Yancey starts with a premise that the church today for the most part is preaching a gospel that expresses doom and gloom. He feels that preaching is focused more on the condemnation of sinners and the travails of hell rather than expounding on the life changing aspect of grace in the lives of sinners.

He points out that when surveyed most Americans will say that they feel the church is filled with condemnation, intolerance and a set of moral values that are in contradiction to “the good life.” While all those items can be found in scripture and expounded upon to help a society see where it is failing it also needs to come with the message of hope, mercy and grace.