Natural Freedom

Helping men rediscover their masculine heart, this guide to understanding Christian manhood and Christian men offers a refreshing break from the chorus of voices urging men to be more responsible, reliable, dutiful. and dead. God designed men to be dangerous, says John Eldredge. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires-aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a "nice guy." It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death. In this provocative book, now available in trade paper, Eldredge gives women a look inside the true heart of a man and gives men permission to be what God designed them to be-dangerous, passionate, alive, and free.

Problem #1: Recklessly Dividing the Word of Truth
In his introduction Eldredge writes, “Most messages for men ultimately fail.” “The reason is simple,” he says. “They ignore what is deep and true to a man’s heart, his real passions, and simply try to shape him up through various forms of pressure.” Needless to say, I wondered what new message he was offering men. Within the first few pages it became abundantly clear. Chapter one opens with the following quotation from Proverbs 20 verse 5: “The heart of a man is like deep water . . .”

What men need, in Eldredge’s estimation, is to find their hearts. On page 3 he writes, “I am searching for an even more elusive prey . . . something that can only be found through the help of wilderness. I am looking for my heart.” On page 6—“If a man is ever to find out who he is and what he is here for, he has got to take that journey for himself. He has got to get his heart back.” And then on page 8—“The church wags its head and wonders why it can’t get more men to sign up for its programs. The answer is simply this: We have not invited a man to know and live from his own deep heart.”

I was also fascinated when I learned what Eldredge says went wrong in the first place—how man’s (deep) heart got lost, and why men feel the need to find it. I was disturbed to find that it didn’t seem to have anything to do with sin. His understanding of the problem could be summarized like this: Eve (woman) is perfectly happy being do ... ght inside. Therefore he has always felt restless. He has always had thisinner need for adventure, exploration, and danger. Eldredge explains all of this on pages 3 and 4: “Man was born in the outback, from the untamed part of creation. Only afterward is he brought to Eden. And ever since then boys have never been at home indoors, and men have had an insatiable longing to explore . . . The core of a man’s heart is undomestic ... at is good. ”

“Deep in man’s heart are some fundamental questions that simply cannot be answered at the kitchen table. Who am I? What am I made of? What am I destined for? It is fear that keeps a man at home where things are neat and orderly and under his control. But the answers to his deepest questions are not to be found on television or in the refrigerator.”
John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

“A man needs a battle to fight; he needs a place for the warrior in him to come alive and be honored, trained, seasoned. If we can reawaken that fierce quality in a man, hook it up to a higher purpose, release the warrior within, then the boy can grow up and become truly masculine.”
John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Aggression is part of the masculine design, we are hardwired for it.... Little girls do not invent games where large numbers of people die, where bloodshed is a prerequisite for having fun. Hockey, for example, was not a feminine creation. Nor was boxing. A boy wants to attack something -- and so does a man, even if it's only a little white ball on a tee.
JOHN ELDREDGE, Wild at Heart

The most blatant mistreatment of Scripture may be found – indeed, cannot be avoided – on pages 78-79, where Eldredge tells the story of his son and the bully who humiliated him at school. Eldredge’s advice? “The next time that bully pushes you down, . . . I want you to get up . . . and I want you to hit him . . . as hard as you possibly can.” Then comes the Eldredge hermeneutic: “Yes, I know that Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. But we have really misused that verse. You cannot teach a boy to use his strength by stripping him of it. Jesus was able to retaliate, believe me. But he chose not to. And yet we suggest that a boy who is mocked, shamed before his fellows, stripped of all power and dignity should stay in that beaten place because Jesus wants him there?” And so on. With one wave (or should we say slap?) of his hand, Eldredge dismisses a common interpretation of Jesus’ teaching without having enough integrity to tell us what he thinks Jesus was calling us to do when he told us to turn the other cheek. Even if Eldredge is right, his failure to treat the text with respect and to show us the “true” interpretation is indefensible. Therefore, Eldredge’s shabby theology comes across something like, “I know Jesus said this, but he couldn’t actually have meant it.”