When we ask what new age means regarding modern Christianity, we need to look at eras. In nature life happens in seasons and eras. Seasons in nature repeat themselves and eras happen uniquely, like the ice ages. In Humankind there is natural growth of civilization and culture development over time. As Humankind develops into more and more advanced forms of enlightened culture, its view on certain subjects changes as it advances. The subject viewed, such as God and spiritual things stays the same, but the civilization or culture has changed viewing it as religion, and its view will change as a result.
The term New Age or New Age Christianity arises out of one portion of culture that no longer agreed with how Christianity not only was taught, but also from the offensive posture of its teachers as well. Christianity has long since been taught from the posture of making the searcher see themselves as sin and a mistake and repetitive admitting sin and seeking forgiveness was required for maintaining salvation. This was an effective posture when religion and the government were the same in the dark and middle ages in Northern Europe. At that time there was great caste separation between rich, elite, educated clergy, and the common man peasant, and sinner.
In the Dark Ages fear of going to hell and punishment was a strong motivation since most of their life was lived in that environment while alive as oppressed peasants anyway. Look at how Christianity treated learning disabled and socially backward with health problem women like my wife Lori, who were punished as witches! They were burned alive, tied into piles of dry wood, and set on fire.
As Humankind progressed through the industrial revolution, government advanced especially in America, the legal protections grew for the common man in their status. Emphasis shifted from the importance of Christianity’s view of the person to the importance recently of how the person sees Christianity. No longer was it acceptable for Christianity to see the person as sin and a mistake and expect the person to accept that. As Humankind’s consciousness progressed so too was an awakening awareness of the importance of the person and also more about who they are emotionally. Humankind is now a garden soil bed where a person can grow and embrace fully more dimensions of themselves. Persons no longer have to be audience to an authoritarian Christianity whose churches can discriminate and ban sinners from attending because even though a public place of worship, are granted status as private property legally. Even though a person had fully paid for their crime and society legally forgave them, Christianity could still hold a person’s past against them, even though Christianity claims unconditional love and forgiveness. In Aurora Colorado churches readily ban sex offenders and their families from attending even though thirty years of living a restored life are offered as proof.
For five decades this shift has been happening and now the growing shift is from how Christianity sees you the sinner and mistake to how you see Christianity and religion. Once it was how you had to humble yourself and see yourself as a sinner and mistake because that is how Christianity sees you. Now the shift is towards how you see Christianity and God and how important some aspects of you the person are. The particular aspect we are talking about is ‘seeing things through your own eyes’, and not someone or some institutions eyes, not even religion’s eyes.
Remember, we talked about that as Humankind advances through different eras, that its views on such things as God and religion would by necessity have to change as well. Christianity’s posture of authority and their demeaning view of people now rightly carried less weight and is no longer valid and correct. Now Christianity must recognize certain attributes of people it previously suppressed as sin. Their self-defined duty of saving sinners from sin must now include building believers up and giving them nurturing to their self-esteem and helping them recognize their role as God’s creation. New Age Christianity accomplishes that.
People are not only God’s highest creation, but also each different one is necessary to make Humankind complete. Humankind now recognizes the importance of each person’s uniqueness, including ‘seeing things through your own eyes,’ and other spiritual attributes as a functioning part of each person. For Christianity to do that it has to turn from telling you how to see yourself as they see you as sin, to you seeing yourself and all other things as you see things, as well. That is a big improvement by society to recognize each person with these spiritual attributes and rights.
Now we come to the ‘what does new age mean’ part. New Age Christianity as a religion means it focuses on what happens after a new ‘born from above’ choice is made by the person. It encourages the believer to see things through their own eyes, as well as other spiritual activities that help you find and live your own life, as God designed you to live it. We disagree with the emphasis of Christianity and clergy telling you how to live your life controlled by an outside source and organization. New Age Christianity claims the church has no knowledge about you the person, and certainly no right to dictate your own life’s path in any way.
Organized Christianity claims God is external and outside of you. We claim God is already inside of you. The proof is His life plan for you, your talents, and ways to use them in life are planned for you to find within you. Organized Christianity claims you need to read the bible and look to them to tell you how to find your path. We claim you need to learn how to reconnect to your own life plan by using your seven spiritual activities to access your life plan God has already set up.
