Nothing New (Thank Goodness)

Just a quick question. Are you saying that pain is not real and that it is only from wishing for something that is not true in our life?

If I understand him, I think that is what Tolle teaches. I use his idea as a “koan”, a mysterious saying that I hold on to as I live and pray. I wouldn’t say I agree. I’m a realist, and I think the pain we experience is real—in the Christian sense of God creating good things that get broken. But I also think we create/perpetuate our own pain by wishing, longing, believing things are other than as they are.

Greetings, Janell,

I appreciate your article, but would ask that you allow me to respond from a conservative Christian perspective.
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Janell: Tolle doesn’t claim to be a Christian, and I don’t know of any Christian communities that claim him.

RA: True. But what Tolle does claim is that his teachings are completely compatible with Christianity, which is untrue. And Oprah, who follows his teachings to the letter, claims the same thing, adding that she is indeed a “Christian,” which is also untrue (considering her doctrinal stands on a number of issues).

Moreover, a number of so-called “Christians” are accepting Tolle’s teachings as biblical simply because he quotes the Bible so often—not recognizing that when he quotes various passages, he habitually interprets the words out of context and in utter dismissal of the languages used.
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Janell: But so what…

RA: The “so what” of the issue relates directly to Tolle’s claims about religion in general, the place of Christianity, spirituality, faith, God, truth, and the person/work of Jesus. He presents a radically flawed take on not only the claims of Christianity, but also its history, and its methods of biblical interpretation. This is significant not only because his views condemn another faith (i.e., Christianity, albeit subtly), but condemns that faith as “wrong” in direct contradiction of his own teaching that no person should condemn another religion as wrong/false.
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Janell: Tolle had a powerful spiritual experience of insight …

RA: Just FYI. you might be interested in knowing that Tolle’s supposed “spiritual experience” during the night of his near-suicide is consistent with dissociation, a psychological phenomenon that has been documented in people who have endured near-death experiences (NDEs) and fear-death experiences (FDEs).

These experiences happen involuntarily due to the stress of the moment. It is a natural, biological safety valve that activates to preserve one’s mental stability. It is “a psychological defense mechanism in which specific, anxiety provoking thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations are separated from the rest of the psyche.”

Interestingly, the splitting of Tolle’s “self” into two was also involuntary. Even more significant is the fact that he experienced the very same sensations of “oneness” with the universe that have been described by those who have gone through NDEs and FDEs.

This oneness results from a losing of the “self”—i.e., a losing of one’s ability to distinguish the “self” internally from what is going on around them. In essence, it is a kind of mental breakdown wherein the mind stops the usual processes of thought that enable us to psychologically distinguish ourselves from the world around us.

This leads to a feeling of “space” within the individual (another term Tolle uses) and an intoxicating sensation that transcends the usual identification of the “self.” Documentation exists showing that such feelings have occurred under many conditions, including torture, mental/physical abuse, hypnosis, or drug-induced euphoria.

Each of these catalysts for the so-called feeling of “oneness” actually placed the experiencer in what is known as an altered state of consciousness, which is a state wherein a person’s normal everyday awareness is replaced by an alternate awareness without diminishing consciousness itself—the only problem is that such a state of awareness is not connected in any reliable way to what is actually transpiring in the real world.

This leads me to believe that Tolle’s realization of his “oneness” with all that is reflects nothing more than a psychological delusion he encountered during his moment of intense emotional suffering at the brink of committing suicide.

Even Tolle has admitted that he believes “the intense pressure of suffering that night must have forced [his] consciousness to withdraw from its identification with the unhappy and deeply fearful self.”
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Janell: God got my attention through Eckhart Tolle during a time when I was so angry I couldn’t listen very well within my own tradition.

RA: There are indeed some statements and insights given by Tolle that are insightful (for example, about the problems in our world), and on a practical level, can be rather helpful in certain situations (for example, it is indeed wise to not worry too much about the future, and also to not dwell too heavily on the past, since we do, in fact, only have this moment in which we are living).

However, Tolle makes numerus statements that touch upon spiritual truths, which for those who are Christian, strike at the very heart of our faith—e.g., Tolle denies that Jesus rose from the dead, teaches that “Christ” is a consciousness we can all possess (contrary to the use of the term in ancient Israel), and defines our own inner nature as “God” (which denies the existence of a personal Creator God worshiped by Christians).

