Too Busy Meditating?

Also read: Hoarders ~ Illness or Lazy?

Cartwheels In a Sari - Growing up Cult (A brief Review)

I just finished reading Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult by Jayanti Tamm.

There were some differences with Jayanti’s story and mine. Her guru was alive, and mine was dead. But it does not matter if a guru is dead or alive. If the guru is not around to direct you, his disciples are willing and ready. She was born into the cult, "a divine birth," and I joined (though was told I was chosen to join). Like my guru, hers had a cavalcade of movie stars and famous followers, which were name dropped to further the proof that the guru was legitimate.

Like my guru, his followers believed their guru was special, the only guru in the world with the “truth.”

Like me, the only way out of her cult religion was through her own realization that her guru was a fake.

No one can be talked out of these cults, as she realized when she left--you go it alone.

Even if you were not involved in an eastern religion cult, the story is riveting. You’ll come to understand the isolation, the control, and the spiritual damage these guru’s do to their followers and how there is nothing you can say to sway them away.

The Guru Criteria

It’s common psychotherapy babble today to talk about our rotten childhoods and how many of us were ruined by them. Our childhoods can also be influenced by the religion of our parents. There are many Christians who suffered under toxic family religion passed down generationally.

During the 1960's young people rejected the religions of their parents in search of a religion that would give them the freedoms that they wanted to experience. The Jesus Revolution was one such rebellion. Rather than shuffling into a drafty cold church and forced to sit on hard benches and listen to someone talk about sin, the young people took Jesus outside, into the parks, to celebrate in a joyous manner, focusing on his message of love rather than damnation! They were against the established religion, the blandness and hypocrisy, and rather drew on the counterculture to create a movement. Then there was another shift...

When music became the signature of the boomers, the Beatles' music (in particular) opened up undreamed of spiritual possibilities. We wanted to emulate our rock heroes, and that’s when many of us experimented with drugs. We also wanted their kind of spiritual experiences, and at that time the Beatles were studying with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. More than that, we wanted a religion different from our parents, and something they wouldn't understand. This would set us apart in a generation that defined ourselves as "not trusting anyone over 30."

“All Things Must Pass,” started my inquiry into eastern religion. The *** line of gurus showed up on the now famous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Many of us were scrambling to read the founding guru's book, The Autobiography of a Yogi.

That is how we (and some friends) ended up at Self Realization Fellowship–by wanting to be part of a counter-culture movement that had already passed most major city players. Guru’s were not aplenty in conservative Orange County at that time. The Dutch cows had just left.

In 1967 Self Realization Fellowship bought a church building in Fullerton, California. In a small community, word got out amongst the younger crowd that the gurus on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album had set up shop nearby, and this was the only criteria for us to attend. This seems a very irresponsible way to chose one’s religion, but many things are done in youth that we come to regret.

Now, in today’s world, new-age, eastern alternative religion is everywhere and it’s no longer counter-culture the way it was then. Self Realization Fellowship isn’t the same either. Over 30 years I witnessed many changes to accommodate the modern world-view.

But this isn’t about the church per say, as there are toxic Christian religions, as well. My goal has always been to educate about eastern religions, specifically those that have a guru-figurehead, someone (or people in a group) whom we allow to control us, usually subliminally.

Because I got involved at 18, I was young and impressionable enough to have lasting effects of the relationship. I took a vow at 19 that I would accept the guru as my own, and I renewed this vow many times over the years in secret ceremonies.

There is no greater sin than the one I committed. I denounced Jesus Christ for an Indian guru and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I always loved Jesus, and believed through the teachings of the guru, that what I was doing was in harmony with Jesus, that East could meet West in a harmonious way.

"Those with toxic faith use it to avoid reality and responsibity. It often results in perfectionism; people are driven to perform and work in an attempt to earn their way to heaven or at least to gain favor with God. Like other addictions, it cause great damage, but the addicted continue to purse it." Toxic Faith, Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton

Father of the Faithful

PBS produced a movie, titled, "The Bible's Buried Secrets," and it aired on November 18, 2008. It is now available online. It is considered an "an archaeological detective story tracing the origins of the Bible."

