Under the above title, well known Christian writer and Pastor from New York City wrote:
“Anyone involved in the life of a Church will soon discover the many flaws in the character of the average professing Christian. Christian communities seem, if anything, to be characterized by more fighting and party spirit than do other voluntary organizations. Also the moral failings of Christian leaders are well known. It may be true that the press takes too much pleasure in publicizing them, but it doesn’t create them. Church officials seem to be at least (if not more) corrupt than leaders in the world at large.
At the same time there are many formally irreligious people who live morally exemplary lives. If Christianity is all that it claims to be, shouldn’t Christians on the whole be much better people than everyone else?
This assumption is based on the mistaken belief concerning what Christianity actually teaches about itself. Christian theology has taught what is known as common grace. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift comes from above . . . from the father of lights.” This means that no matter who performs it, every act of goodness, wisdom, justice and beauty is empowered by God. God gives out good gifts of wisdom, talent, beauty, and skill “graciously”—that is, in a completely unmerited way. He casts them across all humanity, regardless of religious conviction, race, gender, or any other attribute to enrich, brighten, and preserve the world.
Christian theology also speaks of the seriously flawed character of real Christians. A central message of the Bible is that we can only have a relationship with God by sheer grace. Our moral efforts are too feeble and falsely motivated to ever merit salvation. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has provided salvation for us, which we receive as a gift. All churches believe this in one form or another. Growth in character and changes in behavior occur in a gradual process after a person becomes a Christian. The mistaken belief that a person must “clean up” his or her own life in order to merit God’s presence is not Christianity. This means though that the church will be filled with immature and broken people who still have a long way to go emotionally, morally, and spiritually. As the saying has it: “The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”
Good character is largely attributable to a loving, safe, and stable family and social environment—conditions for which we were not responsible. Many have had instead an unstable family background, poor role models, and a history of tragedy and disappointment. As a result, they are burdened with deep insecurities, hypersensitivity, and lack of self-confidence. They may struggle with uncontrolled anger, shyness, addictions and other difficulties as a result.
Now imagine that someone with a very broken past becomes a Christian and her character improves significantly over what it was. Nevertheless, she still may be less secure and self-disciplined than someone who is so well adjusted that she feels no particular need for religious affiliation at all. Suppose you meet both of these women in the same week. Unless you know the starting points and life journeys of each woman, you could easily conclude that Christianity isn’t worth much, and that Christians are inconsistent with their own high standards. It is often the case with people whose lives have been harder and who are “lower on the character scale” are more likely to recognize their need for God and turn to Christianity. So we should expect that many Christians’ lives would not compare well to those of the nonreligious* (Just as the health of people in the hospital is comparatively worse than people visiting museums)”.~Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York, New York, 2008, 2018) p. 54-5
