Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (Full Version)

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Permit-It -> Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/12/2009 9:02:47 PM)

Hi Guys,

I am leading a men's study and we are looking to start a new series. Can you give me your opinion on which is a better study, Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle and why you feel this way. Thanks for your input

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shoe -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/12/2009 10:15:38 PM)

I have read both books and I would recommend both. However, I think I would choose Wild at Heart. I guess it would also depend on what type of group you have, mostly younger guys, older, mix. I don't think guys are comfortable discussing the topics in Every Man's battle with men that could be their dad's age. Just an opinion.



Teaching_The_Way -> Born to Be Wild (5/13/2009 9:24:23 AM)

Remember that oldies song "Born to be WIld"? Well I think that best describes allot of men, especialy now a days.
We all are born with desire to sin. And for us guys we are very agreesive and head strong to say the very least.

But to be able to be in authority, as written the head of man is Christ and the head of woman is man, and this is why we are made agreesive, as long as we are agreesive in a Godly way as written in scriptures.

Many thinks that women can not be understood, well neither can man be understood either. :)
I hope I am making some sort of sense. I at times gets desires to explorer the open roads
and sow my wild oats. But a man of God is not allowed to do such things. And sowing oats usually
involves being irresponsible and sinnning.

We must fight those sinful desires of sowing wild oats per say. Scriptures tells us not to trust our emotions.

Final Note: At times us guys have strong desires to say the heack with the job, the heck with the wife and kids, the heck with bills. And then we desire to jump on a Harley Davidson and head out on the highway. But brothers do not give into those evils, that is what satan wants us to do. satan wants to destroy us and our families! :(

Well God Bless All and Keep the Faith in Truth, Sound Doctrine and Sincereity



Knolt -> RE: Born to Be Wild (5/14/2009 3:35:02 PM)

I like Wild at Heart better. It's a book more for men. My main problem with Every Man's Battle is that there's a chapter in the book suggesting we are the source of all the world's problems. Not to mention, Every Man's Battle doesn't offer much sympathy to men who are sexually frustrated and/or rejected.



drstrat82 -> RE: Born to Be Wild (5/14/2009 9:56:15 PM)

I have read them both and Wild at Heart would be my suggestion. You might consider another book, "Point Man" written by Steve Farrar. It's about leading a family through life but also makes a man think and deal with his issues.



terryjohn -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/17/2009 12:43:08 AM)

Born for a challange. Born to take on the world. In this men look at the unclimbed moutain or the unswum river and desire to concour them.

You could say much of the sin men committ also are of this kind but given that perfection is also seeminly unobtainable you would wonder why more do not set their sights on it.

I can than only imagine that it is easier to sin than it is abstain from sin. Given that all men sin should we not desire to be otherwise? Nevertheless, being men we must arrogantly set our sights on being different and given our current context to be different is simply to be good or other than we would normally be.

Hence, given the opportunity to sin, we being rebellios men stand tall and deny ourselves our right to sin. We should like the noble savages we are dance and rejoyce that we have put to death our right to sin in Christ.



willfs -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/20/2009 5:24:21 PM)

IMO both are great books. I have been apart of "Every Man's Struggle" in a Bible study and it went great. It is great for any age. I have read a bunch of stuff by John Eldridge and gotten a lot out of it.



nuclear_sidewalk -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/21/2009 11:03:48 PM)

If the group is really great at sharing struggles and encouraging one another, then EMB. I tend to think that Wild at Heart can be skimmed, rather than read, as it's the principle idea/premise that carries most of its weight.



jn1010lf -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/23/2009 2:13:27 PM)

Hello Permit-It

I think I prefere wild at heart because there are videos with it. Every man's battle seems best for private reading.

While both are good and apply directly to men, I've found that the intensity of barbaric mind set varies between different men. Some are haunted by it while others experience a lesser degree of conflict.

I think it's vital for every man to become satisfied with his identity as a man because I believe that manhood is under attack these days. If you don't believe it try to find sitcoms or movies that picture men as being in control of themselves and leaders in society.

