Big Picture Answers for America's Big Problems -
Rebuilding on America's Original Worldview
by Leonard Ransil
Section 2: Christianity vs. Rival Worldviews
Chart 1 from a previous chapter, "Discovering Your Worldview," posed questions designed to help you recognize your belief system. It is repeated below for your convenience and is followed by a new chart that demonstrates the differences between the Christian Worldview and the New Age Worldview. Compare your answers to Chart 1 questions with those in the new chart to see where your beliefs line up.
CHART 1
A. PAST:
1) Origin: Where did everything come from?
2) Condition: Was/is it good, neutral or bad?
3) Origin: Where did I come from?
4) Condition: Was/am I good, neutral or bad?
B. PRESENT:
1) Identity: Who Am I?
2) Purpose: Why am I here?
3) Am I ultimately accountable to anyone?
4) Condition: Why is there calamity, evil, suffering and death?
5) Will this bad condition ever be fixed? If so, how, by whom and when?
C. FUTURE:
1) Destination: Where is everything going?
2) Condition: will it be good, neutral, bad?
3) Destination: Where am I going?
4) Condition: will it be good, neutral or bad?
5) Do my choices now determine my ultimate future?
1) Yes
2) No
D. APPLICATION: Given my answers (my belief system/worldview), what should I do and how should I live and behave now?
Chart 6 answers are correlated to the letter and number system above. (Chart numbers throughout Section 2 are sequential, beginning with the first article, "Discovering Your Worldview".)
CHART 6 | |
CHRISTIANITY | NEW AGE WESTERNIZED HINDUISM |
FAITH IN THE GOD OF THE BIBLE | FAITH IN INEVITABLE "IT-NESS" |
A. 1 | The God of the Bible created everything. | A. 1, 3, B. 1 | All things come from a non-personal Universal Spiritual Essence, the Absolute. |
A. 2 | and He called it good. | A. 2 | The material realm is an unimportant hindrance since everything is inevitably evolving back to cosmic Oneness-"at-one-ment." All religions lead to One since all is One. |
A. 3 | God made man. | A. 4 | Man is of the Divine and, therefore, |
B. 2 | to know, love and belong to Him, to serve Him in obedient faith and to live for His glory and pleasure forever. | C. 5, B. 4 | inherently good. There is no right or wrong because everything is ultimately a part of Divine Oneness. Evil and suffering are a temporary problem, the direct result of our false sense of individuality apart from One. |
B. 3 | All that God created is accountable to Him, including mankind. | B. 3 | Each person is accountable to himself |
B. 4 | Adam rejected God's legitimate authority as his Creator and came under Satan’s dominion, causing the darkness of alienation from God, personal suffering, sin and death that now befalls everyone. | B. 2, 5 | to achieve and access the "supra-conciousness" with its unlimited power and creativity. |
A. 4, B. 1, 4 | Since all humans came from Adam, they are born also as fallen rebels by nature. Also, all creation has been "destroyed" by sin compared to the original "good" condition of the Garden. | B. 4 | If bad things have happened to a person, it is because of what he has done in this life or a previous one. |
C. 1, B. 5 | God's plan is to redeem mankind through rebirth by faith in Jesus' sacrificial death and His atonement for all mankind’s sins. | B. 5 | It must be worked off by doing more good than bad--Karma. |
| C. 2,4 | This grants true believers divine life that enables them to fulfill God's purpose here and gives hope for endless fulfillment in Christ. | B. 2, 5, C. 2 | Every person must achieve the highest state of being |
C. 2 | Hell awaits all who reject God's merciful offer and thus, remain slaves of the Devil forever. | B. 1, C. 1, 3 | by escaping from his individuality and realizing he is part of the Divine - One with the non-personal Universal Spiritual Essence, the Absolute, |
C. 3 | God offers you a way out. Put your trust and future in God's hands so that Heaven will be your home! By God's grace, believe and confess that Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord. Abide in Him for His glory and your good through the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 10:9.) | B. 5 | achieved through Yoga or other forms of meditation and self-removal. |
It is obvious that the three worldviews covered in this series, Christianity, Materialism and New Age, can't all be true because they contradict each other on crucial issues. Fortunately in America, we are free to believe what we want without fear of brainwashing or persecution - or are we? It certainly is a question worth investigation, especially when the answers can put one's eternal future in peril. The next chapter reveals some alarming facts.
