Refuting Rohr’s Claims About Jesus

“The whole Enneagram diagram is called ‘the face of God.’ If you could look out at reality with nine years of eyes and honor all of them, you would look at reality through the eyes of God.” 🚩
Richard Rohr, “The Enneagram (part 1)” May 26, 2014; Rohr’s Daily Meditations

Ladies, if you know of anyone who is immersed in the Enneagram, there is a strong possibility that he or she has heard of Richard Rohr. Rohr is a popular Enneagram proponent, whose viewpoints regarding both Jesus and the biblical Gospel raise blantant red flags! 🚩 This post is not about Mr. Rohr, but instead brings to light some serious claims he has made…which need to be examined. (Acts 17:11) A self-professed Panentheist, Richard Rohr advocates the following unbiblical viewpoints regarding Jesus and the Biblical Gospel…

Rohr claims that Jesus and the Christ are two different/separate beings(🔍Acts 17:2-3; John 20:28; Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 John 1:7)
Rohr teaches that Jesus did not exist before the virgin birth; (🔍John 1; John 8:59-59; Jude 1:5)
Rohr advocates that You and I are Christ. Rohr reports that we are actually the Christ. He teaches that sin blinds us to this purposed reality, and that we just need to be conscious of this. Per New Age beliefs, this is dependent upon a works-based path of spiritual maturity; The concepts being taught by Richard Rohr mimic Brahman more than Christianity; (🔍Matthew 24; Isaiah 45:5; Romans 8; Eph 2)
Rohr denies the necessity of the cross (🔍Romans 3:23, 5:8; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor 15)
Rohr writes in the “Universal Christ” that we should worship dirt and rocks, then trees, and then angels, … each before we worship God (🔍Luke 4:8; Romans 1:23-24)
Rohr declares that God doesn’t have a name; (🔍YAHWEH Exodus 3:14, 6:3)
Rohr instructs that the “True Self” is the Divine Self or the part of us that has NEVER been separated from God. (🔍Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1)

The claims above are not only contrary to the biblical Gospel but present a false view of Jesus’s identity. Jesus was not a created being, born with the purpose of showing us the way to enlightenment… Jesus is the 2nd Person of the Trinity. The Son of God! He is Lord! This is extremely important to understand! To say otherwise is heartbreaking, not to mention incredibly dangerous! Sin is also downplayed in Rohr’s teaching. To say that the cross was not necessary for our salvation is to attack the Gospel head-on! Scripture is being taken out of context by Mr Rohr with apparent fervency as to fit a panentheistic and Perinnial perspective…which is not biblical Christianity.

40 minutes with Professor Douglas Groothuis

Per former New Age teacher now Christian, Steven Bancarz, we also need to watch for Fallacies of Equivocation when reading Richard Rohr’s book, “The Universal Christ.” What is a Fallacy of Equivocation? According to Answers in Genesis, these deceptive practices involve shifting “from one meaning of a word to another within an argument.” For example, a Fallacy of Equivocation utilized by Rohr would be defining Christ as the physical light of the world (i.e. found in rocks, etc). This is also termed a “Bait and Switch tactic.” Twisting scripture as to advance a false gospel happens more often than we realize… Which is why we should always be testing what we hear and read alongside God’s Word. (1 John 4:2; 1 Cor 11)

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims *another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a *different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4

To reiterate, this post is not about Richard Rohr as a person…but is instead highlighting his published viewpoints on the Christian Gospel. Viewpoints which need to be tested and challenged Biblically. It’s my prayer that these evidences would promote increased prayer for the Church, not to mention more interest in who might be disciplining many brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible encourages us to test every spirit (1 John 4:1), cling to the True Gospel of Jesus (Galatians 1; Col 2:8), and to demolish every argument that sets itself against the knowledge of Christ (2 Cor 10:5). Friends, let’s pray for Richard Rohr as well as for our churches. Let’s keep digging into God’s Word and walking-out reliance upon Jesus in Gospel-focused community.

His,

Meridith