NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY

Marist Avenue, General Santos City

FORMATION OF MORAL VALUES

FORMATION OF MORAL VALUES

PEACE EDUCATION
THE MASS MEDIA AND VALUES EDUCATION
THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

JONA PHIE D. MONTERO

Master of Arts in Nursing

Submitted to:
Mr. Leopoldo Lacson

an institution that cares for the

environment and humanity.

APRIL 2016

I
PEACE EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
Peace education is an indispensable component of quality basic education.
According to UNICEF (1999), peace education is the process of promoting the
knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behaviour changes that
will enable children, youth and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and
structural; to resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to
peace, whether at an intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, national or international
level.
As we all know, in some parts of the Philippines, promotion of peace is still a
challenge. This paper would like to introduce subjects related to peace.

Definition of Peace Education

Peace education refers to the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes
and values needed to bring about behaviour changes that will enable children, youth
and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and structural; to resolve conflict
peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to peace, whether at an
intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, national or international level ( UNICEF,1999).
The term education in this context refers to any process whether in schools, or in
informal or non-formal educational contexts that develops in children or adults the
knowledge, skills, attitudes and values leading to behaviour change.
Within peace studies, peace is defined not just as the absence of war (negative
peace), but also the presence of the conditions for a just and sustainable peace,
including access to food and clean drinking water, education for women and children,
security from physical harm, and other inviolable human rights (positive peace). This
idea is rooted in the understanding that a just peace is the only sustainable kind of
peace; an approach that seeks merely to stop the guns while ignoring the denial of
human rights and unjust social and political conditions will not work in the long run.
(http://kroc.nd.edu/about-us/whatpeace-studies.)
Peace education must address the prevention and resolution of all forms of conflict
and violence, whether overt or structural, from the interpersonal level to the societal and
global level.

Assumptions in Peace Education

It is assumed that the peaceful resolution of conflict and prevention of violence,
whether interpersonal or societal, overt or structural, is a positive value to be promoted
on a global level through education.

Principles of Peace Education

Virginia Cawagas (2007) has identified four key pedagogical principles in peace
education:
1. Holism: Demonstrating that all issues are interrelated, multidimensional, and
dynamic. Holism stands in sharp contrast to the fragmented way in which school
subjects are often taught. A holistic vision allows us to see the complex
relationships of different issues. A holistic vision involves looking at the temporal
(past, present, future, and how they interrelate) and spatial dimensions (from
micro to macro, and across sectors of society) of an issue.
2. Values Formation: Educating for culture of peace needs to be explicit about its
preferred values such as compassion, justice, equity, gender-fairness, caring for
life, sharing, reconciliation, integrity, hope and nonviolence. These values are
necessary in teaching peace.
3. Dialogue: According to Cawagas, a dialogical approach cultivates a more
horizontal teacher-learner relationship in which both dialogically educate and
learn from each other.

Critical Empowerment: in critical empowerment, learners engage in a personal struggle

to develop a critical consciousness that actively seeks to transform the realities of a
culture of
War and violence into a culture of peace and non-violence

The Peace Paradigm

Peace covers religions and culture, incorporating such values as security and
harmony as well as justice and human dignity. Every major system of faith and belief,
whether religious or secular in character, assured peace as an outcome of the
implementation of its principles.
Approaches to peace started on the exercise of coercive power (power politics), and
then proceeds to paradigms for peace through international law and institutions (world
order), peace through conflict resolution, peace through nonviolence, and peace
through personal and community transformation.
There are 5 paradigms of Peace in the Philippines:
1. Power Politics
2. World Order
3. Conflict Resolution
4. Non-violence
5. Transformation

Power Politics: Peace through Coercive Power

The first peace paradigm, power politics or "realpolitik," is the traditionally dominant
framework in the field of international relations. This paradigm, grounded in classic
works such as Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War as well as in a more
recent body of political theory that invokes Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Hans Morgenthau,
promulgates a pessimistic reading of human nature and a competitive model of
international politics. Advocates of this paradigm, who refer to it as "political realism,"
contend that there are no universal values that can be held by all actors in the
international system.
Furthermore, the absence of a world government or "higher power" to which states
must submit themselves renders politics among nations anarchic and unpredictable,
characterized by shifting alliances and the ever-present threat of violence. In the face of
chronic insecurity and shifting balances of power, states must craft policies that serve
the private good of their immediate "national interest" construed as the acquisition of
material power and military capability to compel and deter others while steering clear of
broader, humanistic ideas that depend on the trustworthiness or goodwill of others for
their fulfillment.

