A Course In Miracles
Do you have any advice regarding the 3 books known as "A Course in Miracles?" Some of my friends are looking at it for a "Bible Study", To myself it seems more "New Age" than a Christian Study. Would you agree with my comments or am I wrong?
"A Course in Miracles" is made up of three books: a 622-page Text, a 478-page Workbook for Students, and an 88-page Manual for Teachers. It was written between 1965 and 1976 through an inner Voice heard by medical psychologist Helen Schucman and dictated by her to psychologist William Thetford. This began on October 21, 1965, when Schucman heard an inner voice say, "This is a course in miracles. Please take notes." She claimed that this was the voice of Jesus and she took down a rapid dictation in a shorthand notebook.
Since the publication of the book, over one and a half million copies of "The Course" have been sold and over 2,200 study groups have been formed. The Foundation for A Course in Miracles was formed in 1983 and has extensive facilities in Roscoe, NY, and a West Coast Branch in La Jolla, CA. A lot of publicity came from a book promoting the Course by Marianne Williamson called "A Return to Love." Her book was a major bestseller, she appeared on shows like the Oprah Winfrey show, and has counted among her celebrity followers people like Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Bette Midler, and Shirley MacLaine.
The Course presents a philosophy and set of practices that supposedly do not need to be believed in order to work. They just need to be put into practice. It claims to conquer all by a special brand of forgiveness that understands that all sin, guilt, and the evils of this world are just an illusion of the Ego. Here are some of the teachings of the Course:
- God did not create the world. It is simply the creation of man's Ego. God does not even know the world exists.
- Sin, fear, and death are illusions. They are the result of wrong-mindedness. "Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem."
- The body of Jesus was an illusion. Jesus is one of many Christs and we all have the possibility of becoming Christ.
- Jesus is not the only Saviour. He is only one route of many which all lead to God in the end.
- Man is still in heaven. "There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left."
- Only love is real and everything negative is merely an illusion of the mind. "Since love is all there is, sin in the sight of the Holy Spirit is a mistake to be corrected, rather than an evil to be punished."
- Salvation comes by forgiving, which is defined as the undoing of the belief that sin, guilt, and death are real.
- Right-mindedness leads to seeing through the vision of Christ and hearing the Voice of God. At the end of the Course, the reader is left in the hands of his or her own Internal Teacher, Who will direct all subsequent learning as He sees fit.
In conclusion, everything about "A Course in Miracles" is so diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Bible, it is difficult to find a place to focus in responding to it. Every one of the points above is refuted by many scriptures. The Voice sounds like a form of Channeling by false spirits. It is obviously wicked.
Isaiah 8:19-20 [19] And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
[20] To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
See All... states, "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." God says that those who speak words by some familiar spirit whose words are "not according to this word" do so because there is no light in them. Helen Schucman spoke by a spirit but her words are not according to God's word, the Bible. Therefore, there was no light in her.
This is borne out in Schucman's own testimony. She openly admitted that she was unable to "integrate the teachings into her own life." The Course did not even help the one who wrote it down. It is a fraud.
For more information, you can check out the sites promoting the course at:
www.acim.org
www.facim.org
You can also check out more detailed analyzes of the Course at:
www.religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/course.html
www.watchman.org/corseim.htm
www.learderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/thcourse.html