Interview with Richard Abanes about Tolle, Part 3

July 16, 2008 Posted by Roger Overton

Is there such a thing as sin in Tolle's worldview?

There is no such thing as the Christian concept of “sin” in Tolle's
view. He might use the word “sin,” but he has radically
redefined it to fit his body of teachings. What irritates me the most is how he
makes his view about so-called “sin” sound so right, even though it's
so wrong. He states: ““Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood
and misinterpreted. Literally translated from the ancient Greek in which the
New Testament was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who
misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence.”

We must remember that Tolle usually cares very little about interpreting
anything in context, and cares even less about things like a verse’s
historical/cultural backdrop, grammar, or the meaning of the original language
words used in the New and Old Testaments. He views such things as
obstacles to understanding the Bible through enlightenment or one's own inner
realized truth. Yet here we have him suddenly appealing to the Greek word for
“sin” to prove his point! This is the height of inconsistency. Why not pay
attention to the Greek everywhere else in the New Testament? Answering that
question, of course, takes no guesswork. Basically, Tolle mentioned the Greek
because the definition of the Greek word for sin (hamartano) happens to
be a definition that he is able to bend to his own uses.

Concerning the definition Tolle quotes (i.e., “miss the mark, as an archer who
misses the target”), that is a correct literal translation of hamartano. But
the obvious question is: What is the mark/ target being missed? At this point,
Tolle suddenly has a serious problem. He can no longer appeal to either the
original languages or the actual translated text because nothing in the Bible
indicates that the “mark” or the “target” is “the point of human existence.”

Predictably, Tolle’s references to the Greek stop immediately. There is no
mention of any Bible verses. And he quotes no New Testament writers—or even
Jesus. Instead, he conveniently flips back into using his esoteric system of
biblical interpretation. Contrary to Tolle, scripture indicates that the “mark”
or the “target” that is missed when we sin (hamartano) is God’s righteous,
holy, perfect, just, complete law of conduct that is consistent with his own
divine will and ways. That is why we all sin (hamartano, miss the mark). No one
can measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. No one can reach God’s
perfection. “For all have sinned and fall short [miss the mark] of the glory of
God” (Rom. 3:23).

Most troubling is how Tolle not only ignores/rejects the concept of
“sin.” But he also goes so far to dismiss the true existence of
absolute evil in general! Things like absolute good and absolute evil to Tolle
are nothing but mere illusions — i.e., our minds only think something is
either evil or good based on our over-attachments to the illusions of form that
we see. Put another way, A drive-by shooting on some inner-city street that
takes the life of an innocent child—not evil. The kidnapping and torture of
Americans in the Middle East—not evil. Sexual
abuse perpetrated by a pedophile—not evil. The Nazi Holocaust—not evil. The
“Truth,” according to Tolle’s paradigm, is that our deceived minds have grown so
attached to illusory forms that we mistakenly think the evil we see is
real—i.e., evil, wrong, and sinful.

But the Bible nowhere speaks of good/bad or evil/righteousness as only an
illusion. Both good and evil are discussed in scripture as absolute realities
that have consequences in this life and in the afterlife. In fact, the prophet
Amos cried out to Israel,
“Seek good, not evil, that you may live. . . . Hate evil, love good” (Amos
5:14–15; cf. Rom.
12:9). Jesus also had many things to say on the nature of good and evil,
clearly believing that both were quite real (Mark 3:4; John 5:29). He even
categorized some people as evil and some people as good (Matt. 5:45; 12:34–35).

One of the quotes from Tolle says, “To me, Jesus
stands for humanity.” Given his pantheistic worldview, what is humanity to
him?

All of us, and everything around us, is nothing but one big illusion, says
Tolle! The only Reality is the underlying divine Life-Essence that permeates
all that is. This Life-Essence is “God.” According to Tolle, we must
look past the illusion of forms we see, and by doing so, transcend those
illusions so that we can grasp who we really are. Once we grasp who we are,
Tolle says we will be able to disconnect our minds from those illusions –
i.e., the fountain of all pain, suffering, worry, and trauma.

Without a biblical understanding of sin, does Tolle teach any sort of
salvation?

Tolle not only redefines “salvation” in a non-Christian sense, but
actually has the audacity to say that his definition of it is the real
definition of it intended by Jesus/the Bible. He defines it as personal
enlightenment, or the realization of one's own divinity — i.e., salvation
marks a shift in consciousness. He has said this very plainly: “In Hindu
teachings (and sometimes in Buddhism also), this transformation [of human
consciousness] is called enlightenment. In the teachings of Jesus, it is
salvation.”

But this is not what the Bible teaches when it comes to salvation. The New
Testament Greek word translated as “salvation” (sōtēria) means
“deliverance, preservation” (i.e., from any kind of danger). Its root
words, saos and sōzō, “add the notion of wholeness, soundness, health,
giving 'salvation' a medical connotation.” The word salvation clearly
paints an idea of someone being rescued and/or healed. Jesus, in fact,
described himself as a “physician” (Mark 2:17 KJV).

Healed from what? Rescued from what? These questions are answered in simple
terms throughout scripture. We are healed of the disease of sin that afflicts
our soul (Ps. 41:4; James 5:16; 1 Peter 2:24), and we are rescued/delivered
from the effects of that sin-i.e., eternal death, separation from God (Matt.
8:11-12; 10:28; 13:42, 50; 25:46; Luke 13:24-28; 2 Thess. 1:6-10; Heb.
10:26-27; Rev. 20:11-15). “Salvation” through Christ brings the
opposite of eternal death, which is eternal life-i.e., everlasting life with
God, in his presence throughout eternity. As Jesus boldly promised: “I am
the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John
11:25-26).