World Order: Peace through the Power of Law

The second approach to peace explored by the class is the world order
paradigm. This paradigm, which views the "order" created by practices of power politics
as a form of disorder, proposes that sustained cooperation among states and other
significant

actors,

such

as

non-governmental

(activist)

organizations

and

intergovernmental organizations, is both possible and necessary. Cooperation is

possible because human nature contains the potential for both selfishness and altruism;
cooperation is necessary because the unmitigated competition favored by the power
politics paradigm cannot be sustained.
To affirm that principled cooperation is possible, the world order paradigm
emphasizes human choice and intentionality while asserting that nation-states do not
have a monopoly on power to shape global politics. The nation-state is not the only
forum for political activity and accountability, and the national interest is not the
exclusive criterion for desirable behaviour.5 In an age of globalization, politics involves a
complex interplay of global and national as well as local loyalties, values, and interests.
Modern communications and transportation technologies have empowered citizens to
form transnational networks for advancing concerns linked to peace, human rights,
ecology, and development. The concerns of these citizen networks have helped to
define agendas both for national governments and for such institutions of global
governance as the United Nations.

Conflict Resolution: Peace through the Power of Communication

The third paradigm, conflict resolution, offers a highly pragmatic approach to
peace through the development and refinement of skills for analyzing conflicts and
responding to them with effective strategies of communication and negotiation. Where
protagonists of world order concern themselves primarily with macro-level, structural
issues such as distributive justice and the institutionalization of international

cooperation, practitioners of conflict resolution focus more on processes of interaction

among individuals and groups and on the relationships that characterize them.
According to the conflict resolution paradigm, conflict is natural at all levels of
human interaction and organization, from the interpersonal to the interethnic and
international. Although it can cause estrangement and great human suffering, conflict
does not inevitably lead to violence, and is often necessary for major changes in
relationships and social systems (e.g., the American civil rights movement). Peace,
then, is understood as a continuous process of skillfully dealing with and, whenever
possible, preventing or transforming conflict. To manage and resolve conflicts
effectively, we must become aware of our attitudes towards conflict and our habitual
conflict management styles (competitive, collaborative, avoidant, submissive, etc.), so
as to attain to greater freedom to define our own responses in a proactive and
coordinated (as opposed to reactive and incoherent) way.
To respond effectively to conflict, conflict resolution theorists and practitioners
underscore the importance of cooperative, non-adversarial processes for problem
solving and relationship building, which are often conducted with the assistance of an
external third party or mediator. These processes direct attention to underlying interests
and human needs (e.g., security, identity, bonding, control, development) beneath
superficial positions and demands, and highlight the significance of culture in human
interactions. They affirm the importance of empathy, creativity, and "shared positive
power" ("power with" rather than "power over") in all conflict resolution processes,
whether between individuals, groups, or states. They also underscore the potentially
positive role of non-official processes of dialogue and engagement in today's major

international conflicts, most of which involve powerful feelings of ethnic and communal
identity.

