Should Christians use The Enneagram

[BPPLEE]

I discovered the Enneagram about 12 years ago. I had struggled with severe depression and was going through a divorce. I discovered that I was a type 6 with a 5 wing and my ex wife was a 2 with a 1 wing. The descriptions were so accurate and when I read about the different levels of development I had gone through exactly what was described. I got so enamored with it I wrote a book ( which I have now made unavailable). As I learned more a lot of the information about the origins of the Enneagram was just not true. Oscar Ichazo is the man who came up with it and he was a New Age Eastern mysticism guru of sorts. Claudio Naranjo brought it to the US and in an interview said he developed much of it through automatic writing (an occult practice). I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences they would like to share? Is it wrong to use the Enneagram strictly for personality typing? Has anyone encountered it being taught at their Church?

 

[Allen of the Cross]

Before I found Jesus, I was heavily into the New Age movement. My advice is this: avoid this and things like this. Anything that even comes close to occultic practices is far within the realm of demons. I practiced chakra magic and I got possessed. Playing with anything occultic is playing with fire. I've never actually touched the enneagram, but to be honest I avoid occultic practices like the plague. That stuff is dangerous. I avoid astrology too, tarot cards, 'crystals,' and other such things. P.S. avoid ouija boards with strictness. God bless you

 

[BPPLEE]

Before I found Jesus, I was heavily into the New Age movement. My advice is this: avoid this and things like this. Anything that even comes close to occultic practices is far within the realm of demons. I practiced chakra magic and I got possessed. Playing with anything occultic is playing with fire. I've never actually touched the enneagram, but to be honest I avoid occultic practices like the plague. That stuff is dangerous. I avoid astrology too, tarot cards, 'crystals,' and other such things. P.S. avoid ouija boards with strictness. God bless you

Thanks for your input. It concerns me that there are books and websites promoting this as being Christian in origin.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Never could get into the Enneagram. I do like personality tests and theories and think they are useful for various things including forming, organizing and facilitating various kind of teams, and talking about things like Spiritual Gifts and ministries. Rick Warren for instance has a SHAPE Seminar for his various Saddle Back church campuses.

Your SHAPE Shows Your Purpose - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope


I personally like and relate to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator which has some of its own problems and issues. Some of my past Christian friends like the Enneagram more than the MBTI because it also has things like level of functionality that the MBTI doesn't get into.


As far as the Christian objections to things like this, I'm not really personally worried about them. I just got to say, I have a track record of seeing Christians fuss over a lot of things based on surface issues and not really apply such scrutiny and thought to some more obvious problems going on in their life, church, denomination etc.

 

[BPPLEE]

Never could get into the Enneagram. I do like personality tests and theories and think they are useful for various things including forming, organizing and facilitating various kind of teams, and talking about things like Spiritual Gifts and ministries. Rick Warren for instance has a SHAPE Seminar for his various Saddle Back church campuses.

Your SHAPE Shows Your Purpose - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope


I personally like and relate to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator which has some of its own problems and issues. Some of my past Christian friends like the Enneagram more than the MBTI because it also has things like level of functionality that the MBTI doesn't get into.


As far as the Christian objections to things like this, I'm not really personally worried about them. I just got to say, I have a track record of seeing Christians fuss over a lot of things based on surface issues and not really apply such scrutiny and thought to some more obvious problems going on in their life, church, denomination etc.

With the MBTI I find some of the descriptions fit but many do not and that my results have changed sometimes when I retook the test

 

[Pavel Mosko]

With the MBTI I find some of the descriptions fit but many do not and that my results have changed sometimes when I retook the test

Yep that was the kind of thing I was alluding to. In terms of psychology, and test taking metrics that is called "Reliability". 1/4 or so of people that take and later retake the test are a different personality type. In terms of standards of psychological tests that is on the poor side, compared to a number of other tests including intelligence tests that can have a high amount of reliability..


The Myers Briggs folks have some decent advice for this sort of thing, depending on how high you scored. If you are only a few points different on something they want you to consider yourself an X on that preference and you are basically in the middle of that and not really an ISFJ or whatever you tested out as.

And of course the test itself is a little tricky as far as getting people to properly follow the directions on choosing between words etc. just because some words based on culture etc. can have more positive and negative connotations and I think some people tend to choose their answers based on that rather than what the directions call for.


