his book "Rich Christians in the Age of Hunger". This latest entry takes much the same angle, but expands the discussion to all areas of Christiandom's stunning departure from the gospel we claim to believe in and follow. The best way I can summarize it is to say that Sider takes a look at how the Bible says followers of Christ should behave and how far short of that standard most American Christians are. It's a pretty stunning assessment of our current culture and moral climate -- what we now accept as normal that is totally at odds with the Word. He pays particular attention to issues of sexual immorality, divorce, spousal abuse, racism and materialism. Using much of George Barna's data he paints a shocking statistical picture of our moral decline and then calls the church back to a Biblical mindset and worldview. It's very compelling reading and I recommend it to anyone who wants to think critically about how we're living and impacting those around us. I'll pull some points out over the next couple of days to explore a little further.