Sanctify Them By Thy Psychologists For Thy Psychologists are Truth

How does a Christian become more like Christ? How does the Church view sanctification today? It seems that many in the Church see the role of the Church as one dealing with only salvation. Many in the Church are fleeing to pills, psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists for their real problems. It is a sad thing to see the Church giving up their duties to 'the professionals'. It has not always been this way. The Puritans were masters at preaching in such a way that dealt with all of the problems of the human experience. Tim Keller (yes, that Tim Keller) said,

By modern standards any person struggling with deep patterns of self-gratification or self-will might be told, 'You aren't responsible' or 'A real Christian wouldn't feel like that' or 'you must have a demon'. By contrast, the Puritan counselor first exhorted the person to mortify the sin through contrition, confession, and repentance. The counselor encouraged the individual that the struggle with sin was a good sign, indicating that there was reason to hope that the pattern of sin would be broken through the truth of the Gospel. The English Puritans would be appalled at the emphasis today on self-esteem; they would eschew talk of unmet needs, because in their view the only real need to be met was the need to worship. That is why Puritans practiced sanctification by theology rather than by psychology.