Oprah, New Age, and … Whatever

You know, I’m already sick and tired of this. If you don’t know what’s going on, here’s a youtube clip. Now, let’s get beyond the fact that this is, essentially, an 8 minute ad for this person’s book. Let’s move beyond the fact that over 6 hours of Eckhart Tolle speaking, roughly 8 minutes were cherry-picked to use in this. Let’s not even mention that the so-called “trance” was a one-minute moment of silence. What gets me is the typical “Christian” response. It’s as if Oprah all of a sudden has turned from being a Christian into a New-Age Space Goddess, promulgating lies and driving the average viewer straight to Satan.

I believe that Oprah, through her show, is trying to empower people, typically and traditionally women, much in the same way that she’s been empowered. Yes, she has influence, but what is wrong with the message that you are in control of your own destiny? Jack Canfield says exactly the same thing in his Success Principles, but we don’t see the religious right jumping down his throat.

What is wrong with expanding your spirit? What is wrong with believing that you are connected to God by whatever means? I’m not big on New Age philosophy, but the sense of one’s place in this world is a primary focus. It seems that Christianity wants to keep God in a box that has been defined a long time ago and make sure He stays there, where we know what His will is going to be. News flash: we cannot know what God is until we’re off this earth.

A thing that’s always puzzled me is why there haven’t been any attempts to create a third testament to the Bible. Why do we stop at the Revelation? It’s not the end of the church’s story, and surely there’s got to be some way to celebrate God’s presence in our lives other than Guideposts…