Hate the sin but love the sinner is the gist of the paradox explored in this
slender point-of-purchase book by minister Alcorn. The author of Deadline draws
on his experiences of getting "proabortion" activists, unbelieving academics
and his "resistant" father to see the light to argue that Christians must
display grace-a spirit of humility, love and inclusion-while also insisting on
the truth of Christian doctrine. Truth without grace, he asserts, yields a
self-righteous Pharisaism, while grace without truth leads to "moral
indifference" and a dilution of Christ's message. Alcorn writes in a
contemporary idiom, likening grace and truth to a binary star system or the
twin strands of the DNA double helix. But his is a traditional evangelical
outlook that combines Biblical literalism, hell-fire and a deep acknowledgment
of personal sin. Alcorn registers his fundamentalist views on such topics as
relativism on campus, the fallacy of Darwinism and Oprah Winfrey's
"have-it-your-way designer religion." But he also chides Christians for their
holier-than-thou attitudes ("Jesus," he warrants, "would preach five sermons
against self-righteous churches for every one against taverns") and compares
himself with evil-doers ("I am Dahmer. I am Mao") in attesting to the fallen
state of all humanity and their dependence on God's unmerited grace for
salvation. Firm but forbearing, Alcorn's tract is a dose of old-time religion
in a smooth modern formulation. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business
Information.