What to do with "New Age" material

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There are people that go thru trash to pick out what they want. I would make sure it is destroyed beyond use before I trash it. God Bless, Memaw
Good point. I’m glad you mentioned it.

Ed
 
Eastern mysticism is not based on anything Christian. After the Hippies and Anarchists told everybody to ignore Christian morality and “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” like mom, dad, priests, nuns, etc., I walked across the street from the Wayne State University campus in the early 1970s to a bookstore filled floor to ceiling with books about Eastern mysticism. It’s all connected. It’s not possible to carve out a piece and say otherwise.

As long as it wasn’t Christian, Eastern philosophies were pumped into the heads of confused Christians and the general public. “Hippie yoga.” By the end of the 1960s, the Beatles, and other celebrities, had a Maharishi. George got involved with the Krishna belief system. It was marketed extensively.

I’ve spent years studying the various beliefs about “energies” on a global basis. Only God animates us, not something else.

Ed
 
I must disagree. The so-called “sexual - without love - revolution” and the Hippies and their practice of using and promoting illegal drugs, along with cohabitation with sex, have led to everything we see wrong in society today, especially with the family and marriage. Of course, we were always sinners but after Pope Paul VI had Humanae Vitae published in 1968, there was a howl heard round the world.

"Within 24 hours, in an event unprecedented in the history of the Church, more than 200 dissenting theologians signed a full-page ad in The New York Times in protest. Not only did they declare their disagreement with encyclical’s teaching; they went one step further, far beyond their authority as theologians, and actually encouraged dissent among the lay faithful.

"They asserted the following: “Therefore, as Roman Catholic theologians, conscious of our duty and our limitations, we conclude that spouses may responsibly decide according to their conscience that artificial contraception in some circumstances is permissible and indeed necessary to preserve and foster the values and sacredness of marriage.”

Source: Regnum Christi

I used to go to various bookstores, including one that sold occult books, now called “New Age.” There is nothing new in New Age. Nothing. It’s been relabeled, repackaged and remarketed. There are various places to get information and it’s all the same nonsense I’ve read before, with a bit of antiChrist mixed in.

The average reader, and young adult, cares little for history or research today.

Ed
 
You can say what you said in the last paragraph as an individual but I watch marketing trends very closely. A skillful marketing plan presenting all the New Age material as benign or helpful or good is all that’s needed to turn normal people away from God and to delve into things they know nothing about.

The average person makes zero connection with religious traditions. At best, he’ll hear or read, very vague, “truthful sounding” statements about the “wisdom of old” and how it - unspecific - can help us today.

Here’s a book that is not vague: Dark Secrets of the New Age by Texe Marrs.

Ed
 
We have been over this many times on many threads. And the Church responded to the “New Age” with the document JESUS CHRIST THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE. And if one actually reads it there is no wholesale rejection of everything not explicit in Eurocentric Christian tradition. In fact guidelines are given for discernment:

First of all, it is worth saying once again that not everyone or everything in the broad sweep of New Age is linked to the theories of the movement in the same ways. Likewise, the label itself is often misapplied or extended to phenomena which can be categorized in other ways. The term New Age has even been abused to demonize people and practices. It is essential to see whether phenomena linked to this movement, however loosely, reflect or conflict with a Christian vision of God, the human person and the world. The mere use of the term New Age in itself means little, if anything. The relationship of the person, group, practice or commodity to the central tenets of Christianity is what counts.

The following questions may be the easiest key to evaluating some of the central elements of New Age thought and practice from a Christian standpoint.
  • Is God a being with whom we have a relationship or something to be used or a force to be harnessed?
  • Is there just one Jesus Christ, or are there thousands of Christs?
  • The human being: is there one universal being or are there many individuals?
  • Do we save ourselves or is salvation a free gift from God?
  • Do we invent truth or do we embrace it?
  • Prayer and meditation: are we talking to ourselves or to God?
  • Are we tempted to deny sin or do we accept that there is such a thing?
  • Are we encouraged to reject or accept suffering and death?
  • Is social commitment something shirked or positively sought after?
  • Is our future in the stars or do we help to construct it?
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
 
We have been over this many times on many threads. And the Church responded to the “New Age” with the document JESUS CHRIST THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE. And if one actually reads it there is no wholesale rejection of everything not explicit in Eurocentric Christian tradition. In fact guidelines are given for discernment:

First of all, it is worth saying once again that not everyone or everything in the broad sweep of New Age is linked to the theories of the movement in the same ways. Likewise, the label itself is often misapplied or extended to phenomena which can be categorized in other ways. The term New Age has even been abused to demonize people and practices. It is essential to see whether phenomena linked to this movement, however loosely, reflect or conflict with a Christian vision of God, the human person and the world. The mere use of the term New Age in itself means little, if anything. The relationship of the person, group, practice or commodity to the central tenets of Christianity is what counts.

The following questions may be the easiest key to evaluating some of the central elements of New Age thought and practice from a Christian standpoint.
  • Is God a being with whom we have a relationship or something to be used or a force to be harnessed?
  • Is there just one Jesus Christ, or are there thousands of Christs?
  • The human being: is there one universal being or are there many individuals?
  • Do we save ourselves or is salvation a free gift from God?
  • Do we invent truth or do we embrace it?
  • Prayer and meditation: are we talking to ourselves or to God?
  • Are we tempted to deny sin or do we accept that there is such a thing?
  • Are we encouraged to reject or accept suffering and death?
  • Is social commitment something shirked or positively sought after?
  • Is our future in the stars or do we help to construct it?
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
Thank you.

Ed
 
Thank you.

Ed
Welcome:tiphat:

I think these two seem the most important:
  • Is God a being with whom we have a relationship or something to be used or a force to be harnessed?
  • Do we save ourselves or is salvation a free gift from God?
When it comes to Tai Chi, Chi Kung and yoga Are we trying to manipulate God or our bodies? Or do we even exchange our personal God for an impersonal force? Do we think that if we get our energy right and our bodies aligned we are saved? Is that all we have to do?
 
And, of course, no. Our love belongs to a personal God who freely offers us salvation through Christ. All we are called to do is participate in whatever way we can and that usually means service.
 
I just bought the Great Courses deal on Tai Chi. It was hugely discounted. I like the way Tai Chi gives me energy, energy that I can use to serve others as well as pray. I am often sleepy. Probably because I dont get enough sleep at night. Tai Chi is like a moving meditation. I like it better than yoga. As long as we are honest about the discernment questions above I think all things are gifts of God.
 
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