The path to self-enlightenment is like a blind person walking across a broken bridge. They think the bridge is sturdy, with no holes or gaps. But it’s a death trap. Self-enlightenment (whatever that may personally mean for different seekers) is a bridge to destruction.
I recently went down some rabbit holes and revisited the past. The following thoughts are the result.
The Da Vinci Code Phenomenon
Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code generated a lot interest (and money) a few years ago. Although a work of fiction, he claimed that 99 % of it was true – “All of the architecture, the art, the secret rituals, the history, all of that is true, the Gnostic gospels.”
The book presented a Jesus who was a good guy but not the Son of God. This Jesus married Mary Magdalene and produced offspring. Brown purported to use “historical facts” to support the fictional Jesus. The book shook some Christian’s faiths (I personally saw this). But it appealed to many non-Christians.
I once had an interesting conversation with a colleague. He was head of Human Resources and identified as an Australian Buddhist. Knowing I was a Christian, he mentioned Brown’s book. I said it was fiction. He responded that it contained “factual data.” Remember this last part.
By that time I knew enough about Brown’s factual sloppiness to counter it. He got the “history” wrong and my friend was unaware of the blunders. Without batting an eye he continued smiling, and asked, ‘What is history?”
Yet Brown attempted to use that same history as the premise for his book. He just botched it. This (post-modernist) Buddhist wanted to believe what he wanted to believe. If history supported his beliefs, he’d allow it; if not he’d simply ignore it. How can you win against this mentality?
Darwin Gross and Eckankar
Darwin Gross was once the spiritual leader of a New Age cult called Eckankar founded by Paul Twitchell. One of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen was John Ankerberg trying to reason and witness to a willful Gross.
He was aware of the plagiarism and the contradictions and controversies within Eckankar. He was even (arguably unfairly) evicted as leader. But it didn’t matter what evidence Ankerberg presented for the reality of Jesus Christ as the only Son of God. Gross tenaciously held onto his experiential truth. Like my Buddhist friend, he didn’t want Christianity to be true. Sadly, I fear he went to his grave believing what he wanted.
By the way, David C. Lane researched Twitchell’s writings and discovered that he committed wholesale plagiarism. At first the cult denied it. However, when faced with insurmountable evidence, many shrugged it off. Their excuse was that Twitchell presented the truth as he (and they) understood it, even if he lifted it from someone else.
They wanted to believe in what they wanted.
Gnosticism New Age etc
The problem with the New Age and Gnosticism is that proponents, who claim truth, contradict each other. For example, Edgar Cayce did not share the same beliefs as Yogananda or Wayne Dyer or Dyer’s guru etc.
Of course you can come up with your own postmodern version of truth. But you wouldn’t apply the same principle in building a plane. You wouldn’t walk across a broken bridge wearing a blindfold. Why should you then trust your eternal destiny to your heart?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
See John MacArthur’s – Which way to heaven?
Maranatha!
Further resources:
James White – The Da Vinci Code Controversy
The Real Da Vinci Code: Tony Robinson
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