I do hope you can see how such views, as well as many others, are not only offensive to Christians, but can be confusing to those unfamiliar with the Bible and orthodox/historical Christianity.

cordially,

Richard Abanes
author,
Pop Culture Mix Website
A New Earth, An Old Deception­

PS Documentation is available upon request.

I must say I agree with Beverly. I embraced and Eastern Mystical world view in the late 70’s. After becoming a Christian through Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, It took books like “The Universe Next Door” by James Sire and the ministry of the “Spiritual Counterfeits Project” out of Berkeley to get my head right and understand the nuances of the world views. “Death of a Guru” was also a helpful book. My first thought when I heard Tolle speak was, “same old stuff” even before reading Beverly’s article. I agree, God does pursue us, because in truth he is a personal God who is passionately in love with us and wants us to know Him.

Sorry, Janell, my usual html language to post links did not go through for some reason. They are as follows:

Pop Culture Mix Website
http://abanes.com/

A New Earth, An Old Deception
http://abanes.com/An_New_Earth_Tolle_Abanes.html

Richard,
I really appreciate your cordiality. I am not launching a Christian defense of Tolle—if anything, it is in his Otherness that I find meaning.

I can see a place for comparing and contrasting his beliefs with Christianity, but maybe at the same time we can see common grace and approach his work with an appreciation for his journey.

Jenell,

I must respectfully point out that Tolle’s ‘otherness’ is the problem. His spiritual journey will end in hell unless Christ grants him repentance from his spiritual idolatry. The way in which we learn to be better Christians through Tolle’s journey is to see that his spirituality is based upon false belief which points people into themselves for truth rather than outside of themselves to Jesus Christ crucified for sins.

The difference is between a self-made spirituality based upon subjectivity and false and demonic doctrines and the pure, true and certain faith whose object is Jesus Christ who is God and human flesh.

At the risk of sounding mean and unloving (a risk that I am willing to take) there may be some good that Tolle can offer us but the spiritual lies that poison his work don’t make the effort worth the exercise. Or to put it more bluntly, my toilet may have water in it but you won’t find me drinking from it, especially when it clearly needs to be flushed.

Tolle’ is not saying he is a Christian, he is saying we are all Christ- divine. Which is one of the warnings Jesus said would come before he returned, many false prophets would come saying “I am the Christ and will deceive many.” Enjoy your tolle’ philosophy, but it will get you a nice cozy place in hell. Sorry, but that is the truth.

I have to say, I agree with Teresa. I was heavily involved with the New Age/New Spirituality for more than a decade and one of the core beliefs of the New Age is that WE are divine. The exact oppositite of orthodox Christianity, which is that we are wretched and depraved beyond comprehension and in order to be in the presence of God, must have a righteousness equal to His own. Remember Moses, pleading with God to see his face? God loved Moses – He was not his enemy. And yet He told him, you cannot look on me and live. Why? Because His holiness would consume something as evil as the heart of man in the same way that a blast furnace would melt a tiny wax figurine in a matter of moments. What Tolle is doing is what Satan did in the Garden of Eden and what I tried to do while in the New Age: go AROUND the system God has put in place for us to be in a right relationship with Him. Claim divinity through our own methodology, without Christ. But Christ himself said, “I am the the way, the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father but through me.” As Christians, do we really believe this? or do we just give it lip service and continue to chase after manufactured experiences through occultic meditation practices to try to convince ourselves that we are close to God? God knows who belongs to Him. Remember – it’s the CHURCH he is addressing in Matthew 7. There will be a multitude who claim the name of Christ (that’s the church) who will cry out to Him “Lord, Lord!” But He will say to them “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” God knows who belongs to Him!

Hello again, Janell,

Thanks for the reply. I considered your response and have just a few thoughts.

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Janell: . . . it is in his Otherness that I find meaning.

RA: I am unclear as to exactly what “meaning” you find in his Otherness. Perhaps if you could tease that out, it would be helpful.

As for me, although I can indeed rejoice that Tolle did not become just another statistic on a list of yearly suicides (that would have been a tragedy), cannot bring myself to fully find “meaning” in his “Othereness” path. Why? Because as it stands now, he is embracing utterly false notions of “God,” Jesus, “Christ,” salvation, forgiveness, love, eternal life, the Bible, and the resurrection. Moreover, he is spreading those beliefs on a widespread, global scale that few other spiritual teachers have ever enjoyed.

The only “meaning” I can find in his “Otherness,” given my Christian paradigm, is with regard to the mercy I see in God’s unwillingness to allow Tolle’s death on that night of his near-suicide. His death would have taken him into an eternity without having gained the knowledge of true Christ.

