BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY VERSUS NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY
The Church of Holy Water is firmly committed to teaching biblical Christianity. We avoid and disavow any connection to the New Age Movement (NAM) and its unbiblical philosophies; and we will explain the serious differences below. However, let us begin by saying this: Like many Christians we accept natural, holistic, biblical healing methods, which can be very God-honoring alternatives that provide better health and longer life to people. However, many of these naturopathic, biblical modalities have been inappropriately shunned by Christians as New Age, thus becoming New Age modalities by default and putting godly therapies in a bad light.
Furthermore, members of NAM are often seeking what they innately know to be true, namely, that there is more to life than what we see. The Bible addresses this fact in Hebrews 11:3 which says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (also see Hebrews 1:2-3; John 1:3-5; Psalm 33:6-9; Romans 4:17; 1Timothy 1:17). God’s word is the instrument of Creation. In fact, at the beginning of Creation God said, “Let there be light.” Light is the prerequisite for all physical life. This light is to be distinguished from that of the sun, which had not yet been created. Therefore, light in the form of a particle known as a photon is the basic building block of all physical life, but we do not see the photons. Jesus Christ is the Creator and Life-Force of the entire universe, but He is invisible. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4).
Our point is that New Age seekers know there is a supernatural, metaphysical reality that can be experienced, but they look for it in the wrong places. Unfortunately, one reason they look for it in the wrong places is because most churches shun the supernatural experiences promised in the New Covenant, which New Agers know exist and seek to experience. Therefore, most churches fail to teach people about the signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit promised in the Bible. Consequently, New Agers look elsewhere knowing by intuition and experience that there is more to human life than meets the eye! When New Agers seek to experience these supernatural realities outside of the protection afforded by the word of God, they unknowingly come into contact with evil Satanic and demonic forces, which are revealed in the Scriptures as entities that disguise themselves as angels of light (2Corinthians 11:14; Ephesians 6:10-13).
Our world has an invisible source and invisible inhabitants with supernatural powers. New Agers want to make contact, which is admirable but misplaced if they fail to investigate according to the safeguards of the Holy Scriptures. God loves New Age seekers, too! The Church of Holy Water wants to help them to receive and enjoy an intimate relationship with the Creator of all things visible and invisible and to experience the supernatural powers available to them from the Holy Spirit through His multifaceted spiritual gifts (1Corinthians Chap. 12-14; Romans 12;4-8; Hebrews 2:4; 1Peter 4:10-11; etc.). To do so, New Agers need to learn and follow the Bible’s teachings that enable anyone to receive the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower them. This will require that they abandon and disavow all connection to New Age beliefs that are in opposition to the Bible’s teachings and realize that everything they are seeking is actually found in Jesus Christ.
It is important to detail the differences between biblical Christianity and New Age philosophy so that sincere seekers of truth, both Christians and new agers, can know the difference.
Biblical Christianity teaches that there is one God who reveals Himself as a compound unity of three distinct, co-eternal, co-existent, co-equal, self-cognizant, relational, divine Persons who share the nature of the one God. These three Persons are called God the Father, God the Son-Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit who all share the names given to God in the Bible including Lord, Yahweh, Adonai, Most High, Jehovah, I Am, the Almighty, etc. Only one true God exists. God created everything, both material and spiritual. God is holy and righteous. God is transcendent over Creation and immanent within creation by His omnipresence.
In New Age philosophy God is an impersonal force or principle, a universal consciousness or energy. Many gods exist. God is the creation. God is the essence of all existence (pantheism). God is amoral and/or evil in his ultimate nature. God is immanent, not transcendent.
Biblical Christianity teaches that humankind was created in God’s image, and as such is a finite creation who will never become God. Human beings are composed of spirit, mind and body. Human beings were created innocent but are now morally fallen and depraved in their true nature.
In New Age philosophy the true nature of human beings is fully one essence with God. In their true inward nature human beings are divine spirit only. Therefore, they are morally innocent or perfect and divine in their true nature. All human beings experience a myriad of reincarnations of the soul into new bodies. Heaven and hell are spiritually good or evil states of consciousness.
Biblical Christianity teaches that sin is a willful violation of God’s moral law and character. The basic problem of humanity that must be solved originates in humankind’s alienation from God produced through their morally fallen nature and rebellion against God.
