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Monday, March 31, 2008
Frank Pastore :: Townhall.com Columnist
Questions that Bother Oprah and Today's New Age Thinkers
by Frank Pastore
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I have a few questions—but they are not about whether Oprah Winfrey, Eckhart Tolle or Marianne Williamson are good, smart and nice people. I’m sure they are. My concern is about the ideas they hold—since good, smart, nice people can hold false beliefs and be wrong about all kinds of things. Sometimes, even the most important things.

I have questions about their worldview.

A worldview is made up of the answers we give to life’s most fundamental and profound questions. It includes the answers we give to questions of philosophy, religion, ethics and theology. And they are questions that have been asked and answered by every culture in world history.

When comparing and contrasting religions, worldview categories are the most basic level of inquiry.

If you know a person’s worldview, you know a whole lot about them. Oftentimes, you even know more about their thinking processes than they do.

Right now, Oprah is co-teaching an online class with author Eckhart Tolle, based upon her current Book of the Month, his “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.” And, Oprah’s promoting a daily radio show on her XM channel featuring Marianne Williamson teaching from “A Course in Miracles.”

Both Tolle and Williamson are New Age thinkers. Oprah says she’s a Christian—arguing that she can reconcile “her” Christianity with what they’re teaching. If she’s a Christian, she’s an ignorant one, because Christianity is incompatible with New Age thought.

Here’s how the two opposing worldviews, Christianity (C), and New Age (NA), answer some of the most basic worldview questions. The New Age answers are ones that would be commonly held, though certainly not universal, as the belief system is loose, eclectic and unique to each individual adherent.

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Christianity (C): God created the universe at the moment of the beginning of time, matter and space. Big Bang cosmology and all modern science affirms this.

New Age (NA): The universe is beginning-less, endless, eternal.

2. Does God exist?—and is He personal?

C: Yes, God is personal, and the Bible teaches God is three persons sharing one essence, what Christians refer to as the Trinity. More specifically, God is tri-personal.

NA: Yes and No. Yes, God is an impersonal force that exhaustively fills every atom of the eternal universe: All is God, God is all, God is all of us and God is each of us. No, there is no personal creator called God who is outside of time, matter and space.

3. Who am I?

C: A creation of God.

NA: God.

4. How did I get here?

C: God created man with moral freedom and invited him to join the presence of the Trinity. But man exercised his freedom in rebellion to God, and now only through the work of the incarnate God and second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, can that severed relationship be restored.

NA: Through the infinite process of karma. As God, you are eternal, and have been reincarnating from object to object for trillions of years, and when you ultimately achieve enlightenment, and remember that you are God, you will then lose your individual sense of self and consciousness and become One with the One. (Remember, there is no personal God. God is a force. You must return to being a force.)

5. Why am I here?

C: The Westminster Catechism answers this question beautifully: The chief end of man is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” I am called to make a decision with eternal consequences: either accept or reject God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. I am also called to help others make a correct choice; to advance the true, the good, and the beautiful; to fight evil and injustice; to work with God at reconciling the world to Himself.

NA: To pay off previous karmic debt gathered over trillions of years.

6. What is the meaning of life?

C: To glorify God.

NA: To achieve enlightenment.

7. What is the true, the good, and the beautiful?

C: God—and his goodness can be seen through his creation.

NA: Since there is no distinction between creator and creation, there can be no distinctions between true-false, good-bad, right-wrong, ugly-beautiful, or pain-pleasure.

8. What is the best life?

C: A life in the full presence of God.

NA: The life immediately before enlightenment, since you will no longer exist as a person once you remember you are God.

9. Who is the best man?

C: Jesus Christ, the Man who never sinned.

NA: “Best” is a nonsensical moral category.

10. Why is there evil, pain, suffering, and injustice?

C: The Fall. Man exercised his freedom in rebellion to God and these are the consequences.

NA: People are paying off their karmic debt. As God, we are responsible for the reality we create for ourselves through our thinking and choices. If we are suffering, it is because we are choosing to suffer. If we think differently we can alter the external world and create our own reality.

11. Why do bad things happen to good people?

C: We live in a fallen world with moral freedom. Evil and sin exist. Men hurt themselves intentionally and accidentally. Our hope is only in God who is able to bring good out of evil.

NA: Karma.

Karma and reincarnation have all kinds of fatal logical problems. Who started karma and reincarnation and why? Who decides what behavior gets rewarded and what gets punished, especially since there are no moral categories? How can there be a “who” to all this when God is a “what,” an impersonal force like gravity? How can an impersonal force help you in your relationships, heal your hurts, illnesses and wounds, help with your addictions and bad habits, lead you to confront social evils, poverty, crime, corruption, broken families, broken hearts?

12. Will good or evil ultimately triumph?

C: The resurrection of Jesus proves that good ultimately triumphs over evil.

NA: These are only apparent moral categories, they don’t really exist.

13. Is there life after death?

C: Yes! In either heaven or hell. Our destination is based on our response to the person and work of Christ.