Every time I see a production like this advertised, I'm certain it will be "bent" towards devaluing Christian beliefs. First things first. Our God is a God of emotions and he gets angry about these kinds of productions. Let's take just a moment to read just how angry God can get, and what is the "typical human response to that anger."

Numbers 21

4. They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5. they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" 6. Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

God sent snakes to kill those who grumbled against him; and the people cried to Moses to pray for them. This is what happens. People strike out, rebel, curse the name of the Lord, but when troubles come--down on their knees they go looking for that miracle.

This PBS Documentary suggests the Exodus is not real and will upset anyone who claims a literal and inerrant interpretation of Scripture. "It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. The program claims the Bible was written by hundreds of authors in sixth century BC, at least five books of it during the Babylonian exile. It challenges Abraham, Sarah and their offspring as actual historical figures.

This is more than grumbling, isn't it? People have absolutely no fear of the Lord, none. They seek to disprove him entirely, or his Word--that alone can save us.

What do these kinds of programs mean to Christians? How does does it impact our beliefs? Should we turn a blind eye and just "keep the faith" when there's material evidence, or lack thereof? This is one Christian who doesn't ignore claims against the Bible, especially something so profound as a missing Abraham! If we're missing Abraham, we're missing Jesus!

A little genealogy:

1. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3. Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4. Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5. Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6. and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7. Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8. Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9. Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10. Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11. and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12. After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13. Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14. Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15. Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16. and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

If we don't have Abraham, we don't have Jesus Christ. But the producers of these kinds of programs are not going to tell you that--they assume that most people are Bible illiterate and it doesn't matter if someone is deleted from the Word of God. Even worse, they simply do not believe in the Christian God. Self included for a swath of my life. Not all faith is righteous faith. You can have "faith" in absolutely nothing.

I've been there before--blind by fake faith. I had such allegiance to a guru that I believed that anything discovered about him or the organization (church) was a lie. I went so far as to never question anything about this church. Looking back now, I can actually laugh at some of the absurd stories that we believed to be "truth."

I thought I was "right" and my pride nipped all other doubts. Pride is a downfall for many of us. We'd rather live a lie than have to admit we were wrong.

Not to bore my readers "again" with my rant against spiritual disciplines (even though that is what this blog addresses), but the point is--if someone is decrying our Christian God, and producing"evidence," we've got to saddle up alongside of them with our magnifying glass and have a look at what they've found. If our faith is "real," we'll discover they've found nothing at all to undermine our God. Who do they think they're dealing with but our most powerful sovereign God who created everything?

How much do we believe when evidence is presented in the "ah, la concrete realm of archaeology?" Now that we know what we know about DNA and carbon dating, do we bury our heads and think, "I won't believe anything that conflicts with my belief." We have to ask ourselves if Jesus would have done the same? What does he expect from us as believers? I believe he expects us to know our Bible. He expects us to dig deeply into it's message, and from there all the answers to everything will be revealed.

Is there a place for science and God?

If God created everything (and apparently this is one thing every religion can agree upon), that means he created science. Science can determine many things, and everyday they discover something new. But science cannot tell us how this universe began--exactly. They have theories. Unbelievers, archaeologists, atheists, agnostics, etc., are quicker to believe theories than the Word of God. They rebel, as they have done since the time of Moses. Man is evil, and nothing can save us but the blood of Christ. This truth is more than science can handle. It blows their mind. It can't be examined in a test-tube. It bothers them so much that they're setting out to prove he doesn't exist. They're looking at rubble for their Truth.

Think about that for a moment.

Since they can't find the leader of the Hebrew Nation, he doesn't exist--he was a fable. This is news to Abraham and to God.

Now, I know that many blog Christian readers will skip this post because they frankly don't care about a PBS documentary that makes this claim. Many just don't care what is "found" or not "found" in archaeological digs in the Holy Lands because they're "faith" is like a rock, and they'll just ignore these claims. By ignoring it, we allow it to spread, we give carta blanca to Satan. Maybe they have their head in their righteous sand, and that's enough for them. Or, those who don't believe in Jesus anyways, lean toward agnosticism, or who-knows-what, these kinds of docu-movies just affirm what they think they already know about God.

