unChristian

I am reading a book titled, unChristian. It is by two guys that work for Barna. The book is challenging to read but I am finding it very important to our ability to work with others and young people. The authors give some interesting data and draw some conclusions that hopefully are going to get us to think. One example:

"But what we found was their perceptions are more than superficial image problems. Often outsiders' perceptions of Christianity reflect a church infatuated with itself. We discovered that many Christian have lost their heart for those outside the faith. The negative perceptions are not just "images" conjured up to debase Christianity. Yes, the issues are complex. No, it is not always "our" fault.

Another quote:

We are not responsible for outsiders' decisions, but we are accountable when our actions and attitudes--misrepresenting a holy, just, and loving God--have pushed outsiders away.

Any thoughts?

I will share more from this book later. They focus on six broad themes where the most common points of skepticism and objections are raised by outsiders. They believe that Christians are hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political and judgmental.