ANE: Twisted Gnostic Christianity

Chapter 1: Part 4, The Arising New Consciousness

Tolle is making the same mistakes over and over again. In this first paragraph he set out by saying;

In Hindu teachings (and sometimes in Buddhism also), this transformation is called enlightenment. In the teachings of Jesus, it is salvation, and in Buddhism, it is the end of suffering.

It bugs me that he's redefining the meanings of these words to fit his agenda. It bugs me even more that people are falling for it. These concepts are not the same. I would like to point out in Christianity, that we see suffering as necessary. It is not necessary to salvation, but if someone is a Christian and doesn't suffer, then something is wrong. Even Jesus suffered on the cross. "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5. I want Christians to see that suffering is normal, even expected in some cases. The end of suffering will either mean, 1) you're dead, 2) Jesus has returned or 3) you're too worldly and not Godly.

Tolle claims that "the world was not ready for them," that "their teachings... became distorted and misinterpreted, in some case even as they were recorded in writing by their disciples." He says "some of the teachers... came to be worshipped as gods." Tolle's God is not powerful. And I am amazed again, that Christians are swallowing this and still being called Christians, for they are not followers of Jesus anymore once believing this. Romans 5:6 says that "at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." God does not make mistakes with timing. He is omniscient and his timing is perfect, even though sometimes I do not understand it. Jesus admits that he is God's only Son, demons admit it and are terrified of him, just go here to see all the references to it and read for yourself. Furthermore, Jesus is also called "The Word" and "The Word of God." He was with God in the beginning and oversaw creation; John, chapter 1. Jesus is worshipped as God because he is. If Jesus were merely a perfect human, then his sacrifice on the cross can only count for one human (one lamb per person, re: Old Testament sacrificial system). As God, his sacrifice is infinite as so can count for the sins of the whole world. But then, Tolle's version of salvation is completely different, so why would Jesus be God under Tolle?

I'll skip a few underlined bits in this book because I've already touched on them earlier. I want to pick up at,

Man created "God" in his own image. The eternal, the infinite, and unnamable was reduced to a mental idol that you believe in and worship as "my god" and "our god."

Can you, my dear readers, see that this is what Tolle himself is doing? Redefining God to fit his own mental idea (image) of what God is like? He claims to be revealing the true God, but has nothing to back this up except twisted references to different religions. His argument is undone by having nothing solid to base this on. Even other references he has used that would otherwise be solid, he himself has undermined!! He then says,

in some cases an intensification of the light of the original teaching [developed]. This is how Gnosticism and mysticism come into existence in the early and medieval Christianity

According to him, the truer version of Christianity is Gnosticism! I am amazed that he was so brazen here. There is nothing in Tolle that is true. How can people read this as truth? Even without the Bible, his arguments are undone.