‘NEW-AGE’ CHRISTIAN GROUPS
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| The fragmentation of the western Christian church that
began with Martin Luther in the 16th century has continued steadily
with the result of us having today a thousand churches. What caused
the initial split was the refusal of the church authorities to listen
to the ‘less superior’ prelates and the failure of the
church to move with the times. Today there is a similar situation
that is causing large numbers of youth to leave their mother churches
– the mainline churches- and join ‘new-age groups’
like ‘born again’, to be ‘saved’ or to ‘receive
Christ’. No one can say that the main line churches of today
have the same attitude as that existed in the sixteenth century. Far
from it. But still the churches haven’t moved with the times.
This exodus from churches could be attributed to the following. |
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While catering for religious life, the churches does
very little to cater for the spiritual growth of the faithful. So
much importance is given to rituals, sacraments and rote recitation
of prayers and hymns and not enough for the spiritual needs. |
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At a time when the Jewish and other religions were God-centered
Christ tried to introduce the concept of a man-centered, humanistic,
religion. But today the mainline churches are neither man-centered
nor God-centered. They are clergy-centered. It is as if the church
is ‘of the clergy, by the clergy, for the clergy’. Certain
all-Kerala leaders of youth movements like the C L C as well as common
parishioners have voiced their complaints at the way they are treated
by even very junior priests who somehow appear to have the notion
that they share the power of ‘infallibility and omniscience’
of the Almighty. |
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Unlike in the recent and distant past, the people especially the
youth of today have felt the need for spiritual growth and a new life.
When their mother churches could not cater for this need they turned
to these ‘new- age groups and churches’. The fact that
most of these groups do not have priests or bishops points to the
antagonism of these people towards the dictatorship of the clergy
against which they revolted. |
| Fundamentalism of the fringe groups |
| Fanaticism as well as fundamentalism starts when people
insist that the scriptures must be taken literally though reason is
against it. Those who insist on this should be able to explain some
apparent contradictions that we come across in the Bible. |
| E.g. Genesis 1 states that man was created after all
the fish, birds and animals were created. Genesis 2 says that first
man was made and then for his sake all other creatures were made.
One cannot believe both literally. |
| Or again, Paul says that Faith alone saves. But James
says that faith without actions is dead. Which view should we take? |
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