How to explain Christianity to "New Age" friend

[AservantofGodandthelordJC]

Hi everyone,

I have a good friend who I feel very called to share the Bible and the gospel with but I am not sure how to do this properly. She believes in many New Age things, right now most strongly influenced by "The Course in Miracles". I also used to be interested and involved in these things so I know exactly where she is coming from in her beliefs. She also had early childhood experiences in the Catholic Church and basically that whole experience left a sour taste for her regarding Christianity. I don't normally feel called to share the gospel with anyone I know, I think because I am very soft-natured and most of those I know are strong opinionated people who are clearly set in their ways, so rather than share with them I just pray for them.

But this friend is different. I feel very strongly that she has been seeking a relationship with God her whole life, but frequently been led in the wrong direction to finding Him. She is a very spiritual person and she is a decent person. But she has a hard time reconciling in her mind a loving God with an angry God and God's wrath or punishment. Recently though, she has opened up to me about the evil she sees in the world. A few years ago she told me she didn't believe evil really existed because she had never really seen or experienced anything she considered evil. So maybe God is opening her mind to that or maybe as things are getting worse in the world she is finally seeing it for itself. She uses words like "heathens" and talks about the battle between good and evil, God and Satan, and yet at the same time she turns back to the Course in Miracles relating things to man's ego. I have shared some scripture with her and I have told her about the prophecies in the Bible, many of which have already been fulfilled and many that are being fulfilled today. She seems open to learning about these things. But I don't know how to pull her away from the Course In Miracles and New Age teachings that she has come to believe in. I have suggested to her that she would benefit from reading the Bible and she says she tried in the past but didn't understand it (though I have read the Course in Miracles and that's not exactly an easy read either). She talks about praying to God daily and how her prayers are more like conversations (also a reader of Conversations with God).

How can I help her distinguish between these wrong and misleading New Age teachings? She has told me since she doesn't read the Bible and I do that she welcomes me "filling in the blanks" for her. But those are a LOT of blanks to fill in! I realize God needs to do the work here. I have prayed for her and I try to plant the seeds and nudge her in the right direction. I wonder at times if her difficulty in reading the Bible is maybe an effort to read it front to back like a story, which can be very difficult, and if she might benefit from trying individual scriptures that might help with certain things. So I have considered buying her a Bible and maybe highlighting scriptures that could be beneficial to her. I also told her she can pray and ask God to open her mind and heart to understanding the Bible when she does try to read it.

The other thing is she was baptised as an infant in the Catholic Church and she believes she already has the Holy Spirit and has been guided by it her whole life. I question that as I don't personally believe in infant baptism. I did in fact tell her that and explained that baptism is making a choice to follow Jesus, which an infant cannot do because they cannot understand yet. She has told me she has experienced grace first hand. I do believe she is being guided and called by God, which is why she feels this, as God is constantly calling all of us. But given her New Age beliefs and infant baptism I don't believe she actually has the Holy Spirit, and if she did have I think she would be guided in a whole new direction. I pushed the baptism issue a little bit with her since she states she is a believer, and she said she will think it over. I tend to share a bit and then back off when I feel she is feeling overwhelmed. At that time I just pray. And she always comes back with more questions. This sharing thing is a lot of work. I try to be gentle as I don't believe the whole "We are all sinners and will burn in hell without Jesus" draws people to Christianity.

Any suggestions on how to gently steer my friend away from New Age without making her feel like she is "wrong" or following pagan practices etc?

What makes you think your beliefs are more right than hers? Without evidence all beliefs are equal. If she says she has experienced 'Grace' and she is not one to make things up, maybe it be wise to listen to her side.

 

[Eyes wide Open]

Hi everyone,

I have a good friend who I feel very called to share the Bible and the gospel with but I am not sure how to do this properly. She believes in many New Age things, right now most strongly influenced by "The Course in Miracles". I also used to be interested and involved in these things so I know exactly where she is coming from in her beliefs. She also had early childhood experiences in the Catholic Church and basically that whole experience left a sour taste for her regarding Christianity. I don't normally feel called to share the gospel with anyone I know, I think because I am very soft-natured and most of those I know are strong opinionated people who are clearly set in their ways, so rather than share with them I just pray for them.

