what’s the difference: new age

July 29, 2023

Time to read: 11 minutes (I finally found where this is available while I’m editing, so now I can share how long of a read it is if appropriate)

New Age

~ the serpent’s old lie in an updated package ~

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~ the New Age Movement (NAM) is one of the hardest religions to define among all the new religions and cults on today’s scene
~ Russell Chandler, who was a religion writer for the Las Angeles Times, observed that NAM is “not a sect or cult, per se,”, but rather a worldview that “claims to offer a new way of thinking”.
~ even though there is no formal structure or organization, millions of NAM activists hope to transform society by bringing about a reawakening that will emphasize self-discovery, spiritual growth, and enlightenment

The New Age is not new at all

New Age:
~ ideas go all the way back to the garden (of Eden)
~ concepts find their roots in many ancient sources, including Babylonian mystery rituals, which are supposed to elevate humans to godlike status, nature worship, occult practices and reincarnation
~ draws heavily from Hinduism and Buddhism
~ thought also borrows from Taoism, a Chines philosophy that teaches that all things are constantly changing – nothing is absolute, including morals and ethics
~ adapts the concept of esoteric knowledge (from Gnosticism), which is supposed to ignite a divine spark and power within, and negates the need for Christ’s death
~ is a hybrid of all of the above, plus many other ideas and phenomena of modern origin, such as UFO’s, extraterrestrial intelligence, and psychokinesis
~ it is difficult to define a New Ager
– some believe one portion of New Age thinking while others accept and practice other pieces
– there are millions more who have adopted New Age thinking
~ many Christians have been caught up in New Age beliefs, some unaware
~ it’s hard to estimate the number of New Agers

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Alice Bailey made ‘New Age’ popular

~ the New Age label has been around for 50 years, made popular by Alice Bailey who was a British-born Episcopalian who followed Madame Blavatsky for a while Bailey’s writings laid the groundwork for NAM, but it was the events of the 1960’s really set the stage for attracting large numbers of people, especially younger people
~ the counterculture was fed up and disillusioned, looking for new truth and reality wherever they could find it, becoming a springboard for experimentation
~ the Beatles also helped to usher in transcendental meditation to America when they were enlightened in India

how New Agers define “God”

~ no central New Age organization, headquarters, or basic authoritative set of writings
~ New Agers tend to adhere to certain principles or beliefs
~ monism: the idea that everything flows together; human beings, natural phenomena, and even “God” are not separate, but actually one
– everything is interrelated, interdependent, and interpenetrating
– leads to pantheism: all is god”
– you, everything around you, the entire creation if god
~ the New Age god is more of an “it” than a “he”
~ have no concept of a personal creator, creation is not held together by Christ
– the creation account in Genesis is a quaint myth – there is no creator
~ the New Ager is more interested in how he can develop his “godlikeness”
~ no supreme being for some New Agers (all of us are supreme)

“I know that I exist, therefore, I Am.
I know the god-source exists.
Therefore, IT IS.
Since I am part of that force, then I AM that I AM.”
~ Shirley MacLaine
Dancing in the Light

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New Agers find “salvation” in themselves

~ salvation is not a matter of saving one’s soul from being fallen and sinful, but instead achieving a new “awareness” of their divinity and oneness with all things
~ cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness, self-realization, God-realization, enlightenment or or illumination are all terms a New Ager uses to define their state of awareness
~ instead of repenting for sin, the New Ager reawakens
~ prayer to a personal God is replaced with meditation/a journey within
~ being born again is unnecessary
~ atonement from sin is not found in Christ
~ Christ is demoted from second Person of the Trinity to one of many “cosmic Christs”, including Buddha, Elijah, Mohammed
~ the New Age awareness is sometimes called “at-one-ment”, a play on Christians term “atonement”
~ “create your own reality”, a well-known New Age admonition, to unlock and unleash the divine self within
~ “All truth is relative, there are no absolutes, and you find “God” within yourself”, a central phrase or dogma almost all New Agers agree on

Channeling ~ New Age version of contacting spirits

“Practices of the occult, like spiritism, constitute a major strand of today’s NAM.
Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey were both heavily involved in spiritism,
which Russell Chandler calls a fad that “swept the nation like an uncontrolled brushfire in the 1950’s.”

~ the spiritism that swept the country a century ago had two goals:
1. to obtain information about the life beyond
2. to get in touch with departed loved ones
~ the channeling that goes on today (within the NAM movement) centers on messages from a “higher source”, such as ideas that death isn’t real, all is one, all of us are divine but we exist in physical bodies, we can control reality through powers of the Universal Mind
~ spirit entities speak through mediums, or channelers
~ one channeler is Ramtha, a warrior who is supposedly 35,000 years old who channels through a rural Washington housewife named JZ Knight; Ramtha has also spoken to millions on TV
~ no moral absolutes that can bind and restrict us, none will be judged by God
~ Ramtha advises to never go against any feeling – if you feel like doing it, do it
~ A Course in Miracles: a three volume book (?) written by late Helen Schuman, a psychology professor
– contains Christian terms, it is filled with anti-Christian ideas, such as the idea that God did not create the world; Jesus was not the only Son of God and He didn’t suffer and die for our sins…the Course clearly communicates that sin is an illusion; none of us has ever had our relationship with God broken or marrd, this only happened in our thinking

Other New Age concepts:

~ many gods, goddesses, spirits, and demons
~ manipulating or bartering with the spirit world
~ continuing blood sacrifice rituals
~ mythological, unhistorical legends
~ secret knowledge only for elite “knowers”
~ magic arts, spells, taboos, astrology
~ confusion of identity between the creator and the created
~ ethics and morals derived from humans or the self
~ reincarnation
~ salvation by human effort
~ picking and choosing among religions
~ worshiping other gods
~ the idea that Christ is optional

reincarnation: a key part of the New Age

~ reincarnation: the belief that death is not the end of earthly life but a passage to a cycle of unending deaths and rebirths
~ New Agers think that reincarnation has been turned into a hybrid that almost always emphasizes progressing upwards towards final self-redemption; most believe that one cannot transmigrate backward to lower life forms
~ down plays negative karma in favor of working on realizing personal divinity

syncretism: all religions lead to the same place

~ syncretism: the belief that all religions are one and they all lead to the same place; a natural step beyond monism and pantheism
~ there are many ways to God and heaven, or whatever you perceive either one of these to be
~ if all is one and all is God, it isn’t hard to believe that all religions have the same ultimate goal
~ James Redfield, New Age author of The Celestine Prophecy, and others like him, sell the concept of synchronicity as the way to eventually end war, poverty, world hunger, and terrorism by bringing forth peace, light, energy, cooperation, human growth and happiness – made possible by human progress and development
~ all religions are not one, despite New agers claim that the Age of Aquarius will usher in new world order with these three ideals: one world government, one world leader, one world religion

Is NAM a worldwide conspiracy?

~ many Christian writers have warned against a “New Age conspiracy” to take over the world
~ some conspiracy theorists point to Alice Bailey’s writings, one of which is “The Great Innovation”, which New Agers refer to as “the plan”

“From the center which we call the race of man
Let the plan of love and light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells
Let light and love and power restore the plan on earth”

~ this conspiracy, that every New Ager is following the plan, is hard to prove
~ hard-core New Agers are definitely in favor of a one world government
~ writers like Marilyn Ferguson believe that networking is a key to spreading the New Age gospel
~ this networking has been going on since at least the mid-1980’s
~ while NAM appears to lack form, direction or organization, its multitiered system of networks gives it a means to share goals, spiritual experiences and aspirations
~ many New Agers aren’t even aware of the network or “the plan”, but it still being pursued by thousands
~ one thing that is certain about any NAM conspiracy is that New Age spirituality is totally at odds with Christianity
~ NAM is a “viable contemporary component of Satan’s plan…to defeat rge Kingdom of Jesus”

the “ostrich mentality” is no answer

~ a lot of people, including some Christians, are unconsciously or unintentionally accepting and practicing New Age concepts in many areas of every day life:

• some form of holistic care that feature “the power to heal yourself”
• the corporate arena, where major firms, such as Ford Motor Company pay huge sums to offer motivational seminars designed to help employees tap the “divine energy source within”
• some public schools where youngsters as young as first grade are exposed to “transpersonal education”, featuring “confluent curriculum”, designed to help them tap into a “universal mind”
• many New Age albums can be used to trigger meditation and mystical experiences, this also applies to movies, tv, video games

~ because New Age seems to be every where and in practically everything, it would seem logical to see all of NAM as taboo and dangerous, but there are some things New Agers talk about that Christians can agree with, to a point
– saving the environment
– trying to end war
– terrorism
– bigotry
– racial/gender discrimination are a few things many New Agers and Christians (and many others) could agree on
~ the New Agers solution is found only in fallen mankind, and that is doomed to a dead end

summing up major differences

~ the Bible overwhelmingly teaches resurrection, not reincarnation
~ New Agers like to think they have all kinds of time to get it right, as they progress towards some kind of self-induced salvation; the Bible clearly teaches that we get one chance
~ to respond to New Agers thinking, Christians must have a thorough understanding of their own faith, to know what God’s Word teaches, and knowing the living Word – His Son – in a personal way

~ regarding God and Jesus Christ: New Agers say “God is us and we are God”, Jesus Christ was just one of many teachers/Christians believe God is separate from His creation, and that only He can be called God, that Jesus Christ is God, the only mediator between God and man
~ regarding revelation (the Bible): New Agers believe that revelation came through leaders of other world religions, not just through Jesus. One NAM writer claims that God is seen from different points of view, He isn’t the same to everyone/Christians believe that revelation is contained only in the Bible
~ regarding sin, salvation, and reincarnation: New Agers say human nature is neither good nor bad but open to continuous transformation, salvation is enlightenment; most New Agers believe in reincarnation that keeps the soul progressing until you get it right/ Christians believe all mankind is born in sin and stands condemned before a righteous, holy God, salvation comes by putting faith in JesusChrist’s atonement for sin…the Bible does not teach reincarnation, man has one life and then is judged

source: So What’s The Difference by Fritz Ridenour

…I personally don’t believe in religion, not as it has been defined in society. All it is, is a tool to divide us. I grew up a Baptist and went to a Christian school. To this day I have questions, but I still believe – and I keep looking for answers. Having faith that God is in control and believing that He sent His son to die for our sins is all that is needed to be saved. One doesn’t need to pray on the rosary, live a life of celibacy, or not eat certain foods to be saved. Jesus paid it all!

Before I go, I just wanted to comment that it is very easy to get caught up in new age thinking. Awakening is a term I know I find myself using a lot. Mostly, for me, is a coming back to or waking up from… I’m not going to get real deep into it today, but just wanted to share this thought.
I said something to a friend of mine about this, he said to evaluate it and do what I feel is best. I think I will share a commentary on this soon. I feel I need to, but not today.

hope you have a great day!
thanks for stopping by!!