apologetics-newage
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Understanding the
New Age Spirituality!
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Do we really know them?
History -- where did they come from?
Doctrines -- what they believe Practices -- how they live
Presence in world today
When you encounter them . . .
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NAM
The New Age Movement can be described as aWesternized form of Eastern religions beliefscombined with occultic practices, self-help, holistic
medicines, and forms of astrology. The New Age Movement is not a single
organization. The term New Age Movementrefers to a large number of autonomous groups
and individuals. There are hundreds of groups and religious leaders
that could be described as New Age.
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Assumptions
The New Age Movement contains great
diversity. However, the following ideas
characterize most NewAgers.
PantheismGod (god/goddess) is All and All is
God (god/goddess).
MonismAll is One.
ReincarnationAfter you die you will be
reborn as a baby and live another life.
You are God, and must discover your divinity.
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Assumptions
Good and evil do not exist, therefore, there
are no absolutes in morality.
Separate the historical person of Jesus from
the Christ Spirit.
A New Age of enlightenment and
transformation is coming.
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Six distinctives of New Age thinking
All is one;
All is God;
Humanity is God;
A change in consciousness
All religions are one
Cosmic evolutionary optimism.
Douglas R. Groothuis, author ofUnmasking theNew Age and Confronting the New Age
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Some prominent New Agers
Benjamin Creme,
Shirley MacLaine,
Deepak Chopra Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
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Swami Chidananda on New Age
"New Age has two distinguishing featuresthat separate it from Old Age. It doesn't takeany particular religion as the authority and
secondly, it draws from all religions."
Swami Chidananda, of the Chinmaya Mission,Powai, Mumbai
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Important expression areas of the
New Age
Intuition and feelings ( rightbrain)
Astrology
Spiritism
UFOs Sex
Ecology
Vegetarianism
Reincarnation
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Important expressions of the New Age
Intellectual movement
From logical thought (left brain) to feelings andintuition (right brain)
Dethronement of the normal (waking)
consciousness in favor of the transcendental and
mystical Contact spirits and other media
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Astrology and the New Age
New Age believes that we are moving to the age of
Aquarius. The earth is supposed to be moving from itsproximity to the constellation of Pisces to that of
Aquarius.
Aquarius is supposed to be the age of harmony, peace
universal brotherhood, joy , freedom (in ethics) science,
accomplishment and inspiration (in religion)
Fatalism due to causal connections
Makes some true predictions due to spiritual
connections.
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Spiritism and the New Age
Magic performed by tricks such as sleight of
hand
Psychic powers paranormal activities such as
extra sensory perception
The demonic the actual engagement with the
powers of the spiritual world.
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UFOs and the New Age
UFOs as a religious experience. The optimism of
an Aquarian rests on Extra Terrestrial help.
UFOs as an aid to self-transcendence.
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Sex and the New Age
Sex is linked upon as holding the key to
unlocking the mystery of the universe(Fritjof Capra T h e T a o o f P h y s i c s )
Perfection in sexuality is the discovery of
the perfect balance in ourselves in our
androgynous nature by uniting maleand female by certain techniques.
while making love to a woman, you are
actually making love to existence itself.
The woman is just a door, the man is justa door - Rajneesh
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Ecology and the New Age
Feminist spirituality rooted in the age-old
identification of woman and nature
the main problem for the earth is she is feeling
unloved She is becoming confused. This is
making her lose control and the natural order of
the plant is falling David Icke
I hug the tree because I am one with the tree so
that I can keep the illegal loggers from felling thetree. Indian conservationist Sunderlal Bahuguna
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Vegetarianism and the New Age
Prior to 600 BC when Jainism and Buddhism
revolted against the sacrificial system in
Hinduism, vegetarianism made a debut in India.
Considered by many as a royal road to God
Mother Teresa was a non-vegetarian while Hitler
was an adamant vegetarian which remains as a
embarrassment to the proponents of
vegetarianism.
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Reincarnation and the New Age
Considered to be a liberating belief.
Recent trends in science and philosophy is
leaning towards affirming the existence of soul. Instances of near-death experiences and past-life
recalls have created new interest in reincarnation
Hinduism and Buddhism have always taught
reincarnation of the eternal soul.
