Spiritual Growth Does Not Change Personality Types and Temperament

In the Bible, there are some examples of people who reached spiritual maturity. There is no evidence that their personality types or temperaments were changed.

Apostle Peter in the Gospels often was very quick and was the first to reply Jesus when He talked to His disciples (Matthew 14:28; 15:15; 16:16; 16:22; 17:4; 18:21; 19:27; 26:33). Sometimes Peter said something without even thinking whether he should say something or be silent (Mark 9:5-6). This means that he probably had choleric temperament. The Bible does not indicate that his temperament was changed. However, it does indicate that he became loving others and humble. In the Gospels, Peter liked to take the lead, he thought that he was better then other apostles and did not want to forgive others. However, at the end of his life, he called apostle Paul "our beloved brother" and appreciated his wisdom (2 Peter 3:15) after Paul publicly rebuked him for hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-21). At the time when Paul rebuked him, Peter was the leading apostle, but Paul was not. However, Peter did not keep offense. He was humble and forgiving and he loved Paul.

Apostle Paul probably was ENTJ. He got a good education, was very clever and logical, was resolute, liked to contact people, was open to new experience and liked to take a lead. There is no indication that his personality type was changed. His epistles were full of logical discourses. He separated Christianity from Judaism which was a new idea for that time. He was the leading apostle in the Gentile world. However, he became loving and merciful to people. Before his second missionary journey, he refused to take Mark who left him and Barnabas in the first journey. Eventually, Paul and Barnabas parted form one another because of that (Acts 15:36-41). However, in the end of his life, he appreciated Mark (2 Timothy 4:11). Paul loved other Christians and took care for them as a father. There is this thought in many of his epistles.

Apostle John and his brother apostle James were called "Sons of Thunder" by Jesus (Mark 3:17). When Samaritans did not receive Jesus and His disciples, John and James proposed to send the fire from the heavens on Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56). James was killed by Herod (Acts 12:1-2). John lived a long life. His Gospel and epistles that he wrote in the end of his life are full of love. Cruel John became loving John.

Thus, the Bible shows that spiritual maturity is not the change of personality types and temperaments. Spiritual maturity in the Bible is love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and other Christian virtues.

Yeakley's Study Misinterpreted

Recently, I was accused of misusing results of Flavil Yeakley's experiment on my website. However, reading The Discipling Dilemma where Yeakley presented the results of his experiment and his explanation showed me that the general idea of my material was correct (there are however some small points that might need some improvement). However, I also came to conclusion that some non-Christian psychologists/cult experts misunderstand Yeakley's book.

Yeakley is not only a psychologist, but also a Christian. He spent over 25 years in full-time local church work as a gospel preacher. He served as the director of the Church Growth Institute at Abilene Christian University. He is the author of Why Churches Grow, Church Leadership and Organization, several booklets and tracts, and numerous articles (from the introduction to part I of The Discipling Dilemma). The matter of his being a Christian and a Christian minister should never be neglected.

His explanation of the results of his experiment involves not only psychology, but also Christian spiritual experience. Actually, Christian experience is the main point in his explanation.

He used MBTI for members of ICC (the Boston movement) as well as for members of Churches of Christ (not involved in this movement), members of other Christian denominations and members of non-Christian manipulative sects (this is his his term for destructive cults). His purpose was to show the difference between the results of the proper Christian spiritual experience in Christian denominations and the results of the experience of members of ICC and non-Christian destructive cults.

His experiment showed that the members of ICC and non-Christian destructive cults experience the change of their personality types toward the personality types of the leaders of their groups. However, members of Christian denominations do not experience this change.

This shows that the change of personality types experienced by members of ICC is not the result of Christian growth. This is the main Yeakley's conclusion. However, this point was completely neglected by non-Christian psychologists/cult experts.

Then, Yeakley admits that Christians should be changed while they experience Christian growth. However, these changes do not involve the change of personality types.

For example, the New Testament teaches that Christians should love one another, forgive one another, and should not condemn one another. The Gospels also show that Christ behaved this way. However, Christians can be, for example, either extroverts or introverts. The Bible never teaches that introverts should become extroverts or vise versa. On the contrary, the New Testament teaches that Christians have different spiritual gifts, and no one has all the gifts. This shows that Christians should not pursue uniformity, but they should develop the gifts they have. This is the proper Christian growth.

Non-Christian psychologists/cult experts completely neglect this point. This shows that they did not understand at all what Yeakley was writing in his book. Actually, Yeakley's main idea was not related to mind control, but to Christian spiritual experience.

Unfortunately, non-Christian psychologists/cult experts tend to identify Christian experience with mind control. They also tend to consider Christians, especially the Christians devoted to Christ as cultists. This is absolutely wrong. Yeakley is an example of a devoted Christian, even a Christian minister. I guess no psychologist is going to say that he is a cultist.

My contacts with some of psychologists/cult experts showed me that they actually do not know what Christian spiritual experience is. However, this is the crucial concept of Yeakley's book. His intention was not to show that mind control produces changes of personality types (as they usually interpret his book). His intention was to show that the changes of personality types in ICC is not the result of proper Christian growth, but the result of unhealthy influence. He makes a clear distinction between the proper Christian growth and the changes of personality types (which is caused by what is usually called mind control). This is the main thought of The Discipling Dilemma totally misunderstood by non-Christian psychologists. Unfortunately, even after reading this book, they still do not know the difference between mind control and proper Christian spiritual experience. This means that they completely misunderstood this book.