New Thought & Its Spokepersons
Dearest J —
PLEASE NOTE, I DO NOT KNOW IF I AGREE WITH THE BELOW ARTICLE / STATEMENTS, BUT I AM INCLUDING THIS HERE FOR MY OWN RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE!
I found another fantastic article on the “New Age to Jesus” Facebook group that I’m re-posting here. I hope the lady doesn’t mind me re-posting it here, but it’s so insanely helpful I wanted to post it:
NEW THOUGHT AND ITS SPOKESPERSONS: TURNING CHRISTIANITY UPSIDE DOWN
By Marcia Montenegro
New Thought, a movement that started in the 1800s (though its seed is Emmanuel Swedenborg from the 18th century) and claims to be Christian, is still going strong. The New Age adopted many New Thought principles (such as Christ Consciousness and affirmations), and New Thought is found in most motivational teachings and in popular bestsellers such as _The Secret_.
Oprah is a follower of New Thought. Dr. Oz is a follower of Swedenborg. Wayne Dwyer taught New Thought principles. The late Louise Hay (who founded Hay Publishing, a New Age company) was New Thought and taught affirmations. Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is New Thought. New Thought makes liberal use of the Bible.
New Thought still exists as a movement with New Thought churches, and still has followers. Not all who follow New Thought ideas belong to New Thought churches, but the main New Thought churches are Unity and Centers for Spiritual Living (formerly Church of Religious Science). Christian Science is also New Thought but stands apart somewhat due to Mary Baker Eddy’s more specific teachings.
There is a large New Thought website and online library.
Marianne Williamson
Two days ago, I heard an NPR interview of Marianne Williamson, the author of several bestsellers, including _A Return to Love_, which is based on the channeled book, _A Course In Miracles_. Someone asked her a question about keeping her “Christian” values out of politics and her response was that she is Jewish, and she was not speaking with a Christian voice but a universal one. She is perceived by some to be Christian, which is not surprising since New Thought can sound very Christian.
Williamson claims in one interview that _A Course In Miracles_ is not religious, but rather that it is “psychological mind training based on spiritual themes” (interview at https://bit.ly/2LTNG5y). Well, that is admitting that it’s spiritual but she tries to make it sound spiritually neutral anyway. She states a core doctrine of New Thought: we must “purify” our minds of “thoughts that are false” in order to “realign ourselves with the truth.” This is the purpose of New Thought teachings. Williamson also asserts that “atonement” is a “cosmic reset button” found in all religions (this is typical of how New Thought changes the meaning of biblical terms).
New Thought's Two-Pronged Infiltration
1) It enters the secular culture via motivational, self-help teachings through books, seminars, webinars, and numerous other sources which appear non-religious. Life coaching is one of its most recent forms and now includes spinoffs of that.
2) It enters the church by appearing to be Christian. This has led some to believe that _The Secret_, Emmet Fox, even _A Course in Miracles_, and the popular Norma Vincent Peale teach Christian principles. Peale is probably one of the foremost people responsible for bringing New Thought into the church (Robert Schuller is another one).
Examples
Since Williamson is a presidential candidate, I thought it would be good to revisit New Thought with the example of New Thought teacher and writer, Florence Scovel Shinn. I was asked about Shinn by a Christian who has a relative who read Shinn's book, “The Game of Life,” and thought it was great.
I found this book online in the New Thought Library at goo.gl/6Jfiea
Shinn's chapter on Karma states this:
“The more man knows, the more he is responsible for, and a person with a knowledge of Spiritual Law, which he does not practice, suffers greatly, in consequence. ‘The fear of the Lord (law) is the beginning of wisdom.’ If we read the word Lord, law, it will make many passages in the Bible much clearer.
‘Vengence is mine, I will repay saith the Lord’ (law). It is the law which takes vengeance, not God. God sees man perfect, ‘created in his own image,’ (imagination) and given ‘power and dominion.’ This is the perfect idea of man, registered in Divine Mind, awaiting man's recognition; for man can only be what he sees himself to be, and only attain what he sees himself attaining.” – from Shinn
CANA: Notice how many biblical quotes Shinn uses. This is a part of New Thought; scriptures will be quoted (also in the New Age but it is more common in New Thought). As you can see, Shinn suggests substituting "Law" for "Lord." This is because New Thought sees God as a principle, that he is impersonal. This is often called “Divine Law” or “Spiritual laws” in the plural. Knowing how these “laws” operate is taught in New Thought. This is in contrast to God's word which clearly teaches a personal God.