Nonviolence: Peace through Willpower

One of the most common misconceptions about the fourth approach to peace,
nonviolence, is that it is a paradigm that enjoins passivity. From the standpoint of
nonviolence activists, this assumption reflects the dominance of power politics
assumptions, which equate power with the ability to hurt and therefore regard it as the
exclusive possession of governments and armed militant groups. In response, the
nonviolence paradigm proposes that the power of any government derives primarily
from the consent of the people, and only secondarily from coercion. By consenting to
any given state of affairs and operating within the framework of norms that it offers,
human beings empower that order and, if its norms are dehumanizing, disempowering
and dehumanize themselves.
As Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others have underscored,
nonviolence is action animated by principle and informed by the proposition that means
and ends are inseparable. Rhetoric about the ends of social change must always
correspond with the actual effects of the means that have been chosen to advance
these ends. Peace between human communities cannot be achieved through violence,
nor can democracy be secured through armed insurrection within a society. Peace,
then, cannot be disconnected from justice, and justice entails an absence of oppression,
whether perpetrated indirectly by inequitable structures and institutions or directly
through use of weapons.

The paradigm inspired by nonviolence maintains that, in situations defined by

unjust laws or oppression, change may be sought by steadfast, principled measures
(Satyagraha--"clinging to truth") through which individuals with shared commitments
refuse to participate in any actions that they deem unjust and immoral. These measures
may take many forms, from symbolic protests to boycotts, parallel institutions, and direct
nonviolent intervention. Actions taken to promote nonviolent change are intended both
to initiate a process for realizing shared objectives and to invite a response--be it
cooperative or repressive--from the society or governing authority
By refusing to dehumanize their adversary even in the face of repression or
provocation, nonviolent activists empower themselves to work in creative ways rather
than enter into the destructive, "eye-for-an-eye" behaviours that, as Gandhi put it, "leave
the whole world blind." Instead, by overcoming their own fear and anger, they offer to
others a new way of seeing the reality around them, and deny legitimacy to institutions
and actions that violate human community and the principle of ahimsa ("no harm').

Transformation: Peace through the Power of Love

The final approach to peacemaking investigated in the peace paradigms course
is the transformation paradigm, a paradigm that focuses on the centrality of education,
cultural change, and spirituality in all genuine attempts to make peace a reality in daily
life. From the standpoint of the transformation paradigm, peacemaking is not only an
effort to end war, remove structural violence, or establish the presence of external value
conditions. It is also a profoundly internal process, in which the transformation of the
individual becomes a metaphor for and instrument of broader changes. Transformation,

then, involves the cultivation of a peaceful consciousness and character, together with
an affirmative belief system and skills through which the fruits of "internal disarmament"
and personal integration may be expressed. Transformation unites doing with being,
task with experience.
From the standpoint of the transformation paradigm, spirituality implies insight
into the deep interconnectedness and sacredness of all levels and compartments of
reality. It is innate to the person, and may be understood as a universal human "attempt
to grow in sensitivity to self, to others, to non-human creations and to God" that
recognizes and seeks to accommodate the presence of the divine in all actions and
relations. Recognition of this divine presence and claim begets spontaneous loyalty,
which cannot be restricted by boundaries of religion, race, class, or gender. This
universal loyalty, in turn, inspires actions born of loving commitment to the wholeness
and integrity of creation. The personal has become the political in the most creative and
inclusive sense possible, as we seek to make public life reflect non-partisan spiritual
value. We become present in the moment, yet responsible for a shared and hopeful
future inspired by the injunction, "If you want peace, be peace. Be an instrument of
peace."

Promotion of the Culture of Peace

In a rapidly and deeply changing world characterized by the growing importance of
ethical issues, a culture of peace provides future generations with values that can help
to shape their destiny and enable them to participate actively in constructing a more
just, humane, free and prosperous society and a more peaceful world.
UNESCO in its efforts to promote a culture of peace and non-violence through activities
geared to the following objectives:

Strengthening peace and non-violence through education, advocacy and media

including ICTs and social networks

Developing the use of heritage and contemporary creativity as tools for building
peace through dialogue

Strengthening social cohesion and contributing to the African Renaissance

through the introduction of the General History of Africa into formal and nonformal education settings

