"What if... the blase' religiosity of most American teenagers is not the result of poor communication but the result of excellent communication of a watered-down gospel so devoid of God's self-giving love in Jesus Christ, so immune to the sending love of the Holy Spirit that it might not be Christianity at all?"
"What if... the church models a way of life that asks, not passionate surrender but ho-hum assent?"
"What if... we are preaching moral affirmations, a feel-better faith, and a hands-off God instead of the decisively involved, impossibly loving, radically sending God of Abraham and Mary, who desired us enough to enter creation in Jesus Christ and whose Spirit is active in the church and in the world today?"
These are piercing questions from a great book that I am reading- Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church.
As a Christian, an ordained minister, a professional educator and a father of two teenage daughters this book has my attention.
What if...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?
God help this tree (me).