Don't Follow Your Heart

Why chasing after expressive individualism, experiences, and desires always fails to deliver on its promise of happiness.

Today we are told to be true to ourselves, look within for answers, and follow our hearts. But when we put our own happiness first, we experience record-breaking levels of aimlessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Self-centeredness always fails to deliver the fulfillment we're seeking.

In Don't Follow Your Heart, Thaddeus Williams debunks the “ten commandments of self-worship,” which include popular propaganda, like:

• #liveyourbestlife: Thou shalt always act in accord with your chief end—to glorify and enjoy yourself forever.

• #followyourheart: Thou shalt obey your emotions at all costs.

• #yolo: Thou shalt pursue the rush of boundary-free experience.

Williams builds a case that this type of self-worship is not authentic, satisfying, or edgy. Instead, it’s rehashing what is literally humanity's oldest lie. He calls on a new generation of mavericks and renegades, heretics who refuse to march in unison with the self-obsessed herd. With a fascinating blend of theology, philosophy, science, psychology, and pop culture, Williams points us to a life beyond self-defeating dogmas to a more meaningful life centered on Someone infinitely more interesting, satisfying, and awesome than ourselves.

Featuring stories from Carl Trueman, Joni Eareckson Tada, J.P, Moreland, Josh McDowell, Alisa Childers, and more.

“Don't Follow Your Heart is a bold, timely, and enjoyable read. Williams takes the top ten common 'commandments' permeating our culture and systematically shows how they each lead (surprisingly) to misery and brokenness. This is a book I will be recommending wholeheartedly to the next generation.”

— Sean McDowell, Ph.D., apologetics professor at Biola University, popular YouTuber, author of A Rebel’s Manifesto

“Don't Follow Your Heart is filled with truths that lay bare the theological, philosophical, and logical failures of today's self-worship religion. Williams writes with a wit and relatability that make this book a joy to read. If I could put it into the hands of every Christian high school student, I would!”

— Natasha Crain, speaker, podcaster, and author of four books including Faithfully Different

Find Don’t Follow Your Heart at Amazon, Zondervan, and other major booksellers.