Does this new thing Oprah is doing worry anyone beside myself? The message I have gotten from it so far is, You are the standard. You are the authority. Listen to yourself. Do your thing. I don’t know about you but I have listened to myself plenty of times and gotten it wrong. That just doesn’t work. I mentioned in the sermon yesterday that life with faith in Jesus Christ is like a compass without any letters. You can make it point wherever you like but it really doesn’t take you where you need to go. When you start to realize who Christ is and what that means for us the letters start to appear on the compass and you find direction for your life. You have to have a fixed reference point in order not to get lost in life.
Imagine a ship got lost at sea with no compass, no GPS, no idea which way was home. So they took a vote to pick a star and designate that star as north and base their direction off of that. Everyone gave their opinion and they reached a consensus but they were wrong. They were still just as lost as ever. Picking a direction based on opinion or what seems right to a group of people isn’t the way to establish what is true. Everyone has a right to an opinion but let’s face it, some opinions are better than others.
This new Oprah thing worries me because it is removing all the foundations and making self the foundation and we all know that just doesn’t work. If you are the foundation of everything, how do you expect to beat death? You can’t. But Oprah had one man on her show who tried to explain how that works. He said we are all composed of energy. One law of physics is that energy is never destroyed. He made the point that when you die you continue to live on forever because your energy is transfered and continues on after you. A lady dying with cancer was on the show that day and heard him say that and she talked about what tremendous hope that gave her. People are literally dying for some answers. They are grasping at straws to find something solid to found their life on. Let’s tell them about Jesus!
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I enjoy watching and listening to Oprah.
I do think she is a little into new age.
I love listening to her on XM too.
It is encouraging and a fresh alternative to what else is on other stations.
It does give you hope.
It does encourage.
It does give you a fresh mind, body and spirit.
I love spendig time doing meditation and yoga as well as listening to Oprah.
I think some of it is too new age for my taste but for the most part I think she is getting to much flack over supporting Obama.
One book that I have really enjoyed that her and Dr Dryer is a story about a Christian woman who survived in a bathroom with seven other Christians. Her name is Immaculle. I also love “The Secret.” The Secret is powerful and been known by many people and has now being read by millions.
Matt, I think we just need to take it with a grain of salt.
Things in New Age and stories about New Age can be benifital. Like scripture you have to pick and choose what you want and like. Again take some of it with a grain of salt. Understand Oprah does love Jesus. She is just getting bashed by supporting Obama!
Preacherman,
What she is espousing as far as I can tell is very damaging. It goes much deeper than you can imagine. The Secret is also a very dangerous book. I have not read the whole thing but what I did read talked about sending your positive thoughts out into the universe to attract other positive thoughts that would build and come back to you. That is very non-Christian and very, very pagan.
I agree with you, Matt. Look at Oprah spots on You Tube…It’s down right scary when she says that there is no one way and that Jesus dying on the cross is not real among other things….
Matt,
I think you are right. I was preaching on the Incarnation of God yesterday and said that what God is doing in Jesus is to give us a new world-view (in the sense that whatever our world-view is, it is out of that view that our beliefs, values, and life decisions derive from). We live in a culture that seeks to project other world-views upon us, whether it is Oprah and the New Earth movement, the American Drean, or some other body of doctrine (thining in terms of Lindbeck). What they all have in common is the destruction of God’s creative and redemptive world-view. They either completely replace God’s world-view which results in our rejection of God’s revelation or, and the more dangerous level, they allow room for us accept their world-view without total rejection of God’s, creating a sphere where the world-view God has revealed to us is compromised to the point that it is no longer God’s world view but a syncritistised view that is impotent. The danger in the second option lies in the fact that because we still speak with terminology from God’s revelation (terms like “hope” and “justice”, to name a couple), we erroniously believe it is God’s revelation when in fact it is a distorted and compromised world-view that no long bears any resemblance of God’s creative and redemptive revelation for the world.
Rex
Hey Matt,
I’d debated posting some stuff about this on my blog as well, and I might still. I watched several other quotes from her, and she explained her beef with Christianity was that the Bible says God is a “jealous” God, then promptly decided that she didn’t want to worship such a God. She didn’t give the impression that she did much research into what that could mean, but that was her point of departure.