In New Age philosophy humanity is ignorant of their personal divinity and the consequences flowing from this. Therefore, the major problem of humanity originates from their ignorance of their divinity and corresponding lack of use of their divine potential.
Biblical Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is the only incarnation of God. Jesus Christ possesses undiminished deity and full humanity in one Person. Jesus is eternally the Son of God and the Lord God Almighty who also became a human being thereby having two natures, fully God and fully man. Jesus Christ is the one and only God-man. As a human being, Jesus lived a completely sin-free life and died as a holy sacrifice for the sins of humankind. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day conquering death itself. Jesus is the Savior and Lord of all those who believe and obey Him. Jesus alone is the way to God and eternal life in heaven.
In New Age philosophy Jesus is often seen as one of many avatars or cyclical manifestations of the impersonal God or the gods. Most New Age teachings and channeled revelations view all people as the literal sons of God. Consequently, Jesus is only an example of a man who realized his divine nature and became enlightened. Therefore, through the proper use of knowledge (gnosis) the man Jesus became the Christ (i.e. enlightened). Jesus did not resurrect from the dead but reincarnated as a higher spiritual entity and therefore did not conquer death, since in his new manifestation he would logically die again. (Some hold he has now finished reincarnating and has merged into the impersonal Godhead; therefore the person of Jesus Christ no longer exists.)
Biblical Christianity teaches that human beings are saved from their sins only by demonstrating biblical faith in Jesus Christ, which is a faith that expresses itself in loving actions that give God glory. Christ’s death on the cross was a propitiatory atonement (substitutionary payment for sin). It satisfied God’s wrath against sin so that God could freely forgive those who follow and abide in Christ. The Bible clearly teaches that the moment a person turns from his sin (repents) and commits to follow and obey Jesus and the Bible’s teachings to be forgiven of his sin, he is saved. He has passed from spiritual death to spiritual life and has been declared not guilty in God's court of law. This is biblical salvation.
In New Age philosophy salvation involves enlightenment meaning the release from one’s ignorance in thinking one is a limited creature and/or individual personality rather than one in nature with the impersonal God. Enlightenment occurs through occult practices and human works such as yoga, meditation, altered states of consciousness, etc. The stress is upon a change of consciousness, not in demonstrating an obedient faith to Jesus Christ and His teachings. Transformation and enlightenment are produced by a large number of techniques that can be applied to either mind-body and/or spirit—visualization, hypnosis, channeling, etc. No forgiveness from God is needed because sin is only ignorance, not a moral violation of God’s law. Human beings will finally perfect themselves. The atoning death and resurrection of Christ are irrelevant and unnecessary because no sin ever existed to be forgiven.
Biblical Christianity teaches that there is only one life prior to divine judgment. Physical death involves the separation of the spirit from the body. Spiritual death involves the eternal separation of the spirit from God. Death is an abnormal and temporary condition of existence and was conquered by Jesus Christ through His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. Death is therefore no longer an enemy for those who are saved.
In New Age philosophy death is an illusion and carries no final consequences. Although individuals may be subject to karmic repercussions in the next life, all human beings will eventually reincarnate back into union with the impersonal, absolute God. Therefore, New Age philosophy teaches universalism, that all people will finally be “saved.”
Biblical Christianity teaches that faith is an active response to the teachings of Jesus Christ including those teachings in the entire Word of God that apply to New Covenant believers. The goal of faith is to obey the Bible’s teachings that essentially command the demonstration of sacrificial love to God and all people thereby giving God glory. God confirms the demonstration of biblical faith both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.
In New Age philosophy faith is power or knowledge/trust in the divine potential of human consciousness. The goal is to see human beings glorified and deified but this perception is primarily experienced in the subjective realm. So faith is trust in what one’s divine mind can produce in the world in the sense of creating personal reality and ushering in the New Age millennium. Faith is mental assent or affirmation, visualization, occult knowledge, etc.; and it can produce “miracles” (psychic powers) done at the person’s command through allegedly divine powers but which are ultimately achieved through demonic power and associated with evil, glorifying the devil.
