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QI have recently become aware that three different friends are beginning to dabble in alternative religion--horoscopes and new-age kinds of things like Reiki, crystals, out-of-body experiences, and so on, and that has me worried. I am at a loss to know exactly how to address this stuff. As a Christian I don't believe in it and I think it's wrong, but I also don't want to come across as judgmental or haughtyhelp?
AHow you address friends who are into "alternative religions" depends on what kind of alternative religion they are into. Some strike me as silly but relatively harmless, while others are literally demonic.
But let me take a step back and put "alternative religions" in a wider context, the context of the Ten Commandments.
We tend to think of the Ten Commandments as restrictions on our freedom. Because most of them start out "Thou shall not," we tend to think God is trying to limit our freedom.
But God gave humanity the Ten Commandments not so much to limit our freedom, but to make true freedom possible. Each of the commandments can be read in light of the First Commandment, which doesn't start out with a commandment at all, but with a reminder of who God is: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Then God says, "You shall have no other gods before me."
The First Commandment does not say there are no other gods--there are hundreds of them! It says that the Lord God--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--does not want us to "have them," give them credit or power in our life.
Why? God is warning us that the dynamic of all other gods is that they ask more and more of us and, over time, give back less and less. Eventually, we don't have them so much as they have us.
In other words, it is the nature of all false gods to take away our freedom, to enslave us.
So now for your specific question: I don't worry too much about people who occasionally glance at their horoscope on the comics page, just for fun. I begin to worry when people buy detailed horoscope magazines or booklets, and begin to base actual day-to-day life decisions on their horoscope, or when they begin to consider the coincidence that they are a Libra or whatever to be a significant or meaningful aspect of their personality.
As far as Reiki is concerned, there is a spiritual aspect in any healing art. Whether it is Reiki or Ritalin, the question I would ask your friends is, "What (or who) do you think the source of healing is?" and see what, or who, gets the credit for healing. That will tell you a lot about who their god is.
And as for your friends who are into rocks or crystals: Are these hobbies, held onto lightly? Do they have a "take it or leave it" attitude toward them, or do they ascribe power to them? Do they spend a lot of time, affection and money on this? Do they seem to center their life around it? If so, then that's their god, whether they call it that or not.
But why stop there? You say you don't want to be judgmental, so why not ask the same questions of ourselves, regarding other alternative religions, other gods who compete for our affection, time and energy?
What things, other than God, do we center our life around? Partner status in the law firm? Sales figures? Automobiles or Longaberger baskets? A sport? Our children's activities? Financial security?
That's our god, whether we call it that or not. And if the Lord God isn't primary in our life, the alternative god will ask more and more of us--and give back less and less, until we are enslaved by it.
But if we put the Lord God first--center our life around him, base our daily decisions on his will for us, give him our affection, time and energy--then those other things will lose their hold on us. We will then be free, if they are harmless hobbies, to enjoy them lightly, or--if they are harmful false gods--to let go of them entirely.
THE REV. JOHN OHMER is rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg. For spiritual advice on whatever you're wrestling with, write him c/o Faithfully Yours, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, or e-mail faith@freelancestar.com.