BOOKS: "Conversations with God"

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I was sent an article about this. James Dobson apparently has attacked it already.

One has a girl (I’m guessing the teen one) asking why she’s a lesbian and “God (the author makes it like God is telling them these things)” says that it’s genetics and she should celebrate her difference.

this next line is a quote from the article, which didn’t come with a link.

Another question asks about God’s forgiveness of sin. His reply 'I do not
forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing
as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do
not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong,
because the rule is '‘judge not lest ye be judged.’
Not only are these books the false doctrine of the devil, but in some
instances quote (in error) the Word of God.
 
foolishmortal said:
I was sent an article about this. James Dobson apparently has attacked it already.

One has a girl (I’m guessing the teen one) asking why she’s a lesbian and “God (the author makes it like God is telling them these things)” says that it’s genetics and she should celebrate her difference.

this next line is a quote from the article, which didn’t come with a link.

Another question asks about God’s forgiveness of sin. His reply 'I do not
forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing
as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do
not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong,
because the rule is '‘judge not lest ye be judged.’
Not only are these books the false doctrine of the devil, but in some
instances quote (in error) the Word of God.
Click to expand...
Not only that… the god in this book is an idiot. If there is no such thing as right or wrong then why would it be wrong to judge someone?
 
Thanks for the heads up.

The author of the books is Neale Donald Walsch.

They aren’t going to be found in a Christian book store. It’s not a Christian publisher. It’s just basically new age garbage.

They might be found at your teenager’s high school library, or in a Scholastic books magazine for teens and preteens, or on the shelves at your local bookstore.

I appreciate your bringing it to our attention.
 
I once picked up the Conversations with God book in the grocery store; the author bases the book on the teachings of A Course in Miracles, a new age spiritual discipline. I can tell you first hand that ACIM is bad stuff because in my younger idiot years, I studied it myself (a priest recommended it to me…no comment there…)

ACIM claims to have come from Jesus and gives a different explanation of Christian Truths. There is no sin, only error; we are collectively all the Christ, the Son of God, but have forgotten our identity; healing and miracles are a simple matter of remembering who we are and understanding that illness is an illusion we’ve created in our own minds; that our experience of our individual identies as separate individuals is an illusion, that forgiveness is unnecessary because sin is an illusion, and it promises union with God as the Only Son, blah, blah, blah. What makes it dangerous is that it’s very cleverly written, is mystical in practice and because of meditative exercises and repititions done as frequently as every 20 minutes, it affects your mind and how you see things. It takes a lot of work to unlearn what it teaches if you stay with it for long. There are lots of books based on it; Maryanne Williamson’s stuff is all ACIM, for instance; Oprah for a long time was a big fan and had many of the course proponents on her show. It has attracted many, many pre-Vatican II Catholics because it claims there is no guilt and because it’s a very intelligently written textbook. You’d be surprised how many inspirational books, motivational speakers and retreats are actually based on its teachings. In any case, I make it a practice now, whenever I pick up an inspirational book even if it claims to be Christian, if I don’t know the author I check to see if ACIM is mentioned anywhere and often it is. Interestingly, the ACIM foundation is, or was, based in Tiburon, California.
I don’t recall which language that is, but it translates as “shark”…silent, unobtrusive and deadly.
 
FickleFreckled said:
I once picked up the Conversations with God book in the grocery store; .
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Yes, those are the places someone will naively pick up a book like this and start reading.

We need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
We need the Holy Spirit to guide us in discernment of these kinds of things. Not everyone has the spiritual gift of discernment.
This is where we need to guide our young people and those who are weaker in their faith.

We need to give young people tools to discern truth from error.
 
You had me afraid for a minute - I briefly thought you meant “In Conversation with God” - a prayer meditation book. I couldn’t imagine how that could have been in there. Too bad the title is so similar.
 
