Book Report: “The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience”
I just finished reading “The Scandal of the
Evangelical Conscience” by Ronald J. Sider. If
you're not familiar with Ron Sider, he is
professor of theology, holistic ministry, and
public policy as well as director of the Sider
Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Eastern
Baptist Theological Seminary. The subtitle of the
book is a question: “Why are Christians living
just like the rest of the world?”
Before I became a Christian, one of the
things that kept me from any interest in becoming
a Christian was that I thought Christians were a
bunch of hypocrites – they didn't practice what
they preached. In a recent Barna Group poll, only
44 percent of non-Christians had a positive view
of Christian clergy, just 32 percent of
non-Christians had a positive view of born-again
Christians, and only 22 percent of non-Christians
had a positive view of evangelicals. I suspect
that many of those who think poorly of Christians
do so for the same reason I did: they don't think
that Christians practice what they preach.
Now that I am a Christian, it's no longer
just about “them”. Since I am a Christian, it's
about me too; it's about “us.”
I'd like to mention a number of the points
Sider brings up in his book. The first is that
born-again Christians have a higher divorce rate
than non-Christians. We know that God hates
divorce, and we talk about “defending marriage”,
but we don't live up to God's expectations of us.
Although God calls on us to love all of his
children, many of us are still racist. A survey
by George Gallup Jr. and James Castelli found that
11 percent of Catholics and non-evangelical
Christians would object to having black neighbors.
Mainline Protestants came in next at 16 percent.
Seventeen percent of Baptists and evangelicals
would object to having black neighbors. Among
Southern Baptists, 20 percent objected to black
neighbors.
Although there is some disagreement among
evangelicals whether marriages should be
traditional, husband dominated marriages, or
egalitarian marriages, it is certainly the case
that evangelicals are more likely to have
traditional, husband dominated marriages. Several
recent studies have shown that wives are 3 to 4
times as likely to be beaten in traditional
marriages than in egalitarian marriages. Are
evangelical Christian men beating their wives more
than non-evangelical Christian men? Probably so.
One of the issues that greatly concerns me is
poverty, hunger, and inequitable distribution of
wealth. Sider mentions that dramatic economic
sharing was the norm among the early Christians:
“All who believed were together and had all things
in common; they would sell their possessions and
goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any
had need” (Acts 2:44-45) Although the early
Christians were not by any means a pure socialist
society, Acts 4:34 does tell us that “there were
no needy persons among them.”
In the middle of the second century, Justin
Martyr said of Christians, “We who once took most
pleasure in accumulating wealth and property now
share with everyone in need.”
In about AD 125, Aristides wrote of
Christians, “They walk in all humility and
kindness, and falsehood is not found among them,
and they love one another. They despise not the
widow, and grieve not the orphan. He that hath,
distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If
they see a stranger, they bring him under their
roof, and rejoice over him, as it were their own
brother: for they call themselves brethren, not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit and God.
And if there is among them a man that is poor and
needy, and they have not an abundance of
necessaries, they fast two or three days that they
may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
Read that last line again:
“And if there is among them a man that is poor and
needy, and they have not an abundance of
necessaries, they fast two or three days that they
may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
Most of us have large houses with
refrigerators, stoves, televisions and so on.
Most American families have more than one car. We
are well-clothed, well-fed, well educated, and
have time for recreation and leisure. Yet there
are 3 billion human beings in the world who live
on less than 2 dollars a day. There are over 1
billion human beings who live on less than 1
dollar a day. And every year, 15 million children
under the age of five die of starvation. The
early Christians would fast for several days to
allow others to eat, yet we live like kings while
allowing this sort of poverty in the world.
In the book, Sider not only points out what
we are doing wrong, he also talks about how we got
to be that way. One of the points he makes is
that we think of Jesus too much as “Savior” and
not enough as “Lord”. Yes, Jesus died for our
sins, but before he died for our sins, he lived
his life as an example for our lives, and he
instructed us on how we are to treat our fellow
human beings. In the New Testament Jesus is
referred to as “Savior” 16 times, but is referred
to as “Lord” 420 times. So why do we spend so
much time thinking about how Jesus has saved us,
and so little time thinking about what our Lord
has commanded us to do?
Sider also talks about what we can do to live
the lives that Jesus would have us live. I'm not
one to give away the ending of a story, so you'll
just have to read Ron Sider's “The Scandal of the
Evangelical Conscience” yourself, and I urge you
to do so.
