I have been asked to continue my blog at another site. I simply must decline though as this is my blog and my readers expect it and it’s a good resource for me to easily point back to whenever I need to share some thoughts on a subject and I remember that I’ve done a blog on the topic. I do appreciate the interaction that has resulted though from this.
Let’s also be clear on something. If I believe Tolle is wrong on an interpretation of Scripture, that doesn’t mean the point is wrong overall. For instance, I do believe he is quite wrong on his interpretation of Matthew 5:39-41, but that doesn’t mean I disvalue the idea of not being attached to objects. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. That just isn’t what Jesus was talking about.
So let’s go on through the next few chapters.
The next passage is Luke 6:41 which Tolle takes to be about faultfinding. Christ is not against faultfinding in general though. We are to go and if someone has a serious wrong point it out to them. He is against doing so hypocritically. Jesus made his opinion of the Pharisees quite clear in Matthew 23 for instance and Paul to Peter in Galatians 2. Now there are some that are probably not worth mentioning, but Jesus is simply calling for self-examination first.
The next one greatly concerns me though. On page 71 we read:
“The Truth is inseperable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth. Jesus tried to convey that when he said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” These words uttered by Jesus are one of the most powerful and direct pointers to the Truth, if understood correctly. If misinterpreted, however, they become a great obstacle. Jesus speaks of the innermost I Am, the essence identity of every man and woman, every life-form, in fact.”
Every Christian should be on red alert at this point as we have stepped out of classical theism and moved into pantheism. (Though I think Tolle switches between pantheism and panentheism.) Christ was making a claim about himself. He never said “We are the truth” or “You are the truth.” He was making a unique claim about his own identity that in him was life, in him is the truth, and he is the way to the Father.
For those who have a problem with exclusivity, that will be discussed later on. For now, it is simply Scripture.
Of special note here is the use of “I Am” with capitalization which is the term used to identify God in the Old Testament and the term Jesus used of Himself in John 8:58 which got the Jews ready to stone him for blasphemy. In theism, there is a distinction between the creator and the creature and we are in for problems when we start blurring that distinction.
On page 184, we read this:
“Through allowing, you become what you are: vast, spacious. You become whole. You are not a fragment anymore, which is how the ego perceives itself. Your true nature emerges, which is one with the nature of God.
Jesus points to this when he says ‘Be ye whole, even as your Father in Heaven is whole.’ The New Testament’s ‘Be ye perfect’ is a mistranslation of the original Greek word, which means whole. This is to say, you don’t need to become whole, but be what you already are–with or without the pain-body.”
First off, again, every Christian should be prepared when someone talks about us being one with the nature of God. We are a reflection of God to a very limited degree as he is infinite and we are finite. Jesus is not talking about emptiness here at all but is talking about righteousness. He is saying that we must be pure as God is pure. We must not have any sin upon us.
It’s a tough call, but yeah. That’s his. Fortunately, he provided a way for it.
We will continue more of this tomorrow.
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