Chapter Nineteen – Comparing Opposites: Christianity and New Age

CHART 1 from a previous chapter, “Discovering Your Worldview,” posed questions designed to help you recognize your belief system. It is repeated below for your convenience and is followed by a new chart that demonstrates the differences between the Christian Worldview and the New Age Worldview. Compare your answers to CHART 1 questions with those in the new chart to see where your beliefs line up.

CHART 1

A. MY PAST

1) Origin: Where did everything come from?

2) Condition: Was/is it good, neutral or bad?

3) Origin: Where did I come from?

4) Condition: Was/am I good, neutral or bad?

B. MY PRESENT

1) Identity: Who Am I?

2) Purpose: Why am I here?

3) Am I ultimately accountable to anyone?

4) Condition: Why is there calamity, evil, suffering and death?

5) Will this bad condition ever be fixed? If so, how, by whom and when?

C. MY FUTURE

1) Destination: Where is everything going?

2) Condition: will it be good, neutral, bad?

3) Destination: Where am I going?

4) Condition: will it be good, neutral or bad?

5) Do my choices now determine my ultimate future …

YES … or … NO?

D. GIVEN MY ANSWERS (my worldview, belief/faith system), what should I do and how should I live and behave now?

CHART 6 answers are correlated to the letter and number system above. (Chart numbers throughout Section 2 are sequential, beginning with the first article, “Discovering Your Worldview”.)

CHART 6 COMPARISON CHART 
CHRISTIANITYNEW AGE WESTERNIZED HINDUISM
FAITH IN THE GOD OF THE BIBLEFAITH IN INEVITABLE “IT-NESS”
A. 1The God of the Bible created everything.A. 1, 3, B. 1All things come from a non-personal Universal Spiritual Essence, the Absolute.
A. 2and He called it good.A. 2The material realm is an unimportant hindrance since everything is inevitably evolving back to cosmic Oneness-”at-one-ment.” All religions lead to One since all is One.
A. 3God made manA. 4Man is of the Divine and, therefore,
B 2to personally know, love and belong to Him, to reign with Him in obedient faith and to live for and in His glory and pleasure forever as part of His redeemed family.C. 5, B. 4inherently good. There is no right or wrong because everything is ultimately a part of Divine Oneness. Evil and suffering are a temporary problem, the direct result of our false sense of individuality apart from One.
B. 3All that God created is accountable to Him, including mankind.B. 3Each person is accountable to himself
B. 4Adam rejected God’s legitimate authority as his Creator and came under Satan’s dominion, causing the darkness of alienation from God, personal suffering, sin and death that now befalls everyone.B. 2, 5to achieve and access the “supra-conciousness” with its unlimited power and creativity.
A. 4, B. 1,    4Since all humans came from Adam, they are born also as fallen rebels by nature. Also, all creation has been “destroyed” by sin compared to the original “good” condition of the Garden.B. 4If bad things have happened to a person, it is because of what he has done in this life or a previous one.
C. 1, B. 5God’s plan is to redeem mankind through rebirth by grace through faith in Jesus’ sacrificial death which paid for all of mankind’s sins and reconciled mankind to God – from His viewpoint. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19B. 5It must be worked off by doing more good than bad–Karma.
C. 2,4Being reborn of God grants all believers eternal life as partakers of His divine nature that enables them to fulfill God’s purpose here and guarantees endless fulfillment in Christ.B. 2, 5, C. 2Every person must achieve the highest state of being
C. 2Hell awaits all who reject God’s merciful offer of rebirth and thus, remain slaves of the Devil forever.B. 1, C. 1, 3by escaping from his individuality and realizing he is part of the Divine – One with the non-personal Universal Spiritual Essence, the Absolute,
C. 3God offers you a way out. Put your trust and future in God’s hands so that Heaven will be your home! By God’s grace, believe and confess that Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord. Abide in Him for His glory and your good through the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 10:9.)B. 5achieved through Yoga or other forms of meditation and self-removal.

It is obvious that the three worldviews covered in this series, Christianity, Materialism and New Age, can’t all be true because they contradict each other on crucial issues. Fortunately in America, we are free to believe what we want without fear of brainwashing or persecution – or are we? It certainly is a question worth investigating, especially when the answers can put one’s eternal future in peril. The next chapter, titled Philosophy Masquerading as Science, reveals some alarming facts. See you then! LR