A few weeks ago, one of the moms in our play group told me about a book she was reading, which was apparently part of some big Oprah thing. She got a far-away look in her eyes and said the book was so amazing, she felt like it was going to change her life. I wanted to ask her more about it, but, surrounded as we were by about twelve children under the age of three, we were unable to complete any more full sentences that day.
Not long after, I got a couple of emails forwarded to me, warning me about "Oprah's Church." Some quotes from these emails:
"This is scary stuff!"
"This is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!"
"The devil is using Oprah Winfrey! Beware!"
As it turns out, the book my fellow mom was talking about was Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. Oprah is promoting it in a huge way, and there are online courses on his book that are drawing millions, according to Oprah's website. A lot of people (including CELEBRITIES(!)) are really excited about this book. And Eckhart Tolle says that the view of spirituality he teaches does not interfere with religion.
So what's the big deal? Why are some Christians getting so worked up about this?
I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I'll stick to two for now. The first is that, for whatever spiritual truths Eckart Tolle may or may not be on to, he couldn't be more wrong on one count. He claims that there is no conflict between his teaching, "which is purely spiritual" and any religion. Yet, he is emphatic about the fact that there are many paths lead to spiritual freedom and peace, which actually directly contradicts Christianity. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There IS a contradiction here. Certainly Eckhart Tolle, Oprah, and anyone else has the right to believe that there are many paths to God. What bothers me about this is how they emphatically refuse to acknowledge that their belief does indeed contradict Christianity.
The second is that there's a huge hypocrisy in what Tolle and Oprah say. I'm reading Timothy Keller's book, The Reason for God, and he puts it this way:
"Ironically, the insistence that doctrines do not matter is really a doctrine itself. It holds a specific view of God, which is touted as superior and more enlightened than the beliefs of most major religions. So the proponents of this view do the very thing they forbid in others."
Food for thought, maybe? What do you think?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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