NA: Yes and No. Yes, in that you may have trillions of more reincarnated bodies to inhabit as you pay off your karmic debt before reaching enlightenment. No, in that once you’re enlightened, you will cease to exist, since you will have remembered you’re really an impersonal force that New Age thinkers call “God.”

The New Age Movement is intellectually and spiritually bankrupt. But, it is making Tolle and Williamson—and especially Oprah—a whole bunch of money.

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About The Author
The Frank Pastore Show is heard in Los Angeles weekday afternoons on 99.5 KKLA and on the web at kkla.com, and is the winner of the 2006 National Religious Broadcasters Talk Show of the Year. Frank is a former major league pitcher with graduate degrees in both philosophy of religion and political philosophy.
 
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BARAK OBAMA
WHY DOES OPRAH THINK SHE HAS TO PICK OUR PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE ?? SHE THINKS SHE IS SO INFLUENTIAL SHE CAN ELECT A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, SHE COULD BE GETTING US IN SERIOUS PROBLEMS IF MC CAIN GETS I ???
YOU KNOW WHAT ? I'M GETTING SICK OF OPRAH FOR ONE, AND ALOT OF MY FRIENDS ARE TOO. WE HAVE HAD TO LISTEN TO WHAT SHE SAYS AND THINKS FOR TOO MANY YEARS NOW. SHE NEEDS TO COOL HER OPIONS !!!

My Question about Jesus
I have a question or really I need a clarification. Is Jesus God or is Jesus a relative of God(Son)?


RELIGION, NEW AGE
PERSONALLY, I THINK EVERY RELIGION HAS SOMETHING (GOOD) TO OFFER. AS SRI SRI SRI ANANDAMAYI MA SAYS. GOD IS ALL- PERVADING, IN EVERY FORM AND SECT, AND RELIGION IS NOTHING BUT HE HIMSELF ALONE. OF COuRSE, GOD CAN BE REFERED TO AS HE, SHE OR IT, as "THE ONE IS ALL IN ALL".

It sounds
to me that the NA want their cake and it eat too.

A little tiny addendum to question 2
"2. Does God exist?—and is He personal?

C: Yes, God is personal, and the Bible teaches God is three persons sharing one essence, what Christians refer to as the Trinity. More specifically, God is tri-personal."

Tri-personal? Is that the best deal? Maybe nirvana is quadrapersonal? Is Allah at least unipersonal?

No really, I understand the perameters of this article, and I do not mean to be too flippant. But the Bible does teach that the very hairs of your head are numbered. Jesus said that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing about it. He even stepped into history to perform a very aweful task on the cross, just to be with us sinners, each individually, for eternity. That seems deeply personal. Not "tri-personal."


The Bible's teaching on the Trinity
For those who have questions on the Trinity and where it is revealed in Scripture, here is a good explanation.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Trinity-Bible.html

Frank Pastore - Question that bother Opr
Great as far as you went.One has to go right to where eternity the Bible takes us. But of course there is the presupposition that the Bible is the Christian's text book. Otherwise you can argue till the cows come home, and waste a lot of time. The answers to everything lies in eternity in the counsel of the Holy Trinity. Everthing come from God. He is the Great Philospher the font of everything.
Bruce

These People Are Idiot's
God ,Our Lord ,Jesus Christ will return one day and they will answer to Him. In the mean time just remember that the Lord is Great, The Lord is All Powerful and you cannot escape His Wrath

New Age
I agree that we are spiritual beings, but that never negates the fact that evil exists. I may be okay for me to sacrifice my life for peace, but it isn't ok for me to say you too must sacrifice your life for peace. As Christians or spiritual people we must understand evil in ourselves and in others. Its ok for me to say I am not going to fight against evil,but maybe someone must. Otherwise Germans maybe ruling the world without any Jews, blacks, gays, Asians, etc.

inthemajority/Beastie Boy
Hi Beastie! Still haven't the guts to answer the question, huh?

Actually, halfwit, I'm an atheist. I don't hate any religion, I just don't happen to believe in any, just as I don't believe in Santa or the tooth fairy.

Beastie Boy/Inthemajority, however, does hate Christians and Christianity.

By the way, nitwit, how did you arrive at the conclusion that I'm a coward, you coward?

Hey Bobbie
Bob_C writes: Tuesday, April, 01, 2008 4:46 PM
Hey Beastie"Mensa Boy, "3 degree" Boy
I'm still waiting, you little coward.

For the 11th time, Do you hate Christianity & Christians only, or do you hate all religions?"
-----------------
Wow. What a load of craptastic thought from a small mind. Hey Bobby McC, do you hate every non-Christian, and do you hate them and the followers equally.

Small minds want to know.

You pathetic coward.

45caliber
Frankly, I see little difference between that little twerp in your philosophy class and a good portion of the Nation Of Neoliberalism.

New Age Thought
I remember a boy in my philosophy class (in the '60s) who believed this. He insisted that you had to do everything that was good for you to be able to achieve oneness with the universe. Someone asked him if rape was okay. He agreed that it was if you felt it was right for you. He was then asked if he should do it if it was wrong for the other person. He said that you should and that it was wrong for anyone to stop you from doing it. When someone pointed out that it might be right for the victim or for someone else to stop him, he was indignant. Your rightness should come before someone else's. We finally gave up on him as an idiot.