Promoting scientific and cultural cooperation for the management of natural

transboundary resources

Empowering and engaging young people, women and men

Since its origin, UNESCO has been working towards a truly global movement for
fostering a culture of peace and non-violence worldwide and has been designated by

the UN General Assembly as the lead agency for many prominent global initiatives for
promoting peace.
From the Teachers Guide to End Violence in Schools, UNESCO made the following
proposals to build a culture of peace to face situations of violence within educational
establishments.
1. Advocate a holistic approach involving students, school staff, parents and the
community.
2. Make your students your partners in preventing violence.
3. Use constructive discipline techniques and methods.
4. Be an active and effective force to stop bullying.
5. Build students resilience and help them to respond to lifes challenges
constructively.
6. Be a positive role model by speaking out against sexual and gender-based
violence.
7. Be an advocate for school safety mechanisms.
8. Provide safe and welcoming spaces for students.
9. Learn violence prevention and conflict resolution skills and teach them to
students.

10. Recognize violence and discrimination against students with disabilities, and
those from indigenous, minority and other marginalized communities.
Transmitting knowledge is only one part of what teachers do. They also make an
essential contribution to the emotional and cognitive development of children, and play
a central role in social development and change. Although some students may
unfortunately experience violence in their homes, teachers can provide them with
alternative ways of being by modelling constructive, non-violent behaviour and by
fostering empathy and peaceful conflict resolution skills.
While teachers have a key role to play in stopping violence in schools, they
cannot tackle violence alone. Because the causes of violence in schools are multifaceted, stopping violence in schools requires multi-dimensional actions engaging all
members of a schools community in a holistic manner. Parents, social workers,
community leaders and institutions must work side-by-side with students, teachers and
administrators.
At the heart of the holistic school approach is a human rights-based approach to
education. This addresses the right of every person to quality education and respect for
human rights. A rights-based approach increases access to and participation in
schooling as it fosters inclusion, diversity, equal opportunities and non-discrimination. It
improves the quality of education by promoting student-centred and participatory
teaching practices and by creating a safe learning environment, both of which are
fundamental for learning to take place. Respect for human rights supports the social
and emotional development of children by ensuring their human dignity and

fundamental freedoms, which are necessary for students to reach their full potential.
Moreover, respect for human rights lays the groundwork for a culture of peace by
fostering respect for differences, which is critical to violence prevention. The daily
practice of a human rights-based approach leads to the creation of a rights-based
school, a safe environment conducive to learning where teachers and students together
enjoy and fully benefit from the educational process.

Personal Reflection
As I read the subjects related to peace, I realized that it is really a difficult issue.
Its not just about our own safety but for all the living things in this world. Peace is not
just about the absence of conflict but also the presence of harmony, unity and solidarity.
As a Christian, what can we do in the promotion of peace? Most especially here
in Mindanao where conflict is not new to us anymore. Bombing, Wars between our
Muslim brothers and other crimes related to destruction of peace always seen in the
news.
If we look again the peace paradigm, we can say that it must be nice if we can
apply all these approaches. I feel bad that we had so many reports and declarations on
promotion of peace but somehow we have difficulty in executing those statements. One
way in encouraging peace is through education, we have to act as a teacher to the
people who needs to know about it most especially to young people. We can do it
formally or in an informal way. The best time to time teach is when the person is still
young. Since personality is still developing for children, if we can educate them about
peace then they can grow upholding those teachings. We also have to instill in their
minds that as a children of God, we have the obligation to promote peace here in our
place.
I believe, as a Creation of God, we have to promote peace in order for us to live
in a safe and beautiful environment. According to Romans 4:19 Let us therefore make

every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. We have to uphold the
words of God to live in peace.

II
Mass Media and Values Education
The Meaning and Purpose of Mass Media
A medium is a channel of communication - a means through which people send
and receive information. The printed word, for example, is a medium; when a person
reads a newspaper or magazine, something is communicated to them in some way.
Similarly, electronic forms of communication - television, telephones, film and such like are media (the plural of medium). Mass means many and the focus is how and why
different forms of media are used to transmit to and be received by large numbers of
people (the audience).
Mass media, therefore, refer to channels of communication that involve
transmitting information in some way, shape or form to large numbers of people
(although the question of exactly how many a large number has to be to qualify as a
mass is something thats generally left undefined - its one of those things that people
know when they see it.

