What does the world learn about God by watching us his followers on earth?

Because of our failure to live out our beliefs, our own lack of moral clarity, and our meddling with partisan politics, Western culture no longer looks to Christianity as its moral source.

Author Stephen Brown notes that a veterinarian can learn a lot about a dog owner he has never met just by observing the dog. What does the world learn about God by watching us his followers

do worry about the recent tendency for the labels "evangelical Christian" and "religious right" to become interchangeable. Increasingly Christians are perceived as rigid moralists who want to control others' lives.

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we don't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining; they just shine. —D. L. MOODY (1837—1899)

This might sound odd, but I believe that one of the biggest reasons there are so many negative perceptions of Christianity and the church is that Christians hang out with each other too much.

We just work hard to win the viewers respect and trust every single day.

Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue.

What a way to walk through life: entering every environment with every intention to shine as little light as possible on me and as much light as possible on the Son of God.

They say you are a blemish among Christians and that true religion gets a bad reputation because of your ungodly conduct. I have heard that some have already stumbled because of your wicked ways and that even more are in danger of being destroyed by your example. Alehouses

Believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are aware of. Such people are among Satan's best allies. They pull down by their lives what pastors build with their sermons. They cause the chariot wheels of the gospel to drive heavily. They supply the children of this world with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are.

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. (1 PETER 2:11)