Hey Beastie"Mensa Boy, "3 degree" Boy
I'm still waiting, you little coward.

For the 11th time, Do you hate Christianity & Christians only, or do you hate all religions?

For somebody who claims to be an ex-MENSA member (who left because he was bored) and who claims to have three degrees, you don't seem to comprehend a simple question very well.

Could it be that you're ashamed to show your bigotry?

ok Oprah isn't dumber than dirt...
ok her theology a little whacky, but anyone that goes from being poorer than dirt to a billionaire ain't stupid.

but I agree with the ego stuff - because you are so successful doesn't make you a "diety"... a little humility please.

Otis-true Christians
AMEN.

Wow!
What a pile of foolish nonsense from a man with a wonderful mind. And what a waste of time and ink. We'd all better start listening to Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens or we are surely doomed.

INTHENOW
I appreciate that.

Verbivore
No, I am saying I am aware of how 'ego' can define roles, images and beliefs. Ego is limiting yourself. God made me in his image, not mine. Through God all is possible, through the mind of man and his ego only limited knowledge is attainable, because the ego is and has boundries. When I have consciousness of God there are no boundries of or to my faith. I only identify with God and the Son of God, do they have 'ego'?

True Christians
The Holy Spirit’s “empowerment” of the indwelled Christian provides a “knowing” witness to the world of the reality that God does exist and that Jesus Christ is the confirmed expression (the Logos) of that reality.

There is no question of the evident truth that God’s presence, the Holy Spirit, exists in the daily experience of the true Christian believer, even though this fact may boggle the minds of nonbelievers. If a Christian does not know this truth – then that person probably is not a Christian!

True Christians
The Holy Spirit’s “empowerment” of the indwelled Christian provides a “knowing” witness to the world of the reality that God does exist and that Jesus Christ is the confirmed expression (the Logos) of that reality.

There is no question of the evident truth that God’s presence, the Holy Spirit, exists in the daily experience of the true Christian believer, even though this fact may boggle the minds of nonbelievers. If a Christian does not know this truth – then that person probably is not a Christian!

jimmyjames

I don’t recommend trying to explain/defend Tolle’s work here. I went through this futile exercise weeks ago…see my blog: http://inthenow.blogtownhall.com/2008/03/04/i%e2%80%99m_a_ better_man.thtml

Based on the two articles I’ve read at TH; one by Mr. Norris and this one, I’m convinced that neither of them actually read either book. My guess is they skimmed a review and/or portions, and then formed their preconceived comments from that. I also think there’s some bias due to Oprah’s liberal views.

Regardless, it doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to save you from bashing your head against that preverbal wall.



jimmyjames
"'ego' defines our roles, images and belief"

You say you are learning how Ego defines you?

That position is exactly the point Pastore is making. The statement is in contrast to Scripture.
The Bible says we are defined by our position in Christ. I am defined by Christ. Not my ego. "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain."

Questions that bother?
I have participated in the Oprah/Tolle series online and I have not heard anything remotely close to what Mr. Pastore is claiming in this article on new age thinking vs. christianity. The Oprah/Tolle series is about awareness of our purpose in life and with God. To my knowledge, no mention of Karma has been discussed. Most of the material covered has been of the 'ego' and how the 'ego' defines our roles, images and beliefs and to what end. Frank Pastore's article would be a case in point of what the 'ego' is all about.
"But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since your have taken off your old self with it's practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of it's Creator." Colossians 3:8-10

love of the Truth
After reading some of the comments here, the answer is obvious: "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness". II Thess 2:10,12.

It matters not what science has "proved" about the big bang, or anything else. The Word of God is truth and had better be believed, as it is written and revealed by the Holy Ghost, regardless of how foolish it looks to the world (I Cor ch1). If you choose to be "reprobate" (Romans Ch1), God will send you a lie that you'll believe and you'll be damned. Simple as that. It matters not what doctrine or denomination; only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will save your soul from eternal Hell. This is what He was telling Peter, when speaking of the rock He would build His church on.

As for the blasphemers: "...Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their HARD SPEECHES WHICH UNGODLY SINNERS HAVE SPOKEN AGAINST HIM." (Jude15)

Ye ungodly, BE AFRAID.

Great article
Oprah came from nowhere with nothing and llimited spiritual education to rise to a position of power that holes sway over millions of very ignorant women. 2Timothy 3:5-7 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts. ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. This always happens to people who are weak spiritually when they gain worldly power. They have a form of godliness (Oprah does some very good things) but she is denying the power of our creator God in this new age lie. She is actually a very sad case, I just feel sorry for all the silly women who are on the bus to hell with her if they dont know Jesus by faith.

