B
Big_Easy_Big
Guest
Can anyone tell me if studying “A Course in Miracles” would be “out of line” for a true catholic? That is, is this spiritual study program heretical?
- Status
P
Pentecost2005
Guest
Yes. Try St. Ignatius instead.
S
Shoshana
Guest
This kind of reading is dangerous spiritual reading (totally New Age) and here are the links that say so. Articles written by Fr Groeshel and Fr mitch Pacwa:
ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/COURSE.TXT
ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/BRAINWAS.TXT
ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/COURSE.TXT
ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/BRAINWAS.TXT
E
ElizabethJoy
Guest
It’s a bunch of contradictory BS, written in flowery, emotional language.
It appeals to people of non-denominational religions, pantheist religions, pagans - there’s only one precept, from which thousands of pages and a huge stack of books have followed:
But, it doesn’t teach you that the grace to forgive comes from the Creator - it comes from your own will. That’s the harm in it - everyone becomes their own little God.
God is not to be worshipped or praised or thanked, because God is us. Jesus was just our elder brother, not our Savior. There’s nothing He did that we couldn’t do ourselves, if we put our backs into it. Christians spend too much time thinking about the Crucifixion and not enough on the Resurrection. And we can resurrect ourselves, if we just have faith enough. We can cure the sick and perform miracles. (Lord, have mercy!)
And for God, of course, there is not. For us humans, though…
There is a lot of stuff in those books that are completely antithetical to Christianity. It is supposedly Jesus himself who is speaking in CIM, channelled through (a cracked pot named) Helen Schucman, an atheist doctor of psychology. There have been enough questions raised and enough varying stories told about the “miraculous” nature of the dictation that I would not trust it - its source is dubious at best.
Twenty years ago was a different story, unfortunately. My step-mom got into CIM and then so did I, buying every book associated with it that I could find. I did my best to live the teachings. And I had an experience that still hurts to think about - God found a shocking way to let me know that I was headed down the wrong path, even though I didn’t even know it was God, at the time. I thought I’d just messed up in the application. But it was enough to get me to stop trying to live that course and start looking for something else.
I am horrified that so many Christian churches and even some Catholic parishes have begun CIM studies! Good grief, they’ve got their hands full of the evil one when they pick up one of those books and they’re going to pass them along to their parishioners and teach them that the books are full of authoritative teachings from Christ?
They won’t believe in the message of Fatima, and they’ll sneer at you for praying the rosary, but they’ll fall for this new age mumbo-jumbo?
**Dear Lord, forgive us our ignorance. **
It appeals to people of non-denominational religions, pantheist religions, pagans - there’s only one precept, from which thousands of pages and a huge stack of books have followed:
I used to have many, many verses of CIM memorized - and some of the ideas it contained aren’t going to be harmful. Forgive your brother. What’s the harm in that, right? We could probably all be better at forgiveness.
But, it doesn’t teach you that the grace to forgive comes from the Creator - it comes from your own will. That’s the harm in it - everyone becomes their own little God.
God is not to be worshipped or praised or thanked, because God is us. Jesus was just our elder brother, not our Savior. There’s nothing He did that we couldn’t do ourselves, if we put our backs into it. Christians spend too much time thinking about the Crucifixion and not enough on the Resurrection. And we can resurrect ourselves, if we just have faith enough. We can cure the sick and perform miracles. (Lord, have mercy!)
This is supposed to teach us that if we “get it” well enough to cause a little shift in our perception and forgive, (thereby acheiving peace, “a miracle”) we should have no problem raising the dead or moving a mountain, because all miracles come from the same substance - which each of us have access to. There’s no such thing as little miracles and big miracles.
And for God, of course, there is not. For us humans, though…
That second snippet used to be my favorite quote from the whole book. Can you see how attractive the idea would be to someone who rejected the need for a Savior, denied that my shortcomings could have ever been a part of the need to nail Christ to the cross? That was me. We are our own Saviors, as soon as we change our minds. You don’t need any help getting to heaven because we are in heaven NOW… if we merely shift our perception. (Christ, have mercy!)
