“The Christian community [the church] is the concrete reality where the transcendent reality of the gospel is made manifest... This is a sobering thought, because the other side of the coin is that the gospel is also most easily discredited through the church. What happens when nonbelievers hear preachers proclaim the importance of the family, but see churches full of workaholic parents with little time for their own children? When they see power relationships that are as exploitive as anywhere else? When they see Christians trapped in the same sexual addictions as the rest of society? When they see evangelical celebrities using the same dishonest spin tactics as the secular advertising world? Christian may preach passionately about the need for a biblical worldview, but unless they are submitting themselves to continual process of sanctification, they will not have the power to live out that worldview—and they will discredit the very message they are seeking to communicate.” (Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning, B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN, 2010, p276-277)