But even this observation is tainted for me with pangs of sadness and concern because from where I now stand, given his account of how he has at this point read both the Old and New Testaments, I see him continuing down a path that is leading him further away from God: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12; also 16:25)

And speaking of death, all I can find in his Otherness about “death” is a tragic lack of hope—and that is something I find difficult to appreciate.

Consider his response to Oprah Winfrey when she asked him about what he believes happens to us after we die:

Oprah : So you believe what happens to us at death, when the body dies? You don’t have a belief.
Tolle : I don’t give it any thought.
Oprah : You don’t.
Tolle : No.

What is the “meaning” to be found here? Certainly nothing positive, in my view. In short, the best afterlife that Tolle can offer is either:

( a ) absorption into an impersonal, universal energy force; or

( b ) transformation into some kind of “form” that Tolle cannot even predict.

And these options are only his best guesses.

God, on the other hand, has promised an infinitely better destiny to those who accept his gift of salvation made available through Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

For Christians, to borrow an Old Testament term, the afterlife will be experienced in the Promised Land—i.e., heaven, our eternal home in the glorious presence of God himself. It will be a place free of death, mourning, and pain (Rev. 21:4). Suffering from disease, broken relationships, unfulfilled dreams, and wornout bodies will be a thing of the past. Famine will be eradicated, and with it the pangs of hunger and thirst (Rev. 7:16). And all tears, “those arising from our own sin and failure, or from sorrow or bereavement, or those caused by others,”52 will be wiped away (Rev. 21:4).
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Janell: .... approach his work with an appreciation for his journey.

RA: Yes, I can see what you are saying. And I do appreciate his journey, as well as the journey that we are all taken, because such journeys show God’s transcendent mercy in that he allows us free will.

We go east, west, north, and south across the spiritual landscape, finding various paths and roads, sometimes cutting our own way through brambles, rocky terrain, and running streams. At the same time, however, the questions must be asked:

Within the Christian/biblical paradigm, these questions have only one answer that is worthy of true rejoicing/appreciation—i.e., Jesus Christ. As the Lord himself declared very plainly, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

This is NOT an easy saying. Nevertheless, it is what Jesus stated. So, we are left with either rejecting it or accepting it.

Jesus also stated in no uncertain terms, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). This remark, of course, followed his famous promise: “If you hold to MY teaching, you are really MY disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).

A journey that leads to Jesus, and ultimately ends with Jesus, and everything in between, is truly a journey to be appreciated. Any other journey, no matter how packed with spiritual phraseology, kindness/gentleness, popularity, and practical living skills, will ultimately not be a journey to be appreciated at all.

Instead, without Christ, it will have been a journey leading to emptiness and desolation—i.e., a journey over which to grieve.

Tolle’s full story is not yet written. Therefore, perhaps someday there will be cause for true appreciation. But as it stands now, his journey doesn’t seem to be one that can be appreciated to any significant degree—not only because he seems entrenched in his New Age dogma, but more importantly, because with every passing day, bot he and Oprah are leading millions of souls away from our personal Creator-God and Jesus Christ.

As Oprah said, if you’re in a religion where you believe in a God outside of yourself, it’s NOT the true God. She also has said, in agreement with Tolle, that Jesus did NOT come to earth to die for our sins, but came to show us the Christ Consciousness. These sentiments, among many others being advanced by Oprah/Tolle, are not views that I can appreciate at all.

I look forward to your thoughts.

peace,

R. Abanes

After reading through the responses above, as well as spending many days standing for the truth of Scripture on Oprah’s messageboard, I can definitely say that what Eckhardt teaches is trash. There should be no appreciation for the deception that he is spewing forth.

Doesn’t Jude say:
Jude v. 4: 4For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

and:

Not only are we to “hate the garment polluted by the flesh”, but we are to try to reason to Eckhardt to show him the True God of Scripture as revealed in Jesus Christ.

I am saddened that someone on Emergent Village would take the view of appreciating Eckhard. That’s like saying we appreciate what Satan said to Eve in Gen 3.

C’mon, think!

Clearly there is plenty to disagree with Eckhart Tolle on from a theological standpoint. Jenell has affirmed that several times in her comments about the “otherness” of Tolle. And Richard Abanes book on Tolle sounds like it’d be a good resource for anyone looking to explore those theological disagreements. But, having established that, my question for those expressing concern here is this:

Is it impossible for God (the God of the Bible, Father/Son/Holy Spirit) to use Eckhart Tolle to “get someone’s attention”? Is God incapable of working through Tolle (despite Tolle’s theology) to draw them to himself?

