Fast Forward

The first Jesus is a historical myth of whom we know virtually nothing about, “a sketchy historical figure” who is less than consistent and full of contradictions. The second Jesus is a religious leader invented by the church to fulfill its agenda. The third Jesus, however, is a cosmic person embodying the highest level of enlightenment. It is this Jesus, a type of savior (but not the Savior), whose purpose on earth was to save the world by showing us the path to God-consciousness. At least according to Deepak Chopra.

Some might wonder why this book cannot be ignored. Despite remaining several weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, this New Age book is intellectually insulting, devoid of logical coherence and blatantly opposed to Christian orthodoxy in its attempt to reinvent Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Not surprising from the man deemed the “poet-prophet of alternative medicine” by TIME magazine (June 1999). Yet it would be naive to deny that the basic premises espoused in the book – that the New Testament writings cannot be trusted to provide a historically accurate picture of Christ and that the church has sought to create its own version of Jesus because a desire to fulfill its own agenda – are influencing this generation’s views of God, sin and salvation.

In his own words, Chopra summarizes the essence of his book – “I have written what I think the New Testament actually means.” Replacing the “timeworn” traditional perspective of Jesus constructed as a compromise by his followers because of his failure to bring about God’s rule on earth, Chopra plays an illogical game of pick and choose, selectively determining which words of the gospels are Christ’s and which are those written by the writers of the gospel in order to make sure that Christ fulfilled the prophecies regarding God’s chosen one in the Old Testament. Rejecting the reliability and authority of the New Testament scriptures, Chopra has no problem in accepting certain Gnostic teachings as true. He faults those who walked with Christ for putting words into Jesus’ mouth, yet somehow thousands of years removed from the historical events Chopra claims that he alone knows the real Jesus!

An Amazon review favoring the book describes it as an “imaginative reconstruction of the inner meaning of the gospels … it will disturb the minds of the orthodox, and delight the spirits of mystics and progressive Christians” (1). Indeed, Chopra equates being God with being awake and faith in God the same as faith in yourself, with “awareness,” not Christ, as the path to heaven or “God-consciousness.” In line with New Age beliefs of the divinity of man and global unity, Chopra teaches that with a higher God-consciousness, “’I’ and ‘God’ become one and the same.” Heaven and hell, Christ’s return and a coming judgment are espoused as concepts propagated by the church because sin continued to exist despite the promise of forgiveness by New Testament writers.

Raised in a family influenced by both Western medicine and traditional Hindu beliefs and practices, Chopra first came to the United States in 1970 for a medical internship eventually serving as chief of staff at a New England hospital. In the 80’s Chopra embraced the message of Transcendental Meditation and later the practice of ayurveda, a philosophy originating in India that focuses on the balance of mind, body and spirit for health.

Living in California, Chopra opened The Chopra Center with the mission of “bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east.” In addition to writing and speaking, he is a founding director of and President of the Alliance for a New Humanity. The Alliance is pursuing “the birthing of a critical mass of consciousness” in order to bring “forth a better world through a combination of personal and social transformation … arising out of a recognition that there is only one humanity, one continuum of being” (2).

In a partnership with Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsi, to develop a “wisdom-based” economy, Chopra is slated to begin “consciousness work” with all of its employees through his Soul of Leadership training. The goal is to train 49,000 people next year (3).

While the teachings espoused in The Third Jesus seem so out of the mainstream as to be absurd, there are elements gaining acceptance. In 2007, Barna research found that like Chopra, 46% of born-again Christians surveyed agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” And 26% of that group believed that Jesus committed sins while living on the earth (4). Only 3% of 19 to 26 year-olds who say they have made a commitment to Christ, according to the Barna Group, embrace a biblical worldview consisting of eight elements that includes the accuracy of the Bible, the supreme nature of God, the sinlessness of Christ’s life, the existence of absolute morals and that Christians are responsible to share their faith. It also found that those who embraced these eight components lived a radically different life of faith (5).

Chopra’s re-inventing of Jesus as a spiritual guru and his Babel-ish call for the “birthing of a critical mass of consciousness” and a new humanity that needs no savior are ideas edging into Western thought. Many EveryStudent.com emails I receive challenge the reliability of the Bible and Jesus as the only way to salvation. Spiritual transformation has been shown to be connected with what one believes. In an effort to deal with the negative perceptions of evangelical Christians we must not shy away from addressing the tough realities of sin and the holy demands of God. With humility and grace we must respond to objections to the gospel and intentionally build into our disciples a complete biblical worldview, helping them to see the Jesus written of by those who saw, heard and touched the Word of life.

1) Sam Keene, “Editorial Reviews,” 10 June 2008 <http://www.amazon.com/Third-Jesus-Christ-Cannot-Ignore/dp/0307338312>.

2) Chopra, Deepak, “New Humanity – Part 2,” 24 April 2006, Huffington Post, 10 June 2008 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/new-humanity-part-2_b_19720.html>.

3) Thomas, Eliza, Interview, Deepak Chopra, Feb 2008, 28 June 2008 <http://www.consciouschoice.com/2008/02/conversations0802.html>.

4) “Born Again Christians,” Barna Group, Vers. 3.0, 28 June 2008 <http://www.barna.org/search>.

5) David Kinnaman, and Gabe Lyons, unchristian (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007) 75.