Giving erroneous fuel to disbelief in God's Word with statements such as "hundreds of authors in the 6th century BC," wrote the Bible, needs to be addressed by Christians. Especially when it broadcasts on a public radio station supported by the public and major corporations. Just because the producers of this program can't find evidence that Abraham lived, doesn't mean he didn't. There are billions of people who lived on this earth and all of them can't be found and categorized by sifting through sand. God's ways are not man's, and yet, man continues to belittle God by making such outrageous claims.

This is what God told Abraham, it it still rings true today: "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward."

First we must remember that Abraham was the "Father of the Faithful." That means we must have the same "faith" that the claims made against him and our God are false. The second thing to remember is hundreds of authors, or story tellers, surely would have re-written his yarn if given the chance. One of the things that makes the Bible so real, is the human qualities. The "Word of God" was written by God and no doubt it was copied by men, but these particular writers (we can not compare to writers now) took particular care in not changing one coma. Paul says, "Now, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might now...not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches," (1 Cor. 2:12-13).

Jesus believed in the authority and inspiration of Scripture. He said, "The scripture cannot be broken," (John 10:35). He said a person cannot treat a historical event in the Bible as though it never happened. Jesus Christ has declared nothing can or will be changed.

First patriarch, Abraham was the founder of the Hebrew nation. In Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, he emerges as a father-figure--dignified, firm in his faith, humane, respected.

Abraham can't go missing. It's just not possible to dismiss him because they can't find his DNA. But, this show came and went without much of a bleep on the Christian radar. And there you have it.

Stand up to the truth about our God.

Bad Vibrations - More on Love

Much of what I've shared on this blog relates to the stark contrasts between my life in eastern religion and conversion into Christianity.

If I can't take 30 years of striving for perfection in a yogic life, and the pitfalls I encountered with eastern religious logic, and share this with others heading "east," and warn them, then those 30 years were a waste. But we know that's not true, right? Nothing is a waste if we glorify it in Christ. We are the sum-total of our experiences. Jesus told me not to "hate" any part of my life. That's how most of us live. Denying big chunks of self and trying to do something with the part we like. We run very fast from our sins, bury them as deeply as we can so they remain hidden, lest we have to face them again and again. Horror of horrors.

The Bible's message will set us free, even though some Christians struggle with believing God hates sinners, and is angry with them. The Bible plainly explains we're not perfect, we're not going to be perfect, so stop trying. Jesus loves every single hair on our heads. Jesus wants us to embrace our true selves.

Eastern religion does not teach that there is a savior who loves us and wants to redeem us. Instead their message is that only through yogic works can we be "free" of the ego and attain a state of enlightenment, or oneness with God.

As I've shared before, leaving my eastern religion was extremely difficult simply because I'd been such good devotee of the program. My unending quest to connect with God, to seek that eternal joy within, kept me attuned with Indian philosophy and the striving for perfection. That eternal joy I embraced wasn't eternal, I eventually learned those moments of peace were as long as the meditation.

I struggled for many years with a "holy" life or "holier-than-hell" life. Eastern religion is more attuned to isolation, meaning that though Hinduism is ancient, it does not have a blueprint for those living in a modern world.

Now, where does love fit in? Being a yogi requires intellectual study and meditation, not the cultivation of relationships, which is where you'll find love.

Because karma can't be forgiven, you work out your karma through yoga, but yoga is a means not an end. There are many disciplines in yoga. I followed Raja Yoga, a "royal yoga" that is, a highway to self realization and enlightenment. The royal highway means you have work to do; you have to transform and purify yourself until all karma is burned, releasing you from the chains of this world. The ordinary man could not conceive the absolute spirit, only a self-realized yogi.

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Meditation was the place to seek wisdom, yoga postures is a way to attain the discipline of body, Bakti yoga is a way to attain devotion. Many practices but no official word from God. They often use the Bhagavad Gita as God's word, there's nothing in the document that can be verified as an actuality. It's a wonderful poem about man doing his duty, but it's not the word of God.