That is the confession I believe Jenell is making here, the thing “refreshingly not new”: Not that Tolle is “all that,” but that God IS “all that”—not limited in how he can move by his Spirit to reach us with his love and grace. Anyone here disagreeing with that??

I am not disagreeing with God being able to use an insect: (Jonah 4: 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. ).....

However, are we not warned to contend AGAINST false teachers and false teachings?

Explain why I should even bother listening to what Eckhardt has to say when I know that he has clearly staked himself in the camp OPPOSED to that of Biblical Christianity.

Rob (#13),

Contending against false teachers and false teachings is not something we stress around Emergent Village—for better or for worse. I’m just saying, you probably aren’t going to find much excitement about that particular crusade here.

More importantly, I think you’re missing the point again of Jenell’s post—the point wasn’t to “listen to what Eckhardt has to say,” but rather listen to what Jenell has to say, speaking from her experience about her affirmation about how God was able to work through Tolle to reach her at a very difficult time in her life. I personally give God all the praise and glory for that—and why shouldn’t you too?

Hello Steve,

Good to meet you. I have a just few comments regarding your observations.
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STEVE K: ..... there is plenty to disagree with Eckhart Tolle on from a theological standpoint. Jenell has affirmed that several times in her comments about the “otherness” of Tolle.

RABANES: I am certainly open to being corrected, but I must say that as a reader, I did not (and still do not) see much in Jennell’s article that even hints at there being some SERIOUS theological problems with Tolle—i.e., the fact that he denies/degrades every foundational belief of Christianity.

Moreover, Jennell stated: “Tolle doesn’t claim to be a Christian, and I don’t know of any Christian communities that claim him”—this completely side-steps the fact that he claims his teachings are compatible with Christianity, and also ignores the fact that his main proponent—Oprah Winfrey—does indeed claim to be a Christian.

As for the rest of her article, it is clearly an all-encompassing positive perspective of Tolle that leads off with the opening question: “How could Eckhart Tolle help Christians be better Christians?”

Only when pressed by my post, did Jennell then say that there was actually an “Otherness” she recognized. Even then, however, it was an “Otherness” she wanted to not critique or caution people about, but rather, celebrate and appreciate. This explanation was not coupled with the idea that you are offering—i.e., that God can use anything, any circumstance, any mistakes we make, etc. etc. etc. to eventually draw us to him. This is an idea not at all teased out in her original article.

Instead, we were presented with what appears to be a fairly straighforward endorsement of Tolle, going so far as to say he had a “powerful spiritual experience of insight” and that he had been “spiritually transformed.”

Such expressions, of course, beg several questions: Was it truly a “spiritual” experience he had or a psychological breakdown he misinterpreted as a spiritual experience? Did that experience he had on the night of his near-suicide truly give him insight, or did it only give him a false impression of truth, himself, and the world around him? Was he spiritually transformed, or spiritually deceived?

IMHO, these are questions that must be answered before making bold claims to the world about whether or not someone/anyone has had a real spiritual experience, possesses “insight,” or has been transformed in a way that has brought them closer to God.

So, to stay on point, there were indeed some very easy-handed, carefree, passing comments about her not agreeing “with some of his ideas, and I never fully understood others,” but as a whole, her comments have come across to the reading public as positive and supportive of Tolle—with the least of her concerns being his “Otherness” (which, when examined, are very problematic on numerous levels).
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Steve K: Is it impossible for God (the God of the Bible, Father/Son/Holy Spirit) to use Eckhart Tolle to “get someone’s attention”?

RABANES: No, it is NOT impossible for God to get someone’s attention through Tolle.

Scripture tells us: “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37; also see Luke 18:27).

And Paul tells us, And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28; i.e., those who either love God, or who are called to eventually love God, will have all things worked out for good).

So God can certainly use ANYTHING to “get someone’s attention,” but that does not mean that what he is opting to use in this sinful world is inherently good, right, holy, biblical, worthy of praise (in a direct way), and/or positive. God can use tragedies experienced in war. Suffering through disease/illness. The loss of a loved one. Someone hitting the bottom of drug/alcohol abuse. The list goes on.

This does not mean, however, that such things are good or worthy of being appreciated, to use Jennell’s term. No, these are examples of things in our world that God can use IN SPITE of what they are, not BECAUSE of what they are. There is a difference. And I don’t think this difference was pointed out at all in Jennell’s article, which is what I feel has given rise to such vocal objections.

