In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the - TopicsExpress



          

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - John 1:1-5; R0m 3:22-23; 1John 1:9; Rom. 6:22-23 The result of humanitys disobedience was Gods curse. People became alienated from themselves psychologically, economically and politically; from our environment ecologically; and, ultimately from God. Sin is essentially idolatry--giving something other than God the status of God. Idols are best unmasked and then shattered. The idol of the New Age is consciousness itself; cosmic humanism seeks to tap the divine within, to merge with the One. Yet in it all we see what Freud correctly called the will to death (thanatos--see Prov. 8:36; for man is not God, the creature is not the Creator. Only God can play God; all other attempts are the pretense of impostors. The emphasis in New Age psychology is on self-actualization of innate human potential. Christianity emphasizes our innate inability to please a holy God because of selfishness at the root of our being, but it does stress the potential of Gods grace to transform individuals into the image of Christ, to become new creations. This indeed requires the transpersonal dimension--not in the sense of confusing deity with humanity--because God, the Supreme Person, transcends our limitations and offers us hope, through Christ, for positive psychological change in this life and perfection in the next. -- Unmasking The New Age, Douglas R. Groothuis, 90,91.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 06:29:17 +0000

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