But this friend is different. I feel very strongly that she has been seeking a relationship with God her whole life, but frequently been led in the wrong direction to finding Him. She is a very spiritual person and she is a decent person. But she has a hard time reconciling in her mind a loving God with an angry God and God's wrath or punishment. Recently though, she has opened up to me about the evil she sees in the world. A few years ago she told me she didn't believe evil really existed because she had never really seen or experienced anything she considered evil. So maybe God is opening her mind to that or maybe as things are getting worse in the world she is finally seeing it for itself. She uses words like "heathens" and talks about the battle between good and evil, God and Satan, and yet at the same time she turns back to the Course in Miracles relating things to man's ego. I have shared some scripture with her and I have told her about the prophecies in the Bible, many of which have already been fulfilled and many that are being fulfilled today. She seems open to learning about these things. But I don't know how to pull her away from the Course In Miracles and New Age teachings that she has come to believe in. I have suggested to her that she would benefit from reading the Bible and she says she tried in the past but didn't understand it (though I have read the Course in Miracles and that's not exactly an easy read either). She talks about praying to God daily and how her prayers are more like conversations (also a reader of Conversations with God).

How can I help her distinguish between these wrong and misleading New Age teachings? She has told me since she doesn't read the Bible and I do that she welcomes me "filling in the blanks" for her. But those are a LOT of blanks to fill in! I realize God needs to do the work here. I have prayed for her and I try to plant the seeds and nudge her in the right direction. I wonder at times if her difficulty in reading the Bible is maybe an effort to read it front to back like a story, which can be very difficult, and if she might benefit from trying individual scriptures that might help with certain things. So I have considered buying her a Bible and maybe highlighting scriptures that could be beneficial to her. I also told her she can pray and ask God to open her mind and heart to understanding the Bible when she does try to read it.

The other thing is she was baptised as an infant in the Catholic Church and she believes she already has the Holy Spirit and has been guided by it her whole life. I question that as I don't personally believe in infant baptism. I did in fact tell her that and explained that baptism is making a choice to follow Jesus, which an infant cannot do because they cannot understand yet. She has told me she has experienced grace first hand. I do believe she is being guided and called by God, which is why she feels this, as God is constantly calling all of us. But given her New Age beliefs and infant baptism I don't believe she actually has the Holy Spirit, and if she did have I think she would be guided in a whole new direction. I pushed the baptism issue a little bit with her since she states she is a believer, and she said she will think it over. I tend to share a bit and then back off when I feel she is feeling overwhelmed. At that time I just pray. And she always comes back with more questions. This sharing thing is a lot of work. I try to be gentle as I don't believe the whole "We are all sinners and will burn in hell without Jesus" draws people to Christianity.

Any suggestions on how to gently steer my friend away from New Age without making her feel like she is "wrong" or following pagan practices etc?

I would just sit with the feelings of interaction with this person and see what presents itself. If you intuitively feel that you need to share more with them be patient with that, there’s no need to push it. If they are sincere in their desire to find ‘their path’ they will, they will find a way home, which may involve a greater move back to Christianity, but it may not.

Speaking from my own perspective and experience I need a totally free space in regards doctrine and dogma, so no religion fits for me, but I see merit in all of them (and the issues) for the adherents that choose those faiths. This person may need a free space in which to move (and create) more effectively in the world.

