What's the Difference?
04/14/2002 - New Age Movement
The evidence for it is everywhere—in bookstores and businesses, music and movies, schools and seminars. From talk shows to corporate boardrooms, New Age thinking has saturated our culture with promises to maximize our unlimited potential, tap into our "inner consciousness," change the world and save our lives.
Each year Fortune 500 companies like IBM and General Electric and MacDonald's spend millions of dollars on meditation, self-hypnosis, visualization, biofeedback and other New Age mind-control techniques. Words such as centering and channeling, yoga and meditation, holistic healing and harmonic convergence, astral travel and UFO's are all associated with the New Age Movement.
Hollywood heavyweight George Lucas, creator of Stars Wars, makes no bones about his commitment to a New Age worldview. Lucas has said, "When you're born, you have an energy field around you. You could call it an aura … When you die, your energy field joins all the other energy fields in the universe, and while you're still living that larger energy field is sympathetic to your own energy field." That's what he believes and it comes through in his characters.
Yoda, the Jedi Master, speaks for Lucas when he says, "For my ally is the Force and a powerful ally it is …. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we. Not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you and me. Between the rock and … everywhere. Yes, even the land."
Back in the 1980's actress Shirley MacLaine became the prophetess for the New Age Movement in America with the release of her books Out on a Limb and Dancing in the Light. And today at the age of 67, after fifty films, countless TV and stage shows, and nine books she's still going strong.
In fact, you can now visit her website at www.shirleymaclaine.com. And when you go there the menu includes astrology and spiritual life, aging and health, dreams and prophecy, UFO's and phenomenon, environment and reincarnation. Click on whatever you want. But what got my attention was the opening line on her home page that says, "This site is a reflection of my world; always in transition and always in search of truth." So what is the truth?
What's the truth about the New Age Movement? And how does it compare with the Christian faith? Today we continue our series called What's the Difference? And this is a bit of a transition Sunday for us. We've completed our investigation of the major world religions starting with Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. And next week we'll begin looking at the major cults in our world starting with Mormonism and then Jehovah's Witness and finally Christian Science. But today we want to expose a worldview that's come to be known as the New Age Movement or the Self Help Movement or the Holistic Health Movement or the Aquarian Conspiracy.
Marilyn Ferguson, who wrote the book The Aquarian Conspiracy, says, "A leaderless but powerful network is working to bring about radical change in the United States ….broader than reform, deeper than revolution, this benign conspiracy for a new human agenda has triggered the most rapid cultural realignment in history. The great shuddering, irrevocable shift overtaking us is ….a new mind—the ascendance of a startling worldview."
What's interesting to me, however, is that this "new mind" she describes, this New Age Movement is really not new at all. The New Age Movement is really old Hinduism repackaged for distribution in America. Like Hinduism, New Age believes that God and humankind are one and that the law of karma determines our fate. Like Hinduism, the New Age Movement has no founder, no scriptures, no organization and no form of worship.
The New Age Movement is an umbrella term that refers to a wide variety of people, organizations, events, practices and ideas. The movement is decentralized so there's no sacred city like Mecca is to the Muslims or Jerusalem is to the Jews. There's no founding father like Buddha or Muhammad. Instead, there's a constellation of like-minded New Age followers who believe that this present age is coming to an end and will soon be replaced by a new age, the Age of Aquarius, the age of new beginnings.
Trying to define the movement is like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree. But if you're looking for a definition try this one on for size. The New Age Movement is a broad based amalgam of diverse spiritual, social and political elements with the common aim of transforming individuals and society through spiritual awareness. That's a broad definition I know, but so is the movement.
Interest in New Age thinking has taken off in this country since the 1960's for a number of reasons. People are getting tired of our cold, detached, impersonal materialistic world of science and technology. People are hungry for deeper, more meaningful expressions of their spiritual experience than they've found in many forms of organized religion. And people are drawn to the New Age concept that we are all gods with unlimited potential capable of changing ourselves and changing our world.
People identify with the New Age Movement in all sorts of different ways. Some dabble in astrology and in the occult. Some are into EST and Silva Mind Control. Others link up with holistic health groups, New Age dating services, or religious denominations like the Unity Church. And yet while the movement is widespread and diversified there are still some common beliefs held by most people who call themselves New Age. Let's take a look at them and one by one contrast them with the Christian faith to see what's the difference.
