Loving God with All Your Mind: Book Review & Insights Part 1

A critical look at how Loving God with All Your Mind mishandles depression, promotes spiritual bypassing, dismisses women’s intuition, and reinforces harmful messaging common in high-control churches.

I am in a local Christian women’s book club, and we’ve just started reading Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George. And I hate this book more with every chapter I read.

Okay, I admit that this is a pretty strong reaction for only being three chapters in. But let me explain.

Red Flags on Mental Health

George starts the book by describing depression and moodiness interchangeably, which is a huge red flag for me that this author knows nothing about mental illness.

Let’s be clear, depression is clinical and caused by changes in brain chemistry. Moodiness is a bit different. I like to think of it as those down-in-the-dumps days where all we can think of are negative thoughts, and we focus too much on ourselves and our everyday woes. Huge difference.

Spiritualizing Mental Illness Is Harmful

Her advice for those dealing with depression, experiencing dark days, or being moody is to memorize God’s word, meditate on God’s word, and apply it.

It sounds good in theory. God’s word is wonderful—no doubt about it.

However, when I was dealing with severe depression, I could barely even read my bible, much less MEMORIZE scripture.

Suggesting that the cure to depression is to spend more time with God is incredibly harmful. In the midst of my depression, I did have some people ask me if I was reading and praying, as if that was the solution to it all. And it was extremely hurtful. If they had only been present for my desperate prayers, they would understand. I’ll admit it, prior to my own struggles with mental illness, I said similar things to people, and I am so ashamed about that now.

People who are experiencing depression are already at their lowest, and to suggest their mental illness is caused by not spending enough time in God’s word is highly problematic. It heaps on more shame and guilt to someone already suffering from these feelings.

The Danger of Ignoring Discernment

In the third chapter, George writes about thinking the truth about others. Essentially, she is insinuating that you throw your gut checks out the window and believe everything everyone tells you. This is a recipe for disaster.

I believe this book is written towards a female audience, and these messages set women up for naivety. She suggests taking what people say at face value to distinguish what is real and what is perceived.

My Personal Wake-Up Call

If I have learned anything throughout the 2x2 church crisis, it’s that people are not what they seem. People lie. You cannot assume the best of everyone—it puts you and your family in danger.

Here’s what I do know: God has equipped us with a “gut” sense that protects us. In the 2x2 church, and probably in all high-control groups, we are taught to squash those feelings and not to trust ourselves, which is the message I am getting from this book so far.

After nearly 40 years of living and abiding by the 2x2 church culture and rules, I had a harsh awakening to reality. How incredibly naive I was!

I blindly trusted in the ministers who, unbeknownst to me, sent a pedophile into my home. He held my daughter on his lap. We were none the wiser until he was kicked out of the ministry after the rampant child sexual abuse revelations. And he wasn’t the only one with sexual abuse allegations who played with and interacted with my child, both in my home and in other family members’ homes. This is what can happen when you assume the best of people.

When I think back on the countless ministers who have had child sexual abuse and sexual abuse allegations against them, I have had a gut feeling about every single one of them, even the pedophile who was in my home. And instead of listening to that gut feeling and trusting it, I ignored it.

Words Lie. Patterns Don’t.

I understand that sometimes our thoughts get away from us, and we can spiral out of control. Sometimes, we think about things that aren’t true, and they can make us feel pretty miserable about ourselves and others. I’m guilty of this.

However, if you’re noticing a pattern with someone, don’t ignore it. If you continually feel uneasy, sense something isn’t right, perhaps get the sense that they don’t really like you, aren’t trustworthy, or whatever it is—pay attention.

The author suggests listening to what the other person is saying, not your thoughts. People lie—they lie all the time. But the good news is we can hone our personal lie detector skills. God has given us the innate ability to notice things, such as subtle body language, tone, word choice, etc. But look for patterns. If it’s happening repeatedly, it’s not in your head.

If someone tells you they’re your friend, but they’re never very “friendly”—they’re not your friend. If someone tells you that they love you, but proceed to be unfaithful, abuse, gaslight, or belittle you constantly—they do not love you. Actions speak louder than words. Don’t take anything at face value.

Women Aren’t “Crazy”—They’re Often Right

There’s a tendency for society to treat women like they’re crazy for having emotions. We’ve seen this within the 2x2 church in the past (and still today), women were deemed as mentally unstable when they reported their abuse. And because of it, they were ignored and discredited, not taking into account that their emotional state was a result of their abuse.

A healthy balance of emotion and logic is key in most situations. It’s okay to feel and have feelings, to cry, to laugh, and to experience whatever emotions are running through our bodies. Pay attention to them, sit with them, and learn from them. Emotions are not bad. After all, God gave us emotions.

To Be Continued...

Since I’m only on chapter three of the book, I will come back and update you on the progress. I just needed to get these thoughts off my chest because the book irritates me more than encourages me.

This book is highly rated, which is even more troublesome! I hope it gets better.

Stay tuned!