Back in January, 2005, Deepak Chopra appeared on Lee Strobel's television program, Faith Under Fire and debated Christian Apologist Greg Koukl on the topic of "The Future of Faith."
As a recipient of Greg's email alerts I received an email telling me the date, time and channel of the program. Greg also stated the following in his email:
I think you'll find the discussion stimulating and revealing. I think it's also a great opportunity for the Kingdom. Please pray there will be a powerful impact from the exchange between Chopra and me.
Greg
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"I have come in to the world to bear witness to the truth."--Jesus, John 18:37
My initial reaction to the show:
Great show!
This broadcast was absolutely fabulous! Greg Koukl pointed out the fact that people can have differing beliefs regarding faith, but that it is logically impossible for them all to be true at the same time. His trust in Jesus Christ and God's Word stood in direct contrast to Deepak Chopra who admitted "embracing his uncertainty." Koukl's view demonstrates a steadfast and true faith where Chopra's view can only lead to theological oblivion.
__________________
Christine
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Colossians 2:8
The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong to those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
I gathered some additional comments over at my Talk Wisdom forum:
Messengers of an Impersonal God?
I watched Greg Koukl and Deepak Chopra discuss the future of faith on Lee Strobel's Faith Under Fire last night. Dr. Chopra has written numerous books on New Age spirituality that have sold millions of copies. Greg did a superb job of representing the gospel in content and character, modeling the qualities of an ambassador that he and the folks at Stand to Reason seek to instill in others. He repeatedly demonstrated the problems with religious relativism and exposed the fact that, contrary to his denial that he is dogmatic, Dr. Chopra adheres to a theological position of which he seeks to persuade others.
As a sign of respect for Jesus, Dr. Chopra said that his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is among his favorites and that he carries a copy of it with him. However, he considers Jesus only one among a number of God's messengers. Not only is this a contradiction of the biblical witness to Jesus' uniqueness, it's also unintelligible given Dr. Chopra's own concept of the nature of God. You see, Dr. Chopra emphatically denies that God is a personal being.
The concept of messenger presupposes two activities, both of which can only be performed by persons. The first is that of sending or commissioning. The summer before I went to college I worked as a messenger for a law firm in Manhattan. They sent me and my co-workers on various assignments to deliver important documents to other firms and businesses. I didn't decide what my destination was to be. Nor did I decide at what times I would go on these errands. All of that was dictated to me by my employer. A messenger is one who is sent by someone not something.
The second activity presupposed by the concept of messenger is communication. A messenger is one who conveys a what? That's right - a message. The task of a messenger is to convey some kind of communication from the one who sent him or her to the recipient. If I were to tell you that my toaster wanted me to tell you something, you'd think that I was either joking or something was seriously wrong with me. That's because we know that toasters and other impersonal entities don't communicate. So, how Dr. Chopra explains the concept of an impersonal God having messengers, I don't know. I don't think he can.
I wouldn't be surprised if Greg offers some more detailed analysis of the exchange at STR's blog so keep an eye out for it.
Posted by KP
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Greg Koukl r0x0rz da hizzy
I only got to see from about 20 minutes after the hour, but Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason graciously, fairly, kindly, steamrolled Deepak Chopra on Faith Under Fire last night. I mean, it wasn't even fair. Wasn't even close. TKO first round, except the fight kept going. I have no idea how Greg managed to wrangle the whole hour---the biggest draw-back to Faith Under Fire has been that you have to address big issues in picoseconds, and sometimes you just can't do that very well. So, to get the whole hour with a single "opponent" was quite the coup, and resulted in a much better encounter with a much clearer result.
I've heard from Faith Under Fire three times on three different topics. First program crashed and burned when my opponent backed out. Nothing came of the second two. Haven't heard anything in months now. I don't expect to, honestly (if you go over the guest list you'll see a few names that would explain my non-expectation), but as long as they get folks like Greg on there, they'll be doing well.
Posted by James R. White
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In addition, SmartChristian's blog pointed out the obvious fact that "Deepak Chopra is simply a new age hindu."
Why am I sharing this with you? Because no matter what fake persona Chopra tries to present to his fans and readers of his books, the true person (emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually) often is exposed during an unnecessarily mean and cruel rant like the one he wrote against Sarah Palin.
Glenn stated some past quotes from Chopra on his radio program. I will try to locate the exact quotes and post them here. But they were similar to the idea that "we all should just get along" and "live in peace and harmony" and "not judge each other" etc. So...what did Chopra do in his angry rant against Sarah Palin? The exact opposite of his guru-type, transcendental meditation gobbledy-gook that he espouses in his books, tapes, interviews and website!
The debate between Koukl and Chopra went on for an entire hour. I found a portion of the program on YouTube, but the portion where Chopra stated that he "embraces his uncertainty" isn't in the clip.
Go here to see just 5 minutes of the debate:
"What is Truth?": Deepak Chopra Denies the Deity of Christ
Last but not least, since Chopra chose to mock Sarah Palin, I don't see any reason to not return the favor. The following 37 second video is truly a classic:
Deepak Chopra Gets Owned.
Hat Tips to all links.
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UPDATE!
Via Greg Koukl's Stand to Reason website, I found a link to the entire debate between Greg Koukl and Deepak Chopra!
Greg Koukl - Faith Under Fire with Lee Strobel: Greg Koukl exposes the flaws in Deepak Chopra's worldview
It will be worth your time to view the entire debate! It is one of the best I have have ever seen and heard!!
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