'History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or its is included only marginally. This is where we find ourselves today.
...When we examine the broad spectrum of Christian proclamation and practice, we see that the only thing made essential on the right wing of theology is forgiveness of the individual's sins. On the left it is the removal of structural evils. The current gospel then becomes a "gospel of sin management." Transformation of life and character is no part of the redemptive message. Moment-to-moment human reality in its depths is not the area of faith and eternal living.
To the right, being a Christian is a matter of having your sins forgiven...To the left, you are a Christian if you have a significant commitment to the elimination of social evils. A Christian is either one who is ready to die and face the judgment of God or one who has an identifiable commitment to love and justice in society. That's it.
...What right and left have in common is that neither group has laid down a coherent framework of knowledge and practical direction adequate to personal transformation towards the abundance and redemption of ordinary life. What is taught as the essential message about Jesus has no natural connection to entering a life of discipleship to him.
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p.49.