The Church Declaration on Social Communication

What is the view of Church on Social Communication? Catholic Church promotes
use of social media, but with caution.
Below are the writings of Father John G. Hillier, Ph.D :

A few weeks prior to Christmas in 1963, Inter Mirifica, the Second Vatican
Councils decree on the Media of Social Communications, came into being thanks to an
approved vote of 1,960 to 164 of the bishops, also known as the Council Fathers.
Ironically, this document with its theme being the media and social communication
essentially went unnoticed because people worldwide were fixated on media accounts
pertaining to the assassination of President Kennedy that had occurred just weeks
before in Texas.
The previous summer saw the death of Pope John XXIII, the election of Pope
Paul VI and the I Have A Dream speech by Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C.
With the Cold War at a chilly low and the Vietnam crisis brewing, the average yearly
income for Americans in 1963 was about $6,000, while the cost of an average house
was $12,000 and a car $3,000. Within this wider context Inter Mirifica struggled to enter
onto the world stage as a relevant set of principles for a world broken, yet limping along
in pursuit of a new, more appealing identity.
Divine Providence would have it that 50 years later Inter Mirifica would find a
climate that made this decree even more relevant and applicable than when it was first
promulgated. The principles and warnings outlined in Inter Mirifica apply most aptly to
the so-called new social media that could not have even been remotely imagined back
in the early 1960s.
Inter Mirifica is both prophetic and providential. Acknowledging that means or
instruments of social communication have the potential of promoting either good or evil,
this is all too apparent with the new vehicles of communication that have become
commonplace in our present culture like the internet, iPad, iPhone, Youtube, and

Facebook. None of these means of communication would have had any meaning
whatsoever when Inter Mirifica was first written. Yet, even for the most casual observer,
it is obvious that this Vatican II decree, Inter Mirifica, speaks directly to those who use
these devices.
On the negative side, these instruments of the new media have become
contaminated by darkness and sin. The most obvious example is the selling of sex that
includes, but is not limited to, pornography that continues to invade the hearts and
minds of the youth and children who have the best grasp of this technology. In fact, the
misuse of these new instruments of social communication has created the so-called
multi-billion dollar porn industry that uses multiple ways to dissuade, yet another
generation of unsuspecting individuals, from choosing lessons of purity and virtuous
living over the filth of pornography. No wonder this 50-year-old document is so relevant
today as, for example, paragraph 10, that appeals to the youth to learn moderation and
discipline in their use of the media to understand fully what they see, hear and read
(and to) discuss them with their teachers and experts.

Paragraph 10 also reminds parents of their duty to see that entertainment and
publications which might endanger faith and morals do not enter their houses and that
their children are not exposed to them.
The Council Fathers could have never imagined how insidiously this moral
contamination would in fact enter the houses so many years later through a vehicle
called the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, their advice is most fitting, minus their
blanket ascent to teachers and experts who, in present times, do not necessarily enjoy

moral competency and integrity, as in the past, simply by virtue of their chosen
occupations.

In the midst of the chaotic moral decay that exists through the Internet and other
social media today, the Church desires to shine the light of Christ into this dark abode.
The Vatican itself is well connected to the social media and, like the first generation of
mass media and social communication such as radio and television, the official arm of
the Church uses the new instruments of social communication while encouraging all
members of the Church to become digital disciples, especially in the context of
embarking upon the New Evangelization. In the words of Inter Mirifica: All the members
of the Church should make a concerted effort to ensure that the means of social
communication are put at the service of the multiple forms of the apostolate [They]
should endeavor to bear witness to Christ in an apostolic spirit (and) in the
pastoral activity of the Church, making a technical, economic, cultural or artistic
contribution. (paragraph 13)
While the Church promotes the social media throughout this conciliar decree, the
Council Fathers simultaneously alert children, youth, parents, teachers, pastors and
bishops to be vigilant in the use of mass media and social communication. They
likewise challenge public authorities to offer authentic moral leadership while stating
that a special responsibility for the proper use of the media of social communication
rests on journalists, writers, actors, designers, producers, exhibitors, distributors,
operators, sellers, and critics. (paragraph 11) Appealing to the good will of professional
media outlets, the Council Fathers also requested respect for the moral law, reminding

these professionals that a great many of their readership and audience are young
people. (paragraph 11)

