A Quiet Simple Life | Sallie Borrink

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

A Quiet Simple Life

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Sallie Borrink

Should Christians Use the Enneagram?


Today I would like to tackle the question of should Christians use the Enneagram. I think I was formally introduced to the Enneagram when I received an advanced review copy of Alice Fryling’s book Mirror for the Soul: A Christian Guide to the Enneagram from InterVarsity Press. I had already discerned something was increasingly off at IVP and the book looked off as well. As much as I related to the entire Myers-Briggs INFJ thing in terms of how it explained my personality, there was something instantly off-putting about the Enneagram. I had an actual visceral reaction to the book as I flipped through it. I threw the book in the trash.

I didn’t have time to figure out why it seemed off. Life was full of too many other things. I simply knew I had no desire to go down that rabbit hole. Not only did I not have the desire, I felt distinctly like wisdom dictated I not even mess with it at all.

Last year I believe the Lord led me to some resources that made clear why I felt such a visceral reaction to it. I’m putting all of them together here in one post because I believe this information is important.

If you’ve wondered about the Enneagram or are concerned about someone you know who is bordering on obsessed with it (which I understand is quite common), you’ll find the information below helpful. I think the Enneagram is yet one more example of the Church being infiltrated.

Myers-Briggs Versus The Enneagram

I do want to address my usage of INFJ as my Myers-Briggs type on my website over the years. I’ve gone back and forth regarding the posts I have that discuss personality types. I’ve considered Myers-Briggs typing as a form of shorthand for quickly getting to know someone or relate to them. It was helpful in terms of understanding why I interacted with the world in certain ways that others didn’t. It’s been a helpful tool to helping my child understand why people can act so differently in the same situation. However, it is not Scriptural so I do feel a bit of back and forth with it.

But when observing people who become deeply involved with the Ennegram, it seems like there is something much more all-encompassing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Where the Myers-Briggs thing is more of a shortcut tool in conversation, the Ennegram is just… different. In The Enneagram, the Angel, and the Divine Coma, Marcia Montenegro points out this difference:

Moreover, it is a red herring to bring up the Myers-Briggs which, unlike the Enneagram, is not derived from spirit contact. Myers-Briggs is not in the same category as the Enneagram. It is claimed the Enneagram is a spiritual tool; Myers-Briggs makes no such claim. While Myers-Briggs claims to assess the personality, the Enneagram was never designed for that. The Enneagram is not to assess personality types but to figure out which of the nine paths to God each one must take to reconnect with their “true self.” In addition, Myers-Briggs is no longer viewed as valid by psychologists. Many have stopped using it.

So I’ve been finding all the references to INFJ and personality types while I’ve been auditing my website and removing them. They aren’t all gone, but I’m getting there. (Once I post this Enneagram post, I will be able to redirect all of those posts here which will make it much easier.)

I don’t have any problem with the idea of introverts and extroverts because I think that is a basic way of explaining how people function in life. There is no implied spiritual aspect to it. But if my goal is to point people to Christ and the truth of the Word, then I don’t want to muddy the waters by adding in extra things that may be of no real benefit (like the INFJ stuff). I don’t feel convicted it was sinful to write about such things. Rather it feels like wisdom dictates that I can better use my time and space here to focus on the Truth of the faith.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note that a key idea in the Enneagram is the “true self” which is a term I often see. When I learned this while watching these videos, I realized that I think I had even picked up that vocabulary and used it a few times. Not because I follow or even understood the Enneagram, but because it was floating around and I apparently picked it up. In using it I would not have meant it in the same way, but rather as being the person God has created you to be from a Biblical perspective. But the Enemy is so easily able to bring things into our world without our even realizing it. It was a good reminder.

The following sections feature different videos and resources that were originally forums posts. They are now combined here. I pray you find them helpful.

Updated note: I continue to add more resources in the comments to be sure to look there as well. 

“When we start shifting our words to something worldly, something happens inside of us”

YES! THIS! THIS! THIS! I had written down on my tickler list to write a post about “stop using other terminology” when I “happened” upon this video. I’ve cued it up to the part where Krista Bontrager nails it. Watch it to the end.

Christians are obsessed with everything except the Bible. The language of the Bible is rich enough that we don’t need to adopt the words of other cultural movements. Increasing numbers of Christians talk more in the language of the Left than they do the Bible right now. I find that deeply troubling.

(I did write that post: Vocabulary In Your Life & Church – From The Bible or the Woke Left?)

Related article: Explosion of the Enneagram among Evangelicals

Is The Enneagram A Trojan Horse In The Church? With Marcia Montenegro

The timing of this was Providential. I had already been reading and thinking about the Enneagram and personality types.

Why I Quit The Enneagram – Jillian Lancour, Marcia Montenegro, and Doreen Virtue

This video is another helpful look at the Enneagram and its unhealthy and unbiblical impact on Christians and churches.

Book mentioned in video: Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret

More Reading About The Enneagram From Marcia Montenegro & Midwest Christian Outreach

I haven’t read all of these, but every interview I’ve seen with Marcia has been very good. I also trust Midwest Christian Outreach to publish solid resources.

A few articles specifically about the Enneagram:

A sampling of her articles on other topics related to spirituality:

See all of the articles here: Marcia Montenegro at Midwest Christian Outreach

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1 Thessalonians 4:1-12


1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.

Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

Berean Standard Bible 
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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel | Hymns & Carols


Matthew 1:18-25

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.

But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,d because He will save His people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin will be with child
and will give birth to a son,
and they will call Him Immanuel”
(which means, “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and embraced Mary as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orders all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in its ways to go.

O come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s stem,
Unto Thine own and rescue them!
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe for us the heav’nward road,
And bar the way to death’s abode.

O come, Thou Bright and Morning Star,
And bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
And turn our darkness into light.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid all our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

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Woes to Scribes and Pharisees


Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.

But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Berean Standard Bible

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