Three Problems With Self-Help (Catholic Beliefs)

Описание: Catholic Speaker Ken Yasinski offers insight into the problem with personal development and self-help books. Join Catholic Minute for more videos here https://catholicspeaker.com

Have you every noticed the self-help, or personal development section in a book store? I’ve been there many times and have purchased many books. My observation is that there can some big problems with their messages, especially if these books become majority of our reading.

Problem 1: You become your own saviour.
As a general rule, these books point to “self” as the solution to all the problem we have in life. They encourage people to take charge of their life, that everyone has the power within themselves to find the solution to life’s problems.

I’m all about taking responsibility for our life, however the problem is not simply that we have made a few bad choices in life, or that our thinking is negative, or that we need to work on our attitude. The problem is sin, and the consequence of sin is eternal separation from God!

The truth is no amount of positive thinking, or personal development can save us from the consequences of sin. We need a saviour. These books can give the impression that we can solve all our problems. Not true. The biggest problem we have in life is a sin problem, and only Jesus can save us from sin.

Problem 2: Life is all about you.
In general these books encourage service, and thinking of other people. They offer tips on how to communicate with other better. How to work effectively as a team. But one must recognize the reason the authors are encouraging the reader to live this way, is in order to obtain what we want.

Motivational speaker and author Zig Zigglar says, “You can get everything you want in life, if you just help enough other people get what they want in life.” What’s the problem with this? Life is not about getting what we want. Life is about glorifying God! Period! Should we serve other, work as a team, have more positing thinking, learn to communicate more effectively? Yes, in order that we better serve God, but not so that we can get from other people what we want in life. Life is not about using people as a means to fulfilling our will.

Jesus didn’t serve people in order to gain something from them. His life was purely as the service of God the Father. And so it is with the Christian life. The Christian life is about living with Jesus at the centre, and not self. This is a critical problem with many of these seemingly good books.

Problem 3: These books never ask the question: What does God want?
Is this not the most important question of life? What is life, if it is not lived for God? For in the end, we will not be judged on how well we lived our own will, but if we were faithful to the will of God the Father.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Let thy will be done”, not “let my will be done.” If this question is never asked, we miss out on the purpose of life, which is to do the will of God and glorify Him.

Should we never read these books? That is not what I am saying. They can be a wonderful supplements to the spiritual reading that we are currently doing. However these books should not be a substitute for reading scripture, the lives of the saints, and studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

One also has to be careful to compare what we are reading with what the Catholic Church teaches and proposes for our belief. If ever there is a contradiction, our default position is to submit to what God has revealed to be true.

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