The Bible is roughly ignored in eastern religion. Because the church I belonged to referred to Biblical scripture on Sundays and limited it to an interpretation by their founder, no one considered reading the Bible on their own. Often we were told that it took a "master" to understand a "master," and therefore we would not understand the Bible without the guru's interpretation. I honestly didn't realize the Bible was God's word, or that it's alive. It's called a living Bible. There are over 37,000 promises to be found in the Bible, as well as history, prophecy, wisdom literature, letters and instructions.

Okay, so, again, where was the love in eastern religion? Did God love us when we went to that temple? How did we love God if we were bungee corded to the earth in a dreadful karmic cycle?

What I came to learn was God wasn't the image of man, rather we were told he was a vibration and was part of everything, including this computer screen. It was the vibration of God we loved and were to mold the vibration into an image we could understand and desire. To love God we were to cultivate the desire for God by coming up with a concept such as a guru or a statue of Krishna or a picture of a God, even the picture of Jesus. We were taught that ordinary love is selfish and rooted in desire, so we did not love in an ordinary way. We were told to talk to God in the language of our hearts, that "wanting to love God--was loving God." God would not deny anyone his love if we made a sincere effort. We were told there is no sin, and no Satan, that the world is made up of light and darkness. Good and bad. That the laws were universal and applied to everyone.

When did the holes get poked in my eastern religion faith?

The night my mother died. Sitting in a stairwell at Long Beach Memorial hospital, clutching my cellphone, having just hung up with an arrogant monk, I knew my guru was a god impostor. Sometimes life changes in a stairwell.

My eastern religion leaders told me my mother deserved to die a horrible cancer death, and that she really didn't mind dying in this way, that her soul understood. She had done something to someone, somewhere and she was paying her karmic dues. After she suffered and died, her soul would be whisked off to be reborn again in the body of her choosing. I would never see my mother again. While I sobbed on the phone, the monk told me to be happy for her. Her soul was going to be released. He felt he could do more by meditating in the Pasadena hills, where the ashram resided, than coming down to the hospital.

None of the devotees knew how to comfort me, for to show grief was to show ego earth-binding inclinations. They almost seemed afraid of me, as if I had seen what was in store for them.

No, I was to pick up and carry on in my quest to find God and let the dead bury the dead.

All those years, I'd believed dying to be part of the karmic wheel. Well, here was death. I can say I lived in shock for a good long time after mom passed. The one person I needed to accept me, died, and her last word to me was "shit." I was trying to make her more comfortable, telling her it was okay to pass, to let her pain go, and she jerked her hand from mine and said, "shit," and then she lapsed into her final coma.

I found a bathroom and vomited. I heard someone tell my father of my state and I heard him say in an angry voice, "she'll be fine." I was not fine. There was no way out. There was nothing I could do. It was absurd. 30 years of meditation was not going to save my mother nor give me an ounce of grace. I was on my own. The pain was so unbearable that I was chewing pain pills and Xanax.

It was my inability to reconcile mom's death--or find peace about it, that eventually, though not entirely at once, turned me toward Christ. Because I had been so completely brain washed about the nature of God, when I first began reading the Bible I couldn't grasp the message. In talk therapy I learned I'd formed a religious addiction. Through meditation I sought escape, and so did everyone else I knew that was striving for this oneness, perfection with God. Within their lives, broken marriages, alcohol, drugs, affairs, deceptions, continued but while in they meditated they could numb out, and all these other problems would go away--but they don't go away. They cling to you like tar and feathers.

We would escape into this unreal mythical world where a guru, his monks and nuns, along with rules and regulations put a divide between us and God. There was so much perfectionism running amok that it became alarmingly difficult to do anything within this church without someone pointing out that it wasn't good enough. Silly things like using a ruler to measure the exact location a plastic spoon and fork should be set on a table. The devotees used this perfection system to humiliate and wound "lesser" devotees and to pump their egos. These helpers would be reduce to tears and told they were ego bound, and that "master used to upbraid his devotees," and they were only doing what the master would do. Or, "they were doing (fill in the blanks of abuse) because they loved the master, and we should be more understanding if we loved him.

