The church and sin

A few words from Dr. John P. Splinter
"The church's comfort with sin in its midst has unleashed a whirlwind. Is there any other reasonable explanation for 88% of the children raised in evangelical homes to leave church by the age of 18, never to return (London, 2002)? They may have heard the words, but most of them never witnessed or experienced the Savior in the lives of their parents or church leaders. If they'd seen Christ, they'd have stayed. Is there any other reasonable explanation for the divorce rate among church members to be virtually the same as among non-church members (London, 2002); for Christian women to struggle with eating disorders to the same extent as non-Christian women (Myers, 2004); for only 2% of teens in churches to have a Christian worldview (Barna, 2003a); for Christian men to be as hooked into porn as non-Christians (Gallagher, 2000); for the rate of cohabitation among Christians to be nearly the same as among unbelievers (Bama, 2001); or for racism to be worse among evangelical Christians than among unbelievers (Gallup & Castelli, 1989)?
In many, perhaps most churches, the "cleansing power" of God's Spirit is present in name only. Few today see the church as a moral force to be reckoned with. It's like a harmless house pet which may be emotionally significant to its owners, but meaningless to those outside the family. Barna suggests that America is now entering a period that historians will someday describe as the beginning of the era of moral anarchy. And why should anyone take the church seriously if the church doesn't take itself seriously?
One of the high privileges of my life has been to co-minister with brothers & sisters in Russia & Ukraine. The church in that part of the world is a much leaner, harder spiritual body. The Exec. V.P. of a seminary in Ukraine told me that in a church of 200-300, it's normal to see 5-10 people removed from fellowship each year due to unrepentant sin as the Body keeps itself pure. That's an amazing contrast to Western churches in which it's sometimes almost impossible to be removed from church rolls."