Acknowledging its obligation of instructing and directing, the Church appeals to

those involved with the media of social communication to embrace its proper use in
accordance with Gods design (cf. paragraph 3). This appeal has been repeated again
and again over the past five decades but, for the most part, proponents of the media of
social communication have declined the Churchs direction. In fact, the Churchs voice
has become more like a voice calling in the wilderness (cf. Luke 3:4). And even when
heard, it seems that the new normal is for the proponents of mass media and social
communication to openly contradict and undermine the voice of Christ and His Church.
Why? The courteous response is because the current mindset in our culture is to reject
the Church as irrelevant, outdated and out of step with reality. Worse is that certain
media outlets and special interest groups have hijacked the language of the Church
and, claiming it as its own, have redefined the meaning of morality and ethics. Their
agenda is to attack the Church and to accuse the Church of promoting hatred and hate
speech which, from their perspective, is intolerable in the present enlightened culture of
the 21st century.

The Media Practitioner as Values Educator

As we all know, the process of mass communication through mass media
has made it possible to transmit the same message to an infinite number of
recipients over a geographical and/or temporal distance. With this, the media
open up opportunities for global communication, a cosmopolitan outlook and the
ongoing development of democracy, yet they also harbor the danger of greater
manipulation.
Media is now one of the greatest educator of Values. Its influence is so
vast that children often believed in it more that their own parents or teachers. .
The reality changed by and changing through the media is a challenge and an
opportunity at the same time. Within the meaning of media policy knowledge,
media education is a discourse not only on the causes, effects and types of
media communication, but also on the various interests which determine the
choice and content of information and the method of its communication.

Personal Reflection

Mass media is defined as a technology that is intended to reach a mass

audience. It is the primary means of communication used to reach the vast majority of
the general public. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers,
magazines, radio, television, and the Internet.
Mass media had been influencing me ever since I was a child. It had great
influence on my personality as well. Example the use of Television, when we were still a
child, TV has been part of our daily lives. In fact, we believed the TV more than our
parents and teachers. Through mass media, I know more things than I know without
and I learn more information about topics every day. Mass Media is all around us,
teaching us, giving us information, influencing our movements.
What is the role of media in our personal values? It has become one our teacher
and it is indeed one of the major influence as to what are our beliefs in life. Mass media
is easy to reach and it is fun. Ideas are presented in a unique and colorful way. It has
also become more interactive nowadays such the usage of internet and social media.
Many shows that promoting good values are also taking advantage if this form of
communication. However, mass media has also negative effects on us since it is not
actually that restricted. It can teach us values education and the same time it can ruin
the values that we had learned. This morning, we may saw a show discussing on how

to become a good person, then in the evening shows that promoting violence may be
seen.
So as a Christian, what can we do about this? We are called to recognize and
celebrate the presence and saving power of Christ and his Spirit in our lives and in the
lives of others. That call means that we have to scrutinize not only our individual lives
but also our collective life as members of local, national and global cultures. The
meanings, attitudes and values, symbols and myths which form the public background
to our private lives have to be identified, examined and judged. If they are found wanting
we should be prepared to challenge them and, as far as possible, change them. Today
that means scrutinizing, challenging and trying to change public culture that is
expressed and mediated by global communication media.
Christian discernment means looking at and listening to our mediated culture with
the eyes and ears of Christ. We are asked to see truly and hear clearly the sights and
sounds of media so that we may know what values and meanings are informing our
culture. But it is difficult to see and hear in a world filled with noise, noise that we take
for granted. We tend to become conscious of the media only occasionally.