My eastern religion prescribed to toxic shame in the name of God. They severed my soul. They brought me feelings of distrust, worthlessness, inferiority. Because I came from a shameless home, where abandonment, ridicule, abuse, neglect and perfectionism existed, eastern religion became my new family. Many devotees were from similar abusive families and they passed it on to others through control, perfectionism, contempt, criticism, blame, envy, judgment, power and rage.

When I began to seriously question the flaws of the teachings, I was excommunicated. They excommunicated me by abandonment. I was so wounded I wasn't aware I was being excommunicated. They didn't need me. Not really, there was another putz who'd just joined. Why keep the trouble makers? Hadn't they been really good at getting rid of them? What about those mysteriously missing monks who quit? Where'd they go? Where do people go when they are excommunicated? Don't think we didn't ask! We lost many monks to mystery. The really good ones never stayed.

Spiritually, I was a zombie. I could not pray, nor meditate. I drifted. I tried to read the Bible.

Everything I'd studied was now in direct conflict with the God of the Bible. The Bible was telling me I didn't have to do anything but accept Jesus Christ, that Jesus loved me. He loved me so much that he died for me. I didn't understand this kind of love. I didn't believe it. The Bible is just something made up, I told myself because that's what my church told me. They said Jesus orchestrated his Crucifixion, like a play, that he cast his own characters, that it was just done as an example of how much one could be devoted to God. We could all be Christ-like, or attain Christ consciousness. Jesus Christ had gone to India and had learned Kriya Yoga and that's what he'd taught his disciples, but the secret teachings were written out of the Bible, don't you know? And now Jesus was working with an Indian Avatar named Babaji, and together they were running the World. They were the CEO's. I believed this remake, and so does thousands of world wide devotees, even still, if not more.

The Bible says love compensates for our sin. Eastern religion says you have to work off karma to know God. There's no hall passes. The guru can not release of the work you must do; he's more of an adviser.

While I was in spiritual recovery, I came across this poem, and it seemed to be Jesus speaking to me.

Welcome to the world, I've been waiting for you.
I'm so glad you're here.
I've prepared a special place for you to live.
I like you just the way you are.
I will not leave you no matter what.
Your needs are okay with me.
I'll give you all the time you need to get your needs met.
I'm so glad you're a girl.
I want to take care of you, and I'm prepared to do that.
I like feeding you, bathing you, changing you, and spending time with you.
In all the world, there has never been another like you.
God smiled when you were born.

(John Bradshaw, Home Coming, Bantam Books)

When I began to do inner child work, I began to develop a new relationship with God. It didn't come quick, and God dropped a few wake-up calls into my life to move things along. Jesus' warnings about false teachers hit me hardest. The closer I examined the Bible the more I realized that though some eastern religion has nice-sounding messages, they do not agree with God's message in the Bible. I learned God's love is truly complete. How great is the love of the father! Never had I read so much about love, or how it could change my life. In just a few years as a believer my life is completely changed.

Now I know I will see my mother again. She believed in Jesus Christ. She is already glorified in heaven.

The Lord our God is a merciful God. 2 Sm 24:14

Modern Day Guru’s Part II - Big Sale Today!

All modern day gurus are selling something. It might be a service, a get rich quick scheme, mediation techniques, flat abs, shoes or a fountain of youth.

Today’s gurus are honed pitchmen that know how to manipulate the general public, usually through physiological methods. They make promises that work for a small percentage of the population (usually when diet is concerned). For the most part what they’re selling is a hoax, usually repackaged from older hoaxes, and it’s perpetuated on a suffering group of people, as Thoreau said, “the mass of humanity live lives of quite desperation,” and the modern day gurus bet on this pain—not plan, pain.”

Modern day gurus use a method to sell their products and their religions. They’re master pitchmen (or women).

Jesus Christ is free.

Modern day gurus all follow a pattern for top marketing.

Brand Description - Usually a symbol
Personality – Modern gurus have dynamic and charismatic personalities
Key attributes – Usually enthusiasm and interest in your well-being
Packaging – Study guides, lessons, books that always cost money
Presentation or persuasive presentation – This can range from a guru walking down a blue carpet and rose peddles tossed by veiled women to an austere stage, a fashionably dressed person with a German accident, or full blown tattooed maniac in the spirit revival. However he/she’s packaged her “stuff,” you need it to be skinny, happy, saved or healed.
Mission Statement – Usually to unite something, or enlighten you, help you lose weight, change your life, become one with God.