When dealing with an issue like Tolle, a balance must be struck between recognizing those things he says that are, in and of themselves, not too objectionable and/or not too unbiblical (e.g., we shouldn’t be overly concerned about the past/future, we need to accept what life has given us, we should treat others well, over attachment to “things” can bring stress, worry, and anxiety) and those things that are resoundingly harmful, heretical, and ungodly that go along with everything else (e.g., you are “God,” Jesus was no more divine than anyone, Christ did not rise from the dead, there is no absolute evil, etc.).

Here is where Jennell, IMHO, fell short and offered an article that might only serve to confuse yet more people who are accepting both the good AND the bad from Tolle.
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Steve K: Is God incapable of working through Tolle (despite Tolle’s theology) to draw them to himself?

RABANES: See above. Moreover, I would have to add, that every single person I have talked to who is a Tolle fan has not been drawn to the Christian God of the Bible at all! On the contrary, Tolle has only served to solidify in these people: a ) an extremely ANTI-Christian prejudice and personal hatred for the ego-based Christians and their backward, narrow-minded religion of insanity; and b ) a RADICALLY flawed concept of the person, work, and teachings of Jesus.
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Steve K: —not limited in how he can move by his Spirit to reach us with his love and grace. Anyone here disagreeing with that??

RABANES: God is certainly not limited in how he can reach us. But the question is not: “CAN he reach people a certain way?” The question is: “IS he reaching people a certain way?”

And behind that important question lies many other issues that cannot be ignored—issues dealing with false doctrine, heresy, deception, spiritual forces of darkness (see Eph. 6:12), the purity of the church, our responsibility as Christians to defend the faith (see Jude 3), etc. etc. etc.

When it comes to Tolle, we are dealing with merely some passive/neutral object, experience, or practical living skills teacher.

We are dealing with a VERY influential man who is ACTIVELY denying/degrading not only the Christian faith as a whole, but the essential/foundational beliefs that Christians embrace as true.

Additionally, he ACTIVELY misrepresents key Bible passages (especially the words of Jesus), and in so doing, deceptively uses it to bolster his own views that undermine the very heart and soul of Christianity. These are extremely serious issues.
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Steve K: Contending against false teachers and false teachings is not something we stress around Emergent Village

RABANES: And that is a problem. A balance, my friend, must be struck. The Christian faith, living it and expressing it, is a two-sided coin. A positive side and a negative side.

First, a side where you express your own experiences/thoughts and the acceptance of God’s work in/around us, and add to that your very personal testimony (to borrow and old term). Second, a side that remains doctrinal pure and biblically sound, which does not shrink back from making correction where correction is needed. If you go to EITHER extreme and you end up in trouble.

On one hand, as for the heresy-hunting side, that extreme ends up in an overly critical spirit, lack of love, intolerance, an inability to relate to a broader crowd, harshness, a judgmental spirit, and basically, and all around negative “vibe” to anyone and everyone who doesn’t feel the same way you do about everything.

On the one hand, as for the no-doctrinal-correction side, that extreme leaves the door open for heresy, false teachings in the church, people being led astray, warped notions of God, pluralism, an all-roads-lead-to-God attitude, and biblical mangling.

Balance, Steve. We all need balance. But at Emergent Village it seems, at least it seems, that there might be too much of a leaning towards the second extreme. Perhaps things here should come back to the middle—just a bit.

R. Abanes

I don’t have much to add to Steve K.’s comments – “what he said.” My post was intended to be read along with James Beverly’s Christianity Today online article, helping provide balance to his almost entirely critical approach (most of which I don’t disagree with). My very brief and anecdotal post was not intended to be an exhausive review of Tolle’s philosophy.

I think an element of “missional” that is risky is an honoring of religious and nonreligious Others just as they are—that they are also people on a journey, and we can learn together about God even if they are not fellow believers. It’s an expansive belief in the imago Dei – that God’s presence in every created being can be a force for blessing even if not related to its Creator through Jesus. That’s going to cause some disturbance, and probably even some problems. For an anthropologist like me, it’s a refreshing move beyond ethnocentrism. We Christian anthropologists take those risks in fieldwork when we try to understand cultural others on their own term. It does not necessarily, always, or even probably lead to relativism, praise of Satan, or Bible mangling.

