An Interruption

a rather touchy subject ahead - don't say i didn't warn you.

a book was recently brought to my attention because a friend put a picture of it on his blog, and i happened to walk past it at kino today. the book is called "The Third Jesus" by deepak chopra. of course i'm wondering what a guy like mr chopra is doing talking about Jesus, and so i pick up the book, and am most horrified, and amused, at what he writes.

by way of an introduction, i'll just list out what he means by the "third Jesus". according to chopra, the first and second Jesus are historical and religious/christian respectively, while the third one is this mystical being who's contribution to the world's spirituality was to provide us with a way to "God-consciousness", a term that chopra uses frequently in his book. so what he does is to take bible verses and offer a new age interpretation of them, insisting that this was what Jesus meant and that the end result of it all is enlightenment.

i am most horrified by the allegations he makes about the church (that the church has deliberately prevented us from knowing this "cosmic" Jesus) and his teachings that a relationship with God must be "sought for...[because] God is hidden." i shan't go into a theological rant here (i'm not the best person to do that anyway) but suffice to say, this shouldn't be the case.

then again, i find it funny that a person who isn't a christian would profess to know so much about what Jesus taught. i am aware that some of the best bible scholars aren't christian, are in fact muslim or jewish, but who obviously leave the spiritual interpretation to the believers. i don't really know how to describe his new age spin on scripture verses (laughable? sad? unique?) but i'll take it as a compliment - as a testimony to the irreplaceability and power of the scripture.

there seems to be much praise for this book even from priests and pastors, which is surprising because chopra completely ignores basic tenets of the christian faith. and while i'm sure mr chopra has contributed much in helping to "empower" people, i'm also wondering what the nuns who catechised him are thinking.