The Danger of
Pseudo-transformation
vs. Authentic Christian Spirituality
by
John Ortberg
“Spirituality” wrongly
understood or pursued is a major source of human misery and rebellion
against God,”
Dallas Willard.
Most of us
want to be changed, to become more like Christ. But is it happening?
According to a Gallup poll, nine of ten Americans say they pray daily, and
84 million Americans almost a third of the population say they have made a
personal commitment to Christ as Savior. But as William Iverson writes,
"A pound of meat would surely be affected by a quarter pound of salt.
If this is real Christianity, the 'salt of the earth,' where is the effect
of which Jesus spoke?" Because by and large we do not expect people
to experience ongoing transformation, we are not led to question whether
perhaps the standard prescriptions for spiritual growth being given in the
church are truly adequate to lead people into a transformed way of life.
The great
danger that arises when we don’t experience authentic transformation is
that we will settle for what might be called pseudo-transformation. We
know that as Christians we are called to "come out and be
separate," that our faith and spiritual commitment should make us
different somehow. But if we are not marked by greater and greater amounts
of love and joy, we will inevitably look for substitute ways of
distinguishing ourselves from those who are not Christians. This deep
pattern is almost inescapable for religious people: If we do not become
changed from the inside out…we will be tempted to find external methods
to satisfy our need to feel that we're different from those outside the
faith. If we cannot be transformed, we will settle for being informed or
conformed.
BOUNDARY MARKER
SPIRITUALITY
James Dunn
notes that in the first century A.D. a vast amount of rabbinic writing
focused on circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath keeping. This seems
odd, because no devout rabbi would have said these matters were at the
heart of the law. They knew its core: "Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD is
our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." So why the
focus on these three practices?
The answer
involves what might be called "identity" or "boundary
markers." Groups have a tendency to be exclusive. Insiders want to
separate themselves from outsiders. So they adopt boundary markers. These
are highly visible, relatively superficial practices--matters
of vocabulary or dress or style--whose
purpose is to distinguish between those inside a group and those who are
outside
For
example, imagine that you were driving through the Haight Asbury district
of San Francisco in the nineteen sixties. If you came to a stoplight and a
Volkswagen van pulled up next to you, plastered with peace signs and
"Make Love Not War" bumper stickers and driven by a long haired,
tie dyed, granny glasses wearer, you would have known you were driving
next to a hippie. If it were the nineteen eighties and you were to see a
BMW with a driver wearing Gucci shoes, a Rolex watch, and moussed hair so
and nibbling on brie, you would know you were driving next to a yuppie.
Bikers, too, are recognizable by their preference in fashion color
(black), fabric (leather), skin ornamentation (tattoo), and beverage of
choice ("great taste, less filling"). Farmers, doctors,
politicians, and rock stars all have their own ways of distinguishing who
is in their fraternity or sorority.
With this in
mind, the importance of circumcision, dietary laws, and Sabbath keeping in
the first century becomes clear. These were the boundary markers; the
highly visible, relatively superficial practices that allowed people to
distinguish who was inside and who was outside the family of God. What is
worse, the insiders become proud and judgmental toward outsiders. They
practiced what might be called a "boundary oriented approach" to
spiritual life: Just look at people and you will know who are the sheep
and who are the goats. This is pseudo transformation.