New Age Christianity encourages using your seven activities to access your life plan, which is how you reach, serve, and glorify God all at the same time. The New Age is about Authenticity of Self and respecting your own personhood. To become your most authentic self, start doing these seven things and you will reach God, find, worship, and glorify God all at once. Worship God by being yourself, serve God by doing the first four spiritual activities, and glorify God by doing the last three things.
In a nutshell, New Age Christianity teaches and encourages worship of God in this manner:
See things through your own eyes, not someone else’s or how an organized religion sees you, or how an abusive person or setting tells you to see you and the world. If it is not genuinely you, do not see it that way!
Feel your own feelings, not what you are told to feel by others or a situation in the world. If you feel it is not a fit for you, do not feel that way about it. If you do not take the first step right, seeing things genuinely through your own eyes, you will never be able to access your true thoughts or feelings on anything in your life either!
Think your own thoughts, not someone else’s thoughts or those planted by a setting or social group, if they are not your own. True sight, true feelings from you will result in your true thoughts, but you must practice the first two things first to get to your true thoughts. Remember inside all of this is where the Kingdom of God is, but it is up to you to access Him through his highest creation, and in your case, His unique creation, which is you. You reach God through YOU!
Make your own choices, and not anyone else’s choices for you. Remember it is your life and you are the only one who must live with your results. Your results may also affect others if your choice involves you being a spouse, caregiver, and deep relationships with others are involved.
Moving more internally, we now search into dreaming our own dreams, which means finding our own gifts, passions, interests, talents, and finding the world where we can live in those efforts. Being an individual means there are about as many right answers to this question as there are people asking it. This is the second spiritual fork in the road, behind the first one, making our own choices. Do not let outside influences change what you feel passionate about. What interests you is really you.
This interest can be anything from dancing, making pottery, or as in my case, studying spiritual truth. It can be teaching school to learning-disabled adults, if you have a passion to help them understand and appreciate beauty. The desire to nurture is a very powerful passion in most spiritually emerging people such as yourself. Look for wanting to nurture to be in what is your dream. I guarantee it is because you feel joy when the person you help gets very excited when they accomplish what you just taught them. In many cases this parenting nurturer role will be your deep reward.
Next is building your own dreams, No one discovering their passion to study astronomy, global warming, photography of old buildings, or welding aluminum is going to stop there in the studying phase. Everyone is going to immerse themselves into their found world as deeply as they can. Whether studying it and becoming an academic as a teacher or researcher as I am, or as a tradesman in a profession in employment, direct your life in that direction. Some building of dreams involve domestic roles such as mothering, being a wife and homemaker, and even less in posture in being a good neighbor, volunteer, and a very understanding friend. Such roles, low in posture in society, are actually the most important.
God always gives you the hands to be important and the tools to be a success in the path He has laid out for you to find.
In this ‘building your own dreams’ part, is where marriage will happen between what you have found inside your heart, and what you find out in the world as opportunity to go that direction. This may happen in academic opportunity, employment opportunity, and in relationships you will be given a chance to develop. The more connected you are to what is within, the more readily you can see the right choice from without.
The last and most deserved enjoyment spiritual activity is, sharing our dreams with others. What does one who loves to cook extravagant seafood meals naturally want to do? What does one who loves to play boogie-woogie piano naturally want to do? They want to share it with the whole world and let all of Humankind enjoy their contribution. This is exactly what God created each of us to do. This is the highest fulfillment of why God made every one of us in the first place. The Bible is sadly misinterpreted when it teaches God gets all the glory and we are nothing but a mistake and are sin, and we should worship God by denying ourselves. God did not make each of us different because He wants us all to become alike and invisible. God made us all different because He wants us all to worship Him through our differences and showcase ourselves! Us glorifying ourselves with being the best person we can be is glorifying to God. Worshiping our talents and interests is worshiping God.
One last note, even if you feel like you have no gifts, talent, or interest to share you still have one important gift we have not mentioned yet; That gift is the presence of yourself in someone or something’s life somewhere. You yourself are God’s precious gift to some person, or situation, and God will lead you there.
Just for the record, this is an emotional and spiritual encouragement ministry. We are selling nothing here and are not at the present time even set up to take donations, and probably never will. Your healed life are our reward enough, and we are very pleased with that. If you want to, please share your strength with others in your future so our nurturing can live on.