Dear beautiful people,
First order of business is another apology from me. I cannot meet this Sunday because I am staying with Wal-Mart -- story too long to relate now -- and the schedule has been set through April 18th. We will meet on the last two Sundays of the month, April 2oth and 27th, to finish our discussion of A New Earth. We will meet at 6:30 at the church, unless someone has an offer to meet at a better location. Ashland Terrace's chaotic construction has made it to the church and how to get there is confusing to many. Please let me know if you have an alternative. Bonnie has suggested the balcony at Greenlife Grocery where she has met with groups. She says it is quiet and would not prevent anyone from expressing viewpoints.
Bonnie and I met a new group member last night and had an enjoyable and meaningful chat and sharing of a meal. Thank you to Susana and Bonnie for both.
Susan has forwarded the following to me to post and I would love to read your comments on this address and email:
I am sending this to your because I have had my head in the sand and did not realize what was going on around me. I had no idea about Oprah's Church and the power she has to influence. As a Christian I believe we need to pray that people's eyes are opened.
Peace Be with You
Lynn
Please go to the site below. This is scarey. Those of us who know Who our belief & faith rests on, should be putting on our armor and begin to fight against this. Please pray with me that we won't just accept this as another looney idea, because Oprah has alot of power and influence, unfortunately. Please pray with me that God will handle this and guide us to do what He wills to defeat the enemy.
Please watch this video about a church that is growing by the millions.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
Peace today as we remember Dr. King,
Donna
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8 comments:
I checked out the youtube video, on "Oprah's Church" and I didn't know whether to be upset or laugh. All of Tolle's quotes are taken out of context, to "prove" he is "New Age" and against Christianity. In fact, some of the quotes listed there, I couldn't even find in the book, at all. In my opinion, he's not New Age or against anything. I wouldn't call it a "church". To me, it's more of a "self -help" movement.
I'm not up on all the spiritual theories, and I've never even taken a class on Religions of the World, but to me "New Age" asks the question, "What do I want out of life". Tolle is suggesting we ask, "What does life want from me".
I've read the book, and listen to a few of Oprah's web cast classes, and personally, "A New Earth" has helped me. It has helped me to learn not to react to my thoughts and emotions and be a slave of my ego. Tolle says the stronger the ego, the stronger the sense of separateness between people. I'm learning that the only actions, that do not cause opposing reactions, are those that are aimed at the good of all. They are inclusive, not exclusive. They join, they don't separate. I'm trying to allow consciousness to grow in me, so that I can stop creating suffering for myself and others.
I'm wondering if the same people who made that youtube video, would call the Catholic Church a cult. For me, this book has done nothing but enhance my spirituality and love of Jesus.
That's just my personal experience. It is not my intention to create an "I'm right, you're wrong" scenario. We all have a piece of the truth.
Susan
Thank you, Susan, for sharing this. These kinds of videos and email that you received are why so many people have rejected Jesus's teachings in the name of Christianity. They did not hear when Oprah said that Jesus was NOT here to start Christianity. I know this as well. He was here to bring us to a relationship with God. There is nothing in scripture or nothing in Tolle's book that contradicts each other.
Thank you for the email and your comment.
I watched the intro to the YouTube and enough minutes to get the gist of its slant. I don't think all the quotes there are in the book either. I have been careful to watch for points that contradict the Bible, but instead of finding contradictions, I find support. Not all the teachings of the Bible are addressed, of course (Judgment comes to mind as the biggest omission), but there are important examples that seem to make sense, more sense, through the awareness of the present moment that Tolle writes about. Some of A New Earth's concepts are very profound. I won't say complex, because they are actually so simple they are easy to overlook or misinterpret. If you don't read the whole book, you cannot get the whole picture, and I'd say there is a significant number of people that would not care to read the book. They are not ready to be aware, for one thing. And that is just the way it is. I'm not going to worry about these people or what they say. I've read it, examined my reactions, and find it helpful, so I'm using it. Not as a religion or a form of worship, but as a practice that enhances both.
P.S.
This green text on blue background is very difficult to read...it may just be my browser....
I have added the video "The Church of Oprah Exposed" to the bottom of my post about Tolle's A NEW EARTH:
http://notesquotesandquestions.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-earth-by-eckhart-tolle.html
Oprah is not creating a church or any institution. She and Tolle are exposing people to a way of living their lives more fully.
I hope frightened Christians, like whoever created this video, will someday see that the institutional church too often limits God to what can be packaged into a belief system. Perhaps then their eyes will be opened and they will be able to see clearly. That can only happen when the scales fall from their eyes, as they did from Paul's:
"And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he [Paul] regained his sight." ~~~ Acts 9:18 in the Bible
Here's a story I adapted from one making the rounds of the internet today. I think it relates to what we are learning about the pain body.
A young woman told her mother life was too hard, just one problem after another. She wanted to give up the struggle. The wise woman beckoned her daughter into the kitchen, where she filled three pots with water and brought them to a boil. In one she placed carrots, in another eggs, and in the last ground coffee beans. She let them boil, saying not one word. Twenty minutes later she transferred the carrots, the eggs, and the coffee to three bowls, and said to her child, "Tell me what you see."
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
"Examine them carefully," her mother said. The carrots felt soft, the egg was now hard-boiled on the inside, and the water tasted like coffee. With the coffee's rich aroma still tickling her nose, the young woman asked, "What does it mean, mother?"
"Each of these faced the same adversity, boiling water, yet they reacted differently. The strong, hard, and unrelenting carrot became weak. The egg with its fragile shell protecting its liquid interior has hardened. When the ground coffee beans were in hot water, however, they changed the water." Her daughter had a frown on her face.
"When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?" the mother asked. "Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean? Do you wilt and lose your strength when faced with pain? Do you have a fluid spirit which becomes stiff after a financial hardship, a breakup, a death? Does your shell still look the same, while on the inside boiling bitterness has created in you a hardened heart? Or have you been able to change the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain?"
The girl was smiling by the time her mother said, "How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"
I meant to share what I wrote about "The Lost Ring" (pp. 38-41) a couple of days ago. In it I mention genocide in Rwanda and apartheid in South Africa as I pondered individual versus collective forgiveness. I linked to a post by a South African woman whose mother was mugged at gunpoint in her own driveway. My blogger friend has now posted a response, so you'll be able to see how she is struggling with the issue of forgiveness.
http://wordsfromawordsmith.blogspot.com/2008/04/lost-ring-meditation.html
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