She has done a LOT of reading of fairly new age stuff - stuff that empowers her to feel like she must make herself happy. That really complicates things.
Anybody know about any of this?
Yes, unfortunately, I do know alot about the New Age Movement. It's EVERYWHERE in our culture - some hidden, some not.
This website describes it pretty well (read up):
http://www.carm.org/nam/nawhatis.htm A couple of important points about New Age:
What the New Age Movement does not do. It does not teach that man is a sinner - Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:3.
It does not teach that man is dependent upon God for all things - Isaiah 43:7; James 1:17.
It does not teach that punishment is eternal - Rev. 14:11.
It does not teach that the wages of sin is eternal separation from God - Rom. 6:23; Isaiah 59:2.
It does not teach that Jesus is the only way to God - Matt. 11:27; John 14:6.
It does not accept Christianity as the truth - 2 Tim. 3:16.
The New Age Interpretation of Christianity God is not a personal heavenly Father but an impersonal force.
God is all and all is God. God is not the "wholly other" creator of all, but part of all that exists.
There is nothing that is not God. (This is pantheism.)
There is no sin, only incorrect understanding of truth. Knowledge is what saves, not Jesus.
He11 is not a place but an experience here on Earth; it is a state of mind.
Jesus was just one of many way showers of divine truth. He exemplified the Christ consciousness probably better than anyone else.
Christ is a consciousness, a form of the higher self. It is possessed by all because everyone is divine. "It is not Christ that can be crucified" (Miracles, Lesson 303, p. 441).
"A miracle is a correction...It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error" (Miracles, p. 164). A miracle to a New Ager is not God's intervention into this world to perform His will but the realization of the true reality that God is all and that you are God.
The New Age View of Man Since all is God, and man is part of all, then man is God. This is pantheism.
This is an eastern mystical belief system that has crept into mainstream America.
God is not part of creation. He is separate from it and made it (Isaiah 44:24). Therefore, man is good by nature.
Man is not good by nature (Eph. 2:3). Man has infinite potential.
This arrogant conclusion based upon false concepts of grandiose self worth, is a deceptive, self-satisfying indulgence into pride. As Satan wanted to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-17) and encouraged Adam and Eve to be like God also (Gen. 3:1-5),
the New Ager listens to the echo of that Edenic lie and yields to it willingly. Man is one with the universe.
Again the difference between man and creation is blurred.
Man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). The universe is not. Man is different than creation. Scary stuff if you asked me. It's in your kids books at school talking about how we are all part of the whole - one with nature, etc. It's in your kids cartoons - talking about using the force for good (Daniel 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the
God of forces : and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.) It's on TV everyday (Oprah is a big New Ager along with many many others). Everything in our culture has absorbed it.
But, what is most scary is they are using Christian terms to confuse people. Oprah talks about God alot. She even talks about Jesus. But, she is certainly not referring to the God of the Bible or the Jesus I know.
http://www.goodfight.org/hwowinfrey.html I'd get her as far away from the New Age Movement as possible (if you can) because this is driving her away from you & away from God.