At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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There are many cautions in the New Testament regarding "new teachings" that only serve to distract us from the truth of the Good News proclaimed by Jesus Christ.
"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!" Gal 1:6-9
"12 And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. 13 For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds." 2 Cor 11:12-15
"3 I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, 4 and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. 5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions." 1 Tim 1:3-7
"6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." "17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life." 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-18
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What follows is not an attempt to critique the book series exhaustively,
point by point, nor even in terms of its conclusions. One would have to be
ready to invest as much time as the author to enter into a serious dialogue
with someone who isn’t really finished making pronouncements.
Someone passed on to me the movie version of “Conversations with God”
and I found the story quite touching for many reasons. First, I believe that
God has, undoubtedly does, and will again speak to or inspire people. Our Roman
Catholic family is a Christian tradition with a rich history of saints – female
and male of all ages – who have had remarkable experiences of God that changed
their lives and in turn impacted deeply on the lives of many others.
Second, the story the movie tells is very touching. A man has a serious accident and his life falls apart. He ends up on the street trying to survive and makes a few friends among others on the street. In time, in exasperation, he flings angry questions about life at God and has the impression God is answering him. Believable and inspiring story but it denies divinely revealed truth. So, I next went to Wikipedia. Here is what I found. First, though, I suggest you check it out yourself at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_God
From Wikipedia: “Conversations with God (CwG) is a sequence of books
written by Neale Donald Walsch. It was written as a
dialogue in which Walsch asks questions and God answers.[1] The
first book of the Conversations
with God series, Conversations
with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, was published in 1995 and became
a publishing phenomenon, staying on The New York Times Best Sellers
List for 137 weeks. The succeeding volumes in the ten book
series also appeared prominently on the List.
In an interview with Larry King, Walsch described the inception of the books as follows: at a low period in his life, Walsch wrote an angry letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?"[2] Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing dialogue became the Conversations with God books. When asked in a recent interview how does he ‘open up’ to God these days, Neale stated “I am reaching out to touch others with this information. When I reach out and touch others with this information I reconnect immediately with the divine presence.”[3]”
“God's motive for creation (The following is a quote also taken from Wikipedia.)
“In Walsch's first dialogue, God notes that "knowing" and "experiencing" oneself are different things. Before creation there was only That-Which-Is, which cannot know or experience itself fully, without something it is not. It cannot know itself as love, since nothing exists but love. It cannot know itself as giving since nothing else exists to give to. It cannot experience itself in myriad ways because everything is one. This present creation then, in Walsch's viewpoint, is established by and within God, so that sentience can exist which does not directly remember its true nature as God.
Split into infinite forms, all life can live, experience, and recreate its nature as God, rather than just "know" itself as the creator in theory. It is essentially a game, entered into by agreement, to remember who and what we are and enjoy and create, knowing that ultimately there is no finish line that some will not reach, no understanding that is not without value, no act that does not add meaning to the future or for others. In Walsch's view we have a common interest in keeping the game going, for there is nothing else to do except to experience our existence and then experience more of it, to uncover deeper layers of truth and understanding. There are no external rules, because all experience is subjective, and is chosen. But within this, there are ways that (it is stated and implied) people will gradually come to see their thoughts, words, actions are either working or they are not working. A thing is either functional or dysfunctional. These remembering’s take place over "time" and can take hundreds and thousands of lifetimes.”
My impression about the content of these books is that the author posits
god as all the impersonal stuff of the universe. They call that pantheism,
the belief that god is everything, including us. This is as far in the opposite
direction as can be from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Moses and
Joshua, of King David and the Psalmists, of Tobit, Tobias, and Sara, of the Maccabees,
and the God of Joachim and Anne, of Elizabeth and Zechariah, of John the
Baptist and finally, of Jesus, who called God “Abba!” that is, “Papa!”.
For this reason alone, I would caution anyone feeling carried away by the eloquence of this author and the seductive quality of his words – often accompanied by mood music on the internet – and remind you that our own feelings and thoughts are actually not our best guide after Adam and Eve. The whole point of the Jewish Scriptures and for the coming of the Son of God into the world is that humanity got lost, could not find or save itself, needed and still needs a Saviour.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49ydc_neale-donald-walsch-3-abundance-con_politics
My chief concern about this author and with the geometric multiplication of personal life coaches and gurus is that people are spontaneously inclined to believe them for a few significant reasons.
1.
They may
surprise us by declaring the obvious which so many people no longer notice.
2.
They confirm
our own judgements about ourselves that we could do better and feel better.
3.
They focus
on personal goals, ignoring anything and anyone that stands in the way.
4.
They do
not include any moral frame of reference aside from achieving one’s goals.
5. They sound like what Jesus would have become had he succumbed to the devil’s three temptations in the desert: to become powerful, influential, and godless or in God’s place.
Read the Wikipedia piece yourself and see how these relatively impartial
anonymous authors and contributors have gleaned from the books that the author
has no trouble accommodating all kinds of contradictory ideas and beliefs. The
operating principle seems to be that if it feels right and good for you, then
go with it. There is no absolute truth, there are no consequences, and you have
an unlimited number of lifetimes to get it right. Again, that is not at all who
God is as the follower of Jesus comes to know Him and to believe in Him and
follow Him. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” No one has life unless
they come to Him. We have only one life here and in eternity.
That means that anyone else coming along proposing another truth is a
liar and a thief, either the father of lies himself or someone being “inspired”
and deceived by him. You, dear Reader, are on your own with your own mind,
heart, and conscience, and the choice you have is between what “spirit” or
“voice” you will decide to trust with your life and follow. St. Ignatius of
Loyola in his “Rules
for the Discernment of Spirits” taught like St. Paul to “test
everything” and like St. John to “test
the spirits”. Like them, I’m for Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of Creation,
the Risen King, the Victor over death and the “father of lies and prince of
this world, prince of darkness.”
All glory be to God our Creator, in Jesus his only begotten Son, in the power of their love called the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Originally composed August 18th, 2009
March 8th, 2021
Gilles A. Surprenant, priest of Montreal, Associate of Madonna House Apostolate, & poustinik
At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus. G.S.
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