Lestat
Lestat writes: Tuesday, April, 01, 2008 3:03 AM
LAWriter
It's amusing to watch you liberals work yourselves into a lather over Gitmo. No one has produced any credible evidence that anyone is being tortured there"
---------------
You are kidding, right? Are you the last person to believe this? Maybe if you read some real news you'd change your uber-skewed concept of what Gitmo really is, but for starters:

Murat Kurnaz

You need to know his name. Murat Kurnaz. He was held while our CIA, our FBI, and Germany's agencies all knew he was guilty of nothing. Murat Kurnaz. Try losing five years of your life and then shrugging it off because it is for the good of the country.

Moazzam Beg. Get to know his name as well. OK, this is too easy. look them up for yourself. They are no more enemy combatants than you are.

Maybe you would like to be tortured for five years so you can understand. I can't even begin to wrap my thoughts around how awful it would be to have five years stolen from you because Dick Cheney had his panties wadded up too tight.

Worldview
I’ve been through this tiring debate already: http://inthenow.blogtownhall.com/2008/03/04/i%e2%80%99m_a_ better_man.thtml

What’s the point of this article Mr. Pastore? To keep your flock from straying? Are you trying to save me and countless others who don’t share your “worldview”?

“If you know a person’s worldview, you know a whole lot about them. Oftentimes, you even know more about their thinking processes than they do.”

Thank goodness you’re here to realign my skewed paradigm.

After reading your column, I see now that I’ve wasted my time reading Tolle’s works. I finally get it! Everything he explained was actually just “new age” mumbo-jumbo, designed to lead me astray.

Chalk another one up to “saved” column.

To all conservatives and liberals on TH
Everyone:

I want to bring your attention to a statement that was made here on Townhall yesterday.

An individual, who goes by the moniker of ModMark, made a statement yesterday that was completely vile and offensive and beyond the standards of human courtesy and decency.

ModMark made a statement that condemned all christians as being pedophiles who believe in sex slavery. He used a passage from the Old Testament to make this claim.

He did not make this statement in reference to anything anyone wrote. The statement had nothing to do with the article, or with any of the topics on the thread to that article. Rather, he made the statement apparently for no other reason than to be vile and offensive.

When asked for a retraction of his statement and an apology to all, ModMark became arrogant and even more offensive, if such is possible.

I call on everyone who posts at Townhall to put aside their political and philosophical and religious differences and join me in censuring ModMark for his statements and to press him for a retraction and an apology. This is an issue that cuts across the spectrum, as christians are not limited to either the left or right wing points of view.

Thank you.

The lost are blinded
Beastie Boy,

The Bible explains your problem.

Joh 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
2Co 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

LAWriter
It's amusing to watch you liberals work yourselves into a lather over Gitmo. No one has produced any credible evidence that anyone is being tortured there. I know it has become a left-wing article of faith that Gitmo is "a notorious torture detention center," but that doesn't make it true. (Now scurry off to your quote mines and produce allegations of Gitmo torture that have already been discredited, but which no one here will bother to waste their time trying to refute individually.)

BTW, are you a member of the underground resistance? You know, the fascist Bush regime doesn't allow dissent, so you could disappear during the night just for posting your comments. You should keep a lower profile so as to maintain the secrecy of you and your comrades in the underground resistance movement.

And you're right that Jesus would not deny healing to those "who did not have health insurance." But what does that have to do with our medical system? Jesus was not a medical physician. Physicians cannot perform miraculous healings as Jesus did. Are you proposing that doctors and nurses work for free? How many people do you think will spend the better part of a decade in school and training to work long hours and be paid - nothing? They get to sit on the street corner panhandling just to afford food and shelter. Oh, wait; you're a liberal, so you think that gov't-run universal health care will be FREE.

Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty and done more to improve our quality of life than has any other system devised by man. I think Jesus would approve of that.

Frank is no better than Oprah
While Frank does illustrate how Oprah's Christianity is incompatible with her new age diatribes, it is also true that Frank's actions are ALSO incompatible with Christianity,

Frank supports Guantanamo Bay, a notorious torture detention center.

This position contradicts the teachings of Jesus Christ, and even contradicts Frank's choice for president, John McCain, who has promised to close down Gitmo.

Frank opposes universal health care.

Imagine Jesus Christ denying healing to those who did not have health insurance, "No, you may not be healed blind man, for you are not insured."

Frank slanders Barak Obama every chance he gets on his radio show. Frank is desperate to make Jeremiah Wright's words Obama's words. He gleefully twists the two.

Frank insinuates, wonders aloud and suggests that Obama shares the same opinion on race as Wright, which Obama has said he does not, over and over.

Has Frank ever heard "bear not false witness against your neighbor?" The bible warns over and over against slander.

Frank may be a Christian in his doctrine, in his theology, but clearly his actions do not bear any proof of spiritual fruit as required by scripture.

His actions bear no witness to Jesus Christ, and his scathing public prayers, such as the one he did today against Oprah, was filled with bitterness.

Folks, pray for Oprah's salvation and Frank's.




Perfect match
Just occurred to me. If the fake, phony, fraud, radical, Commie snake oil salesman Obama ever became divorced or wanted to take a second wife, Oprah would be a perfect match!

New Age Religion
is attractive because no moral requirements are needed or asked for.