 

[dlamberth]

There's a spiritual perspective called "The Heart of Christ". It's sort of like sitting in Jesus and from that vantage place with him a person would look out at things from the perspective if Christ's Soul. I added an images of "The Heart of Christ" below. If you Google "Heart of Christ", you can get to a page with a LOT of images of Heart of Chrsit. When talking about it to my Christian friends, not many understood what I was talking about. And when explained, most except those familiar with monastic trajectory said that it's not Christian because we aren't God and can not be in Jesus like that. Maybe the Christians here can clarify more clearly what that means. My own take of The Course of Miracles in as few words as possible is that I take it as a Heart of Christ experience that a person was blessed to have. I've watched a lot of good come from those who work with it.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's called the Sacred Heart. It's an object of devotion in Roman Catholicism, and to a lesser extent, Anglicanism and Lutheranism. During the high middle ages, western Christians started having devotions to Christ's body parts. For instance, in the poems and hymns of Bernard of Clairvaux.

And I think the meaning of the image is more complicated. Certainly there is an element of "union with Christ" in many Christian spiritualities and theology, but the symbolism of the Sacred Heart has to do with the pain that sin caused Jesus as a human being, as well as the love he has for us, that his heart endured pain and suffering for our salvation.

 

[singpeace]

Hi everyone,

I have a good friend who I feel very called to share the Bible and the gospel with but I am not sure how to do this properly. She believes in many New Age things, right now most strongly influenced by "The Course in Miracles". I also used to be interested and involved in these things so I know exactly where she is coming from in her beliefs. She also had early childhood experiences in the Catholic Church and basically that whole experience left a sour taste for her regarding Christianity. I don't normally feel called to share the gospel with anyone I know, I think because I am very soft-natured and most of those I know are strong opinionated people who are clearly set in their ways, so rather than share with them I just pray for them.

But this friend is different. I feel very strongly that she has been seeking a relationship with God her whole life, but frequently been led in the wrong direction to finding Him. She is a very spiritual person and she is a decent person. But she has a hard time reconciling in her mind a loving God with an angry God and God's wrath or punishment. Recently though, she has opened up to me about the evil she sees in the world. A few years ago she told me she didn't believe evil really existed because she had never really seen or experienced anything she considered evil. So maybe God is opening her mind to that or maybe as things are getting worse in the world she is finally seeing it for itself. She uses words like "heathens" and talks about the battle between good and evil, God and Satan, and yet at the same time she turns back to the Course in Miracles relating things to man's ego. I have shared some scripture with her and I have told her about the prophecies in the Bible, many of which have already been fulfilled and many that are being fulfilled today. She seems open to learning about these things. But I don't know how to pull her away from the Course In Miracles and New Age teachings that she has come to believe in. I have suggested to her that she would benefit from reading the Bible and she says she tried in the past but didn't understand it (though I have read the Course in Miracles and that's not exactly an easy read either). She talks about praying to God daily and how her prayers are more like conversations (also a reader of Conversations with God).

How can I help her distinguish between these wrong and misleading New Age teachings? She has told me since she doesn't read the Bible and I do that she welcomes me "filling in the blanks" for her. But those are a LOT of blanks to fill in! I realize God needs to do the work here. I have prayed for her and I try to plant the seeds and nudge her in the right direction. I wonder at times if her difficulty in reading the Bible is maybe an effort to read it front to back like a story, which can be very difficult, and if she might benefit from trying individual scriptures that might help with certain things. So I have considered buying her a Bible and maybe highlighting scriptures that could be beneficial to her. I also told her she can pray and ask God to open her mind and heart to understanding the Bible when she does try to read it.

The other thing is she was baptised as an infant in the Catholic Church and she believes she already has the Holy Spirit and has been guided by it her whole life. I question that as I don't personally believe in infant baptism. I did in fact tell her that and explained that baptism is making a choice to follow Jesus, which an infant cannot do because they cannot understand yet. She has told me she has experienced grace first hand. I do believe she is being guided and called by God, which is why she feels this, as God is constantly calling all of us. But given her New Age beliefs and infant baptism I don't believe she actually has the Holy Spirit, and if she did have I think she would be guided in a whole new direction. I pushed the baptism issue a little bit with her since she states she is a believer, and she said she will think it over. I tend to share a bit and then back off when I feel she is feeling overwhelmed. At that time I just pray. And she always comes back with more questions. This sharing thing is a lot of work. I try to be gentle as I don't believe the whole "We are all sinners and will burn in hell without Jesus" draws people to Christianity.