I ended renting the movie based on the book. The movie is also titled “Conversations With God.” Reading the back of the DVD, I figured this movie could either be highly Catholic or highly New Age: it turned out to be both, in certain ways. The first half of the film went through how the author fell into hard times physically, financially, and spiritually. His personal story just had a genuine Catholic quality about it. However, the moment that “God” begins talking to this guy in a manner the imitates how the angel Gabriel sent revelations to the Prophet Muhammad, I was like, “Oh my!”

God ends up saying things like, “I speak to you in a voice that sounds like you because I am you and you are me!”

It was so ridiculous that I turned it off. The worst part was that Blockbuster “misplaced” it when I returned it and charged me $50 for it, saying I owned it! :eek: I got that taken care of pronto! 😃
 
That’s exactly why ACIM used to appeal to so many middle-aged Catholics and how so many got roped into it, including quite a few priests and nuns.
 
I just finished reading all 3 CWG by Neale Donald Walsch and I can see how the books goes much against our catholic upbringing.

However, reading the books my soul found more wisdom and faith than any other homily a priest can give. The “God in CWG books” (as you refer it) speaks the importance of love, that God is love. “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another” this is answer to peace and unity. Yet we don’t see each other as one, but separate.

The books gave me a whole new appreication of God and Jesus. Jesus died on the cross because we couldn’t see a part of him in us. Physically Jesus died, but he is still much alive in all of us today. Whenever we give ourselves to help another, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus reminds us that we are all created in the likeliness of God.

Religion separates us, love unites us.

Off-topic:

I find it funny that it took the vatican over 30yrs to forgive John Lennon after he made a comment about how he is more popular than Jesus. It took Pope John Paul 2 yrs to visit the shooter after he was shot and forgave him.
 
PrinceV said:
I just finished reading all 3 CWG by Neale Donald Walsch and I can see how the books goes much against our catholic upbringing.

However, reading the books my soul found more wisdom and faith than any other homily a priest can give. The “God in CWG books” (as you refer it) speaks the importance of love, that God is love. “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another” this is answer to peace and unity. Yet we don’t see each other as one, but separate.

The books gave me a whole new appreication of God and Jesus. Jesus died on the cross because we couldn’t see a part of him in us. Physically Jesus died, but he is still much alive in all of us today. Whenever we give ourselves to help another, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus reminds us that we are all created in the likeliness of God.

Religion separates us, love unites us.

Off-topic:

I find it funny that it took the vatican over 30yrs to forgive John Lennon after he made a comment about how he is more popular than Jesus. It took Pope John Paul 2 yrs to visit the shooter after he was shot and forgave him.
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Read some Merton. Thomas Merton. Or Henri J.M. Nouwen. Just as contemporary, much more wholesome. Filled with conversations about God and God’s love. 🙂
 
Epistemes said:
Read some Merton. Thomas Merton. Or Henri J.M. Nouwen. Just as contemporary, much more wholesome. Filled with conversations about God and God’s love. 🙂
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Thanks…How ironic I went to a high school named Thomas Merton. Will do. Thanks.
 
Epistemes said:
Read some Merton. Thomas Merton. Or Henri J.M. Nouwen. Just as contemporary, much more wholesome. Filled with conversations about God and God’s love. 🙂
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I agree. Reading Henri Nouwen’s books really helps me to forgive and to understand God’s love and forgiveness. In addition, it helps me to realize that as human being, we are not perfect and we have to embrace our weaknesses. If only I could meet him… 😃

However, I do not agree with some of his views, e.g. he allowed everyone (Catholic/Non-Catholic) to receive the Eucharist.
 
*The Conversations with God *series is nonsense! I was swayed by the first book, but the second and third made me see what nonsense it was! In one of them, he bashes Christianity. Stay away!
 
I recently bought the book…I started reading and some of the statements made by “God” to the author seemed so contrary to Catholic Christian teaching…I doubted myself for a while and continued reading and then decided to see what members at CAF had to say and also looked at some other Catholic Reviews…I guess I am not alone in my impression of the material…The title seemed to promise a good read…

I won’t be finishing this book…
 
Epistemes said:
It was so ridiculous that I turned it off.
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Interesting. So an actual living person claims to have spoken to god, and it’s ‘so ridiculous’ that you turn it off. But when a story of a man named Moses, whose very existence cannot be historically verified, who talks to god, it is truth?