She feels like the Biblical God is too small, and that one way to Him is not enough. Then again, I find it so interesting that in embracing a different faith, she is choosing one with such a limited scope. On one of the videos, she asks this guru about how he views the afterlife to which he said, “I don’t even really think about it.” This new age stuff she’s espousing is so shallow and so limited with no goal beyond present fulfillment. It’s sad to think of how many women she may lead into this way of thinking under the false understanding that they’re following a larger more liberating faith when in truth it is smaller in scope, and helpless to really heal the world’s problem of sin and corruption. It took a solution as big as Christ’s death to solve that.
She’s a powerful person, and has done a lot of good, but I pray for her soul, and for the souls of those she is leading astray.
Mark
I think it’s important that our women’s groups, especially, are aware of how unChristian her philosophy is.
Though I’m not surprised. The world is going to be the world. I wouldn’t expect them to be anything other than what they are. The world is certainly in need of what we have to offer.
Oprah, her opinions, her guests, her webcasts, books she likes, etc. may be viewed and heard by a lot of people but they still constitute a very tiny voice. Influences come from many, many, many more powerful places than Oprah. I think she’s an interesting person leading an interesting life but she’s only an entertainer and people know it. She simply is not powerful enough to lead a single soul astray.
Darci,
You think out of an audience of several million viewers many of whom are searching for something that not even one would be led astray? I appreciate your opinion but I think that is pretty naive. I really wish you were right.
Philip,
I stopped thinking the world should act like Christians a long time ago. I think you make a great point about our women’s groups and talking about these things. What I think is crazy dangerous about this Oprah deal is that it almost sounds Christian and to me that makes it even more dangerous.
I am not defending Oprah because I do disagree with her. But I have had the opportunity to meet her in a place others rarely do…at her estate. She lived in the county I grew up in and her caretakers went to church with my family. So one day I was out at her place bailing hay and met her. That was nearly 18 years ago and a lot changes in that amount of time but then, she was a very humble person to meet.
Rex
Rex,
I have no doubt she is very authentic about all of this. I am sure she really believes it and wants everyone else to benefit from it too. Problem is, you can believe really strongly in something and be wrong. I am praying for her.
I definitely agree. I wasn’t trying to suggest anything by my last comment.
Rex
Matt,
Just keep sending your positive thoughts into the universe brother. “You reap what you sow.” Right? Keep reaping positive energy.
Are you going to do an earthday sermon? You know today is earthday. I hope more and more preachers preach earthday sermons. God did tell us to take care of the earth and even according to some Biblical scholars heaven will come down and the earth’s curse will be lifted.
The last two comments were from me.
Sorry.
I didn’t change my wife’s conversation to ogdie about the stupid church sign about Obama being Osama’s brother. If you haven’t check it out, you should.
Preacherman,
Please tell me you are kidding about sending out positive thoughts into the universe. That is not a Christian concept. It is a new age/occult concept that is about energy and power without God.
🙂
The thing is Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ does not say ‘Listen to yourself’.
It’s all about remaining silent and tapping into the stillness and peace that pervades underneath everything in life.
I think it’s all a gross overreaction.
Matt,
I didn’t say Tolle said that. I said this whole new Oprah thing is saying this. I have heard Oprah say you need to listen to yourself in order to find meaning and purpose on multiple occasions over the last month. But let’s say I am wrong about that. What are you supposed to find when you tap into the stillness and peace in everything?
There are a few very important clips of Oprah in her own words about what she thinks of God and the Bible.
(search for) Oprah Winfrey Believes Many Paths to Heaven
That’s a clear contradiction also
Another video (search words: Oprah Jealous God)
Oprah talks about how she can’t understand about God being a Jealous God. So instead of trying to understand what God means she rejects it reasoning that God is love so he can’t be a Jealous God.
If you have the time check these clips out and show them to saved Oprah fans.
I am curious to know how many of you discussing the book ‘A New Earth’ have actually read it. Please let me know if you have read it and still feel threatened by it or disagree with anything Tolle writes.
Best wishes
i am part of movement call life religion’, we dont believe in jesus or any other earthly prophet we believe that any thing that created matter and anti matter or any thing that created heaven and earth from pure energy is God we like what you are doing
we will be happy to join your movement because not all people believe in jesus we are in jamaica so if you get this message you can contact me and we could share ideas
Insomuch as expelling any differing belief-system, whilst contributing overall to the worlds most prevalent yet least mentioned “evil”, you guys endorse seperatism. That, my friends, isn’t a ‘Christian Concept’.