For New Agers
Have you seen the latest from Sharper Image?

The Electric Monk

The electric monk is a labor saving device like a dishwasher or video recorder. Dishwashers wash tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself. Video recorders watch tedious tv or you thus saving you the bother of watching it yourself. The electric monk believes things for you thus saving you what is becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expects you to believe.

Considering the breadth and scope of the new age religion, this could become a very practical tool.

Satan2Liberals
Beastie Boy is our resident blasphemer in chief. I am sure I spelled that wrong.



Greenhornet mentions that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everthing is 42 but, what was the question?

And Ken the Playful Walrus says the dolphins are really saying so long, and thanks for all the fish.

And to think that I thought Adams was a little read cult favorite.

God is ONE Person, not three
R.A.M. writes: 2:06 PM
Please show me where in the Bible...
Please identify the chapter/verse in the Bible where G-d says he is 3 people.
------
ts:
There is none.
Many scriptures say He is one though.

-------------
R.A.M. writes:
Since G-d's essence is described countless times throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, I thought I could find it there.
-------
ts:
Yes, one would think so if God was three persons, and is not, He is One Person, and there are no divisions in God.
What some cannot grasp is the two parts of God, Flesh and Spirit.
But One Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God Himself manifested in human form.
The Spirit of Life with-in Jesus Christ is God.
God dwelt in the human body of the Son of God, the ONLY person of the Godhead.
Just as Paul has told us:

2Co 5:19 -
To wit, that God was IN Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Does not say He was WITH Christ, but IN Christ.

As does this:

Mt 3:17 -
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, IN whom I am well pleased.

God is a Spirit
The Son of God is Flesh
One God
No Division or partnership, but One God.

Manifested to the world through the man, Jesus Christ.





I'm a practioner of a hindu sect,
Raja Yoga


I tend to support stevel's sentiments.

I'm not upset at Mr Pastore as his comments are made primarily out of ignorance or seeking schism where there is none.

I however find beastie boys comments malicious and purposefully belittling to both CHRISTIANITY And Hinduism.

So what
Does anybody take Okra seriously?

Further to Alpena's comment
if Jesus were not fully God, or if He were in any way "inferior" to His Father in terms of nature or substance He could not accept the worship of Thomas-about whom we were reminded in church yesterday. "My Lord and my God!" cried Thomas, upon putting his hand in Jesus' side, and the nailprints in His hands.

And Peter's statement: "Thou art the Son of the living God" is the Rock upon which the Church Universal is founded. Jesus wouldn't have told Peter that such was the foundation upon which He would build His church if He Himself were not the chief cornerstone.

Uneasyrider
"I've been wondering about it [NA] but didn't want to get involved with the New Age stuff."

Thanks for a great insight into the ever inquisitive conservative mind! Just move along...nothing to see here.


oprah claims to be
christian. hahahahaha. a person cannot be a democrat and a christian at the same time. the beliefs are opposite to each other. go murder some more babies clinton, obama, oprah..... frankly i don't understand why any christian or conservative would watch her show. thats putting money into the hands of those who do the work of the devil.

6. What is the meaning of life?
Forty-two.

For those who believe in "karma", I must ask:
} When was the origonal "bad karma" commited?
} Since we are no longer physicly that person, are we not born without sin?
} If our "souls" are being punished for our past misdeeds, doesn't that mean that there is no redemption?
} Since it's all about "karma", doesn't that mean that there is no free will? If that is true, bad or good things will happen to you because of a past life and nothing you say or do will change any of that AND......
} All that good/bad stuff will impact your NEXT life, people who live good lives will continue to live more good lives, while someone who is given the dirty end of the stick will get it again and again.

Karma seems to work on the caste system.

One and the Same
This time I thank you, ValiantForTruth, for being valiant for the truth.

We preach, not so that men can exercise their free will to make a choice for God; rather we preach and ask men to listen and see if they do, indeed, hear the voice of Christ.

John 10:27
”My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

R.A.M. the reason Jesus speaks as he does is because He humbled himself when He took on a human nature, that is to say, He lowered Himself in rank to God. The passage that explains this is Philippians 2:5-8:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

AliveInHim gave you the definitive verse where Jesus claims to be God, but the Bible proclaims it throughout.

According to Isaiah 45:22-23, Jehovah is the God before Whom “every knee shall bow” and none else. Yet Paul gives this same honor to Jesus in Philippians 2:10-11. The implication is clear; God and Jesus are one and the same.

The same can be done with the Holy Spirit. Seek and ye shall find.

Gary Gordon

humanities value
You should add the question " What gives human life value" I heard an abortion supporter claim since no cares about the unborn child that child has no value. The Value of a person does not depend on our feelings or lack of them for that person. We have value because God says we have value and that is the only reason. A world-view without a Creator God must confess that humanity has no intrinsic value.

The nature of God.

