Winner of the 2021 SparkLit Australian Christian Book of the Year Award
The church used to be recognised as a force for good, but this is changing rapidly. Christians are now often seen as the bad guys, losing both respect and influence.
In our post-Christian culture, how do we offer the gospel to those around us who view it as not only wrong but possibly dangerous? And how do we ensure that the secular worldview does not entice us away with its constant barrage, online and elsewhere, of messages about self-determinism?
Author Stephen McAlpine offers an analysis of how our culture ended up this way and explains key points of tension between biblical Christianity and secular culture. Steve encourages Christians not to be ashamed of the gospel as it is more liberating, fulfilling and joyful than anything the world has to offer. He also offers strategies for coping in this world, with its opposing values, and for reaching out to others wisely with the truth.
144 pages
Contents
Part One: How Did We Get to Be the Bad Guy?
1. Why This Sudden Hostility?
2. Why the Surprise?
Part Two: What Does Being the Bad Guy Look Like?
3. Binary Beige vs. Diverse Rainbows
4. Loud Power vs. Voiceless Victims
5. Self-Denial vs. Self-Actualisation
Part Three: Being the Best Bad Guy You Can Be
6. Don't Renovate the Wrong House
7. Faithful, Faultless and Fearless
8. The City and the City
Watch or listen to our podcast episode with Steve McAlpine here:
This book puts into words what I have been thinking. The topics covered are relevant and express in easy to understand terms where we are at as a society. It made me think of where I need to be careful. I have been encouraged by it.
This book puts into words what I have been thinking. The topics covered are relevant and express in easy to understand terms where we are at as a society. It made me think of where I need to be careful. I have been encouraged by it.
