Little Red Book Ministry

In their book The Seduction of Christianity, co–authors T. A. McMahon and Dave Hunt expressed this very well in the following quotes:

The idea of man’s innate goodness—of the innocent child that still resides within us all—is the cornerstone of psychology. Under that sponsorship, evangelical tradition is being replaced by a new humanistic view of man, which ridicules as “worm theology” the former emphasis upon conviction of sin, repentance, and humanity’s unworthiness.

The new gospel of self-esteem has even been embraced by earnest Christian leaders with effective ministries (p. 192). One thing is certain, however: The Bible never urges self-acceptance, self- love, self-assertion, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-forgiveness, nor any of the other selfisms that are so popular today. The answer to depression is not to accept self, but to turn from self to Christ (p. 195).

Not only is it the clear teaching of the Bible, but even non-Christians know in their hearts that the besetting sin of humanity is pride. We all tend by nature to think too highly of ourselves. That long-established biblical truth, however, has lately been discovered to be in error. Enlightened by psychology, pastors and Christian leaders are now proclaiming that the besetting sin of the human race is not pride after all, but humility. We don’t think too highly of ourselves, but too poorly. We all have a bad self-image, or low self-esteem, from which nothing but psychotherapeutic rituals, which have been Christianized for the church, can rescue us (p. 198).

The authors go on to explode the myth that we think too lowly of ourselves citing Ephesians 5:29 which says:

“For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church”
(Ephesians 5:29).