If you are sincerely interested in knowing the true nature of God, go to the entry for "God" in the encyclopedia found at:

http://www.lib.byu.edu/Macmillan/


What Tolle says:

Here are Tolle's own words:

'Some religious institutions will be open to the new consciousness; others will harden their doctrinal positions and become part of all those other manmade structures through which the collective ego will defend itself and "fight back." Some churches, sects, cults, or religious movements are basically collective egoic entities, as rigidly identified with their mental positions as the followers of any political ideology that is closed to any alternative interpretation of reality.' [A New Earth, p.19]

Tolle goes on like this for a few pages but is careful not to denounce any particular religion but rather, he craftily implies that the bad behavior seen in "some" members of "some" "institutionalized" religions condemn all institutional religions as "manmade structures" that are unnecessary for happiness or salvation.

The fact that Tolle and Oprah are acting like clergy, delivering sermons, running weekly Sunday School-style workshops and are admonishing believers attend their church meetings to learn about and discuss doctrine proves that like any religion, the Tolle/Oprah belief system needs the structure of a church to sustain its members -- and its existence (them there Tolle books ain't free!)

Ultimately, Tolle's and all other New Age religions are fraudulent because they have no power to save but claim that they do.

Frank Pastore should be congratulated for sounding the alarm.

Hinduism
New Age beliefs tend to be a variable mish-mash of Western beliefs, Hindu mysticism, and pop psychology.

But Hinduism itself is an ancient, honorable religion and belief system. Older, in fact, than Christianity, dating back to perhaps 2,000 B.C. In that sense, Hinduism is as old as Judaism, and perhaps even older.

What we think of as "Christianity" today, didn't actually exist during the life of Jesus. It was given definition in subsequent centuries by the Nicene Creed (4th century A.D.), and other work. When Christians were still flailing around trying to get their religion started, Hindus in India had been flourishing for thousands of years.

I didn't like it when I saw some Christians on TH trying to trash Mormonism during Romney's campaign for President. India has been a democracy for far longer than we have, and Hinduism is an honorable philosophy. Let's not sound like we're anti-Hindu bigots or something.

Most want to be happy and unaccountable
and therefore enthrone themselves as arbiters of what constitutes righteousness. Tings are no different today from what occured in Eden- not a bit.

A fun experiment- try to find one problem that vexes humanity that isn't connected to the quest for power, the application of presumption, or the grab for instant gratification. It cannot be done. Those were the three tempations of Christ.

AliveinHim
Honestly, I think that is a bit of a stretch. That's pretty shaky ground to use as a basis for your entire theology. If you read the entire chapter, the message is clear.

If you look back a few verses, Jesus speaks frequently of "my father". In fact in verse 54, it says "Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God"

Clearly, Jesus wasn't speaking in 1st person or of himself as the Creator. In fact, he was saying to honor him means nothing. All honor is given to G-d.


Valiant
You sound as though you might be a closet Lutheran! ;)

Independent Thinker
God the Father is spirit, too. Does that make Him some "essence" of another as well?

To Michael L and others:
Like all New Age religions, the Tolle/Oprah religion would not be successful if it was not a subset of Christianity. The core (and sustainable portion of) Tolle's teachings merely expound on living certain portions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tolle takes some of the most salient and appealing doctrines of Christianity such as "Love thy neighbor as thyself", explains them and suggests ways to implement them.

He conveniently chucks what Christianity teaches about Diety, Divine Law, obedience to the Law and its consequences because they are decidedly inconvenient and are easily excised by blaming them for to the bad behavior seen in so many practicing Christians.

In his book, Tolle says nothing about the role of Christianity in founding the greatest and most free nation on the face of the Earth that has brought more good, more service and more salvation to more souls than at any other time in history. (For you liberals and other misguided souls, I am speaking of the fact that the United States was founded by Christians with the intent that Christianity could thrive under the Constitution like it had never been able to before because of oppressive governments.)

Tolle does not teach that Christianity is the source of all the truths frome which he has so generously lifted but only says that Christianity is responsible for slaughtering non-believers in "the past".

This is wholesale distortion on a grand scale.

To perpetuate the falsehood that Christianity ever has taught a doctrine of killing the unfaithful on any significant scale and to describe Christianity as merely a manmade engine of oppression and death is misleading, dissembling and, pardon me, quite evil.

That so many people suck down Tolle's distorted view of "institutionalized" Christianity speaks more to the pathetic state of ignorance about Christianity amongst Oprah's audience than it does anything else.

Again, where are they "wrong?"
FP: "11. Why do bad things happen to good people?

C: We live in a fallen world with moral freedom. Evil and sin exist. Men hurt themselves intentionally and accidentally. Our hope is only in God who is able to bring good out of evil.

[Might makes right, and the ends justify the means.]

NA: Karma.

Karma and reincarnation have all kinds of fatal logical problems. Who started karma and reincarnation and why? Who decides what behavior gets rewarded and what gets punished, especially since there are no moral categories? How can there be a “who” to all this when God is a “what,” an impersonal force like gravity? How can an impersonal force help you in your relationships, heal your hurts, illnesses and wounds, help with your addictions and bad habits, lead you to confront social evils, poverty, crime, corruption, broken families, broken hearts?
-----------------------
Jesus is no better -- he's too busy being dead (or worse) to lend a hand.