But other than that I relate to Myers Briggs more intuitively, than the newfangled Enneagram. The whole notion of sensing vs. intuition is especially important. IF you are a strong intuitive that tends to think in terms of abstract big ideas it can be interesting when you encounter someone who is more sensing and likes things to be much more literal and concrete.


And the other 3 dimensions can also be important in relationships too. I got a ENTP friend who sometimes wants to surprise me an INTJ with some last minute offer to come over for diner or something. When he was my upstairs neighbor that sometimes worked out, but now that he moved a 20 minute car ride away, I find I don't want to uproot myself at the drop of the hat when I'm comfortable or working on something like cooking, writing etc.

 

[timf]

It can be healthy to make a self-assessment with particular regard to those areas of deficiency where skill development may be useful.

However, most programs of self reflection can take one too far "into themselves". In a way they can be similar to Astrology and evoke the problems incumbent with excessive attention on self.

 

[BPPLEE]

I discovered the Enneagram about 12 years ago. I had struggled with severe depression and was going through a divorce. I discovered that I was a type 6 with a 5 wing and my ex wife was a 2 with a 1 wing. The descriptions were so accurate and when I read about the different levels of development I had gone through exactly what was described. I got so enamored with it I wrote a book ( which I have now made unavailable). As I learned more a lot of the information about the origins of the Enneagram was just not true. Oscar Ichazo is the man who came up with it and he was a New Age Eastern mysticism guru of sorts. Claudio Naranjo brought it to the US and in an interview said he developed much of it through automatic writing (an occult practice). I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences they would like to share? Is it wrong to use the Enneagram strictly for personality typing? Has anyone encountered it being taught at their Church?

Tell Me who I Am, O Enneagram | Christian Research Institute

 

[Brian Mcnamee]

I discovered the Enneagram about 12 years ago. I had struggled with severe depression and was going through a divorce. I discovered that I was a type 6 with a 5 wing and my ex wife was a 2 with a 1 wing. The descriptions were so accurate and when I read about the different levels of development I had gone through exactly what was described. I got so enamored with it I wrote a book ( which I have now made unavailable). As I learned more a lot of the information about the origins of the Enneagram was just not true. Oscar Ichazo is the man who came up with it and he was a New Age Eastern mysticism guru of sorts. Claudio Naranjo brought it to the US and in an interview said he developed much of it through automatic writing (an occult practice). I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences they would like to share? Is it wrong to use the Enneagram strictly for personality typing? Has anyone encountered it being taught at their Church?

it is new age and occult and a guy name richer Rohr a mystic Catholic brought it in to the church and many churches have toyed with it and some have openly embraced it. The thing is there is something in this test that does resonate as true when you look at the results and next thing you know you are leaving Gods word to discover and analyze your life through this lens and not scripture. This is a dangerous slope as it will take your world view away from a biblical world view and into an experiential one. The test have some truth in them and they are not like scripture which is Gods word and is true in every way every time. This is a bad trade for the Christian and it opens you up the all the cars hitched to this train.

 

[Andrewn]

I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology.

How does this conflict with basic Christian theology?

A long time ago I bought a book about the Enneagram in a Catholic bookstore. I took the test and the results were interesting. Just like results of other personality tests that I took over the years were interesting. My favorite is Keirsey's Four Temperaments, which correlates with the Myers Briggs, but is simpler. My results were high on two of the types, one of them slightly higher than the other.

I have nothing against the Enneagram or any of the other tests except the belief that a certain person will always be stuck in a certain type. We grow and develop and learn from experience. But in some aspects, I find myself doing certain things and having attitudes that I had when I was 10 y/o.

I haven't taken any personality tests recently. It is quite possible that I have shifted to the other personality type that was 2nd on my Keirsey's test. I don't think I will ever be in the other 2 personalities that came quite low in my inventory but I try try to adopt their positive values and share interests with people around me who seem to belong to one or the other personality.

An interesting observation at the end of Keirsey's book, which I read many years back, is that his 4 personalities are repressed by the four Cherubs surrounding God's throne. No matter what our personality types are, we all serve and praise God and this is our joy.

 

[BPPLEE]

How does this conflict with basic Christian theology?

