Avoid This John Eldredge Book...

In staff meeting this past week we talked about when you should name names and when you shouldn't. This is one of those times I'm choosing to name a name.

John Eldredge is a popular Christian author. His most popular book is probably "Wild at Heart." And I'm not interested in debating the worth of any or all of his books, but I do want to warn you about his latest book, Beautiful Outlaw. I read a couple of quotes from it and wanted to get the word out - that perhaps you've enjoyed other books of his, but you should avoid this one.

I will let him speak for himself:

QUOTE #1:

I have had similar encounters with Jesus in healing prayer. Last year, as a wise old sage was praying with me through some of the painful memories of my life, I was immediately reminded of the time in middle school when my first girlfriend broke my heart. These wounds can linger for a lifetime if you let them—the first cut is the deepest, and all that. We asked Jesus to take me back to the memory. I saw us, the girl and me; it was that fateful summer day. We were in the living room, just as it happened. Then I saw Jesus enter the room. He was quite stern with her, and it surprised me. That mattered to you? I wondered. Very much, he said.

Then Jesus turned to me. I felt his love. I realized I could let the whole thing go. It was so healing. To understand that Jesus is angry about what happened to you is very, very important in understanding his personality but also in your relationship with him and for your healing. What I love about these encounters is that every time—every time—Jesus is so true to his real personality. Sometimes fierce, sometimes gentle, always generous, and often very playful.

My son was having a tough freshman year at college. So many students there are bound under the religious fog. It was a lonely fall, filled with misunderstanding. One afternoon, just after a classmate said something particularly hurtful to him, Blaine returned to his room and slumped onto his bed, about as low as a young man can get. He looked over to his desk, and “saw” Jesus sitting there, in his desk chair, a smile on his face. He was wearing a pirate hat. Then he disappeared. A whiff of the Emmaus road.

QUOTE #2:

I was going to call this book Jesus of a Thousand Hearts, because of the way he continually breaks into my life. He “speaks” to me through hearts. I’ll find stones in the shape of hearts in rivers where I’m fishing. I’ve seen them almost step-by-step up a mountainside when on a grueling climb. Praying in the morning I’ll look out the window and passing by will be a heart-shaped cloud. Dinner rolls, seashells, stains on my jeans. I’ve won the lottery when it comes to hearts from Jesus. But I am ashamed to admit that last summer, I grew a little impatient with them. I was going through a trying time and seeking God for the answer to many questions. Often, he would simply give me a heart in reply. I’d be walking down the sidewalk, and there in the cement see a heart-shaped hole, made by a bubble when they poured the sidewalk.

I actually grew a little dismissive of them. I didn’t want hearts—I wanted answers.

So, Jesus stopped giving these treasures of our friendship.

Last fall, while walking through an alpine meadow bow hunting, I was asking him, How come you don’t give me hearts anymore? I asked it in a pouting kind of way. At that moment something gray caught my eye. I looked down midstride, and there in the grass, about as big as a dinner plate, was a dried piece of cow manure—in the perfect shape of a heart.

If I didn’t know Jesus adores me, if I didn’t know he is playful, and if our relationship didn’t allow me to receive a playful tease, I might have misinterpreted the icon. But I loved it. It was both, Oh, so now you want a heart? and, I adore you still. A cow-pie heart. That is so Jesus. Wish I’d taken a photo of it—we could have put it on the cover of this book.

That probably says enough. I haven't read the book, I was just shown these quotes and in case you have had a good experience with Eldredge in the past, I'm encouraging you to pass on him.

Comments

[Elaine]

Wow thanks for the heads up. That was awful!!!! I have never read his books and Never will.....

[Josh F]

I began reading Wild at Heart several years ago. There was a paragraph or two maybe almost half-way into the book where he described a scene with his son on a playground. It had to do with someone picking on his boy and his boy either told him about it or he heard about it some other way. He then at some point gave his son advice to basically punch the kid back or something. Something about not emasculating our next generation of boys and that his son ought to repay the other boy with his fist.

It has been several years since I read it, so I may have some of the details wrong, but that was my takeaway and what I remember. I probably should take the time to re-read it just to be sure, and if someone reads this and I have it wrong please correct me.

Anyway, I put the book down and never picked it back up again... That advice just didn't sit well with me. Anyone else have that same or similar experience? Did I read way too much into that?

[Josh Horn]

If you asked me in 2004 what I thought about "Wild at Heart," I couldn't have given you a more favorable review. In fact, I was considering hiking out into the forest and living off squirrel meat and berries for a few months so I could "find myself."

Thankfully I grew up.

My biggest issue with books from Eldredge is the focus on the anecdotal in describing God. Very little about who Jesus is/was comes from scripture, and instead we see a God that is fluid, buddy-buddy, and whimsical. Sure, there may be attributes like these in his character at times, but it seems to draw more from John's personality or what he wants from Jesus than actually representing Jesus. (We have his Word for a reason).

Example: In "Wild at Heart", if I recall correctly, the basic understanding is that men are wild and women are beautiful, and that we are all desperately seeking to live up to these caricatures (but we often give in and men are tamed and women don't appreciate themselves). This is an observation John has made from his life, and he desperately seeks something from scripture to support this. Man was created, THEN placed in the garden. While woman was created IN the garden. Thus, man came from the wild and woman from beauty.

What a leap! This is supposed to explain why most boys like trucks and dinosaurs and most girls like dolls and tea parties? The problem is that it creates unfulfilled expectations and confusion about the true nature of gender. Not every husband needs to crave an outdoor adventure, filled with kayaking, rock climbing, hiking and hunting. Not every husband needs to see life as an adventure where they must fight to live up to stereotypes of manliness that aren't necessarily found in the Bible. But they do have a biblical mandate to lead, to pursue God full-heartedly, and to take risks (read: leaps of faith) that will turn their family more towards Christ. Those are not the same thing... What those risks look like is different for all men, and aren't necessarily filled with adrenaline and sweat! I think John's got nuggets of truth in there somewhere, but they get so twisted by his anecdotal experience and his worldview that the real truth is lost.

Haha, David tries to avoid talking up John's other books, but I just can't help myself...

[Matt T.]

i read Wild at heart at least 10 years ago, thought it had some decent points about not being emasculated as a Christian man etc. while having several not good points about how to get there. however, his subsequent books seem to go further and further off the deep end. Tim Challies has a couple reviews of Eldredge books on his blog/ website which are well done.
on a side note i was really hoping this one would be on the list for the next EQUIP class...

[Mark D.]

I have to be honest, there is a part of me that wants these so-called encounters with and communication from God to be true. In my flesh I want these special revelations to be a natural way for God to communicate with me.

But I know that what I want is not always what I need. God has given me everything I need to live a life that is both pleasing to Him and full of wonder in how He speaks to me now. I need to rest in that and thank Him that His word to me is quite a bit clearer than the ones Eldredge believes he is receiving.

[Elisa]

Thank you for the alert on this book, I appreciate your effort to stirr us in the right direction when choosing Christian books to read.

In my opinion this author is somewhat confused and disrespectful toward the person of Jesus, our Savior.

[RR]

I think his next book should be “Wild at Brain”! All I can say if the WORD was good enough for Jesus Christ to have faith in, under the most stressful of conditions during his temptation, it IS good enough for us!...we just have to believe it! I am worried for this younger generation for placing too much emphasis on an emotional relationship at the expense of believing faith.