Better that the power lie with you, than to have to depend upon a capricious, avaricious, and malicious psychotic ancient tribal sky-daddy.

Mr. Haney brought over a load, Frank!
FP: "10. Why is there evil, pain, suffering, and injustice?

C: The Fall. Man exercised his freedom in rebellion to God and these are the consequences.

NA: People are paying off their karmic debt. As God, we are responsible for the reality we create for ourselves through our thinking and choices. If we are suffering, it is because we are choosing to suffer. If we think differently we can alter the external world and create our own reality.
----------------------
NA: Desire creates suffering; extinguish desire by mastering yourself, and you abolish suffering.

That straw must be tasty, Frank!
FP: 8. What is the best life?

C: A life in the full presence of God.

NA: The life immediately before enlightenment, since you will no longer exist as a person once you remember you are God.
----------------------
The best life would be life AS God. Personhood is irrelevant to those who have surrendered their egos.


9. Who is the best man?

C: Jesus Christ, the Man who never sinned.

NA: “Best” is a nonsensical moral category.
----------------------
Christianity has no moral absolutes. Your god can lie -- and even commit genocide.

Frank gets his straw wholesale
FP: "6. What is the meaning of life?

C: To glorify God.

NA: To achieve enlightenment.
------------------
Does your god really have that big of an ego, Frank?


7. What is the true, the good, and the beautiful?

C: God—and his goodness can be seen through his creation.

NA: Since there is no distinction between creator and creation, there can be no distinctions between true-false, good-bad, right-wrong, ugly-beautiful, or pain-pleasure.
------------------
Frank gets his straw wholesale. Perhaps it would be every bit as fair to describe Christianity as a psychotic cannabilistic cult? :)

Something to strive for
FP: "4. How did I get here?

C: God created man with moral freedom and invited him to join the presence of the Trinity. But man exercised his freedom in rebellion to God, and now only through the work of the incarnate God and second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, can that severed relationship be restored.

[...but only if you are one of the Elect (who have been chosen before birth); otherwise, you will be subject to eternal torture through no fault of your own.]

NA: Through the infinite process of karma. As God, you are eternal, and have been reincarnating from object to object for trillions of years, and when you ultimately achieve enlightenment, and remember that you are God, you will then lose your individual sense of self and consciousness and become One with the One. (Remember, there is no personal God. God is a force. You must return to being a force.)
------------------------
I like the concept of eventual enlightenment, and am not so full of myself that I wouldn't prefer to be a part of something greater than myself. Looks like the NA is running away with this little contest -- even though the PASTORe tried to rig the game.

Nowhere in the Bible...
does it teach that God is three persons.

This erroneous concept is derived from treating the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) as a person. But the Holy Spirit is SPIRIT, not person. In short, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit or Essence of God, not another person besides God.

RAM
Jesus said in reply to the query as to whether or not He was God, "Before Abraham was, I AM." John 8.58-9. The clear reference is to Exodus 3.14 wherein God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; 'I AM' has sent me to you.'" He could not truthfully identify Himself with or as God were He not part of the Trinity. We have one God in three Persons.

The Trinity is implied elsewhere, too. But perhaps another way to illustrate would be to consider the concept of Time. Time past, present and future all seem to run together yet they are separate. Neither past present nor future are less fully Time; all are completely Time yet each part is different. Comparisons of the Trinity to parts of apples, eggs, or three boards nailed together are inaccurate because in none of these is any part of the whole still the whole itself, as it is with Time. Time past is still Time. The present is still Time. So is the future.

We also live in a three-dimensional world. That too I believe is a reflection of the Trinitarian nature of God.

Hope this helps. Not every doctrine of the Bible has its own word therein.

I'll accept the promotion
FP: "3. Who am I?

C: A creation of God.

NA: God.
-----------------
I guess I just don't have a problem with that -- better to be my own part of God than your god's cosmic sex toy.

Bible-babble
FP: "1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Christianity (C): God created the universe at the moment of the beginning of time, matter and space. Big Bang cosmology and all modern science affirms this.

New Age (NA): The universe is beginning-less, endless, eternal.
----------------------
Assuming that the Universe is a closed system (there appears to be enough dark matter for this to be so), what do you Christians do about the Universe next door? The Universe is not just stranger than we imagine; it is stranger than we CAN imagine.


Religion
A huge jump of faith in either direction.

It was necessary to create a universe where water can exist in all three forms simultaneously for life to exist.

To claim this is just an accident results in a leap of faith to explain how this happened and how the natural laws were set up.

Physics can posit many universes where the natural laws do not allow life. And ours could have been one of them.

However, it is not. Why?

The conditions to allow life and intelligence were precisely set in the beginnings of the universe. Could that have not been by design? And that allowed the rising of humanity from humble beginnings? Who knows?

I certainly don't, but the universe is too large and complex to be an accident, in my opinion.

I know adaptation to environment happens. I know the universe is approximately 15,000,000,000 years old. These are established facts. But who set it up to come out this way?

That question I have no answer for.

