Ron Sider is most famous for his book called Rich Christians in an age of Hunger. When I read it 25 years ago, it deeply affected how I approach my lifestyle and finances. To this day, I owe Sider a debt of gratitude.
Now Sider, a staunch evangelical, has come out wondering if the evangelicals in the country have lost their voice entirely. Sider was interviewed in the April 13th, 2005 "Christianity Today" magazine, and here’s his poignant answer to one question:
What troubles you the most about evangelicals today?
The heart of the matter is the scandalous failure to live what we preach. The tragedy is that poll after poll by Gallup and Barna show that evangelicals live just like the world. Contrast that with what the New Testament says about what happens when people come to living faith in Christ. There’s supposed to be radical transformation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The disconnect between our biblical beliefs and our practice is just, I think, heart-rending.I’m a deeply committed evangelical. I’ve been committed to evangelical beliefs and to renewing the evangelical church all of my life. And the stats just break my heart. They make me weep. And somehow we must face that reality and change it.
Evangelical Christians and born-again Christians get divorced just as often, if not a little more, than the general population. And Barna has discovered that 90 percent of the born-again Christians who are divorced got divorced after they accepted Christ. On sexual promiscuity, we’re probably doing a little better than the general population. Josh McDowell has estimated that maybe our evangelical youth are 10 percent better, Lord help us.
Lord help us, indeed…
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