This is the pattern of Jesus Christ:

Everyone has sinned
The penalty for sin is death
Jesus died for our sins
To be forgiven we must believe and confess that Jesus is Lord
Salvation comes through Jesus Christ

There is no money to be made from Jesus’ marketing plan, so modern gurus think up a different plans—or marketing strategies to sell their ideas, religion or products. Sometimes they mix up several other programs, religions or philosophies, but they’re never a unique idea but an uneducated person won't know this--they'll think this guru is phenomenal, unique, modern, it. All eliminate truths that will not attract followers.

Sin and hell is removed from false religious lexicons. There is no hell or damnation. Doesn't exist, just what's inside of your bliss mind -- Jesus just got nailed on a cross for nothing other than he "staged it" and "man" wrote the Bible so it's flawed.

The do not advise you to read the Bible but they'll surely miss quote it.

Your failure is their cornerstone to success. It’s your fault and you need to take step two, or buy this book, teaching, food, whatever they’re selling. It then requires your study and application, usually filling all of your free time so you have no time to think about the insane thing you're involved in, and when you fail they’ll blame your inability to understand the program. You’ll leave and find another modern day guru who will promise you the same thing.

In what ways will you fail?

You will not lose those ten pounds - and keep them off forever
You will not find the truth inside of you
You will not free yourself from your mind without a lobotomy
You will not find cosmic consciousness
You will not be stress free
You will not appreciate every moment of your life
You will not see a flower growing

Jesus Christ does not make promises he can’t keep. Once he said it, it’s done, so strong is his promise.

He gives assurance that you’re saved eternally. “These things I have written to you so you believe on the Son of God; that you know you have eternal life.”1 John 5:13

If gurus promise you’ll feel “something” as proof their brand of religion is real, remember this: “Do not say, I don’t feel it? Feeling is not the evidence, or proof for you to trust. Your feelings may change like the wind, but God’s Word never changes. He says: Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:35

Which words would you rather trust? God’s unchanging Word, or your ever changing feelings?

Jesus promise is simple – accept Him and be saved.

Guru’s programs are complex and there’s a lot to do and remember. Gurus will tell you it’s an inner world to strive for, but Jesus says we are not saved by trying, but by trusting in what He has done for us.

Stay tuned for part III - Who are Modern Day Guru's

Modern Day Guru's Part I - It's all in a Name

“The right name is an advertisement in itself.”

Hopkins, Claude

-American jazz pianist and bandleader

The word guru from Merriam Webster Online means:

1: a personal religious teacher and spiritual guide in Hinduism

2: a: a teacher and especially intellectual guide in matters of fundamental concern b: one who is an acknowledged leader or chief proponent c: a person with knowledge or expertise: expert

The first meaning of a word is its strongest definition. Remember that rule when writing.

Before we jump into modern gurus, let’s understand the term. A guru is a Hindu teacher. The second meaning was added to Webster’s more recently, yet I’m unable to site the date (if you can contribute that information, please email me).

I currently have in my possession a Christian magazine with an article titled: "How this exercise guru brings fitness and faith--"

As Christian’s, especially Christian writers, shouldn’t we shy away from any references to Hinduism? But what about the second meaning? It’s a second meaning. A good writer uses their strongest vocabulary to make a themselves clear, and that’s my point here. Guru is now cultural for anyone who’s a leader in a particular field. There is a guru energy drink, jazz gurus, a current cutesy comedy movie about a guru, staring Mike Myers, there are marketing gurus, golf gurus, there’s a guru power bar, management gurus, fitness gurus and guru shoes. There are 92,600,000 guru definitions on Google as of July of 2008. That’s a lot of gurus, and none of them should be in reference to a Christian.

Part II of this series will unpack what modern gurus are selling.

**Artwork Permission from Zeb Toons copyrighted

Part II of this series will unpack what modern gurus are selling.