III
New Age Movement
Introduction:
The New Age Movement is in a class by itself. Unlike most formal religions, it
has no holy text, central organization, formal membership, ordained clergy, geographic
center, dogma, creed, etc. They often use mutually exclusive definitions for some of
their terms. The New Age is in fact a free-flowing, decentralized, spiritual movement -- a
network of believers and practitioners who share somewhat similar beliefs and
practices, which many add on to whichever formal religion that they follow. Their book
publishers take the place of a central organization. Seminars, conventions, books and
informal groups replace of sermons and religious services.
What is New Age Movement?
New Age movement, movement that spread through the occult and
metaphysical religious communities in the 1970s and 80s. It looked forward to a New
Age of love and light and offered a foretaste of the coming era through personal
transformation and healing.
It is a religious system with two basic beliefs: Evolutionary Godhood and Global Unity.
1. What is Evolutionary Godhood?
1. It is the next step in evolution. It will not be physical but spiritual:
1. For the most part, the NAM espouses evolution, both of body and
spirit. Man is developing and will soon leap forward into new

spiritual horizons. Many New Age practices are designed to push

one ahead into that horizon. Some of them are astral projection
which is training your soul to leave your body and travel around,
contacting spirits so they may speak through you or guide you,
using crystals to purify your body's and mind's energy systems,
visualization where you use mental imagery to imagine yourself as
an animal, in the presence of a divine being, or being healed of
sickness, etc.
2. Evolutionary Godhood also means that mankind will soon see itself as
god, as the "Christ principle."
1. The NAM teaches that Man's basic nature is good and divine. This
opposes God's Word which says . . .
1. that we are sinners: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world
through one man, and death through sin, and in this way
death came to all men, because all sinned," (Rom. 5:12,
NIV).
2. and that our nature is corrupt: "All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature
and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were
by nature objects of wrath," (Eph. 2:3, NIV).
2. It teaches that since man is divine by nature, he then has divine
qualities.

1. This is an important part of NAM thinking. Because the

average New Ager believes himself to be divine, he can then
create his own reality. If, for example, a person believes that
reincarnation is true, that's fine because that is his reality. If
someone he knows doesn't believe in it, that is alright, too,
because that is someone else's reality. They can each have
a reality for themselves that "follows a different path."
3. In contrast to this, the Bible says that God alone is the creator:
"This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, who formed you in
the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone
stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,"
(Isa. 44:24, NIV).
4. The New Ager who believes in his own divinity and ability to create,
usurps the authority and position of God. He also is still listening to
the lie of the devil who spoke to Eve and said that she would be like
God (Gen. 3:5).
3. Reincarnation
1. Though not all New Agers adhere to reincarnation, most believe in
some form or another. And, many believe the Bible was changed to
remove any verses that might have taught reincarnation. But this
accusation only shows the limitation of their knowledge. The Bible
never had any references to reincarnation.

2. Reincarnation opposes the Word of God which says that it is

appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgment (Heb.
9:27).
2. The second major element of the New Age Movement is Global Unity which
consists of three major divisions: Man with Man, Man with Nature, and Man with
God.
1. Man with man.
1. The NAM teaches that we will all learn our proper divine
relationship with one another and achieve harmony and mutual love
and acceptance through the realization and acceptance of this
divine proper knowledge.
1. Within this hoped-for harmony is economic unity. The
average New Ager is looking for a single world leader who
with New Age principles will guide the world into a single
harmonious economic whole.
2. It is also hoped that this leader will unite the world into a
spiritual unity, that is, a one-world religion.
2. The New Age hope is reminiscent of the Scriptures that speak of
the coming Antichrist:
1. 2 Thess. 2:3-4, "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for
that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man
of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is

called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in

God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God," See also Rev.
13:17, 14:9, 11, 16:2, 19:20.
2. Man with nature
1. Since the NAM says that God is all and all is God, then nature is
also part of God. Man must then get in tune with nature and learn to
nurture it and be nurtured by it. In this, all people can unite.
2. American Indian philosophies are popular among New Agers
because they focus on the earth, on nature, and man's relationship
to them.
3. New Age philosophy generally seeks to merge with those
philosophies that put man and nature on an equal level. We are no
more or less important or different from our cousin the animal, bird,
or fish. We must live in harmony with them, understand them, and
learn from them is the general philosophy of the New Age.
1. This is opposed to the Scriptural teaching of man's
superiority over animals (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:19). This does not
mean that Man must abuse that which he is over, but Man is
given the responsibility of caring for and being stewards of
God's creation (Gen. 2:15). God will hold Christians
responsible for the stewardship that has been entrusted to
them.

