Man by definition is a religious creature. Down through the centuries, mankind has always had objects of worship, to which it has bowed down. The Greeks had their mythological gods such as Zeus and Apollo. Many primitive societies worshiped the heavenly bodies—the sun, moon and stars. Other tribes elevated stones and trees to “god status.”
Even in biblical times, pagan societies erected statues as worship objects. Names such as Baal, Chemosh, Dagon, Molech and Nisroch were the temple and house gods that received genuflect treatment. In India today there are literally millions of statuesque idols to which families pay homage. The Bible categorizes all of the above under the caption “false gods.” God says that they are nothing more than “…the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.” (Deuteronomy 4:28). They by their very nature are useless when it comes to providing meaning and direction to our lives.
In addition, as we read in (Deuteronomy 4:19) God expressly forbids worshiping the heavenly hosts. For we read: “And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”
We immediately see the foolishness of this type of worship in our sophisticated, intellectual environment. We wonder how people can be so gullible. In our own quest for meaning, we have erected a whole new set of gods. One set of gods attempts to put us in touch with ourselves and place us on a higher plane of existence. These are what I like to call “system gods.” A few examples follow.
TM
TM (Transcendental Meditation) is a system whereby we are taught to empty our minds and begin to mediate on a specific word called a mantra. But if we empty our minds, then how in the world can we ever find out who we really are? And how can we find out what life is all about if we have no facility left to think, analyze and ponder with?
EST
Another system, called EST, was very popular in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. EST attempts to put people in touch with something called “experience.” Through an intensive several-day seminar, participants are taught to just experience their experiences? Its founder, Werner Erhard, said, “Experience for us has no form to it; it’s pure substance without any form.”1 Mind games would be a more appropriate name for this journey into never-never land.
The New Age Movement
Dust off secular humanism, add a few new twists, and lo and behold we now enter into the world of the “New Age Movement.” This cosmic humanism, popularized by actress Shirley MacLaine, was the new rage in American philosophical circles twenty years ago. New Agers believe:
• We are all gods.
• There is no death.
• Reincarnation is the mode of transportation from one life to the next.
• Humanity, the physical world and God are all deeply interrelated and flow together as one.
• Reality is only what we perceive it to be.
• We can transform our own consciousness and thus become masters of our own universe.
• All religions are one.
The New Age resembles a Chinese menu. We choose one philosophy of life from column “A,” two concepts of God from column “B,” and one view of humanity from column “C.” Its appeal was and still is quite popular as evidenced by the fact that our major bookstores have a whole section reserved for books on the movement.
The New Age is basically a compilation of the best of man’s past ideas on how to find meaning in life. These ideas have been modernized somewhat and repackaged for today’s space-age society.
As with any movement, its followers claim that it is the ultimate answer to all of our problems in life. The New Age Movement, in every one of its tenets, is diametrically opposite to what the Bible teaches. If this movement is right, we must then throw out all of our Bibles. Before you do this, however, remember that “New Age” is just a repackaging of old ideas that have failed to stand the test of time.
1 Hal Lindsey, The Terminal Generation (New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1980), p. 80.