Ah Chess Fan, I've missed you! Peace be with you, enjoy the evening.

SCK, you might be interested in this report by the Barna Group.

They conducted a study to find out if Christians are more like Jesus or more like the Pharisees. They had questions in 4 categories, such as..

...Actions Like Jesus (e.g. I listen to others to learn their story before telling them about my faith),

...Attitudes Like Jesus (e.g. It is more important to help people know God is for them than to make sure they know they are sinners).

...Self-Righteous Actions (e.g. I like to point out those who do not have the right theology or doctrine), and

...Self-Righteous Attitudes (e.g. I feel grateful to be a Christian when I see other people’s failures and flaws).

Based on the responses to 20 questions, they found that with Christians in general 51% were Pharisee-like. With evangelicals in particular,

Evangelicals had a higher proportion of Jesus-like actions and attitudes over other Christians (notional ones included), but 23% ain't exactly a rallying point. I also wonder if the percentage is lower and people were choosing the answer that would make them look better rather than the one they really felt(?).

Petro....just noticed you commented on another study over on facebook. That would probably fit nicely here, if you have time.

Ken, that is awesome; thanks so much. It also makes very sobering reading. What is going wrong in churches and among Christians such that 51% of us - over half - are pharisaical in both attitude and action. That's outrageous.

Mind you, I'm sure many Christians would take issue with some of the statements. The researchers have, of course, made their own judgement as to what kinds of attitudes and actions constitute either Christlikeness or pharisaism. I think I agree with the researchers' categorisations, mostly anyway, but it's an obvious angle for criticising the research.

It's a bit of a hobby horse of mine, this observation that most Christians don't lead lives that are significantly more Jesus-like than non-Christians do. Something is dreadfully wrong with the way we 'do' church and faith, if so few Christians are exhibiting Christ-like behaviour and attitudes.

Final thought from me - I know the survey was of USA residents but I fully expect the picture to be similar in the UK and other mainly Christian countries.

On CBC today (our national public broadcaster), there was an interview with one of the authors of that previous study (people who attend church are happier). Several people, including the author, discussed the criticism you mentioned (does going to church make you happier, or do happier people attend church more often). One pastor commented that people don't usually go to church because they're happy, but go because they're not happy (they're looking for something to help them). Unfortunately, I only caught part of it and I'm not even sure what program it was.

Okay, I think this might be the show. CBC doesn't make it very easy to track down.

I've been reading a really interesting book over the last couple of days and thought I'd see what folks here think. It's all about why there is suffering and evil in the world, and why God (if he's all-powerful and completely good, like most Christians say) doesn't make it stop. But it's an unusual take on the subject, not the typical 'God's ways are mysterious' or 'God sets us trials in order to develop our character'.

Have a look

The readers' reviews (especially the negative ones!) will give you a good sense of what the book is all about.

What you are discussing, Kevin, is the theodicy problem: the coexistence of evil and an omnipotent deity.

Indeed so, Ed, but I was trying to avoid jargon! Any thoughts on the book I linked to?

It isn't exactly jargon, which if you like I can spout ad nauseum I haven't had a chance to look at the book. I'll try to steal the time.