"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen Covey, has sold over 25 million copies. Countless people that society would view as successful report a dramatic positive impact from studying the book. Even a respected Christian leader has recommended it to radio listeners several times a week for years, claiming "If you want to be successful in life, you need this book in your library."
My passion through this blog and radio program is to help you see that the Bible is true and the ultimate resource for life. In other words, I want you to know that you can trust the Bible to lead you to true success in life. Since 7 Habits is such a popular book on the same topic, I decided to take a look at it and see how it compares with biblical teaching on how to live a successful life. I was shocked by what I found.
First, there is some good in the book. Covey warns against most success books that teach what he calls a "Personality Ethic." These are guides to success that merely give shortcuts to get people to like you or do what you want. Covey probably has How to Win Friends and Influence People as a key example. While these books may give good pointers on social skills, they fall short of any meaningful guide to true success. Instead, Covey supports "Character Ethic," which focuses on developing long term habits to improve character. For example, in conversations don't just try to make people think you are interested in what they have to say, actually be interested in them. So far, so good.
While this is an improvement on other success books, it still is woefully inadequate in pointing readers in the right direction. Covey claims his "Character Ethic" is based on "principles that govern human effectiveness" which he also calls "natural laws" which are just as real as physical laws like gravity. (page 40*) Really? How does he know? Next, he says we should work on discovering and improving on following these laws by starting with the self. (50) We do this by beginning "with the end in mind," which means to visualize your funeral and think about what you want people to say at the service. This exercise becomes the bases of how you evaluate everything else in life. (105) The path to success is to become "your own first creator," achieving victory by having "victory over self." (110-111)
If becoming "your own first creator" sounds like you are trying to make yourself like god, you are correct, and Covey explicitly states this in a different book! According to Jesus, we cannot start on the path toward success by starting with the self. We are dead in sin, and must be "born again," something only God can do through the Holy Spirit (John 3). Our ultimate guide to success is not what we want people to say about us at our funeral, but what God says about us in his word. No matter how many nice things people say about you at your funeral, it is God's evaluation of your life at the judgement that is much more important. You must trust in Jesus Christ and receive his free gift of forgiveness and righteousness. Otherwise, you will not please God. The goal of life is not to please people that speak at our funeral, but to glorify God, this is why he created us (Isaiah 43:7). Living for anything else is ultimately meaningless and unsatisfying.
As I read Covey's book, I became suspicious that Mormonism was behind it. So I read more about the author, and sure enough, I found that he is a Mormon. In an earlier book he authored, The Divine Center, Covey claims that those who follow historic Christianity have a false view of God and limit their potential for success. For him, true success is to become "like the Father, a god, capable of eternal increase." He professes his belief that "As man now is, God once was; As God now is, man may become." This teaching, so central to Mormonism, is actually the first lie of Satan back in the garden of Eden. Referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent said, "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God." (Genesis 3:5)
7 Habits is really a guide to success based on dangerously false Mormon teachings that simply removes any references to Mormonism in order to make the principles more acceptable to a wider audience. Any so called guide to success that starts off with wrong assumptions about God and man will necessarily end up with wrong conclusions.
Jesus taught that the Bible is the only true and necessary guide to success. He compares success to two houses, one that stood, and one that crashed. "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matthew 7:24) The problem with all modern "success" books is that when they agree with the Bible they add nothing meaningful to it, and when they disagree with the Bible, they ultimately lead to failure. Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24) The Bible is all we need to tell us what we need to know about our purpose and how to achieve it in order to have success in life.
*Page References are based on the edition:
Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 25th Anniversary Ed. (Simon & Schuster, New York, NY: 2013).