But in all of this, we need to see that a real man is one that has surrendered himself to Jesus Christ. Us guys need to let Hm form us into the man He would like us to become.



toms85 -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/25/2009 9:53:58 AM)

I have read both books and while both are great, I absolutely loved Wild at Heart. It was so liberating and I think especially for a mens study it would be amazing.



rawr.ben -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/26/2009 7:44:01 PM)

I really don't care for John Eldredge and his Open Theism beliefs.



FolkSingerBlues -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (5/29/2009 10:13:43 AM)

I have not read "Every Man's Battle", I am finishing "Wild At Heart" this week though.

If I were going to use WAH as a Mens' Study I would use it the same way that I would use any other book as a basis for study. Meaning, point out that this is one guys input into walking with God.

The most encouraging thing about WAH is the encouragement to talk honestly with God. I think Elderidge makes a good point about "two dimensional" aspects of certain things we encourage men to do.

In the end we should use whatever tools we have to encourage others to enter into a true relationship with God. In our Men's Ministry we try to encourage men to focus on the relational aspect with God and building relationships with other men. We have seen consistent growth within our men, not in numbers but in quality friendships centered upon God.

Hope that helps...



letusreason -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (6/10/2009 12:48:40 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawr.ben

I really don't care for John Eldredge and his Open Theism beliefs.


+1 on JE strange theology.



Holdcard -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (6/23/2009 5:34:30 PM)

Not to offend, but why doesn't anyone actually study the Bible anymore. It always seems to be someone else's study, program or opinion. Why not teach men how to read the Bible, use a concordance and other reference material? Why don't we simply go to the source?

Holdcard



zamdad -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (6/24/2009 2:15:49 PM)

Another good book to consider: Men's Secret Wars by patrick Means.

It deals with men's issues in the same manner as Every Man's Battle and is much deeper than Wild At Heart.



HoosierMusicLover -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (6/24/2009 7:08:23 PM)

I guess because of my experience I would go with Wild at Heart. Especially if it is a group of men who aren't entirely familiar with one another yet. This can open up some wonderful discussions and really bring you together as men and brothers, with maybe an option of this leading to Every Man's Battle for the next study to the core group that may develop with this.



Chrio -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (6/30/2009 8:34:13 PM)

Be interesting to hear a lil more on JE's theology if you guys are willing to share or give links to the info. Thanks!



Walker311 -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (7/12/2009 8:01:06 PM)

Before you choose, I suggest The Man in the Mirror By Patrick M. Morley.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FsZrfjqHeCQC&dq=man+in+the+mirror+patrick+morley&source=bn&hl=en&ei=PnhaSuKnINLEmQek-M2HAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=5



AnalystsAreUs -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (7/21/2009 8:03:55 PM)

Wild at Heart is a poor choice.


John started out life as an Actor. Actors base their life on a fantasy world. This mentality seems to spill over in his book.

He disses the Promise Keepers movement in once sentence. I guess with Bill M. being a championship football coach, he wasn't man enough for John. If I had to choose between John and Bill in a fire fight, I would choose Bill in a heart beat.


Eldridge rationalizes seeing prono in movies. That makes me angry. And rumor has it, it makes God angry too. Is that emotion manly enough for John?


The theology of chapter 1 is a complete joke. Yes, we know that he likes to be outside but basically says that all men like it, were born for it. That's a lie. I find fulfillment in other activities. I don't care for the out doors. Sure I will go on a hike on occasion but I don't live for it like he does. I find it odd that he does not mention Esau, the hunter anywhere in his book.

Gen 25:27 says,
So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.

Pretty glaring over site on his part. Then again if he mentioned it, it would have ruined his premise for chapter 1. Guess it would make it a bit difficult to sell his book.

He also said that Elijah went to the wilderness to recover his strength. Ah no. He went there to hide. From what? A woman!!! Not a very manly thing to do wouldn't you say?

1 King 19:2 -3
Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die,


And Christ did not go out in the wilderness to explore. He went out their to be tempted, to be tested. To see if he was going to do things the wild, flashy Hollywood way or God's way.

Matt 4:5 -6
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down...


Though John does have a few good points. If you do read it, you will have to hold your nose on more than one occasion.