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Critique of the New
Age
New Agers treasure the tenets of pantheismwhich teaches that they also (all of creation)
are gods/goddesses.
The rat rummaging through the garbage isalso God according to pantheism. If
pantheism is true then it means that evengarbage is God. It means that a worm in anapple is God!
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Pantheism is not livable
In pantheism God is an impersonal being. If this is true, it means that the impersonal must
be greater than (or at least the same value as)the personal.
But even New Agers find it very difficult to live asif this is true. They tend to value animals as having more value than
an impersonal rock.
They tend to value their families as having more valuethan a plant.
When New Agers live as if the personal is of morevalue than the impersonal, they act as if theteachings of the Bible, are true.
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Biblical critique of the New Age Areas
considered
Transcendence and immanence
Creator- creation distinction
The place and role of reason
The Spirit world Human sexuality
Ecological concern
Vegetarianism
Reincarnation
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Biblical critique of the New Age
Transcendence and Immanence
The God of the Bible is a triune God - oneDivine being of three Infinite-relationalpersons. God is Transcendent (Gen 1:1) and
also Immanent (Ps 104) over His creation. Newagers err in sacrificing the transcendence
of God in the altar of immanence!
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Biblical critique of the New Age
Creator- creation distinction
Importance of identities is central in Biblicalteaching (Gen 1:5,8,10). Bible makes a cleardistinction between God and his creation.
By removing the distinction between humanbeings and nature, New Age strikes a deadlyblow to human dignity and individuality.
In erasing the distinction between the real
world and the identities within it, New Agedestroys the basis for science.
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Biblical critique of the New Age
The place and role of reason
God created us for a
relationship with himself
(Gen 2: 15-17).
There is an intuitiveexperiential dimension that
is rooted in the being of
God.
Epistemology has to operate
on an objective-subjective
axis.
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Biblical critique of the New AgeThe Spirit
world
The spirit world is created by God
Angels are ministering spirits (Ps 91: 11,Heb 1:14)
Demons are fallen angels and we are
commanded not to dabble in any form ofspiritism (Lev 20: 6,7)
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Biblical critique of the New AgeThe Spirit
world
Bible teaches to trust in Godand not to resort to divinationor sorcery (Lev 19:26b)
Foreknowledge of future
paralyses our free will andprevents us from living as free-beings.
God is the creator of all thingsincluding ETs (if there are such
beings!)
We should refrain fromunhealthy interest in celestialbeings.
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Biblical critique of the New Age Human
sexuality
God created sex as a fulfilling act of intimacy between one man andwoman. Marriage is a monogamous
heterosexual relationship (Gen 1&2) We are not to deify sex nor to despise
it as evil.
Our Sexuality is powerful because weare created in the image of God.
Human sexuality is meaningful becauseof the male-female distinction.
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Biblical critique of the New Age
Ecological concern
The Bible starts with creation
of the environment and its
beautifully balanced
interdependence.
The command of God to us is
stewardship of the creation.
If human beings are equal
with rest of creation how canwe justify our authority over
rest of the nature?
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Biblical critique of the New Age Vegetarianism
God created animals and human beings as
vegetarians (Gen 1:29,30)
Official sanction for non-vegetarian diet
appears only in Gen 9:2 The Christian faith is not necessarily a non-
vegetarian faith.
We may encourage vegetarianism on
aesthetic or health grounds but object to itn theological grounds!
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Biblical critique of the New Age
Reincarnation
The view of time and history in
scripture is helical-linear.
Although there is a repetition history
is moving towards its grand climax.
Reincarnation robs the human
individual of his dignity and identity
apart from reducing morality to a
cause and effect phenomenon.
We have chance of only one life
(Heb 9:27)
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Some points to remember while sharing Christ with
Newagers
Pray that God will give you direction as you share.
Always define one another's terms
Stress the uniqueness of Jesus as the Saviour and His
resurrection.
Look for opportunities to present Jesus as a person who isknowable and who desires a relationship.
Help him / her recognize the reality of evil and see that Jesus ishis / her only avenue of escape.
Show him / her that man's problem is sin and not ignorance ofhis / her personal divinity.
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