Biblical Christianity teaches that the final goal of history and creation will be the absolute rule of Jesus Christ over all the earth and the universe throughout eternity. The followers of Jesus Christ will experience personal immortality in heaven with the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) for eternity. A perfect universe will not exist until Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming. In the end, the problems of human suffering, pain and evil are permanently solved through Christ’s total victory and redemption of all things.
In New Age philosophy the final goal of history and creation is the arrival of the New Age millennium with the ultimate absorption of every person into the impersonal Godhead bringing personal extinction. Based upon a utopian view of the divine potential and powers of human beings, there will be a dramatic “leap in consciousness,” a fundamental spiritual evolution of humankind. Because history is cyclical and continues forever, the problem of evil and suffering are never resolved. There is no final forgiveness of sin, only an eternal balancing and re-manifestation of karma.
Biblical Christianity teaches that the Bible contains the inerrant revelation of absolute truth from God supernaturally provided to humankind through divine prophecy. The words of Scripture are "God breathed" or inspired. This implies that God is the source or origin of what is recorded in Scripture. God, through the Holy Spirit, used human authors to write what He revealed in the Bible. They were not mere copyists or transcribers. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
In New Age philosophy teachings are relative, not absolute; subjective, not objective. New Agers reject the authority of the Bible and of religious organizations like the church. According to New Age theory, individuals discover the truth for themselves through personal experience and the interweaving of a diversified set of discourses and practices. The New Age places strong emphasis on the idea that the individual and their own experiences are the primary source of authority on spiritual matters.
Biblical Christianity teaches that the standard of human conduct must be based upon God’s nature and the Word of God. The Holy Bible defines the acceptable behavior of individuals in society, what is morally right and wrong or morally good and bad. Christianity is called “the Way” in the New Covenant because it defines the way all people must live if they desire to gain eternal life in heaven.
In New Age philosophy human conduct is relative and amoral. It is based upon human autonomy, situation ethics, and occult revelations from the spirit world.
Biblical Christianity teaches that there is only one religion or belief system that is fully true, namely, biblical Christianity. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Apostle Peter said, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
In New Age philosophy the core teachings of all religions are the same and refer to the same God leading to the same end point, which is final absorption into the Absolute, Brahman, the One or the Void. This is a religious eclecticism and syncretism that ends in pantheism.
As you can see, the differences between biblical Christianity and New Age philosophy are very significant indeed. Even so, most New Agers are sincere people seeking truth. Like most Christians, New Agers are searching for love, healing and spiritual guidance. In an age of materialism, they want to more fully explore life’s spiritual dimension. The tragedy is they did not perceive that Christianity held any answers for them. People are more open to the spiritual today than at any time in living memory. Millions are desperate to fill the gaping spiritual void in their lives, and they are searching for a deeper spiritual dimension to life.
For many, that search is taking place outside Christianity because Christians have not shown New Agers that everything they say they are seeking is actually found in and through the real Jesus Christ of the Bible. At the same time, Christians need to remind New Agers that there is a dark side to the spirit world and occultism. Christians need to encourage them not to give up their minds to spirits alienated from God, but to “test the spirits” as the Bible advises. Jesus Christ is the center of true spirituality. He is superior to all angels and “spirit guides,” and is alone worthy of worship, honor and reverence. Only Christ can fulfill one’s unmet needs.
That places a heavy responsibility on Christian ministries to become more relevant, to address the real needs of people in the New Age Movement, to herald and demonstrate what a truly biblical Christian experience involves and to facilitate their healing and spiritual growth. To better reach out to New Agers, these ministries will have to more effectively guide their members in cultivating and exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in manifesting God’s sacrificial love, in exercising effective prayer and in using meditation in a Christian’s devotional life showing a clear distinction between Christian meditation versus other traditional forms of meditation.
Churches must not rule out powerful spiritual experiences. An overly intellectual church—closed to the supernatural dimension of faith—will be stifling rather than liberating to New Agers. These ministries will not only fail its members in their search for spiritual maturity and unity, but they will also fail New Agers in their search for spiritual experiences from God that confirm His presence and endorsement.
Let us continually pray that all Christians, New Agers and people everywhere will fully know and obey the truth of God’s Word found in the Holy Scriptures and declare this truth publicly so that the greatest number of people can be saved.