First, is the New Age belief in monism. Monism is the concept that "all is one and one is all." In other words, everything and everyone is interrelated and interdependent. There is no separation. There are no ultimate boundaries. We are all waves in one great cosmic ocean. The fundamental belief of New Age is the oneness and interconnectedness of humanity, nature (Mother Earth), and the divine. So ultimately there is no real difference between human beings and animals, rocks or even God. And any differences that we see are just perceived. They're not real. That's a concept that comes straight from Hinduism.
But that's not what the Bible teaches. While it's true that God is the creator of all things, there is a wonderful diversity within God's creation and we're not the same as rocks or fish or trees.
Genesis 1:1-3 says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
There was a time when the earth was formless and void, but then God spoke the word and out came light, and if we were to read on, then came sky and land and trees and stars and birds and animals and then finally human beings, who alone were made in God's image and given authority to rule over his creation. All is not one and one is not all according to Scripture.
Second, is the belief in pantheism. For New Agers it's an easy step to go from "all is one" to "all is god." And the belief that god is everything and everything is god is called pantheism. Once again, that's an old Hindu belief.
One New Age leader, Dick Sutphen, has said, "In the beginning there existed the Great Energy. We call it God, but any other name would serve as well." The New Age god is not an all powerful, all knowing, all good, moral, personal God who created the universe, loves us passionately and wants to have a personal relationship with us. The New Age god is an impersonal cosmic force, a force that is both good and evil, a force that has both a dark side and a light side. May the force be with you and in you.
The Bible doesn't teach that. Instead, the Bible teaches that God is holy. Psalm 22:3, You are enthroned as the Holy One. You are the praise of Israel. The word holy means "separate." The Holy Bible means the separate book, the Holy Land means the separate land, Holy Communion is a separate meal.
God created everything and is everywhere present, but God is not in everything. God is separate from his creation. God is not in this chair. I'm not beating up God when I pound on this chair. God is not in the ant on the sidewalk. I'm not killing God when I step on an ant. God is not all and all is not God.
Third, is the belief that we are all gods. If "all is one" and "all is god" then it's just another baby step to say "we are all gods." The spark of the divine lives in each one of us. David Spangler writes in his book Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, "Am I God? Am I a Christ? Am I a Being come to you from the dwelling places of the Infinite? I am all these things, yet more."
We are all gods according to New Age. Our problem is that we don't know it. We're ignorant of our divinity. We are "gods in disguise" who need to get in touch with who we really are. Again, this is another old Hindu concept.
But that's not what the Bible teaches. While we are all created in God's image and have dignity and value, we are not gods. We share God's image, but not his essence. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:5, For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human.
In Psalm 46:10 God himself says, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth."
Quite a bit different from what New Age gurus tell their followers when they say, "be still and know that you are God." And that's the goal of New Age thinking, to get in touch with our divinity.
And so their fourth belief is that we discover our own divinity by experiencing a change in consciousness. You see we've forgotten our divine identity, we don't know who we really are, and so we need a change in consciousness to achieve our true human potential.
Marilyn Ferguson describes this vividly in her book The Aquarian Conspiracy when she describes a man watching her sister drink a glass of milk. "All of a sudden," the man says, "I saw that she was God and the milk was God. I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God." I'd like to know what kind of milk she was drinking! Or maybe what the man was drinking at the time he saw that!
In her made for TV movie based on her book Out on a Limb Shirley MacLaine ends up having this defining moment on the Malibu Beach when she discovers she's god and starts shouting, "I am god. I am god." She finally figured it out!
This is where many New Agers flirt with the occult and get into to things like astrology and crystals, ESP and psychic healing, parapsychology and out of body experiences, séances and channeling spirits. And it makes sense why they do because after all if we're really gods, all part of this cosmic energy force, we should be acting like it and doing supernatural things.
And yet the Bible warns stay clear of that stuff. Deuteronomy 18:9-11, When you enter the land the Lord God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices a son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
Fifth, is the belief in some form of reincarnation. Again, we have an old borrowed Hindu concept. It's the classic idea that endless cycles of birth, death and rebirth are all needed to work off our bad karma until we finally reach perfection. Karma is that concept that our present condition in life is based on how well we did in our last life. So because we're all part of the force, we don't die we just get recycled through reincarnation.
