Social and political revolutions have shown no tendency
to transform the heart of darkness that lies deep in the breast of every human
being. That is evidently true. And amid a flood of techniques for
self-fulfillment there is an epidemic of depression, suicide, personal
emptiness, and escapism through drugs and alcohol, cultic obsession,
consumerism, and sex and violence—all combined with an inability to sustain
deep and enduring personal relationships.
So obviously the problem is a spiritual one. And so must
be the cure. But if the cure is spiritual, how does modern Christianity fit
into the answer? Very poorly, it seems, for Christians are among those caught
up in the sorrowful epidemic just referred to. And that fact is so prominent
that modern thinking has come to view the Christian faith as powerless, even
somehow archaic, at the very least irrelevant.
Yet even though the church’s track record for solving
social and individual ills may not appear historically outstanding, we believe
that it holds the only answer—still. What then is keeping Christianity from
being that guide to life which it alone can be? Christianity can only succeed
as a guide for current humanity if it does two things.
First, it must take the need for human transformation as
seriously as do modern revolutionary movements. The modern negative critique of
Christianity arose in the first place because the church was not faithful to
its own message—it failed to take human transformation seriously as a real,
practical issue to be dealt with in realistic terms. Fortunately, there are
today many signs that the church in all its divisions is preparing to correct
this failure.
Second, it needs to clarify and exemplify realistic
methods of human transformation. It must show how the ordinary individuals who
make up the human race today can become, through the grace of Christ, a
love-filled, effective, and powerful community.
--- Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines:
Understanding How God Changes Lives. 2009.
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