Oprah, Chopra, Gobble-de-goop

(Click Here to link to the Oprah video)

A friend forwarded me the link to some of Oprah’s ramblings on spirituality. She appears to be misunderstanding the point of when God said, “I am a jealous God.” She said, “What? He’s jealous of ME?” (She went on to explain that at age 29 or so, she realized that that particular “God” was just too petty for her.) Plenty of bloggers rose to her defense to say, well, they doubted she actually believed God is jealous of, like, her shoes, or her “self”. Yes, many of us can appreciate that verse to be expressing that God’s just jealous of the “gods” that people may put above God Himself. Whenever we put other things above God, it ultimately causes us pain. Eventually, it might cause eternal pain and suffering, but for now, even in this world, it can still create needless problems.

I recently noticed an article in West County Times’ Religion section, about Deepak Chopra’s “controversial new book”… the headline says, “Author offers spiritual view of Jesus.” He says, “I said to myself, ‘Why not write a book that takes Jesus’ teachings– and it doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or not– and learn from this and improve your life’.” Also, he says, “If I can aspire– maybe not achieve– but aspire to be in that state of mind and if a lot of people were aspiring to be in that state of mind this would be a better world. I emphasize this over and over again that whatever we do is about improving ourselves and improving the world.”

And the problem with his thinking? He has made himself and the world his “god”… he thinks the most important thing is “improving our selves and our world”… What if he realized this world is but a wisp of wind compared to eternity?! And that this world is a pale shadow, even at its greatest, to the splendor and perfection of heaven?! It might be fine and well to seek to improve ourselves, but there is a limit to what we can accomplish on our own. What’s truly miraculous to me is when I see a completely renovated soul, reshaped through the active power of God’s spirit working in that life. Many of us can afford to sit around and ponder how we might improve ourselves, but for a radical, life-changing experience, nothing can beat being born again. Jesus doesn’t just improve; He saves.

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Jennifer Cote’s cookbook, From the Land of Milk and Honey, is available online at Winepress Books. (Or at Amazon.com)

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Jen also blogs about health and nutrition at Recipe for Health.

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