I would like to suggest that Basic Training series from Top Gun Ministries , http://www.topgunministries.org/programs.asp , is much better.



FolkSingerBlues -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/1/2009 12:09:26 AM)

check out www.psalm112mensministry.org

Something that's sprung up new in the last little bit.



AnalystsAreUs -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/3/2009 7:22:45 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: FolkSingerBlues

check out www.psalm112mensministry.org

Something that's sprung up new in the last little bit.



At this point, it's not much more than blog.



ampilot -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/9/2009 8:34:20 PM)

I would highly recommend, as a leader of a guy's group, the book Pure Desire for you, the leader. Roberts, who is a man of great integrity and insight, comes from both a clinical/counselling and spiritual perspective. I found that reading the book myself, then discussing what I thought was relevent to the group was very effective... lots of lightbulb moments - aha! - amongst all of us :)
I agree with someone above that Wild At Heart is good, but easy to skim over. Pure Desire will enable you to add meat to it in powerful ways. Can't say I agree with the accusations of a sinister "open theism" etc on John's part, though there were times in Wild At Heart that I didn't agree with what was written, but they became opportunities to talk about it as a group - awesome! The accusation sounded a little conspiracy-theory in its vague-ness and obvious bias.



draexo -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/10/2009 11:19:40 PM)

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Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? - 5/12/2009 9:02:47 PM
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Permit-It
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Posts: 2
Joined: 10/5/2007
Status: offline Hi Guys,

Wild at Heart is good. I would recommend it.



ChristianAttorney35 -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/17/2009 12:43:39 PM)

Wild at Heart, hands down.

The majority of the books in the purity area are obsesses with controlling the symptoms (behavior), but offer no guidance how to cure the disease.

God doesn't just want you to stop acting out, he wants to heal and re-generate you from the deepest places of your heart.

One of the old-school preachers from the Great Awakening (I think) used to say: "Every man who knocks on the door of the brothel is searching for God."

We are created for intimacy with God. The problem with our society is that we have been trained that sex leads to intimacy, and not the other way around.

As Dallas Willard says, we keep hammering the sex button, hoping for a little intimacy to dribble out.

The Wild at Heart, and his subsequent books, help us go to the core of what is truly wrong with us - our masculinity needs to be healed by God at the very center of our person. When we find ourselves truly restored, these other sinful things lose their grip on us.

Sure Eldredge lays it on a little thick with the "outdoorsman" schtick, but his theology is sound, and his diagnosis of the problem men face is right on.



AnalystsAreUs -> RE: Wild at Heart or Every Man's Battle? (8/20/2009 5:41:31 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ChristianAttorney35

Wild at Heart, hands down.

The majority of the books in the purity area are obsesses with controlling the symptoms (behavior), but offer no guidance how to cure the disease.

God doesn't just want you to stop acting out, he wants to heal and re-generate you from the deepest places of your heart.

One of the old-school preachers from the Great Awakening (I think) used to say: "Every man who knocks on the door of the brothel is searching for God."

We are created for intimacy with God. The problem with our society is that we have been trained that sex leads to intimacy, and not the other way around.

As Dallas Willard says, we keep hammering the sex button, hoping for a little intimacy to dribble out.

The Wild at Heart, and his subsequent books, help us go to the core of what is truly wrong with us - our masculinity needs to be healed by God at the very center of our person. When we find ourselves truly restored, these other sinful things lose their grip on us.

Sure Eldredge lays it on a little thick with the "outdoorsman" schtick, but his theology is sound, and his diagnosis of the problem men face is right on.



True, God does not want one to act out. He wants you to repent.

The one area that can torpedo any hope of being a man that is glossed over by Eldredge is a pure heart. We were designed to live a supernatural life. When we don't, we get bored and become obsessed with lesser things that never compare. And what kills the abundant life the Christ promised? Sin. I can't recall reading about that topic at all in his book(Wild at Heart).

In addition, Eldredge also glosses over being lead by the Spirit.

Zec 4:6, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.

Sure life can be an adventure, but it will only be best that it can be if God is the one who leads.

To be honest, after I read his book, I wanted to write my own book: Wild at Heart, The Missing Manual.



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