A long time ago I bought a book about the Enneagram in a Catholic bookstore. I took the test and the results were interesting. Just like results of other personality tests that I took over the years were interesting. My favorite is Keirsey's Four Temperaments, which correlates with the Myers Briggs, but is simpler. My results were high on two of the types, one of them slightly higher than the other.

I have nothing against the Enneagram or any of the other tests except the belief that a certain person will always be stuck in a certain type. We grow and develop and learn from experience. But in some aspects, I find myself doing certain things and having attitudes that I had when I was 10 y/o.

I haven't taken any personality tests recently. It is quite possible that I have shifted to the other personality type that was 2nd on my Keirsey's test. I don't think I will ever be in the other 2 personalities that came quite low in my inventory but I try try to adopt their positive values and share interests with people around me who seem to belong to one or the other personality.

An interesting observation at the end of Keirsey's book, which I read many years back, is that his 4 personalities are repressed by the four Cherubs surrounding God's throne. No matter what our personality types are, we all serve and praise God and this is our joy.

Here is a link on essence Essence — Enneagram Essence. This is not a Christian belief. Christians believe we are born with a sin nature and we need a Savior. This teaches we are born in essence and that we can get back to essence (enlightenment) through our own efforts

 

[eleos1954]

well .... it promotes relying on self (meditation) .... as Christians we rely on God and are to "meditate" on Him and His Word.

In a secular context, meditation is associated with emptying the mind and relaxing the body.

On the other hand, meditating on the Word of God— requires to concentrate and think deeply on God’s truth.

 

[BPPLEE]

I discovered the Enneagram about 12 years ago. I had struggled with severe depression and was going through a divorce. I discovered that I was a type 6 with a 5 wing and my ex wife was a 2 with a 1 wing. The descriptions were so accurate and when I read about the different levels of development I had gone through exactly what was described. I got so enamored with it I wrote a book ( which I have now made unavailable). As I learned more a lot of the information about the origins of the Enneagram was just not true. Oscar Ichazo is the man who came up with it and he was a New Age Eastern mysticism guru of sorts. Claudio Naranjo brought it to the US and in an interview said he developed much of it through automatic writing (an occult practice). I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences they would like to share? Is it wrong to use the Enneagram strictly for personality typing? Has anyone encountered it being taught at their Church?

Traditional Enneagram (History) — The Enneagram Institute. From the Enneagram Institute website

 

[Andrewn]

Here is a link on essence Essence — Enneagram Essence.

According to this website, "The mainstream understanding of the Enneagram, these days, is that it is a psychological system for understanding your personality. Most of the Enneagram work and teachings available today emphasize its psychological branches and miss its spiritual roots." This is exactly my position and the position of most people. It is a personality test and there is no reason to insist on following a non-Christian spiritual course after taking the test.

Christians believe we are born with a sin nature and we need a Savior.

Whether we are born in Total Depravity as Calvinists say or born in the Image of God as Eastern Orthodox say is beyond the scope of this thread.

This teaches we are born in essence and that we can get back to essence (enlightenment) through our own efforts

If this is what the Enneagram Institute teaches then it is not consistent with the Bible. Meditation is not the way the God. Christ is the Way. I'll look for the test online and take it now.

 

[BPPLEE]

According to this website, "The mainstream understanding of the Enneagram, these days, is that it is a psychological system for understanding your personality. Most of the Enneagram work and teachings available today emphasize its psychological branches and miss its spiritual roots." This is exactly my position and the position of most people. It is a personality test and there is no reason to insist on following a non-Christian spiritual course after taking the test.


Whether we are born in Total Depravity as Calvinists say or born in the Image of God as Eastern Orthodox say is beyond the scope of this thread.


If this is what the Enneagram Institute teaches then it is not consistent with the Bible. Meditation is not the way the God. Christ is the Way. I'll look for the test online and take it now.

I'm not trying to promote Calvinism as I don't agree with it. I posted a link to the Enneagram Institute's history of the Enneagram. As far as using the Enneagram strictly for personality typing I am reminded of Paul's advice concerning meat that had been sacrificed to idols. 1 Corinthians 8

 

[Andrewn]

I posted a link to the Enneagram Institute's history of the Enneagram. As far as using the Enneagram strictly for personality typing I am reminded of Paul's advice concerning meat that had been sacrificed to idols. 1 Corinthians 8

The links you posted show the mixed religious background of the inventor of the Enneagram. They do not show any drawbacks for the theory behind the test, much less for the benefit of taking the test.

