To: Amy Gibson Re: USE OF +quot;NEW AGE+quot; > Well, tatha't's what I'm here for, to gain

From: Chris Anderson on 1:104/114.1
  To: Amy Gibson
  Re: USE OF "NEW AGE"

 > Well, tatha't's what I'm here for, to gain a deeper 
 > understanding of everything, and I hope I'll not be the 
 > only one to try to do so... --Amy

Given the link problems at the moment, not sure when (or if)
you will receive this reply... but here's a brief comparison
of *typical* New Age thought v.s. Christian thinking on the
same issues.  Note that "New Age" covers an awful lot of
territory, and that what I'm describing are only *typical*
of the large majority of NA thinking.

  1) Christianity teaches a creator/creation distinction.  
     The NA thinking on this is generally one of pantheism.
     Radical difference in world view based upon this.

  2) Christianity teaches an objective measure of truth
     outside of their own human perceptions (called God).  
     The NA advocate will usually say that all truth is contained
     within the person.  The results of this difference are
     pretty dramatic.

  3) NA thinking usually ascribes "latent godhood" to the
     individual.  The Christian approach is to value the worth
     of the individual (priceless), but it does not equate our
     position with that of God.  There have recently been a few
     abberant (or near-abberant) statements by a certain TV
     evangelist to the contrary.  These are out of step with
     the Gospel.

  4) NA thinking believes the human problem is primarly one of
     "ignorance of our true potential".  Christianity, on the
     other hand, believes our primary problem is that we have
     a tendency to "buck the system" - a system that cannot be
     moved as it is inherent in creation itself - and that by
     doing so, we've caused whatever grief we've come to.

  5) Directly related to #4 is the difference in approach to the
     solution to our "problems".  NA believes that a process of
     "consciousness raising" is alone sufficient.  Although
     Christianity has no quibble with this as a starting point,
     the final result is believed to necessarily become a
     consciousness of God's intentions for us, and how Jesus
     exemplifies this.  NA believes we already have all the
     "truth" within us that we require.  The Xtn believes that
     this truth CAN be placed within us, but that we don't
     start out with that knowledge as do the NA crowd.

  6) The NA view of history is "cyclical".  To this end, the
     concepts of reincarnation and the like are almost always
     brought into the equation as regards "personal history".
     Christianity teaches that history is more linear, and that 
     reincarnation is not supported by the Gospel.

  7) The NA beliefs regarding other religions is VERY dependent
     on syncretism.  This is the attempt to demonstrate that
     most religions are in fact pointing in the same direction.
     This belief is shared by many of the "newer" religions.
     
     A fair airing of the teachings of each finds them in some
     contradiction on various KEY points, and only by twisting
     the teachings of each ALL out of shape can one possibly
     claim that they are in agreement.  There are similarities
     between many of them, granted, but the Gospel as we have
     it has yet to be PROPERLY reconciled to any of them.  One
     example is that of NA teaching, described above and below.
     The differences are remarkable, but a NA adherant will tell
     you that they don't have any problems with "their" version
     of Jesus and the Gospel.

  8) Regarding #7, one might look at how NA generally looks at
     the person of Jesus in comparison to the view held by
     Christians from the beginning:  The NA group sees Jesus as
     one of the many periodic manifestations (sounds a lot like
     Baha'i from here) of God that appear from time to time.
     Christianity has always held Jesus to be unique - both God
     and man manifested to us.


Hope that helps describe a few things that make the NA thinking
quite different from Christian thinking on these topics.  One may
hold what one believes to be both NA and Christian beliefs, but
a careful analysis of the teachings of both find them in
contradiction.  Attempting to hold both means bending one or
the other (or both) out of its original shape in order to do so.