The following quotes from Dan Merchant's book, Lord, Save Us from Your Followers, were among many thoughts from this intriguing book that stretched and challenged me:"Christianity is turning into a bad word with dubious meaning in American society because we don't care how we sound to those who don't agree with us."
"As believers, I think we simply don't know how we sound to others; what's worse, we don't care... because we're right anyway--and to add insult to injury, we won't listen. What if, with all our talking, people aren't actually hearing what we intend? Should the burden be on my lips or their ears?"
"Our tendency is to reduce the Gospel of Jesus to a couple of isolated issues. Our willingness to oversimplify this complex life just so we can be right and win an argument is, as a smart person would say, antithetical to Jesus' teachings."
As a Christ-follower, how would you begin a conversation with someone who's not a believer?