What I understood from my limited reading about the theory behind the test is that every person has an essence that they are born with and a personality/ego that develops over time. We tend to ignore our essence and construct our lives around our personalities.

Now, this is very close to the writings of the Apostle Paul except that he talks in terms of a spirit and a flesh that every person has. So far so good.

The problem I see in the Enneagram is the essence/spirit is considered kind of infallible. But Biblically this is not true. Our human spirit is likely to fail if it is not washed by the blood of Jesus and connected to the Holy Spirit.

The Enneagram has value. But it needs to be understood in a Christian context. It is great to seek healing for the personality/flesh and to integrate it with our essence/spirit. But it is very important for our spirit to be connected to the true vine, who is the Lord of glory.

The Enneagram of Essence and Personality — John Luckovich

https://ieaninepoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2009-IEA-Journal_David-Hey_review.pdf

 

[BPPLEE]

The links you posted show the mixed religious background of the inventor of the Enneagram. They do not show any drawbacks for the theory behind the test, much less for the benefit of taking the test.

What I understood from my limited reading about the theory behind the test is that every person has an essence that they are born with and a personality/ego that develops over time. We tend to ignore our essence and construct our lives around our personalities.

Now, this is very close to the writings of the Apostle Paul except that he talks in terms of a spirit and a flesh that every person has. So far so good.

The problem I see in the Enneagram is the essence/spirit is considered kind of infallible. But Biblically this is not true. Our human spirit is likely to fail if it is not washed by the blood of Jesus and connected to the Holy Spirit.

The Enneagram has value. But it needs to be understood in a Christian context. It is great to seek healing for the personality/flesh and to integrate it with our essence/spirit. But it is very important for our spirit to be connected to the true vine, who is the Lord of glory.

The Enneagram of Essence and Personality — John Luckovich

https://ieaninepoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2009-IEA-Journal_David-Hey_review.pdf

I think it's possible someone could learn their Enneagram type and get useful information and there would be no harm. But getting into New Age and Eastern mysticism practices in order to find one's essence is something I would not advise. I also have a problem with people mixing this with Christianity or claiming that it's origin is Christian. This has no place in the Church and when it's advocated as being spiritual it is not Christianity that is being promoted.

 

[Andrewn]

But getting into New Age and Eastern mysticism practices in order to find one's essence is something I would not advise.

I wasn't able to find articles that prescribe New Age and Eastern mysticism to find one's essence. Do you have an article that recommends this approach?

 

[BPPLEE]

I wasn't able to find articles that prescribe New Age and Eastern mysticism to find one's essence. Do you have an article that recommends this approach?

That was the whole purpose of the Arica school Ichazo founded. Finding ones Enneagram type was just part of the process. The Enneagram Institute founders Riso and Hudson said the Enneagram is 9 paths to God. Not everyone is using it that way but that was the original purpose. Finding your essence is a new age concept in itself.

 

[BPPLEE]

I discovered the Enneagram about 12 years ago. I had struggled with severe depression and was going through a divorce. I discovered that I was a type 6 with a 5 wing and my ex wife was a 2 with a 1 wing. The descriptions were so accurate and when I read about the different levels of development I had gone through exactly what was described. I got so enamored with it I wrote a book ( which I have now made unavailable). As I learned more a lot of the information about the origins of the Enneagram was just not true. Oscar Ichazo is the man who came up with it and he was a New Age Eastern mysticism guru of sorts. Claudio Naranjo brought it to the US and in an interview said he developed much of it through automatic writing (an occult practice). I have seen it being promoted as having Christians origins and some Churches are incorporating it into their programs. While I don't think it's harmful using it strictly to study personality it is not Christian and has no place in the Church. It teaches that children are born in "essence " and develop an ego as a defense mechanism that develops their personality as a coping mechanism. Through esoteric work and meditation one can overcome their ego and get back in essence. This is in conflict with basic Christian theology. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences they would like to share? Is it wrong to use the Enneagram strictly for personality typing? Has anyone encountered it being taught at their Church?

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