Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

Bridges, bestselling author of The Pursuit of Holiness, believes that just as culture has lost the concept of sin, the church faces the same danger. Jerry writes not from a sense of achievement, but from the trenches of his own personal battles. Drawing from scriptural truth, he sheds light on subtle behaviors that can derail our spiritual growth. Throughout, Jerry encourages a victory over personal sin through the gospel's transforming power, the perfect release for those who desire to thoughtfully examine their lives and discover a deeper walk with God.

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I think that Jerry Bridges has quite possibly become one of my very favorite authors. His books are straightforward, coherant, and both thoughtful and thought-provoking. The premise of Respectable Sins is to talk about 1) what sins we tolerate in the church and in our own lives and 2) how to tackle and address those sins in a practical way. His answers for #2 are not pat answers. They are to keep perspective of the gospel and God's grace, to repent, to pray, to go to the Word, and to seek accountability. He urges the reader to seek God in humility and lay our hearts before Him. For God knows what is in our hearts. Bridges addresses Anger, Pride, Impatience and Irritability, Worldliness and Idolatry, and Ungodliness among the respectable sins that he talks about. I appreciated his definitions of what each of these are. So often we use words and take for granted what they mean instead of really knowing what they mean and defining them. Here is an example: "Ungodliness may be defined as living one's everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God's will, or of God's glory, of one's dependence on God." But, there were several other quotes that I especially enjoyed and this is one of them... "Our spiritual life may be compared to the motor of an electric appliance. The motor does the actual work, but it is constantly dependent upon the external power source of the electricity to enable it to work. Therefore, we should cultivate an attitude of continual dependence on the Holy Spirit." I love that picture of the motor and electricity. The motor doesn't run by itself, but it doesn't just wait for the electricity to make everything happen. It needs the electricity--it can't run without it. Bridges is not condemning in what he says. He is gracious in his tone as he writes--and I think that is one of the thingsthat makes his books so easy for me to read--He speaks the truth in love.

i love this read, so very timely anytime for Christians who want to grow and mature! read and apply

I received this book as a review copy from the publisher. I liked that "Respectable Sins" frequently referred to Scripture and pointed the reader to God for help. This was a good book in that it stressed the seriousness of all sin ("small" and "large") and it pointed out that wrong attitudes are serious, too. I assumed the point of the book was about attitudes--how the Bible teaches that we might get our behavior outwardly correct, but as long as our attitudes are wrong then our wrong behavior will keep slipping through despite our best efforts. Thus, we need to have changed attitudes in order to have permanently changed behaviors. However, the author didn't clearly point this out and treated attitudes the same way as behavior--this is an attitude that makes us act in these wrong ways; don't act this way, but act this way; ask God for help. Most of each chapter was focused on how we act--behavior--rather than staying focused on the root of the problem (the heart/attitudes) and the solution (Christ). Some chapters were better with this than others. I saw several statements in chapters 3-6 that I don't agree are what the Bible teaches. Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. Parts were good, and I'm sure there are people who would find it convicting. However, I think that books like "Because He Loves Me" by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, "Believing God" by Beth Moore, and "Eyes Wide Open" by Jud Wilhite do a much better job at explaining how to become free of these sins.

Jerry Bridges doesn't disappoint. I've always found his books to be right on... biblically sound and thought provoking. Respectable Sins is probably the most convicting book I've ever read (beside the Bible). JB brings home to us the sins we've become comfortable living with, sins like pride, anger, anxiety (yes anxiety is a sin!). He also guides us thru the Scriptures that will help us deal with these sins we've learned to live with. I recomment this book to every Christian.

I was very satisfied with this book. Due my cancelling the order I have to send it back, but it shipped to my house much faster than when I ordered it from Amazon. I highly recommend this book.

Interesting reading. If all would take to heart what the author is saying, the "cause for Christ" would go forth with more power. It's true, we Christians do allow "respectable sins" to go on without being confronted. Wake up, Christian!

Very good book, reiterates how badly God wants us to live by his rules and not forget that we are sinners in every sense. It also describes how far short of his expectations we fall. By his grace.

This is a great book. Jerry Bridges really hits home with the sins that Christians tolerate. I think every true believer in Christ needs to read this book and to take to heart that we need to change how we, as a Christian society, view sin. All sin is rebellion against God's law and God Himself. We are all sinners, but we also have a great Savior, Jesus Christ. This book shows that we still have hope to become more like Jesus Christ everyday as we become aware of all of our sins and turn back to the truth of the gospel.

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