The "Course" And Christianity

Wapnick summarizes the four major differences between "The Course" and
Christianity as:

1) A Course in Miracles teaches that God did not create the physical
universe, which includes all matter, form, and the body; the Bible states
that He did.

#### How does "The Course" then define God? Can God even be defined? Isn't the theory that "we" (whatever that is) created the universe just as indefinable?  My understanding of this matter is that God created everything out of himself. However there are many aspects of God. So while aspect X (of God) may not have created the universe, aspect Y (of God) may very well have done so. So this assertion of the Course's could very well boil down to semantics. However, at the superficial surface level, this assertion is indeed an eye opening and radical statement.

Also when interpreted at the surface level this assertion conflicts with the statement denying the reality of separation. If God did not create the Universe then something "NOT God" must have. Since the "separation" between "God" and "Not God" is in reality a falsehood, then the above assertion must also be false. If there is only One Doer in Reality, then that Doer is responsible for everything that gets done. jc

2) The God of a Course in Miracles does not even know about the sin of separation (since to know about it would make it real), let alone react to it; the God of the Bible perceives sin directly, as is portrayed in the Garden of Eden story discussed later in the dialogue, and His responses to it are vigorous, dramatic, and at times punitive, to say the very least.

#### This assertion seems to state that whatever the "Course" defines as "God" is not an omniscient type of God. In my book a non-omniscient God, is not in reality God, but at best merely some "aspect of God" that they are choosing to call by the name "God". It could be that "The Course" is trying to get by with a limited "God Vocabulary" and thus may be open to the charge of equivocation (using the same term to mean different things depending upon very subtle differences in context).

3) A Course in Miracles' Jesus is equal to everyone else, a part of God's one Son or Christ; the Bible's Jesus is seen as special, apart, and therefore ontologically different from everyone else, being God's only begotten Son, the second person of the Trinity.

#### I can see both sides of this issue. For Jesus was both the Great Example, and the Great Exception.

4) The Jesus of A Course in Miracles is not sent by God to suffer and die on the cross in a sacrificial act of atonement for sin, but rather teaches that there is no sin by demonstrating that nothing happened to him in reality, for sin has no effect on the love of God; the Jesus of the Bible agonizes, suffers, and dies for the sins of the world in an act that brings vicarious salvation to humanity, thereby establishing sin an death as real, and moreover clearly reflecting that God has been affected by Adam's sin and must respond to its actual presence in the world by sacrificing His beloved Son.

##### Here we get back to the same "Divine Paradox" which seems to run through and though "The Course"

It seems that "The Course" takes a particular slant on how it looks at the "Divine Paradox". When the course speaks of "in reality" it must be taking the point of view on things from the perspective of THE ALL.

Quoting from "The Kybalion"

The half-wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its Laws- such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements by reason of their folly. The truly wise, knowing the nature of the Universe, use LAW against laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph. Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower - escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher. Transmutation, not  presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master

This is the Paradox of the Universe, resulting from the Principle of Polarity which manifests when THE ALL begins to create - hearken to it for it points the difference between half-wisdom and wisdom. While to THE INFINITE ALL, the Universe, its Laws, its Powers, its Life, its Phenomena, are as things witnessed in the state of Meditation or Dream; yet to all that is Finite, the Universe must be treated as Real, and life, and action, and thought, must be based thereupon, accordingly, although with an ever
understanding of the Higher Truth. Each according to its own Plane and Laws. Were THE ALL to imagine that the Universe were indeed Reality, then woe to the Universe, for there would be then no escape from lower to higher, divineward - then would the Universe become a fixity and progress would be impossible. And if Man, owing to half-wisdom, acts and lives and thinks of the Universe as merely a dream (akin to his own finite dreams) then indeed does it so become for him, and like a sleep-walker he stumbles ever around and around in a circle, making no progress, and being forced into an awakening at last by his falling bruised and bleeding over the
Natural Laws which he ignored. Keep your mind ever on the Star, but let your eyes watch over your footsteps, lest you fall into the mire by reason
of your upward gaze.

Remember the Divine Paradox, that while the Universe IS NOT, still IT IS. Remember ever the Two Poles of Truth - the Absolute and the Relative.
Beware of Half-Truths.

What Hermetists know as "the Law of Paradox" is an aspect of the Principle of Polarity. The Hermetic writings are filled with references to the appearance of the Paradox in the consideration of the problems of Life and Being. The Teachers are constantly warning their students against the error of omitting the "other side" of any question. And their warnings are particularly directed to the problems of the Absolute and the Relative, which perplex all  students of philosophy, and which cause so many to think and act contrary to what is generally known as "common sense". And we caution all students to be sure to grasp the Divine Paradox of the Absolute and Relative, lest they become entangled in the mire of Half-Truth. With this in view this particular lesson has been written. Read it carefully!

The first thought that comes to the thinking man after he realizes the truth that the Universe is a Mental Creation of THE ALL, is that the Universe and all it contains is a mere illusion; an unreality; against which idea his instincts revolt. But this like all other great truths must be considered from the Absolute and Relative points of view. From the Absolute viewpoint, of course, the Universe is in the nature of an illusion, a dream, a phantasmagoria, as compared to THE ALL in itself. We recognize this even in our ordinary view, for we speak of the world as "a fleeting show" that comes and goes, is born and dies - for the element of impermanence and change, finiteness and unsubstantiality, must ever be connected with the idea of a created Universe when it is contrasted with the idea of THE ALL, no matter what may be our beliefs concerning the nature of both. Philosopher, metaphysician, scientist and theologian all agree upon this idea, and the thought is found in all forms of philosophical thought and religious conceptions, as well as in the theories of the respective schools of metaphysics and theology.

So the Hermetic Teachings do not preach the unsubstantiality of the Universe in any stronger terms that those more familiar to you, although their presentation of the subject may seem somewhat more startling. Anything that has a beginning and an ending must be, in a sense, unreal and untrue, and the Universe comes under the rule, in all schools of thought. From the Absolute point of view, there is nothing Real except THE ALL, no matter what terms we may use in thinking of, or discussing the subject. Whether the Universe be created of Matter, or whether it be a Mental Creation in the Mind of THE ALL - it is unsubstantial, non-enduring a thing of time, space, and change. We want you to realize this fact thoroughly, before you pass judgment on the Hermetic conception of the Mental nature of the Universe. Think over any and all of the other conceptions, and see whether this be not true of them.

But the Absolute point of view shows merely one side of the picture - the other side is the Relative one. Absolute Truth has been defined as "Things as the mind of God knows them," while Relative Truth is "Things as the highest reason of Man understands them." And so while to THE ALL the Universe must be unreal and illusionary, a mere dream or result of meditation - nevertheless, to the finite minds forming a part of that Universe, and viewing it through mortal faculties, the Universe is very real indeed, and must be so considered. In recognizing the Absolute view, we must not make the mistake of ignoring or denying the facts and phenomena of the Universe as they present themselves to our mortal faculties - we are not THE ALL, remember.

(there's another 8 pages of explanations and examples, but my hand is tired of tying anymore, I hope you get the gist of it)

jc