Book Review

My current book selection is UnChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity by David Kinnaman. First, I've been reading it since September, and second, I'm only about 5 or 6 chapters in. 

If you don't know anything about the book, read this paragraph. If you already know, skip it. [Taken from Amazon.com] Kinnaman, the president of the Barna Institute, was inspired to write this book when Lyons (of the Fermi Project) commissioned him to do extensive research on what young Americans think about Christianity. Lyons had a gut-level sense that something was desperately wrong, and three years of research paints exactly that picture. Mosaics and Busters (generations that include late teens to early 30-somethings) believe Christians are judgmental, anti-homosexual, hypocritical, too political and sheltered. This is a wonderful, thoughtful book that conveys difficult truths in a spirit of humility. 

I wanted to write about a chapter that I currently finished reading.  I think what made me the most upset was the section about the views of young Christians today. You see, the following are moral issues that born-again young Christians (23-41) believe are morally acceptable:

cohabitation (59%)

gambling (58%)

sexual thoughts or fantasies about someone (57%)

sex outside of marriage (44%)

using profanity (37%)

getting drunk (35%)

looking at pics of nudity or sexually explicit behavior (33%)

having an abortion (32%)

have a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex (28%)

using drugs not prescribed for you (16%)

allowing the f-word on broadcast television (7%)

(Kinnaman, 2007)

Do we see something wrong? There are more people who care about stopping the f-word from national television than those who care about stopping homosexuality. Disturbing, I know. 

If I ever get the chance to have 12-14 teenage girls sitting in front of me again, this will be something I'd say -- Stop it. Cut it out. It's lame, and not worth it. Would that be enough, though? I wanted for so long to shake some girl's head and say, "QUIT IT!" Even sometimes I feel like a failure because I choose an action that makes my Christian lifestyle choice look "dirty." I hate it! But I guess the response to these criticisms about hypocrisy would be, "Hey, I'm a sinner. I've got this disease called sin. Gives me a lot of dis-ease, and I don't want it. But I can't get rid of it. Some days I'm going to choose to drink. Some days I'm going to choose to the right decision. Some days I'm going to curse, and some days I'm going to pray all day long. But every day I'm going to remember how the God I serve, Yahweh, saved me from the pit."