The Greatest Threat to Christianity - John Eldredge

Undoubtedly, John Eldredge books, workbooks, study guides and media occupy prime shelf space in your local Christian bookstore. His books are wildly popular and have been recommended to me countless times by well meaning believers. I have read through one of his many titles and found the writing engaging. Eldredge draws attention to some problems in the culture and the church that are important to note. His main theme, of which most would agree, is the feminization of men as a whole and thus a despairing lack of male leadership in the home and the culture at large.

Unfortunately, his low and heretical view of God, as well as his unbiblical view of man, undermines his whole proposition. Without a picture of the true God from Scripture then what is left except worldly wisdom and secular masculinity, of which there is plenty in this book. We are called to discernment and to “test all things, holding fast to what is good”. (1 Thessalonians 5:21) When Christianity Today, a magazine never known for its own discernment, calls Wild at Heart a “syrupy pop book that pleases undiscerning ears” you know something is amiss.

Eldredge lays the foundation for his view of man in Wild at Heart.

“…man was born in the outback, from the untamed part of creation. Only afterward is he brought to Eden and ever since then boys have never been at home indoors, and men have had an insatiable longing to explore.”

“The theme of a strong man coming to rescue a beautiful woman is universal to human nature. It is written in our hearts, one of the core desires of every man and every woman”

What scriptural support do we have for such bold statements? Adam was brought to Eden from the outback? Much of Eldredge’s support is from popular or ancient culture. He bases these erroneous views on movies, books, fairy tales and men’s desires.

As Gary Gilley says,

“Quite frankly, this is the root of the problem—Eldredge has virtually no understanding of Scripture and zero belief in its sufficiency. His source of truth is consistently outside the Bible. Had he spent even a fraction of the time contemplating the Word as he did watching movies and reading Bly, this would be a very different book. As it is Wild at Heart is a secular book with just enough proof texts and “God-talk” to fool the undiscerning and the biblically illiterate, which ought to scare us silly when we think about the awards it has won and the people who have endorsed it.”

There is so much else that could be said. From his understanding of women to his unbiblical view of Satan, Eldredge paints a different picture than the Word of God. Undiscerning men everywhere are being led away from a true understanding of God and His revelation and, often, their leaders are implicitly, or explicitly, leading them down that path.

“The overtones of this book to follow your new and good heart only help to create the "false self" that Eldredge is so intent on destroying. What men need is a clear picture of who God is and the truth about their own sinful tendencies as they attempt to follow him. What they need to know is that their regenerated heart still has an inclination to sin, but they can overcome their inclinations to sin by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells them. They do not need to place confidence in their "good" heart but in the God of the Bible who is not taking risks, wringing his hands, or waiting to see how all of this turns out.

Eldredge has some good things to say to men today, but coupling these good things with an unbiblical view of God and the believer in Christ, deals a blow to the entire book from which it cannot recover.” (The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)

Daryl Wingerd states it very clearly:

“I feel compelled to warn Christians to keep it away from others, especially from the lost and from the immature believer. Books like Wild at Heart—books that humanize God and glorify man—books that teach a generation of Christian men, already weakened by humanistic philosophy and biblical ignorance, to look anywhere other than the pages of the Bible for guidance—have a seductive appeal to the flesh—a poisoning effect in the already deceitful and desperately wicked heart of man.”

Next week: How did we get to this point?

Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3