Evangelical Conscience” by Ronald J. Sider. If
you're not familiar with Ron Sider, he is
professor of theology, holistic ministry, and
public policy as well as director of the Sider
Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Eastern
Baptist Theological Seminary. The subtitle of the
book is a question: “Why are Christians living
just like the rest of the world?”
Before I became a Christian, one of the
things that kept me from any interest in becoming
a Christian was that I thought Christians were a
bunch of hypocrites – they didn't practice what
they preached. In a recent Barna Group poll, only
44 percent of non-Christians had a positive view
of Christian clergy, just 32 percent of
non-Christians had a positive view of born-again
Christians, and only 22 percent of non-Christians
had a positive view of evangelicals. I suspect
that many of those who think poorly of Christians
do so for the same reason I did: they don't think
that Christians practice what they preach.
Now that I am a Christian, it's no longer
just about “them”. Since I am a Christian, it's
about me too; it's about “us.”
I'd like to mention a number of the points
Sider brings up in his book. The first is that
born-again Christians have a higher divorce rate
than non-Christians. We know that God hates
divorce, and we talk about “defending marriage”,
but we don't live up to God's expectations of us.
Although God calls on us to love all of his
children, many of us are still racist. A survey
by George Gallup Jr. and James Castelli found that
11 percent of Catholics and non-evangelical
Christians would object to having black neighbors.
Mainline Protestants came in next at 16 percent.
Seventeen percent of Baptists and evangelicals
would object to having black neighbors. Among
Southern Baptists, 20 percent objected to black
neighbors.
Although there is some disagreement among
evangelicals whether marriages should be
traditional, husband dominated marriages, or
egalitarian marriages, it is certainly the case
that evangelicals are more likely to have
traditional, husband dominated marriages. Several
recent studies have shown that wives are 3 to 4
times as likely to be beaten in traditional
marriages than in egalitarian marriages. Are
evangelical Christian men beating their wives more
than non-evangelical Christian men? Probably so.
One of the issues that greatly concerns me is
poverty, hunger, and inequitable distribution of
wealth. Sider mentions that dramatic economic
sharing was the norm among the early Christians:
“All who believed were together and had all things
in common; they would sell their possessions and
goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any
had need” (Acts 2:44-45) Although the early
Christians were not by any means a pure socialist
society, Acts 4:34 does tell us that “there were
no needy persons among them.”
In the middle of the second century, Justin
Martyr said of Christians, “We who once took most
pleasure in accumulating wealth and property now
share with everyone in need.”
In about AD 125, Aristides wrote of
Christians, “They walk in all humility and
kindness, and falsehood is not found among them,
and they love one another. They despise not the
widow, and grieve not the orphan. He that hath,
distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If
they see a stranger, they bring him under their
roof, and rejoice over him, as it were their own
brother: for they call themselves brethren, not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit and God.
And if there is among them a man that is poor and
needy, and they have not an abundance of
necessaries, they fast two or three days that they
may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
Read that last line again:
“And if there is among them a man that is poor and
needy, and they have not an abundance of
necessaries, they fast two or three days that they
may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
Most of us have large houses with
refrigerators, stoves, televisions and so on.
Most American families have more than one car. We
are well-clothed, well-fed, well educated, and
have time for recreation and leisure. Yet there
are 3 billion human beings in the world who live
on less than 2 dollars a day. There are over 1
billion human beings who live on less than 1
dollar a day. And every year, 15 million children
under the age of five die of starvation. The
early Christians would fast for several days to
allow others to eat, yet we live like kings while
allowing this sort of poverty in the world.
In the book, Sider not only points out what
we are doing wrong, he also talks about how we got
to be that way. One of the points he makes is
that we think of Jesus too much as “Savior” and
not enough as “Lord”. Yes, Jesus died for our
sins, but before he died for our sins, he lived
his life as an example for our lives, and he
instructed us on how we are to treat our fellow
human beings. In the New Testament Jesus is
referred to as “Savior” 16 times, but is referred
to as “Lord” 420 times. So why do we spend so
much time thinking about how Jesus has saved us,
and so little time thinking about what our Lord
has commanded us to do?
Sider also talks about what we can do to live
the lives that Jesus would have us live. I'm not
one to give away the ending of a story, so you'll
just have to read Ron Sider's “The Scandal of the
Evangelical Conscience” yourself, and I urge you
to do so.
posted by Jim Allyn at 3/20/2006 07:14:00 PM
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