How do we understand how things are being defined?

• Do we know what grace really is? Sanctification? Atonement? We cannot just accept or assume accuracy without Scripture. No one person has the authority to speak truth without Scripture. Truth requires precision.
• We cannot accept or deny things solely on our experiences. One might say, “the enneagram helped me,” or “it works for me.” Or like Cron/Stabile wrote that they found it to be “very helpful.” To say that is to deny Scripture and trump the Bible’s authority and the power of God.
• Why is no one saying that Scripture holds complete authority but is quick to add a supplementary tool as if Scripture is insufficient? Why? Because of the cult of self. We want more of our selves while Christ has stated differently. We don’t want conviction that prompts glorifying Christ. We don’t want to die to self to live for Christ. We want us and without reservations to hardship. 

Basic Beliefs of all versions of the Enneagram:

• Rejects basic theological principle of total depravity, original sin and fallen state of humanity:
• Rohr states that it is not sin or, how he describes it as “moral wrongness” that destroys us but identifying too closely to “what we can do well.” Both the good and bad are either side of same coin.
• Matt. 5:19 - Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
• Matt. 20:26 - Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants t become great among you must be your servant…
• Mark 10:43 - Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…
• Rohr also states that “no one willingly does evil” contrary to what Scripture states
• Matt. 12:34-35 - You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
• With the Enneagram, we do not have to die to self because there is nothing innately wrong with us. It teaches that God loves the sum of us, including the dark side and so does not require us to change.
• Matt 18:3 - And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
• James 4:9 -Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
• The Enneagram relies on “New Consciousness” because Scripture is insufficient.
• The Enneagram is “a sacred map for our souls….” When better understood it leads to “true identity and to God.”
• It is all about the self. So much so that, for example, all practices lead to a “self-observation, self-study, and self-development.”
• The Enneagram is thoroughly gnostic. Rohr asserts the term “Christ Consciousness” (not Christlikeness) and when we have full understanding it we understand that God is within all of creation (including our selves). Therefore we also have divinity within us and that path through “New Consciousness” or “New Awareness” leads to spiritual maturity. It is a knowledge necessary to obtain in order to become spiritual mature rather than a faith in action. (This is the difference between gnosticism and education concerning “knowledge.”)
• Attaining Spiritual growth and holiness is not done by the Spirit but by internalization.
• It is the self that brings us “back to our true Essence.” The Enneagram is a “map for self-liberation” that leads to “inner peace,” not glorification of God.
• All of this growth is works based rather than Spirit empowered. Though it might sound biblical, it is doublespeak. It’s vague, distorts, or obscures. There is use of definition alteration and/or hijacking. Euphemisms are a key way that doublespeak is used (ie. “Don’t always play the part of the rebel”).*1 Rhetoric is also key in person. Half truth plus half truth does not equal truth. It equals lie.
• Salvation also becomes work based earned by recovering the True Self
• Salvation is by grace through faith. But the Enneagram asserts more doublespeak that sounds like that but is all about recovering the True Self in order to restore our relationship with God. Salvation is already there according to the Enneagram and just needs to be realized in the True Self.
• Language is redefined:
• Redemption - Rohr defines it this way: “in Christianity, redemption from the false self is understood as a gift of God’s grace… we should pray as if it depended on God and act as though everything depended upon ourselves.”
• Faith - Rohr states that faith “is actually a way to keep us learning, growing, and being transformed into God — not just a security blanket of doctrinal statements and moral principles.”
• With redefining biblical theology, holiness, sin, faith, grace, mercy, etc… anything goes. The key point is the True Self and so conversion is not to Christ but whatever “holy idea” that pertains to the individuals specified Enneagram number. And if you are already a Christian, you are a better Christian living by your number.
• Additionally, salvation is no longer about Jesus’ death on a cross for our sins. The Enneagram has replaced that with the new nine ways we can escape our illusionary False Self, regain the True Self, and “find our way back to God.”
• Rohr also teaches that “The Enneagram, like the Spirit of truth itself, will always set you free, but first it will make you miserable!”
• Healing and relationship requires knowledge
• All credit goes to the Enneagram; meanwhile it was stated by Rohr that it was not discovered by Christians, regardless.
• There is only unity when certain Enneagram numbers align. That’s not unity. That’s segregating and separating, forming internal clicks and sub groups.
• The teaching on the “Childhood Wound” shirks the responsibilities to sin and behaviors and creates a victim mentality. Since a child lacks a “psychological capacity” they are not fully responsible and in control of their actions later as an adult.
• We are a product of our surroundings and upbringing (half truth, vague)
• It is because a “Childhood Wound” in which we develop coping mechanisms. Therefore, sin is not rebellion against God, it is the “survival strategy that we adopted as children” that bring us to retreat into a personality number which succinctly develop or malformed our personalities.
• Sin is unavoidable as we may not even be aware of how we’ve been affected by our Childhood Wound. The numbers we attribute to reveal those possible “sins” in order to deal with them via the revelation of the “inner self.” The Enneagram is therefore a necessity for sanctification rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Scripture Referenced:

• 2 Timothy 4:1-4

Works Cited:

• *1 - Doublespeak is deliberate communication that is used in rhetoric. The sole purpose of doublespeak is to convey vague, obscure, or ambiguous phrases in order to confuse or deceive in order to gain support in what is being communicated.
• Beth, Christopher. The New Age Trojan Horse. New York: Beyond Publication, 2021.
• Cherry, Rhenn. Enneagram Theology: Is It Christian? Eugene, Oregon: Resource Publications, 2021.
• Lutzer, Erwin W.. Who Are You to Judge?: Learning to Distinguish Between Truths, Half-Truths, and Lies. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2016.
• Veinot, Don; Veinot, Joy; Montenegro, Marcia. Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret. Wonderlake, IL: MCOI, 2020.