Barna recently said that new spirituality is one worldview that the next generation is adopting. New-age religion comes to mind, but I’m sure there is more to new spirituality than just new-age. For instance, perhaps Tom Cruise’s promotion of scientology or other Hollywood actors/actresses’ spirituality of choice fits the bill.
Tom Brady’s favorite book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, by Don Miguel Ruiz is a book that is based on ancient Toltec wisdom. Don has sold over six million copies of this book alone and has received Oprah Winfrey’s vote of confidence. My guess is Oprah has voted for many others in the self-help category and that her own spirituality would be quite varied and quite complex.
The point of this post is not to bash all self-help books, theories, or personas. To the contrary, all truth is God’s truth and there are principals and practices found in both God’s Word and man’s word that at times can be very similar to one another. For example, let’s take Tom Brady’s favorite book along with its four tenets that Tom says provided him a road map for much of his 30’s.
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
I would submit that Tom has experienced much life-success because he has followed these four creeds. If we all obeyed this set of Toltec wisdom, I think we would all be better off for it. However, I don’t put Toltec wisdom in the same category as the Word of God, which I consider ultimate wisdom. The problem with following other philosophies and spiritualities is they are often a mixture of truth and error. Sure, there may be some devotional material that says things in a simpler way that help us believers understand or clarify hard biblical sayings. But accepting these new spiritualities in whole can cause trouble in other areas of one’s life. Only the Word of God is perfect for reviving the soul. Only the Word cleanses, purifies, and makes one wise for salvation in the faith of Jesus Christ. Only the Word teaches, warns, corrects, and trains so that its students can be made complete.
Now let’s take the Word of God, which is the will of God. Emmerson Eggerichs recently wrote a book entitled The 4 Wills of God: The Way He Directs Our Steps and Frees Us to Direct Our Own. Dr. Eggerichs finds “four passages that identify precisely the will of God (John 6:40, I Thess 5:18, I Peter 2:13–15, and I Thess 4:3).” The acronym BAGS sums the 4 wills up:
- Believe in Jesus Christ.
- Abstain from sexual sin.
- Give thanks in everything.
- Submit in doing right.
Eggerichs’ believes that following these four universal wills of God will help individuals begin to discover the unique will of God for their life. I agree with Eggerichs’ thesis. Obeying the Word of God sure can’t hurt.
If we take a deeper look into Tom’s life, not only do we find a man who says that the four agreements have become “kinda of a mantra for my life.” We also find a man whose personal trainer and life guru coach, Alex Guerrero, promotes “eastern” medical practices. Eastern practices can promote a meditation whereby a person empties him or herself so that they can be filled. Biblical meditation is the opposite. One fills him or her self with God’s Word so they can be emptied of the competing worldviews and philosophies.
Again, some of the eastern medicine might be good. But, if I am looking for a cure-all, I’m not going to waste my time on anything I wouldn’t consider the real thing. Let’s make sure our students know the difference too!