I feel led to becoming a thought leader in looking at the effects of the self-
help industry on young adults. In the Bible, Romans 12:2 speaks on the
importance of not allowing the world to affect your thoughts and how you
behave, but instead allowing the Lord to be the sole influence on our
thoughts and behaviors. Although as Christians we are to look to the Lord
for help, the self-help industry makes many books some that are said to
be written from a Christian’s point of view, but they do not reinforce the
importance of looking to the Lord first and looking towards the Word to
guide us in our times of uncertainty or hardship. Sproul wrote about how
we cannot stop thinking, it is a constant thing that we do. Knowing that
we can never stop thinking, it is very important to be mindful about what
we are consuming because our thoughts and what we put our energy and
focus into begin to affect every part of our life including our behavior. If
someone is looking to self-help books when they are going through tough
times and are searching for direction in them, it is important that those
books are written based on truth and have a good basis of research for
the suggestions that are made. Many self-help books get information for
the truth in their book or product from their own experience, they write a
book to help other people by providing information on what helped them.
Some self-help books are written in conjunction or consultation with
someone who is considered an expert in the subject area, combining
personal experience, and backing it up with an expert’s opinion. And some
self-help books are written by experts who have conducted their own
research and developed it into a book or product to help others based on
the success of their own research in that field.
.
References
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online.
https://esv.literalword.com/
Sproul, R.C. (2000). The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the
Concepts that Shaped our World (redesign). Wheaton, IL: Crossway. ISBN:
9781433563775.