4. The New Agers have a name for the earth. It is Gaia. Gaia is to be
revered and respected. Some New Agers even worship the earth
and nature.
1. This opposes the Scripture that says that we are not to have
any other Gods before God (Ex. 20:3).
3. Man with God
1. Since the NAM teaches that man is divine by nature, all people,
once they see themselves as such, will be helped in their unity of
purpose, love, and development. The goal is to fully realize our own
goodness. It is obvious that this contradicts Scriptures, c.f., Rom.
3:10-12: "As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have
turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one
who does good, not even one."
3. Additional beliefs of the NAM view of God are:
1. He (it) is impersonal, omnipresent, and benevolent--therefore, he (it) won't
condemn anyone.
1. The New Age god is impersonal. An impersonal God will not reveal
himself, nor will he have specific requirements as to morality, belief,
and behavior. This is why reincarnation appeals so much to them.
With it, there is no judgment, there is a second chance, a third
chance, and fourth, etc.

2. It should be noted that because the New Ager seeks to elevate

himself to godhood, he must lower the majesty and personhood of
the true God. In other words, the universe isn't big enough for one
true God, but it is big enough for a bunch of little ones.
2. There are no moral absolutes in the New Age. Therefore, they claim to
have a spiritual tolerance for all "truth systems." They call this
"harmonization."
1. There is an obvious problem here. To say that there are no moral
absolutes is an absolute in itself which is self-contradictory. Also, if
morality is relative, then stealing may be right sometimes, along
with lying, adultery, cheating, etc. Living in a world of moral
relativism would not bring a promising future.
2. It would follow that if reality is relative and truth is, too, then driving
a car would be difficult. After all, if one New Ager thinks the light is
red and another thinks it's green, when they collide, their different
realities will come crashing down on them. That is something most
interesting about New Agers. They don't live what they believe.
That is because in reality New Age thinking doesn't work.
3. The New Age movement does espouse honesty, integrity, love,
peace, etc. It just wants to do it without the true God. It wants to do
it not on His terms but on its own.

Personal Reflection

As I read articles about New Age movement, somehow I get confused. It shocked
this kind of belief is actually existing since they dont even have a formal meetings or
activities. I found the heterogeneous way of thinking to be weird.
The New Age offers man the same deal the serpent offered Eve in the garden. If
you eat of this fruit (in this case the idea that you are divine), you will become like God-knowing good from evil. All you need to do is deepen your awareness of this new reality
by becoming more open to the Christ within. As I read this I cant help but to have goose
bumps. I was raised as a Christian and I believed in Gods existence and His teachings
in accordance to the bible. The New Ager believes that all of life is connected and a
part of the whole. Oneness is a goal to be achieved. Man and God are one. Thinking
that Man and God are women is somehow ridiculous because God is our creator. He is
obviously higher than us. Without him, to whom are going to give thanks for? For me,
this type of thinking shows the arrogance of a man that they dont even need God
anymore. Saying that God is not a person, but that He is an energy that is in all things;
therefore, you are divine, along with the rest of creation. The Scripture, however, is clear
in its teaching that God is a personal being and distinct from His creation. God, the
Father, has a personal nature. For example, God has a will, God knows, God plans and

God communicates. God is distinct or separate from the world, but He is actively
involved with His creation.
As a Christian, I hope this type of movement will not shake our faith with God.
God is the truth, the way and life. No other movement can shake my faith in him.