Om te illustreren wat ik bedoelde, enkele citaten van televangelist Robert Schuller, die dikke maatjes was met allerlei andere grote televangelisten die allemaal ongeveer hetzelfde preekten:
Robert Harold Schuller (Alton, Iowa, 16 september 1926 - Artesia, Californië, 2 april 2015) was een Amerikaanse televisiedominee, stichter en hoofdpredikant van de Crystal Cathedral-gemeente, bekend van de internationale televisiekerkdienst Hour of Power. Hij was predikant en auteur.
In het voorjaar van 2009 kondigde Robert H. Schuller aan dat hij opnieuw voor een korte termijn samen met zijn dochter Sheila leiding zou geven aan de Crystal Cathedral Ministry. Op 13 maart 2012 deed Robert H. Schuller samen met zijn familie afstand van de aanspraken op de Crystal Cathedral Ministry. Het kerkgebouw kwam in 2013 in handen van het rooms-katholieke bisdom Orange, waarvan het nu als Christ Cathedral de kathedrale kerk is.
'Eigenwaarde' als basis voor een 'nieuwe reformatie':
Self-Esteem: A New Reformation
The prime focus of Dr. Schuller’s ministry today concerns the
self-esteem of the individual. This was
reflected in most of his earlier books, but was never specifically formulated until 1982, when he wrote
Self-Esteem: The New Reformation. Dr. Schuller believes that virtually every problem a person has, every ill
that plagues society, all sin and evil in the world, is a result of people having low self-esteem. Therefore,
our greatest need is to have our self-esteem increased.
Self-esteem then, or “
pride in being a human being,” is the single greatest need facing the human
race today.14
I strongly suggest that self-love is the ultimate will of man that what you really want more than
anything else in the world is the awareness that you are a worthy person.15
Do not fear pride: the easiest job God has is to humble us. God’s almost impossible task is to keep
us believing every hour of every day how great we are as his sons and daughters on planet
earth.16
According to Schuller, in order to reach the multitudes of nonbelievers today,
a new reformation is
needed, a reformation based on building up their self-esteem. This reformation must be anthropocentric,
that is, man-centered, not theocentric, or God-centered. Indeed, Dr. Schuller believes that classical
theology seriously errs in insisting that all theology be centered around God instead of around man.17
Niet 'het boek' als basis zoals Luther en Calvijn zeiden, maar 'de Heer' (aanval op sola scriptura):
One might legitimately ask why Dr. Schuller believes classical theology errs so gravely. His answer:
Luther and Calvin were listening to the wrong person! He asks the following rhetorical question:
Luther and Calvin, we know, looked to the Book of Romans in the Bible for their primary
inspiration. Were they, unknowingly, possessed more by the spirit of St. Paul than by the Spirit of
Jesus Christ? Are we not on safer grounds if we look to our Lord’s words to launch our
reformation?18
The implication is that what Jesus said in the gospels overrides everything else in the Bible. For Schuller,
then, some parts of the Bible (i.e., what Jesus said as recorded in the gospels) have more authority than
other areas of the Bible. In other parts of Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Dr. Schuller is more explicit.
But can anything be above the Scriptures? Yes, the Eternal Word transcends the written Word.
Christ is the Word made flesh. Christ is the Lord over the Scriptures; the Scriptures are not Lord
over Christ . . . The Bible must not compete with the Lord for the seat of glory.
We are “saved by
the blood,” not “by the Book.” We believe in the holy Trinity, not a holy Quadrangle.19
Christ must be, at all times, Lord over the Scriptures.20
Zonde is niet zozeer ovetreding van Gods wet, maar het gebrek aan eigenwaarde in de mens:
I am convinced that the deepest of all human needs is salvation from sin and hell .... We come now
to the problem of semantics.
What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that
robs God of glory by stripping one of his children of their right to divine dignity. I could offer
another complementing answer, “Sin is that deep lack of
trust that separates me from God and
leaves me with a sense of shame and unworthiness.” I can offer still another answer: “
Sin is any act
or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem.”21
Any analysis of “sin” or “evil”... that fails to see the
lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem
will prove to be too shallow.22
Classical Reformed Theology declares that we are conceived and
born rebellious sinners. But that answer is too shallow.It ignores the tough question: Why should love-needing persons resist, rebel against, and reject
beautiful love? The answer? We are born nontrusting. Deep down we feel we are not good enough
to approach a holy God.23
He (Jezus) never did call them “sinners.” He saw great possibilities in each of these men. How He tried to
give them the sense of
self-worth and dignity that they deserved! After all, they were human
beings, descendants of God.27
Christ always tried to give man’s self-image a boost. When he met immoral people He never called
them sinners. Never!28
He believed in the dignity of the individual. So He never called a person a sinner.
He always saw
the individual as a saint.29
Redding is dat je eigendunk hersteld wordt:
What does it mean to be saved? It means to be permanently lifted from sin (psychological selfabuse with all of its consequences as seen above) and shame to self-esteem and its God glorifying
human need-meeting, constructive, and creative consequences.42
Salvation is defined as rescue from shame to glory.43
To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image from
inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust.44
Dus van de klassieke hervormde theologie gaan we nu naar een theologie waarin de mens en zijn eigenwaarde/eigendunk/trots/waardigheid/zelfliefde het ultieme te bereiken doel is.
Daarnaast leren deze lieden dingen als visualisatie, de realiteit veranderen door bepaalde woorden te spreken, e kracht van positief denken, enzovoorts. Typische new age / selfhelp / mystieke technieken die niets met het traditionele bijbelse protestantste Christelijke geloof te maken hebben, en alles met het occulte, het zelf gerichte.
Dit zijn dus de zogenaamde 'protestanten' die richting hebben gegeven in vooral Amerika, maar ook wereldwijd.
Dit kunnen natuurlijk simpelweg individuen zijn die het om geld te doen is. Maar allemaal hebben ze met elkaar gemeen dat ze dezelfde soort dingen onderwijzen, van de zelfde scholen afkomen, en ook dezelfde sympathieën voor Rome hebben. Dus dit is allemaal zeer verdachte activiteit.