Any suggestions on how to gently steer my friend away from New Age without making her feel like she is "wrong" or following pagan practices etc?

I urge you to check out the testimony of a converted New Age believer. I pasted a couple of paragraphs here but the link is below. I read it and believe it will be a great help to you and your precious friend. I encourage you as it is obvious you dearly love this friend.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
2 Timothy 4:3,4

I finally accepted that I could not be my own Savior because a person cannot work their way into perfection or godliness. Only God can, which is who Jesus is. I laid my will and my life down to Him, finally recognizing who Jesus really is and what Jesus did on the cross for me personally.

https://truthsaves.org/christian-testimony/new-age-christian-testimony/

 

[eternity75]

AServantofGod I am not implying that I am a more moral person than her in any way, in fact if we were to truly compare I would probably say she is a better person than me. I absolutely think many of her experiences could be direct interactions with God and I do not downplay those experiences at all. However, she has never really read the Bible. It is the word of God and she has given up on it. The Course in Miracles has become her Bible despite many of it's teachings being in direct contrast to things that God's Word teaches us. That concerns me for her sake.

To those here who are offended by my issue with infant baptism, my issue with it stems from the fact that it is not Biblical. Was Jesus baptized as a baby? No. Were any of Jesus' followers in the Bible baptized as babies? No. Baptism is an outer sign of an inward condition. Jesus' followers were told that whoever believes in Him will be saved, but Jesus also told them that unless they are born of water and spirit (baptized) they will not enter the kingdom of God. A baby does not *choose* to be baptized or follow Jesus.

That being said, I also believe based on what is written in the Bible that God knows the heart. He knows who loves him and who doesn't, who will follow Him and who won't. And so I don't believe that salvation is completely dependent on baptism. But at the same time, just because a child is baptized does not make them saved. Also the Bible states that the Holy Spirit comes upon a person after they are baptized. That is after they make the choice to follow Jesus. Again, a baby cannot make this conscious choice. That does not mean that an individual is not going to have experiences with God, where God has blessed them, protected them, or called them to Him, as God is constantly calling each and every one of us all the time. So yes, my friend can have experiences that are of God, with God and for God, but this does not mean these experiences are a direct result of having the Holy Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit means Christ works to change us from within. I know of many people who were baptized as infants who have no care for God or His laws or His gift of Salvation, and their daily actions clearly show this. These people did not receive the Holy Spirit simply because they were baptized as infants. When I was a child, my parents were upset that they lost an important set of keys. My dad was in a frenzy, angry, frustrated, etc. I prayed that God would help them find their keys again. And I literally got up off my knees and ran outside and stopped right at the spot on the ground where the keys laid. This is a small miracle and a direct answer to prayer. But it does not mean the Holy Spirit was in me. It can mean I was guided by God or led by God or answered by God but it doesn't mean I had the Holy Spirit. I do not mean to offend anyone by sharing my beliefs and my interpretations of the Bible. My own nieces whom I love, adore, and cherish, are Catholic. And perhaps my interpretations are not always correct, as we are all reading and studying the Bible at our own pace and working through it with prayer to understand.

To those who thoughtfully answered and offered suggestion, thank you! I value my friendship and greatly care about my friend and want the best for her. I think I will continue to let God do the leading and try my best to share the Bible with her in what ways I am able when she asks. Ultimately it is all up to Him. But I want her to know Him from His Word and so I will continue to do my best to share what I can.

Singpeace, thank you for the testimonial you sent. I may share that with her sometime as well <3

 

[AservantofGodandthelordJC]

we are all reading and studying the Bible at our own pace and working through it with prayer to understand.

Personally, I understood the bible before I read it. When I read it I was like oh almost everything really makes sense.. but then I listen to religious people and they make no sense. So there is an issue with people being mislead by specific misinterpreted beliefs which they hold in high regard when in reality they are keeping themselves away from the truth by holding onto falsities leaving no room for the truth to enter.