Customer Reviews

Spirit-Controlled Temperament

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just read a review of this book that made my eyes water. I can see how not everybody would be flattered by this book. It's pretty convicting.

I found it refreshing as it was straight forward and didn't "pad the blows." Not only did it point straight to the truth of human nature, it abolished the idea that we, as humans, can make it in this world without the Lord. I was so very impressed with the truth given quickly, and then the blessings added. Not only did it point out how truly selfish we were, it then lifted us to new heights with the reality that God can change it all.

Amen to Dr. LaHaye! Thank God for his wisdom and his ability to share God's heart. Finally, a book that calls it as it is.

I found this to be a very difficult book to read. Not because of the style in which it was written, but because of the very straight forward means by which the author gets his message across. I would recommend this book to anyone who like myself are battling with the WHO AM I and WHY DO I DO questions in life and are ready to hear THE TRUTH! My only complaint would be that the author could not have provided his readers with even a "condensed version" of his Temperament Analysis at the end of this book. I regret that my budget would not allow me to take advantage of his TA.

LaHaye does an excellent job of explaining the good AND bad of each of the 4 temperament types. His plain language description and 'life-like' examples make it easy to understand your neighbor, coworker or better...your spouse. I found this book a tremendous help - the temperament analysis test offered in the back was AMAZING in it's accuracy. I would suggest this a must-read for anyone who really needs to understand others (which is all of us...!) As a believer myself - I know that we're doomed to exist in the 'bad' side of our temperaments - it's natural - and LaHaye does a good job of helping the reader understand how he/she can 'choose' to find the good side and lift it up to the top.

Have you ever wanted to be able to see inside someone; to understand why they do the things they do (or maybe yourself?)?? Finally, a book free of jargon and psycho-lingo allows you to understand the four basic personality types and their combinations. The basis of the four types comes from Greek philsophy but their "working-out" and reasons for behavior are Christian-based. This book has given me "Oh Wow!" moments as I considered myself, my wife, children and co-workers. I am giving copies this year to loved ones and people I work with! This book is a blessing; mostly enjoyed, I would think, by believers in God.

This is an interesting subject and LaHaye has some good insights, but overall this book is underwhelming. For starters, his system of classification and division of the temperaments is not even internally coherent. Then his descriptions of the four temperaments are inconsistent and overlapping. For the best book on temperament and personality type read Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey instead. One positive aspect of the book is the combination of psychology and Christianity. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can overcome many of our weaknesses. However, much of his advice is too general or theoretical. For a more practical book combining Christianity and psychology, read Escaping the Matrix by Greg Boyd and Al Larson.

This book is a great learning tool into understanding why people act the way they do. It would be an awesome book for married couples to read. It really helps you to see that some things people do and say are just part of who they are and they can't control them. It also helps you learn how to change your weaknesses by being Spirit-controlled. Your weaknesses can be turned into strengths by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Dr. LaHaye's book is an excellent reference guide for understanding people. The principles, if applied in a believer's life work miracles. For the unbeliever, it may sound "preachy". Being a naturopathic doctor it was fascinating to study the Hippocratic temperments in light of personality. And see them put in application with my clients. Interesting corrilation between temperment and health problems, although Dr.LaHaye does NOT go into medical correlations, these were my own observation. Great stuff no matter what.

If you ever wonder why you simply don't get along with certain people, especially when you have to like in a work place, this book can help you understand the reasons and clairfy what you are up against. It's also useful for just understanding people's behavior in general.Dr. LaHaye has a keen insight into different "personality types," or "temperaments," and he hits almost all the bases and their characteristics in these pages. The only problem for me, personally, is that the book is loaded with Christian dogma and the author feels that any problem is solvable through the teachings of Christ. I suppose if you're an unquestioning Believer, your troubles are over.

The thing that disturbs me most about this book's popularity is the fact that it ironically tries to get Christians to revert to a way of conceiving human personality that was 100% derived from Classic pagan thought. Unfortunately, most Christians do not know the historical background of the ideas LaHaye tries to resurrect, and therefore usually just assume that LaHaye knows what he is talking about. LaHaye's complete lack of knowledge therefore does great harm.

Inspired initially by C. S. Lewis (another Christian writer) and Keith Thomas, I have over the past few years been reading a great deal about the world view that held sway from the time of the Greeks until the early 17th century, a worldview formed profoundly by Aristotelian science and Platonic philosophy. One of the core aspects of this rightfully rejected worldview was the notion of the four elements--air, fire, water, and earth--which undergirded all the scientific, magical, and astrological beliefs of the period. The psychological theories--in particular the theory of the four humours--was based entirely on this notion of four consitutive elements. The theory was abandoned in the 17th century after the work of scientists (especially the Christian chemist Robert Boyle) showed that the Aristotelian basis for a belief in the four elements was incorrect.

One of the main things to remember is that the belief in the four elements (and hence the four humours) was in the strictest sense a heritage of paganism. LaHaye's book, of course, is a study of the Christian personality by constant referral to this classically pagan world view. It is important to stress that this world view, while adopted later by many Christian thinkers, was not at all developed by Christian thinkers and theologians.

Given all of this, it was extraordinarily surreal to find a fundamentalist Christian attempt to resurrect a completely discredited pagan conception of human personality.

I can understand why many late-20th century and early 21st century Christians can find this book compelling. LaHaye appears to be going back to a mode of those thought that predates Freud. But the problem is not that he goes back before Freud, but that the theses of the book are absurd. He does not harken back to a prior "Christian" way of thinking, but a way of thinking that was completely and irrefutably discarded by Christian scientists in the 17th century. But someone with a strong sense of history might find this rather bizarre book rather entertaining.

This book, like all of Dr. LaHaye's work -on the topic of Temperaments- will provide the reader with insight, into understanding WHY our actions either make or break us, as we move through the daily events of human interaction.

This book also provides, the all-important HOW's in determining WHERE the changes can be made, WHEN they should be made and by WHOM the changes can and should be made. This is not only material worth reading, it should be required as a 'right of passage' for all members of the human race.

The information contained within WILL provide the reader with the KEYS to success in every aspect of life; beginning with the first one: Understanding the TRUE SELF and its relationship with all others.

This book is NOT about personality. This book describes the very base element of who we are, that combined with environmental variables, form what others see as our ever-changing personality. Temperaments are the foundation upon which everything else builds. Know Temperaments, Know Success. No Temperaments, No Success. It is that simple.