Jennell: helping provide balance to his almost entirely critical approach (most of which I don’t disagree with)

RABANES: Perhaps this is the problem—- lack of space; for you as well as Beverly. I know Jim, and he is if, anything, certainly tolerant of other faiths, but at the same time, remains conscious of those differences that render other faith less than objectively true on all fronts. And, it seems, you recognize the difficulties with Tolle, but wanted to focus on those aspects of his teachings that you found noteworthy. So, as I said, I would have rather seen a larger article by both of you, which would have incorporated a fuller aspect of the issue. Also, I think you need to see how this is a very volatile topic.
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Jennell: I think an element of “missional” that is risky is an honoring of religious and nonreligious Others just as they are—that they are also people on a journey, and we can learn together about God even if they are not fellow believers.

RABANES: Here is a danger, Jennell. We might certainly be able to pick up from those “Others” various observations they make about themselves, the world in which we live, their own experiences as spiritual seekers, and even some practical living skills. However, I cannot learn anything about “God” from them since their “God” is neither the biblical “God” nor my “God.” I might be able to learn how God deals with people, life, seekers, truth, etc. in general—but not directly from them insofar as their observations go regarding their concepts of “God.” This is not to say that they might not hit upon something now and then that is true. But if that happens, any such truth will already be present in scripture, which tells us that God’s Word already contains: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (1 Peter 1:3).
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Jennell: It’s an expansive belief in the imago Dei – that God’s presence in every created being can be a force for blessing even if not related to its Creator through Jesus.

RABANES: In my view, you are expanding this concept of Imago Dei beyond it’s intended scope. The “image of God” imprinted on all human beings does not extend to false beliefs that they may hold. Instead, it relates directly to our inherent worth as creations of God imbued with aspects of his character: the ability to love, create, think, reason, relate to others, act according to free will, etc. etc. etc. This image, of course, is marred by sin, and that works itself out in false concepts of the very God in whose image we were created.
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Jennell: It does not necessarily, always, or even probably lead to relativism, praise of Satan, or Bible mangling.

RABANES: True. I agree. And I would not necessarily blame you for those things. However, if I may offer a few words of suggestion….I humbly submit to you that when you publish your thoughts in a form as broad as the Internet, you are not dealing with other Christian anthropologists who are thinking about the topic in the way you might be thinking about it. You are reaching out to young Christians, new converts, other seekers unfamiliar with the Bible, and potential converts still unfamiliar with the foundational doctrines of Christianity. You need to realize that the kind of article you produced can cause confusion, unanswered questions, and a willingness on the part of some to simply take ALL of what Tolle teaches.

I hope you take my thoughts in the spirit they are given.

R. Abanes

Is the journey worthy of appreciation when it leads Christ rejectors to hell at the end of it? Would you help the rest of us Christians out by leading people to truth, instead of the lies of Tolle’, Please. I am concerned now for your own salvation. I am so saddened by your exchange with Mr Abanes, I don’t understand why you have allowed this thinking and where is your passion to see the lost saved? Please, repent and turn back, have nothing to do with darkness, and be the light…

Steve K: Is God incapable of working through Tolle (despite Tolle’s theology) to draw them to himself?

Sir: The only way God works through that is like how he worked through wicked king of Egypt (with Moses and Aaron rooting for God.) God used the fallacy and pride of that man to demonstrate what he does to those who reject his offer of help. The bible talks about how God is able to demonstrate his wrath on those deserving objects of that self staged rebellion. God uses everything to his glory somehow, but he doesn’t support that all ways could somehow lead to God, as you seem to be hinting at? I can’t be comfortable with the contradiction,of what you are asking and the implications, can you? Bible world view: Jesus is God in the flesh to save man and the only way to the father, who apart from him will go to hell out of rebellion. The Tolle’ worldview per Jesus’ Jesus was one of the masters who was able to figure out that he was god in the sense that we can all become god. Therefore Jesus came to teach us how to be god, to know, “to be” ? So, those are contradictory, and you are ok with that? My salvation and my kid’s and my hubby’s is so much more valuable to me and us then making Tolle and others feel loved on the way to their destruction. At least let’s tell them the truth so they can make an informed choice? Is there anything I got out of Tolle’ at all, when I read the book? No. I just know that many people fell for the lie and I couldn’t convince them other wise save the Holy Spirit. So saddened this has crept in and people eat it up….And those who should know better, don’t for some reason. There is Jesus and there is false idols and demons and Satan who seeks to deceive, even the elect, see that not happen to you, Jesus said in Mathew 24.