There is a lot of stuff in those books that are completely antithetical to Christianity. It is supposedly Jesus himself who is speaking in CIM, channelled through (a cracked pot named) Helen Schucman, an atheist doctor of psychology. There have been enough questions raised and enough varying stories told about the “miraculous” nature of the dictation that I would not trust it - its source is dubious at best.
Twenty years ago was a different story, unfortunately. My step-mom got into CIM and then so did I, buying every book associated with it that I could find. I did my best to live the teachings. And I had an experience that still hurts to think about - God found a shocking way to let me know that I was headed down the wrong path, even though I didn’t even know it was God, at the time. I thought I’d just messed up in the application. But it was enough to get me to stop trying to live that course and start looking for something else.
I am horrified that so many Christian churches and even some Catholic parishes have begun CIM studies! Good grief, they’ve got their hands full of the evil one when they pick up one of those books and they’re going to pass them along to their parishioners and teach them that the books are full of authoritative teachings from Christ?
They won’t believe in the message of Fatima, and they’ll sneer at you for praying the rosary, but they’ll fall for this new age mumbo-jumbo?**Dear Lord, forgive us our ignorance. **
T
thann
Guest
Thank you, ElizabethJoy – that was definitely the best description of CIM I’ve ever read!
AMEN!
'thann
S
shannin
Guest
My humble advice would be to stay away from A Course in Miracles. It’s New Age.
I have a friend, ex-Catholic, on her 3rd marriage. She feels that “we are all God” - God is not seperate from us. She gave me the book as a gift and I got it out of my home as soon as I could.
Study the lives of all the Saints. The Catholic Church is the only true way. We don’t need “A Course in Miracles.”
I have a friend, ex-Catholic, on her 3rd marriage. She feels that “we are all God” - God is not seperate from us. She gave me the book as a gift and I got it out of my home as soon as I could.
Study the lives of all the Saints. The Catholic Church is the only true way. We don’t need “A Course in Miracles.”
S
Shoshana
Guest
shannin said:
Code:
We must be careful though…emotionalism can found in any faith denomination, not only New Age. And you add to the fact that New Age is very occultic…You play with fire too much…you get burnt!
P
PraRFLEsEkHm
Guest
Amen
Peace and Blessings
S
Shoshana
Guest
Code:
Z
Zooey
Guest
The Course in Miracles is every bit as bad as everyone has been saying here.
A number of years ago, I was totally exhausted physically, & in a very dry period spiritually. Someone got me a copy of it. I startes to read it, & I felt alarm bells go off in my head, but I kept going back to it. I finally did what I should have done at the start: I got it out of my house and I almost immediately began to feel better.
I have come to realize that I was in extreme spiritual danger from just having the book. It is a somewhat subtle lie about God & truth, and the father of lies is the devil.
Please, please, have nothing to do with it. I firmly believe that it will be the cause of many people ending up in hell, because they will turn away from the true God, and the only Saviour Jesus Christ from this book’s influence.
God bless you, & keep you & yours away from this very occultic book!
A number of years ago, I was totally exhausted physically, & in a very dry period spiritually. Someone got me a copy of it. I startes to read it, & I felt alarm bells go off in my head, but I kept going back to it. I finally did what I should have done at the start: I got it out of my house and I almost immediately began to feel better.
I have come to realize that I was in extreme spiritual danger from just having the book. It is a somewhat subtle lie about God & truth, and the father of lies is the devil.
Please, please, have nothing to do with it. I firmly believe that it will be the cause of many people ending up in hell, because they will turn away from the true God, and the only Saviour Jesus Christ from this book’s influence.
God bless you, & keep you & yours away from this very occultic book!
A
asteroid
Guest
Avoid, avoid, avoid!
I don’t need to add anything to what has been said here. ElizabethJoy has said all that needs saying and the EWTN things are probably good but I haven’t read them. If there really are catholic parishes studying the thing I am very horrified. Lord, have mercy.
