unChristian: Hypocritical

I've been reading the book unChristian. It's a fascinating book that takes a long look at the preceptions that "outsiders", those who do not claim to be Christian, have of christians. I'll be taking a look at this book chapter by chapter and giving a few of my thoughts about it. First, let's look at the notion that outsiders see christians as hypocritical. Mosics and busters, those who are late teens to early thirties, look at life as very complex. Issues are not looked at singlularly but as a whole with all issues. To put it plainly, life is complicated. Mosaics and Busters want transparency. They value relationships and are weiry of anyone who feels that they have all the answers. The rub comes from the last statement.... Mosaics and Busters don't like people who have all the answers. They view christians as judgmental, know-it-alls, who don't live up to the standard that they themselves have established. Let's look at a few of these conflicting views. I think that if you asked most Christians what they thought of Co-Habitation, getting drunk, sex outside of marriage, and same sex partners, they would say that these activities are wrong. But what is interesting about the research is that it points to our hypocracy: 59% think co-habitation is ok. 58% think gambling is ok. 57% have sexual fantasies. 44% think it's ok to have sex before marriage. 37% use profanity. 35% get drunk. 33% look at porngraphy. 32% think abortion is ok. 28% think it's ok to be homosexual. 7% it's ok to use the f*** word on TV. Here's another interesting thought: 5% of Christians admit to "giving someone the finger" recently. To put it another way, compared to flipping off someone, Christians are five times more likely to get drunk and gamble, three times more likely to have sex ouside of marriage, and more likely to cuss, view porn, and talk badly of others. No wonder the world sees Christians as hypocrites: what we say and what we do are not the same. But what's fascinating is that outsiders don't care that we're hypocritical. They view being hypocritical as a part of life. What angers me is not that we may be looked at like hypocrites, it's that there is no statical difference on what we stand for compared to outsiders. I can't tell you how many Christians I've seen try to make themselves relavant by embracing just about everything the world has to offer. What it boils down to is the world see no difference between themselves and Christians. We are seen as having the same values. Christianity is longer seen as offering hope through Jesus but as a group of folks that look like the world..... we're just judging them according to a standard we ourselves can not maintain. One final note. These Busters and Mosaics also said the one trait they admired was someone who was transparent and held firm to their principles. What that means for the church is that the world wants to see a transparent Christian walk that is authentic and real. If we are going to break this "hypocracy" tag that the church has... We need to be real with our Christianity and show the world what it means to follow Jesus.