Very interesting.
 
There’s always “The Imitation of Christ” and, to help you with that, “The Imitation of Mary.” This was from when theology was stated clearly, but no less uneducated than ones since the 60s.
 
PrinceV said:
I just finished reading all 3 CWG by Neale Donald Walsch and I can see how the books goes much against our catholic upbringing.

However, reading the books my soul found more wisdom and faith than any other homily a priest can give. The “God in CWG books” (as you refer it) speaks the importance of love, that God is love. “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another” this is answer to peace and unity. Yet we don’t see each other as one, but separate.

The books gave me a whole new appreication of God and Jesus. Jesus died on the cross because we couldn’t see a part of him in us. Physically Jesus died, but he is still much alive in all of us today. Whenever we give ourselves to help another, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus reminds us that we are all created in the likeliness of God.

Religion separates us, love unites us.

Off-topic:

I find it funny that it took the vatican over 30yrs to forgive John Lennon after he made a comment about how he is more popular than Jesus. It took Pope John Paul 2 yrs to visit the shooter after he was shot and forgave him.
Click to expand...
I dont think we need this particular book to remind us of God’s love… if God used it to remind you of His love, it doesn’t mean the book is inspired by Him, it just means that He can use anything 🙂 the book itself is very new agey and incorrect… if there is no sin, why did Christ die? the greatest way that God has shown His love is in the Cross, in dying for us… if a book talks about God’s love but doesn’t mention the Cross, His mercy, and His forgiveness of our sins, then it misses what is greatest about His love. If it denies the Cross, then it is wrong.

There are many great Catholic books that talk about God’s love 🙂 may I recommend… “Way of Divine Love”, “Divine Mercy in My Soul”, “Story of a Soul” by St Therese, “The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ” by St Alphonsus Liguori, and “He and I” by Gabrielle Bossis. Several of these books are private revelation (especially “Way of Divine Love” and “Divine Mercy” and “He and I”). But they are Catholic, have the Nihil Obstat and/or Imprimatur, and glorify the Cross rather than rejecting it. Here’s a quote from “Way of Divine Love” that I have found especially beautiful… it is Christ talking, the real Christ 🙂 tanbooks.com/doct/divine_mercy.htm
Here is also a beautiful meditation on Christ’s love based on the writings of Mother Teresa:mcpriests.com/03_I_thirst_PrayerEN.htm
Seeker2010 said:
Interesting. So an actual living person claims to have spoken to god, and it’s ‘so ridiculous’ that you turn it off. But when a story of a man named Moses, whose very existence cannot be historically verified, who talks to god, it is truth?

Very interesting.
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God doesn’t contradict Himself. He would never deny Christ, forgiveness of sin, and the Cross. There are many modern Saints (just read about St Padre Pio who lived last century, and all the miracles associated with him) - and there are people who God speaks to today - but He doesn’t say anything contradictory to what He said before. There are also many false spirits who speak lies. We need to be discerning. “Test every spirit”, as it says in Scripture. It is easy to be deceived… that’s why the revelation that we have from the Apostles (Scripture and Tradition) is more reliable than private revelation, because we know it contains no errors.

God bless
 
Seeker2010 said:
Interesting. So an actual living person claims to have spoken to god, and it’s ‘so ridiculous’ that you turn it off. But when a story of a man named Moses, whose very existence cannot be historically verified, who talks to god, it is truth?

Very interesting.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

Why not just “take it all the way” and apply that to Jesus-----his Historical Existence has been questioned by some scholars!!!

The previous poster “turned it off” because the “God talking to you” thing reminded her of what happened with Muhammed and the Angel Gabriel (which some say was actually Demonic Visitation, BTW), NOT because the Poster had blind faith in an “unverifiable” historical character. 🤷
 
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