Apologetics: Stranger in a Strange Land – Another New Age Expo.

It’s been several months, which means that it’s time for yet another post about my experience at the New Age Expo. Yippee!

This expo was a lot smaller than the one I went to earlier in the year. It was at a different location that was tiny compared to the last one, yet somehow, the organizers managed to shove at least a quarter of last time’s booths into the space. This inevitably made it a cramped maze of booths and tables (mostly revolving around crystals and psychic readings) that made it hard to navigate. And since most of the people there were selling psychic readings and were doing sessions with their clients, I didn’t get the chance to talk to a lot of people. But the ones I did speak with were interesting.

The first person I spoke to was a lady who was essentially selling various talismans, herbs, potions, etc. designed to bring about various things like love, prosperity, inner peace, protection…blah, blah, blah. We had a conversation about energy and how all the things that she was selling give off energy and can help change vibrations. Her reasoning for this belief is that vibrations determine how we sense the world around us, so various things to affect those vibrations will help change our reality and bring us various things.

This is obviously pseudo-science. While there is something to be said about vibrations affecting how we perceive reality, we can’t just tamper with those vibrations to manifest a new reality for ourselves. Sure, the sound of ocean waves or a certain smell may calm us and help us feel better, but they can’t bring about money, love, protection, etc.

Speaking of that, the next person I spoke to was yet another woman who was selling various types of jewelry that were meant to bring about similar things. Essentially, what she would do is have you pick your jewelry, she would perform a ritual over it to give it the power to attract whatever thing you wanted and then put it on you. We had an interesting talk about religions and worldviews and about more holistic approaches to addressing your mental health, and I was able to share the Gospel with her towards the end of the conversation.

Now, we come to the longest conversation I had at the expo. If you remember my post from last time, you will remember that my mom and I spoke to a guy I’m going to call Wyatt. At first, we thought he was a Wiccan, then thought he leaned more Luciferian, and he was claiming that he was God and could help others reach their god-ness.

But that was the conversation we had with him. This time around, I talked to a friend of his who was part of the same group. I’ll call him Jerry.

The conversation I had with Jerry can be summed up as circular and slightly disturbing. According to Jerry, we aren’t God per se but are part of God in a sense and will go back to him at some point. Who exactly God is or what will happen to you after death (Heaven or Hell) in this view, I’m not entirely sure, as he seemed to be intentionally vague about it. He told me they don’t believe in reincarnation, and when it comes to figuring out morality in this life, while it’s okay to life by your code of morals, it’s better to live by God’s code of morals.

What’s God’s code of morals according to Jerry? Glad you asked. It’s whatever seems good to us humans.

This is where the conversation started getting very circular, contradictory, and a bit disturbing from a Christian P.O.V. According to Jerry, the Bible is man-made, Christianity was created by Paul, and what’s good and brings glory to God is essentially just what we would agree on is good. We shouldn’t judge others as some things are between them and God, and if something works for you, then God must approve of it. Why? Because God is good…whatever good is since there is no set standard other than not being a horrible person.

To support this view, Jerry then resorted to a handful of cherry-picked and radically misinterpreted Scriptures, namely the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman, and the verse about knowing good by its fruit.

“But wait!” You might be saying, “Where in the Bible does it say that what’s good is known by its fruit?” The answer is nowhere, or at least, not in the sense that he meant it.

This quote comes from Jesus in Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus says:

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

You see the problem here? Jesus was talking about false prophets. False prophets in Scripture are defined as those who deny the teachings and commands of God. Sure, they may be doing what seems to be “good,” but ultimately, they are workers of evil, “ravenous wolves.” Jerry, to some, may be doing good in helping them reach his spirituality’s version of enlightenment or healing, but ultimately, he is rejecting God’s commands (like don’t be playing around with the occult, which he is), and selling a counterfeit worldview.

Because of this, since he believes himself to be a worker of goodness who does everything by the power of God (whoever his version of God is), he believes he’s in the right. That’s where it got disturbing for me, as it was clear that he knew at least some of the Bible and was content to twist it as necessary. To some extent, that alone made the conversation almost feel like talking to Screwtape. I’ve seen people twist Scripture before, but to see someone twist it so blatantly to defend their views right in front of me made it hit differently. Add on the fact that he hardly let me get a word in edgewise, and it was even weirder.

Eventually, after about 40 minutes of going in circles, being talked over, and listening to Scripture get twisted into a jumbled mess, I made my exit. At that point, I was so confused by what he was saying because it was so out of left field and tired of going in circles that I decided it wasn’t worth it anymore and moved on. I located my dad and after walking around a bit more, we left.

Until next time,

M.J.