I was quite into CiM before I was a Christian - I suppose it appealed greatly to a sincerely seeking teenager. Thankfully, I’m not very disciplined by nature so never finished the exercises. Also thankfully I never got to know people more into it. (Less thankfully I was far more influenced by other new age things)
I don’t need to add anything to what has been said here. ElizabethJoy has said all that needs saying and the EWTN things are probably good but I haven’t read them. If there really are catholic parishes studying the thing I am very horrified. Lord, have mercy.
I was quite into CiM before I was a Christian - I suppose it appealed greatly to a sincerely seeking teenager. Thankfully, I’m not very disciplined by nature so never finished the exercises. Also thankfully I never got to know people more into it. (Less thankfully I was far more influenced by other new age things)
C
Cockney_Clive
Guest
If you want “A Course in Miracles” go and study the Gospels!
If you want a course in how good is my Ego - then go and buy (or borrow from your publivc library because I bet they got one) then read CIM.
I speak from experience here kiddies; for years I was led astray by all this ‘New Age’ BS. And BS it certainly is. Avoid! Your time is better spent reading Mathew, Mark, Luke and John while sat in awesome adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
If you want a course in how good is my Ego - then go and buy (or borrow from your publivc library because I bet they got one) then read CIM.
I speak from experience here kiddies; for years I was led astray by all this ‘New Age’ BS. And BS it certainly is. Avoid! Your time is better spent reading Mathew, Mark, Luke and John while sat in awesome adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
K
kim_wilson
Guest
Yeah I read that book back in the 80’s—a bunch of new agey, creative visualization, positive thinking stuff. It seemed helpful to my life at the time. But I wouldn’t go near it now as a Catholic.
L
LukeQ
Guest
Here is a non religious condeming thread on ACIM
forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?t=1744
Here is a classic quote from Fr Groeschel:
Mrs. Schucman, [the founder of a Course IN Miracles] a Columbia University professor and psychologist, was
an acquaintance of Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. (seen on EWTN).
Fr. Groeschel gave a eulogy at her funeral. Fr. Groeschel wrote (2),
“This woman who had written so eloquently that suffering really did
not exist spent the last two years of her life in the blackest
psychotic depression I have ever witnessed.”
Luke
forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?t=1744
Here is a classic quote from Fr Groeschel:
Mrs. Schucman, [the founder of a Course IN Miracles] a Columbia University professor and psychologist, was
an acquaintance of Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R. (seen on EWTN).
Fr. Groeschel gave a eulogy at her funeral. Fr. Groeschel wrote (2),
“This woman who had written so eloquently that suffering really did
not exist spent the last two years of her life in the blackest
psychotic depression I have ever witnessed.”
Luke
E
empther
Guest
The basis of the appeal for books like ACIM is that people want to witness, or know about, miracles so as to confirm their faith in God. This is a perfectly legitimate desire.
The problem is it is hard to find examples of miracles in post-Biblical times that are associated with a person we know of. For example, the 66 or so confirmed miracles of Lourdes mostly happened after Bernadette’s death. This does not appeal to our imagination. Also, the authorities confirming the miracles are usually Church officials, and so the skeptical may say “Yeah, well, they have an ax to grind”.
Is there an example that to some extent takes care of these problems? Yes The example is of Joan of Arc. There are many miraculous events associated with Joan and her activities in earthly life. And, the information we have comes from testimony of lay persons and secular documents, besides Church documents.
See here: joanofarcpo.com/ABOUT10
The problem is it is hard to find examples of miracles in post-Biblical times that are associated with a person we know of. For example, the 66 or so confirmed miracles of Lourdes mostly happened after Bernadette’s death. This does not appeal to our imagination. Also, the authorities confirming the miracles are usually Church officials, and so the skeptical may say “Yeah, well, they have an ax to grind”.
Is there an example that to some extent takes care of these problems? Yes The example is of Joan of Arc. There are many miraculous events associated with Joan and her activities in earthly life. And, the information we have comes from testimony of lay persons and secular documents, besides Church documents.
See here: joanofarcpo.com/ABOUT10
- Status