Guru Chopra and the Pope. What advice would a New Age guru like Deepak Chopra have for Pope Francis?
Writing for Huffington Post itinerant New Age guru Deepak Chopra recently had some words of advice for Pope Francis. This followed the announcement by the pope that 2016 is a Year of Mercy:
According to Catholic News Service, at the time of the announcement, the pope emphasized a frequent theme of his: “No one can be excluded from God’s mercy.” He continued during his homily: “I frequently have thought about how the church can make more evident its mission to be a witness of mercy.” The biblical theme of the year will be “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Chopra writes:
In India I was educated as a boy by Irish Christian Brothers, because my parents believed that their schools were the best…The Christian Brothers were gentle propagandists. We boys accepted them as friends, but we also knew that our teachers would be delighted if we converted to Catholicism. At home my family was ecumenical, and streams of every faith flowed through our door. I was inspired by Jesus, even as I went through several turbulent phases later in life, from idealist to agnostic, before adopting scientific medicine as my faith, and eventually becoming what I’d call a practicing idealist. (Emphases mine)
A visit to one of Chopra’s websites reveals that the ideology he practices is a synthesis of Hinduism, pseudo-science and popular spirituality. While Chopra says he was inspired by Jesus, he wasn’t convicted into having any faith that Jesus was the only begotten son of God. He went on to write books about an unbiblical New Age Jesus which aligned with his own presuppositions. In his book The Third Jesus Chopra wrote:
Once you see Jesus as a teacher of enlightenment, faith changes its focus. You don’t need to have faith in the Messiah or his mission. Instead, you have faith in the vision of higher consciousness.
The “third Jesus” is what he alludes to in his column:
There is a third Jesus who today stands higher in modern reputation than either the historical or the theological Jesus. This is the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, a teacher of higher consciousness.
You can read an excellent online critique of The Third Jesus by former New Ager Marcia Montenegro HERE.
He has also written a fictional account about Jesus’ life (Jesus – A Story of Enlightenment). It’s based on what he thinks (or hopes) was the truer story of an enlightened Christ who wasn’t God. It received welcome reviews from the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Kevin Costner and even a former professor of Systematic Theology. Chopra’s books lacked critical evidence against Christianity – they were simply vehicles for marketing his brand of spirituality. Since Chopra’s quasi-Hindu New Age commitment rejects the biblical Jesus and the nature of the gospel, he must also repudiate the reliability of the biblical source which reveals Christ.
In his article, Mr. Chopra goes on to write:
Was Jesus a practicing idealist, too? We’ll never know, because the historical Jesus has been lost, and he may have spread the Gospel for as little as eighteen months, probably no longer than three years, before the Crucifixion. But Pope Francis appears very much to be a practicing idealist, and the causes he has thrown his weight behind, such as global warming and the plight of the poor, require every ounce of practicality and idealism both. (Emphasis mine)
For those who are interested:
Ron Rhodes responded to a Newsweek article’s criticism of the Bible and Christianity HERE.
Several scholars have contributed to the Jesus of Testimony documentary which may be watched for free HERE.
Mary Jo Sharp responds to the Christianity borrowed from paganism myth HERE.
Gary Habermas talks about how current scholarship supports evidence of the Resurrection of Christ HERE.
Ken Boa gives a brief run down as to how accurate the Bible is HERE.
One gets the impression that Chopra’s experiences with the Catholic Irish Brothers skews his current understanding of Christianity. He notes Cardinal Ratzinger’s warning about the practice of Eastern meditation against the belief that God must be approached through the intercession of Mary. He thinks this is a “pretty (sic) dogma” given “Mary is one of the most beloved and lovable figures in world religion.”
Yet if Chopra thinks this represents biblical Christianity he’s as mistaken as Cardinal Ratzinger must have been. Christians have Jesus Christ as Mediator. There is no need for – nor should there be – any other mediator:
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time 1Tim 2:5-6
It is Christ who intercedes for us:
But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens Heb 7:24-26
Throughout the New Testament Christians are admonished to express love and mercy in their daily interactions with both believers and unbelievers. At least one aim of Pope Francis, as expressed above, is that “No one can be excluded from God’s mercy.”
What is God’s mercy if it isn’t the fact that He sent His beloved Son as an offering for our sins?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:16-19
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude 1:20-21
So it is unbelief which separates a person from God’s mercy.
In the Year of Mercy, the most merciful and loving thing we can do is to evangelize our unsaved friends towards Jesus Christ. This is the only way they may attain God’s mercy. It has nothing to do with propaganda, as Chopra would have it. It really is a matter of life and death, heaven and hell.
As Atheist Penn Jilette (Penn and Teller – the magician double-act) once said:
I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?… I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was bearing down on you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.
Are you a practicing idealist? You’re much better off being a biblicist.
Practice being merciful. Tell people about the Lord.
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