I read an article titled “Awakening Avalon” in Whole Living magazine’s Nov/Dec 2016 issue (flip to page 13 here to read it).
Author Tara L. Robinson, a New Age high priestess, calls us to get in touch with our own divinity and let the magick flow. She made a point of saying that she doesn’t like dogma . . . doesn’t go along with “stifling belief systems,” because she is for “liberation.”
Webster’s definition of dogma is “something held as an established opinion . . . a doctrine.” The fact is, we can’t get away from dogma/doctrine/belief systems/teachings. We all settle into some kind of “dogma” to live by, to base our decisions on. The high priestess herself, after denouncing dogma, goes on to announce the creation of her own school. We’re invited to go through a 3-year course!
Much of the interspiritual talk these days (even in the church) is that doctrine/dogma/beliefs/teaching is the world’s problem. That if we throw that out—embracing uncertainty and just floating—well, we’re all basically loving, compassionate people who will, just naturally, eventually create a utopia on earth. (Feel free to pause here and take a good look at history.)
The New Age priestess wants to avoid “stifling belief systems,” wants “liberation.” Don’t we all? But peel off the exotic, surfacey parts of the non-Christian religions, the New Age, the cults, and the occult. Those belief systems are heavy—and unfair (there’s no way to know who’s calling the shots or whether you’re on track). They don’t play out long-term.
But what luck! The Lord of the universe has already set his perfect doctrine in place. All his words are true (Psalm 119:160), and he wants everyone to “come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). His “commands are not stifling” (1 John 5:3, my paraphrase); they’re liberating. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32).
I wrote and told the high priestess. Will you tell someone?
