In recent months I have, on multiple occasions, voiced my disapproval of ‘self-help’ books and resources. And since many Christians are used to relying on such resources, this has raised many questions about resources they have been reading or using.

So what is my objection to such resources? Why do I ask people to stay away from them?

When people have asked me these questions, I have often given answers of a pragmatic nature. How could the author know the circumstances of all readers? In an earlier post, I wrote, “it is impossible for a stranger, here the author(s) of the book, to know the reader’s problems well enough to give advice to all the readers. At least not advice that would actually be helpful in the long run.”

But there is a more pressing reason. A self-help resource, by its very nature, is intended to be used in private. One reads the book or website by oneself and gleans whatever advice one can from its contents.

The problem is that, if one is referring to a self-help resource, it is likely because one is in need of help. In other words, something is wrong in one’s life, things not working out as one expected. Or perhaps even that there is some kind of addiction or sin that one is dealing with.

Jesus is clear that, in the case of sin, there should be a process in place in the church. He outlines one such process in Matthew 18.15-20, which he ends with the words, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” He does not allow for my sitting by myself in my room and referring to a book that cannot interact with me. He insists that there be at least one other person.

The self-help book that is read in private completely goes against the grain of Jesus’ teachings. I sit with the book and have no other interaction, especially no interaction with another Christian who could identify my areas of sinfulness and graciously admonish me and forgive me. The author of the book, not knowing even that I am reading his/her book at that moment, cannot interact with me, cannot exhort me to repentance, and cannot pronounce forgiveness. This is something that needs at least one other disciple of Jesus.

And it pays to bear in mind that in the passage referred to from Matthew, Jesus is teaching about discipline within the church. By removing the need for at least one other disciple of Jesus being with me as I struggle with my sin and addictions the self-help books constitute a rejection of the Church. And this is my problem with them.