And reincarnation like recycling is growing in popularity! The result of one CNN poll indicated that 35% of all adult Americans believe in reincarnation. But the American spin on reincarnation puts a lot less emphasis on bad karma and talks more about this ongoing, upward spiral toward perfection.
The Bible doesn't teach reincarnation of the soul. Instead, it teaches resurrection of the body. We will not be reborn after we die. Instead, we will have a face-to-face encounter with the one true God. And we better be ready! Hebrews 9:27 states, People are destined to die once and after that to face judgment.
Finally, is the belief in moral relativism. In other words, there is no absolute truth. What's true for you is not necessarily true for me. New Agers tend to think in shades of gray, not black and white. And so the Ten Commandments stated in the Bible are just ten suggestions not moral absolutes rooted in the unchanging character of a moral, personal God. And because of that the movement is morally challenged. You can make up your own rules. Practice your own ethics. Be your own authority. Be your own God.
New Agers believe that two conflicting statements can be true and say things like "all religions are true" and "there are many paths to God." And yet Jesus comes along and says in John 14:6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That sounds pretty absolute to me!
Jesus, in New Age thinking, is not the Son of God. He's only God in the same sense that you are god and I am god. He's not the Savior of the world. He's a spiritual model of a New Ager who tapped into divine power in the same way that anyone of us can. Many believe that he went east to India and Tibet and learned these mystical truths. He didn't die on the cross and rise from the dead. Instead, he "rose" into a higher spiritual realm. There is no eternal life, no resurrection, no literal heaven or hell.
From the Christian point of view, the New Age movement is seriously flawed. If all is one, then God is not the eternal, transcendent Creator of the universe. If all human beings are gods, then Jesus is not the only begotten Son of God and his death on the cross means nothing. If we're all gods we have no need for a Savior. Instead, what we need is spiritual direction so that we can realize our unlimited potential by connecting with the supernatural soul of the universe. And repeated reincarnations are what we need to get there.
In closing, let me just say that the New Age Movement is really the same old lie that Satan first breathed in the Garden of Eden when he hissed, "You will be like God," that's pantheism. "You will not surely die," that's reincarnation. "Your eyes will be opened," that's a change in consciousness. And "Did God really say?" that's moral relativism.
Our greatest temptation has always been to be like God. Wake up! You're it! Claim it! Believe it! Express it! That's high voltage stuff! And it's very attractive to our pride. We'd all rather be God than bow down to God. It makes us feel independent, in control, secure, strong, powerful. That's one reason the New Age Movement has found a home in our American culture.
But there's another reason and it's because Christians and churches have failed miserably in living out and communicating the truth of Jesus. A lot of New Agers are wonderful people. They're intelligent, kind, honest, gentle, open minded people who simply fit Jesus' description in Matthew 9:36 of being "like sheep without a shepherd." Lots of New Age followers used to be in churches. But after five or ten years of lifeless lectures about a distant, demanding God they said, "I'm sorry. I can't buy this." Shirley MacLaine grew up in a denominational church.
Lots of New Agers used to be in churches but after five or ten years of unbalanced teaching that only emphasized our failures and shortcomings and powerlessness to change they said, "I'm sorry, but I'm losing hope." Lots of New Agers got tired of hearing more about God's wrath than about his amazing love and grace, more about his expectations than his provisions, more about his heavy handedness than about Jesus outstretched arms. And so they made silent exits from churches with stain-glassed windows and they moved on to look for something or someone or a force if need be that would touch their souls and energize their senses and renew their hope.
And now partly because of the failure of Christians like you and me to represent and communicate the truth of the living Christ passionately and prayerfully there are millions of people way out on a broken limb. And these are people that God loves and that Jesus died for. They're sheep without a shepherd. And it's my prayer that Valley View and all of us in it that know Jesus Christ in a personal way, will do our best to understand these people, to love these people, to interact with them respectfully, and to lead them back one by one to a truth filled, vital, satisfying relationship with the only Savior in the world, Jesus Christ. Can we do that together? I know we can.