Letter: Some thoughts on New Thought ideas
In an article by Jim Fox dated Friday, March 21, he writes, “You will see it when you believe it.” He was writing about the New Thought movement and “praying, knowing it is done you as you believe.”
I also say the same, but in this way, “you will see” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world “when you believe it.”
It is true “one may believe in any way one chooses that feeds one’s spiritual hunger,” but that does not make one’s choice the right choice.
This can be related to the choices of food we partake of. Just because we can choose to eat anything we want does not make our choice right if it is not the best choice for the health of our body.
The New Thought movement is self-centered, not God-centered. From 1991 to 2003 this movement appealed to me until I was blessed with eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of Jesus Christ, not just a teacher but God in human form — our Savior who delivered us from the power of sin and the penalty of sin that is eternal death.
We can “will” things our way, but God wants human beings to “will His will” so we can receive His best now and eternally.
Katherine Atilano,
Madera
What makes one person’s way “more right” than another person’s? If food analogies are a good way of proving points about how one should live spiritually to you, the point must also be made that one can eat whatever they choose to, but more importantly they must combine it with the right amount of regular positive activity to remain healthy.
A written letter reply from Katherine Atilano of Madera:
I would like to respectfully respond to Floydy, who frequents the Red Line.
To be God-centered is to be Jesus-centered. God established that the way to salvation and eternal life will be through Jesus Christ. We are all free to choose His way or not. His way is the right way; therefore, a person who chooses His way has the “more right” way.
One cannot eat junk food and stay healthy even with regular positive activity; but the point of the analogy was the correlation between our humanity and spirituality; that what we eat physically to stay healthy matters, as well as what we partake of to stay spiritually healthy matters.
Positive thinking is good, but having faith in Jesus Christ is better; inclusive in this soul-saving faith is positive thinking. Employing faith in Jesus Christ is by our will; we will choose to believe or choose to not believe.
The Bible, though written by man, was authored by God. Unless one chooses to believe by faith and study the Bible, the beauty of His wisdom, truth, and offer of salvation for eternal life will be missed.
It is good to have Christian preachers and teachers of the Bible, but they are not to be completely relied on. Jesus warns of being deceived by man. We have to personally spend time in the Bible with the help of aides to study hard to understand Scripture from the original languages.
The point can be made that even those who study the Bible differ on non-salvation doctrine, so who can say who is “more right”?
It matters not who is “more right” when it comes to non-salvation doctrinal differences of opinion. These differences are a distraction of what matters most, which is teaching Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected for salvation and eternal life.
We are free to choose what we believe, but will be responsible for that choice. The wisest choice is to study the Bible and be persuaded to the best of our ability in the understanding of Scripture. God will one day set us all straight of wrong interpretation relating to non-salvation doctrine.
Remain mindful that thinking is an activity of our existence and continuously functions, but thinking of only human needs and desires in this age of salvation without being mindful of God’s will and our eternal destiny is superficial and foolish.