How Should Christians Think about the Enneagram? A Conversation with Dr. Chris Berg.

How should Christians think about the enneagram? Is it a New Age "trojan horse"? Dr. Chris Berg did his doctoral research on the enneagram and has just published his findings in the book THE NEW AGE TROJAN HORSE. Join Sean and Chris to discuss the wisdom behind Christians uncritically using the enneagram.



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[davidmorrowacousticmusic]

I’m a trained psychologist and have worked in the Psychology department of a Psychiatric Hospital and subsequently as a Christian pastor. The Enneagram is not based on any evidence based research and has no scientific validity unlike most psychometric assessments of personality. It is simply a recently devised New Age technique completely at odds with reason, scientific validation and in the Church of any congruity with biblical teaching and theology.

[rosanneburck]

What raised the red flags for my husband and I was the statement by the guest speaker in our church on a Sunday morning who introduced the ennegram by saying, "You can't know God until you know yourself." Thereby putting the self as central, instead of God.

[tonywolfemusic]

“If any man would come to me, he must deny himself and pick up his cross and follow me.”

[LouisaWatt]

One of the best points from this video (and it’s a whole discussion in itself) is that modern western Christians seem to think it’s ok to offer God strange fire.

[thyswifey]

I dived DEEP into the enneagram and loved every minute. Couldn’t get enough. This went on for a year. I’ve been a strong Christian for 20 years.

I learned about the origins and eventually felt I needed to walk away. It means a lot to me that someone I respect so much like Dr. Chris is addressing this topic and I definitely appreciate this interview.

Studying the enneagram (and I was in deep) really pointed me farther from Christ’s death and resurrection and more towards “Christian Universalism”. I’m so glad I walked away.

[josieclark]

My church has been using the enneagram for the last few years. When I engaged a woman’s leader (who was teaching it)about Richard Rohr, she definitely became enraged. She wanted to know what my number was! To me, this has become an idol many cannot give up.

[cuxnxji]

I knew there was something wrong when I literally only heard some of my church member friends talking about their "numbers" . Before I knew the word Enneagram. The first thing I thought was it's no different than looking at your horoscope. I thank Jesus for discernment. I can spot new age anything most all the time.

[johnsteven]

It’s so discouraging how pastors will pick up something like the enneagram and start promoting it without investigating it’s validity or alignment with scripture.

[tanyalatricestaysonfire]

I thought Enneagram was suspect when I saw the diagrams. I did read a book written by Christian psychologists and at first thought it wasn’t too bad, but it has so many New Age qualities. I realized this is not something Christians should be messing with.

[leanagonzalez]

Dear heavenly Father,

Give us a heart for your Word that we may have discernment. Like sheep, we are led astray. Help us hide your Word in our heart that we may not sin against you.

[taraluke]

Excellent interview! Thank you for teaching and equipping us, in how to recognize the New Age and how it’s seeping into the churches. Fantastic and very helpful!

[Balcamion]

My Dad always told me, "Don't pick through the poop to get the corn."

[Alexandracockroft]

"It the belief in some way shape or form, that man is divine." Well said. This is a blessing to me. Thank you guys! THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS. Preaching the TRUTH against the enneagram here in Oklahoma.

[allisonpelphrey]

Great conversation. Too many Christians messing around with pagan belief systems. Thank you Dr Berg and Shaun for opening this subject up. The Bible is our only source for living.

[mariec]

Thank you for doing this! So well-informed & so thorough without being heavy-handed.

[Tami]

This is a fantastic discussion, Dr. Berg is GREAT! I'd like to see more of what he is teaching too:) He explains things in a way that makes it very easy to understand. Thanks!!

[ChalkboardCreativeHomeschool]

Thank you sooo much for this episode! I’ve been warning so many of my Christian sisters about this, with a lot of pushback.

[tankfu]

/eye roll - People who take enneagram (or ANY personality test) seriously also take their buzzfeed "what kind of kitchen appliance are you?" survey seriously.

[bellachi]

The groundwork for the enneagram in the church was laid 60 years ago when Christians were using the Greek humors (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic) as a personality test, associating them with the personalities of the disciples.

[shelley]

Hey guys, keep in mind the context of your conversation is the USA. Not every Christian in other countries think like this :)