Love of each other must be combined with love of God

What do you think of Dr. Wayne Dyer's view of Christianity? (Part 2)

In my last column I began examining the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer. It is necessary to expose these teachings for what they are and to heed the words of Paul in Colossians 2:6-8, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.  See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

Dyer dramatically teaches that we are to replace hatred with love for one another and this is certainly Christ's teaching.  However, being good and loving are not all Jesus taught.  The greatest commandment is not loving each other but loving God, and not just any god, but the God of the Bible.  "And He said to them, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the great and foremost commandment." Matthew 22:37-38. Jesus also said, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love.  This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."John 15:10-12.  Therefore, if someone like Dr. Dyer teaches obeying commandments two through ten by loving one another but also teaches that we can violate the first and greatest of all commands then he does not "abide in the love" of Jesus Christ.  The first commandment is "You shall love no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3 

Dr. Dyer does not understand that humans are fundamentally sinners and in need of a Savior from the judgment for that sin.  He wrote, "You would know that mankind is fundamentally good." His solution for you is that you must be "willing to acknowledge yourself as a divine being."  In his "There's a spiritual solution to every problem" broadcast on PBS he explains that "Genesis one tells us 'In the beginning'…God created us good.'"  Instead of explaining that sin corrupted the "goodness" of God's creation he encourages people to "let go of any idea that at your core you are evil or a sinner.  You need to realize that the central facet of your being is pure, good and beautiful."

How is he so confident in his teachings and to what does he appeal as the source of his truth?  The answer: "so-called" science.  He explains that we are no different than the countertop. Everything is just made up of atoms and energy.  Thus, by controlling that energy, positively or negatively, we direct our lives for the good or the bad.  He explains that, "we are all intimately sharing each other's continually changing atoms and molecules.  The only constant in the physical world is change."  He says, "none of us are separate from God…We are all extensions of God."  Thus, "We can work individually on our personal egos and find the truth of our highest selves.  Then we will extend that sacred self outward and humankind will no longer be ruled by lower instincts and primitive intelligence--instead we will be ruled by the holy spirit that is in all of us." Your Sacred Self, pages 318-319. 

Where did such an esoteric belief in reality come from?  Paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhart de Chardin has been called the "patron saint of the New Age movement." Dyer quotes him many times. Teilhart de Chardin taught, "Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis?  It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all systems, all hypotheses must bow and which they must satisfy henceforward if they are to be thinkable and true.  Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow."  He also wrote, "It is Christ, in very truth who saves, …but should we not immediately add that at the same time it is Christ who is saved by Evolution."

The foundation of Dr. Wayne Dyer's teachings is built on a misinterpretation of Genesis one in which he denies the separateness of the Creator and the created.  In his book and on the PBS broadcast he uses Scripture out of context to support his concept of God.  His teachings are deceptive because they promote genuine love toward fellow mankind, which is good but he attempts to tie all religions together with the thread of love, which is wrong. There is no other God than the Creator of the universe and we are accountable to him.  We are not divine beings, but we will live eternally.  Anyone who teaches "love" but denies the one, true God is a false teacher.  The most loving thing we can do for others is to explain that without the Savior Jesus Christ they are doomed to eternal life in hell.

03/30/02
Page105

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©Tom Carpenter
Originally published in the Rockdale/Newton Citizen