Question: What is the New Age Movement? (Fla.)

Answer: The so called New Age Movement is difficult to define because it draws from so many sources. There is also diversity of opinion among those who embrace the theory, so that what one says or believes does not necessarily represent the beliefs of others in the same movement. There are, however, some commonalties of belief that will help us in understanding the main features of the movement.

(1) Monism-all is one or all that is, is one. The result of such a belief is that there is no difference between God, persons, rocks, or whatever. There are thus no boundaries or divisions.

Any differences we might perceive to exist are only in appearance and not real. This teaching is drawn from some Eastern religions and occultism.

Such teaching is obviously at odds with the Bible. Genesis tells us that the creations of God is a diversity of things i.e. night, day, plants, animals, dry ground, water etc. Finally God created man in His own image. Man was not a rock or tree, he was different, hence all is not one.

(2) Pantheism-all is God. If we admit that all is one, then it is easy to affirm that "all is God." The idea is that all i.e. plants, animals, human beings, etc. partake of the divine essence. Since God is perfect and we are God, then we are perfect also. The implications of this facet of the theory soon become apparent. There is no such thing as a personal God. God becomes nothing

more than a force or consciousness, an impersonal energy permeating everything. The Bible

plainly shows the folly of such reasoning. God and creation are different. God created. What was created is not to be confused with the creator. Rom 1:25.

(3) Humanity is God. In this tenet of the New Age Movement we see the deceptive nature of he doctrine. Since we are perfect, we are therefore Gods. L. L. Whyte wrote "It has long been held that whoever denies (the transcendent) God asserts his own divinity. In dropping God,

man recovers himself. It is time God be put in his place, that is, in man, and no nonsense about it." Hear Stewart Brand "we are gods and might as well get good at it." George Leonard wrote, each of us "is the entire universe" and "we are like a god, omnipotent and omniscient." The Bible, of course, teaches that we are all made in the image of God. Gen 1:26, but we are not God ourselves.

(4) A change in consciousness is necessary if we are to rightfully claim what is ours, according to the new age theorist. Since all is one, and all is god, and we are god, why do we not recognize this and claim what is rightfully ours? The answer is simple: we are ignorant of these facts. Having been shaped by Western rather than Eastern culture we accept our limitations without question and continue in a deprived existence. This is why we need to alter our consciousness. In so doing we will be led to a new awareness of oneness and spiritual power. The ultimate end of this reasoning is that all the answers lie within man. There ceases to be an objective standard of right and wrong. All is right or perfect as we look within ourselves for the answers to life's problems. "The answer is not reconciliation with a God different from ourselves, but the realization that we ourselves are God."

(5) All religions are one, so say new age proponents. The externals of religions may differ, but the essence is the same. Such an affirmation strips Christianity of its distinctiveness and Christ is no longer the only begotten son of God, but only one of many manifestations of God throughout all time.

We have only briefly scratched the surface of New Ageism, but even so it is readily apparent that this doctrine is devastating and destructive to Christianity. Its many varied forms only intensify its seductive power in deceiving those who become entangled in its web of error. Whether New Age doctrine is taught through the public school classroom, astrology, proponents of Eastern religions, or some magazine, that result will be the same i.e. a false sense of well being compounded by serious religious error. The best advice I can give is beware: there is danger and eternal damnation in this teaching. For a more thorough discussion of these issues the reader is directed to an article by Alan Bonifay in the 1990 Preachers Study Notes published by the Christian Expositor, or a book by Douglas R. Groothuis: Unmasking The New Age (Inter-Varsity Press). (Send all questions to Ronny F. Wade, P.O. Box 10811, Springfield, MO 65808.)