Monday, July 23, 2007
The New Age
In the video above Oprah states that she believes there
are many ways to Heaven. The belief that all religions
are right and lead to Heaven is an intellectually dishonest
theology. How can contrary beliefs lead to the same place?
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI caught some flack for stating
that the Roman Catholic Church was the 'one true church.'
But what do you expect from the head of state of Vatican City
to say? It seems it rubs people the wrong way when you say
that your faith is the right one, which is understandable.
But I believe it is bad theology to believe that all beliefs are
correct. Let me use an analogy. There was a hit and run car
incident and three people make claims to witnessing the event.
The police come and ask the witnesses what they saw. The first
witness says the vehicle was a black sedan that caused the accident.
The second says it was a silver SUV. The third says it was a blue
truck. The police officer has two options what he or she can believe
a) only one is actually telling the truth and saw what happened b)
they all are lying but it is illogical to say that all the witnesses are
right because they are claiming to see different vehicles. I know
atheists like option B. It is intellectually dishonest to say people who
are making different claims are correct in their beliefs.
However, not only is this New Age belief that all religions lead to
Heaven dishonest but disrespectful to all the religions of the
world. It is patronizing to say that all major religious beliefs
that exist who have differences in theology, sacred texts, culture
and traditions are the same thing because they all fall under the guise
of religion. I know some will see me as intolerant of others because
of what I am writing. I would differ. I am so tolerant of others people's
religious beliefs that I would allow them to practice it authentically
and not under this warm and fuzzy notion that we all are the same
anyways so what does it matter what we believe.
Look if you think it is prideful for one to make the claim their
religious beliefs are right. Then say that! But don't retort to New
Age gibberish that all roads lead Heaven.
Let's talk about religion, politics, ethics, art, or we can chat about something else. I'm open minded!
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1 comment:
Your right. This "everybody's on the right track" idea is not too different from your recent post on moral relativism. People subscribe to this new age view simply because they don't want to examine their own religion. I'm a Christian who believes in the supernatural authenticity of the Bible. But my beliefs are always being challenged and I'm constantly examining my own beliefs...sifting what I know from what I think I might know. And that's a good thing. For just as many Bible verses speak on BELIEVING the truth, there are also those which encourage KNOWING the truth.
The new age philosophy presumes that it's impossible to know the truth, which is why they believe all roads lead to heaven...since everyone is just doing the best they can to explain the unexplainable with various beliefs which are just man-made. But that's just dealing with various religions. What about various denominations of a single religion like Christianity?
I like your analogy of the traffic accident. While there may be different versions of what happened, there is a definitive and unpartial answer to what really happened. They can't all be correct. While the Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Pentacostals, Presbyterians, etc... all have there own idea of what the Bible really means, there is still only ONE Bible. That's why I've cut out the middle man and now go straight to the source myself. If my own Biblical interpretations are wrong, at least I'm wrong because I'm wrong and not because I believed the teachings of someone else who was wrong.
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