There is not one shred of evidence to prove that there is life after death. There is not one shred of evidence to prove that there is not. Sooner or later you will know.

You places your bets and takes your chances.

And why would God send his only Son to a world around a third rate G7 star one third of the way from the edge of the galaxy?

Go outside at night and look up. Get a small telescope and check things out.

You will have many more questions than answers when you are done.


Thanks for that breakdown between
Christianity and NA. I've been wondering about it but didn't want to get involved with the New Age stuff.

Oprah is rich and famous, but appears to be searching for something that cannot be bought. I wish she'd keep her personal searches to herself instead of making everything a Jerry Springer moment. She's a talk show host, nothing more.

Please show me where in the Bible...
Please identify the chapter/verse in the Bible where G-d says he is 3 people.

Since G-d's essence is described countless times throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, I thought I could find it there.

While you are at it, can you clarify why Jesus himself never said this? Why does Jesus speak of G-d in the 3rd person (my father, your father, has ?s for G-d) throughout the entire text? If he was G-d indeed, why does he ask G-d questions? Why doesn't he take personally claim for everything instead of "my father"??

Just asking.

The article is a rhetorical failure
I'm receptive to the argument Mr. Pastore is trying to make, but this article doesn't persuade. Instead of taking direct quotations from Winfrey and Tolle, Pastore sets up and knocks down his own strawmen. Thus, any New Age believer is free to say that Pastore mischaracterized him, or that his characterizations are not representative of all New Agers, which is of course true -- New Age "philosophy" is such a mish-mash of contradictory beliefs that virtually anything can be integrated into it -- no consistency-checking required.

The Fall
One difficulty concerning # 10 (explaining evil, injustice & suffering via the Fall) is determining how a morally free creature, i.e. man, can discern a state of good, justice and well-being that should exist entirely apart from its own deeds. In other words, whence this standard of good, justice and well-being whereby we men measure our own evil, unjust and suffering world, which abysmal state our deeds has produced? Shouldn't we men instead say that the world we have produced by our own deeds is good, just and well as measured by the standards we determine ourselves?

For me, this is the $64,000 question undermining postmodern secularist thought.

New age & decisional regeneration…

Mr. Pastorie, why do you quote from the Westminster Catechism in your #5 Q&A as if it were authoritative and then deny it in the same paragraph?

How do you make an assertion of free will and hold to the doctrine of the Fall of mankind into the spiritual deadness of sin and its associated misery? The catechism denies your doctrine of decisional regeneration…

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us,[84] and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.[85]

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,[86] and renewing our wills,[87] he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ,[88] freely offered to us in the gospel.[89]

http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC.html


Men are called to repent and believe the gospel and to come unto Jesus Christ as presented to them in the Scriptures. Men broken under the conviction of sin, appeal for mercy to the King of grace and truth. He has promised that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Will you condemn the New Age Theology and hold to your semi-Pelagianism?

http://www.leaderu.com/theology/augpelagius.html


But It FEELS GOOD
Now how can we be so mean as to burst the bubble of tin-foil-hat-wearing folks who want to believe that the dolphins are telling us something?

Of course, I know that the dolphins are really saying. "So long, and thanks for all of the fish."

Thanks, Frank.

The way you framed it here...
... NA (aka newage) people are incentivised to sin; that is, if they are good and pay all their karmaic debt, they cease to exist. But if people 'just never learn,' they get to try, try again. ?!

I think, Pastore, this is an excellent back-of-the-envelope comparison of why Christianity is indeed the hope of the world.

Thanks for posting it.

Or you can just keep asking them
"How do you know? Well, how does HE know?" until their heads explode or they burst into tears. That's what I did at University......

Biblical Christianity?
I'm Christian and take the Bible quite seriously, but it seems to me Tolle is closer to the Bible in several of your examples than you are. Several of your positions come from pagan Greek philosophers and enter Christianity through the Nicean Council some centuries after Christ.

Now I'm more interested in reading Tolle.

Oh sheesh
I hit "enter" before I should've. Sorry!

My question:

Can those who claim there are no absolutes say so absolutely?

Can those who claim there are
make that claim "absolutely"?

Americanized Hinduism
This is Hinduism with an American slant. Oprah is dumber than dirt. Of course we saw that when she stumped for B. Hussein Obama.

Of course Muslims consider Hindus to be appostates and to be killed along with Christians and Jews. Thats why we have Pakistan.

Oprah, Haven't you Graduated Yet?
This is the same nonsense spouted at my university in the 1960s! Haven't you people moved on yet? Or are you waiting for that guy in the turban to hold the scimitar to your throat before you make up your mind whether "Good" and "Evil" are just words The Man uses to spoil your fun?

Joshua said "Choose ye this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve The Lord."

Remember, Oprah and College Kids, refusal to choose is also a choice...and if you do not choose, the choice will be made for you. Odds are pretty good that you won't like it.

What Is Our Purpose Here?
To live period....okay we figured that one out somebody pass me a miller high life, or a Sam Adams. Hey you got any Guiness or Foster's oil cans?
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