Oprah’s new earth

I had never heard of Eckhart Tolle and his "Oprah Book Club" best-seller, A New Earth, until a woman in a Christian writers' group said she needed to leave early to catch the satelite seminar of the book. I do hope she was simply doing research and not an adherent to the latest New Age fad.

To get a quick read on A New Earth and its overt anti-Christian message, 5 million people have viewed a short video on YouTube. Here are some resources for further study:

• The Church of Oprah Exposed [YouTube]

• Oprah's Spirituality: Exploring a New Earth [Probe Ministries]

• Oprah's Spirituality: It's No Secret [Craig Von Buseck at CBN]

• Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's New Earth [SermonCentral.com]

• Genuine Jesus or Counterfeit Christ? [moi]

• The Ancient New Age [moi]

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Comments (25)

The Secret, A New Earth...it's all the same and I'm not buying into the fads. But that doesn't mean I don't watch Oprah on occasions.

A friend of mine posted this on her myspace page, and it is CREEPY!

I believe the Lord is using Oprah's class and television program to stimulate conversation about Jesus. She appears to be genuine and well-intentioned, but misled. So I say, Thank God for Oprah, and pray for her to be open to the "real Jesus."
I felt the Church of Oprah exposed was not helpful--just ranting, and then it went off topic to politics. Please read Greg Boyd's review of Tolle's book where he actually interacts with what is being taught rather than trashing everybody. http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/2...

I mentioned Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) which is the #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller Paperback Advice list in my sermon this week.

Note these related resources:

Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun's February 9, 2008 article "Tolle has valid insights, but not 'the answer'"
http://www.canada.com/vancouve...

Dorothy Cummings of the Catholic Register's March 7, 2008 article "Tolle's 'New 'Earth' pains the body"
http://www.catholicregister.or...

Greg Boyd, author, professor, and pastor, April 20, 2008 substantial review: Eckhart Tolle’s "A New Earth" Book Review
http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/2...

Christianity Today
The Church of O
LaTonya Taylor | posted 4/01/2002 12:00AM
http://www.christianitytoday.c...

Andy Rowell
Doctor of Theology Student
Duke Divinity School
Durham, NC
Blog: http://www.andyrowell.net/

I am a Christian and have subscribed to your postings for a long time...

I am now removing the feed and will not be listening to your narrow-minded ways of thinking any longer...

Open your minds !

These comments to me don't see closed minded,

What exactly is closed minded about the comments?

Just out of curiousity.

I have read this particular Tolle book and plan to read others written by him. I am in the process of attending the online "class." I have learned a lot. It has been beneficial for me. I do not think my Christian faith is being undermined in the least.

Since you have read this particular Tolle book, will you share with us how it lines up with your Christian faith and GOD's Holy Word, the Bible?

I've read the book as well. And while it is in many cases not in line with the Bible, there are aspects that can be gleaned from it with regard to the ego and how it trips us up (which are in line with the Bible).

Example:
"Ego takes everything personally. Emotion arises, defensiveness, perhaps even aggression. Are you defending the truth? No, the truth, in any case, needs no defense....You are defending yourself, or rather the illusion of yourself, the mind-made substitute."

Like most things in the New Age, they have a little bit of truth that can be useful. On the other hand, he totally takes a lot of scripture out of context - as they have to in order to fit their belief system. This not new stuff - it's just he has a platform to preach it.

I appreciate your approach to this tryllid. I think we can glean a whole lot of great, Godly, things from a lot. We tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater instead of approaching things from a healthy way like you seem to. While it seems to aren't a huge fan of the book, it is clear that you are letting God speak through it. It is funny to me that the ego lessons in the book are probably very needed by many of its critics :)

Oprah is out of her mind. Well, at any rate, her thoughts are not in MY mind. I really don't give this stuff the credibility of being a serious spiritual threat. The U-tube postings border on the paranoid. We have seen this "new earth" stuff many times before. Remember that short-lived fad, Charles Reich's The Greening of America? But I am quite confident that when the Hebrew nevua (loosely translated prophet) Yishayahu (in English, Isaiah) served as a mouthpiece for the statement "I create a new heaven and a new earth" he was NOT referring to some 21st century speculation by one Eckhart Tolle.

This is what comes of people stepping outside of their own sphere of excellence and aptitude. Oprah is an effective and entertaining talk show host, and her efforts to promote literacy are rather admirable. She is NOT a spiritual leader, period. I could draw a comparison to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who is NOT a political or civic leader, and never pretended to be one, but IS a pastor, who has endeavored to challenge, say things that make us uncomfortable, stick thorns in our side, say things no politician or candidate for office would dare to say. He may do that well or badly, but he IS doing his job.

The Probe article is excellent on this topic, haven't read the others yet but I plan to.

If you have friends who are into the ACIM stuff, we have an evangelistic article here that might be appropriate to send them to:
http://thelife.com/explore/opr...

I watched the youtube video of Oprah and although I found her views to be not-Christian, it did not sound as though she is starting a new religion/church. She just is not a Believer, just like many people are not Believers.

Also, I see absolutely no connection between Obama and this book and Oprah. Yes, Oprah has endorsed Obama. Yes, Oprah is studying the New Earth book. What is the connection with Obama? It is silliness to base a vote for Obama based on the books/beliefs of Oprah. Connecting Obama to the book Oprah is reading is using a scare tactic and just offering people a flimsy excuse to use to explain why they don't want to vote for Obama. Vote for him or don't, but have a thoughtful, real reason why.

Whenever we put our faith in a person, other than the person of Jesus Christ, we are destined to be hurt and disappointed. Sorry, but this applies to faith in Oprah, too.

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