She is wrong that God “sees man as perfect” since the Bible makes it perfectly clear that man fell from his state of obeying God in the Garden and has had a corrupt nature ever since. Shinn writes that man only needs to realize he is perfect. These are all basic New Thought beliefs.
In Chapter 2, Shinn takes Jesus completely out of context:
“Jesus Christ gave a wonderful example of this. He said to his disciples: "Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are ripe already to harvest." His clear vision pierced the "world of matter" and he saw clearly the fourth dimensional world, things as they really are, perfect and complete in Divine Mind. So man must ever hold the vision of his journey's end and demand the manifestation of that which he has already received. It may be his perfect, health, love, supply, self-expression, home or friends.”
CANA: Shinn quotes Jesus as though he's teaching that if we see things as prosperous already, we can make them so. But Jesus was talking about the need to reach “the lost sheep of Israel.” (See Matthew 9:36-38). Immediately following this statement, Jesus sends out his 12 disciples to cast out demons, to heal, and to preach that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
They were sent only to the Jews at this time, to proclaim the arrival of the Messiah (see Matthew 10 and Luke 10). The power to cast out demons and to heal were confirmation that the Messiah (whose miracles fulfilled Old Testament prophecies) had sent them.
Here is another misuse where Shinn denies evil exists (from Chapter 4):
“Jesus Christ said, "Resist not evil," for He knew in reality, there is no evil, therefore nothing to resist. Evil has come of man's "vain imagination," or a belief in two powers, good and evil.
There is an old legend, that Adam and Eve ate of "Maya the Tree of Illusion," and saw two powers instead of one power, God.”
CANA: Of course, Jesus was not saying evil does not exist here and he never even implied that. But New Thought denies the reality of evil. In fact, Jesus often spoke of evil, and not as an illusion.
Jesus said to some scribes in Matthew 9:4: “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?”
All said by Jesus:
“The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.” Matthew 12:35
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Matthew 15:19
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:19
CANA: Jesus is the true Light and one only can walk in this Light that overcomes evil through faith in Christ.
“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’” John 8:12
One more example from Shinn:
“Christianity is founded upon the law of forgiveness - Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Karmic law, and the Christ within each man is his Redeemer and Salvation from all inharmonious conditions.”
CANA: Jesus did not redeem us "from the curse of the Karmic law," but from the curse of the law by becoming a "curse for us" (Galatians 3:13), taking on the penalty for sins, which is eternal death; that is, separation from God, the source of light, peace, and love. The law showed man that he is sinful and so the law was given to Israel to teach them that God is righteous and man is not and cannot even follow the law. At the time God formed Israel, mankind had mostly devolved from worship of the true God to following false gods.
Grace and forgiveness was given by faith in the revealed God because no one can measure up to a righteous life. Jesus came to pay the penalty for sins so that all who believe in him are forgiven and have eternal life. Jesus was able to do this because he lived a perfect life as the God-man, the only one to do so. His death on the cross took away the consequences that failure to live by the law brings (Galatians 3:6-14; also Romans 6), and removed the sting of death for all who believe (1 Corinthians 15:42-56).
The "Christ within" is a core teaching of New Thought, that each person is his or her own "redeemer" from "inharmonious conditions."
The Real Jesus Christ vs. New Thought
New Thought, though claiming to be Christian, turns Christianity upside down, so that Jesus is not the Way, but a Way-shower; man is not lost in sin, but has only to realize his divinity; and redemption is not through faith in Christ, but through one's own efforts and change of perceptions.
In New Thought, man must work to have the “right perception” of reality and believe, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that he himself is divine and can have peace through an impersonal God and weak Jesus.
New Thought makes complicated what is simple truth: that man is not perfect and needs redemption, and that redemption is found only through faith in the Light of the world, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24
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RESOURCES
CANA articles
New Thought
(To the right on that page you will see links to articles on other New Thought topics)
Karma
Info on _A Course in Miracles_
Christian Research Journal
Leader U
Probe Ministries
Discern It
