Jesus Christ! Can it be that A Course in Miracles teaches the opposite of Christianity?
Dec 26, 2019
(By Eldad Ben-Moshe ✨ Reading Time: 12 minutes)
Loved ones ❤
Please note:
The point of this post is not to say which path is better than the other,
but rather to raise the question ‘are A Course in Miracles and Christianity as it is commonly practiced the same, similar or different?’ - and to answer it.
Beyond that, it’s all just a matter of personal preference, not judgment.
Please read this post with that in mind, and share any thought - or anger - with me.
I’ll do my best to address them in a helpful, loving way.
Enjoy!
A Course in Miracles was ‘dictated’ by Jesus, speaks of God and the Holy Spirit,
uses Christian terms such as Christ, atonement, salvation, sin, the son of god…
But is A Course in Miracles Christian in its teachings? Is it religious?
"There is a course for every teacher of God.
The form of the course varies greatly.
So do the particular teaching aids involved.
But the content of the course never changes.
Its central theme is always, “God’s Son is guiltless,
and in his innocence is his salvation.”
It can be taught by actions or thoughts;
in words or soundlessly;
in any language or in no language;
in any place or time or manner…
This is a manual for a special curriculum,
intended for teachers of a special form of the universal course.
There are many thousands of other forms,
all with the same outcome"- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - Who Are God’s Teachers?
1. One form of the universal course.
ACIM (an abbreviation of ‘A Course in Miracles’) is very humble.
It does not say it is ‘the one and only way’ or ‘the one truth.’
Instead, it states in the above quote that “The form of the course
varies greatly. So do the particular teaching aids involved.”
and that “It can be taught by actions or thoughts; in words or
soundlessly; in any language or in no language;
in any place or time or manner…”
It even bluntly states that “ There are many thousands of other forms, “
Additionally, ACIM does not state that ‘if you don’t do this course, you’re doomed.’
First, It honors all other paths that share the same content and lead to the
same outcome as A Course in Miracles does.
On top of that, it states that “Its central theme is always, “God’s Son is guiltless,
and in his innocence is his salvation.”
So even if you don’t follow any of the thousands of forms of the universal course,
you’re still innocent and ‘safe.’
All that is very different than Christianity.
Christianity (and many, if not all, other religions) claim to be the one way.
And if you deviate from it, you’re a sinner, and you’re going to hell.
To me, the softer, more humble approach of a Course in Miracles is more appealing.
I find that it is always the ego that says “I know it all, and whoever
thinks differently is wrong/lying/a sinner.”
I find that love is softer and more inclusive in its essence.
But that’s a preference and a side note.
2. It’s all symbols.
“...words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality.”
- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - What Is The Role Of Words In Healing?
The word ‘Tree’ is not a tree.
It refers to a tree, it is a symbol that means tree - just like a drawing of a tree.
Hence "words are symbols".
On top of that, the tree itself is also a symbol, according to the course.
Therefore the word 'tree' is a symbol of a symbol,
and "twice removed" from whatever the tree symbolizes.
So it is with any other word - including ‘Jesus’ and ‘The Holy Spirit.’
The words themselves are just symbols.
When I say or read the word ‘Jesus,’ I think of the man I heard of,
and I see his face as I have seen it in paintings and sculptures.
According to ACIM, Jesus the man is a symbol for Love (sometimes
referred to as God’s love).
So the word Jesus is not really about the man Jesus.
Instead, it is about Love, and you can replace it with the word Love, or God’s love.
The form doesn’t matter, what matters is the essence, the content.
To use a common spiritual metaphor-
The finger than is pointing at the moon is not the moon.
The word ‘finger’ is a symbol for the finger itself.
And the finger that is pointing at the moon is not the moon.
It is showing the direction to the moon.
So in our case, Jesus is the finger, and the moon can be salvation,
atonement, heaven, Love, God, enlightenment…
The symbol is a metaphor.
And what it means is personal.
It expresses our own experience.
"I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me."
To an orthodox Jew, Jesus is usually a symbol of a false messiah.
He is a villain that is taking people away from the truth as they see it,
away from God as they understand it to be.
To others, Jesus might symbolize Love (capital L, or god’s love), or God.
So the word Jesus symbolizes the person Jesus.
In ACIM, The person Jesus symbolizes the Love that is the essence of Jesus’ teachings.
Love, or God, is the moon.
Jesus and his teachings are the finger.
The word ‘Jesus’ is a symbol of his teachings.
Any other word that will symbolize that for you will be just as good.
You can say ‘dog’ instead of ‘Jesus.’
As long as the word ‘dog’ symbolizes Perfect Love for you,
love that is out of this world, it will serve just the same.
I know this might trouble, and even enrage, some of
A Course in Miracles’ students and teachers.
Like any other path, spiritual or religious, some things are
seen differently by different people.
But ACIM clearly states that Jesus is but a symbol for Love
(with a capital L, God’s love, out-of-this-world love):
"The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol.
But it stands for love that is not of this world.
It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the
many names of all the gods to which you pray.
It becomes the shining symbol for the Word of God, so close
to what it stands for that the little space between the two is lost,
the moment that the Name is called to mind"- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - Does Jesus Have A Special Place In Healing?
If you were born in India, or you follow Hinduism,
you might have done the same practices ACIM is suggesting
but with different names.
Shiva or Krishna instead of Jesus;
Ram, Rama or Brahaman instead of God.
You would have offered your judgment, anger, etc. to Kali instead of
giving it to the Holy Spirit, and so on.
It’s all about essence, never about the form.
The form changes, but the content of the universal course stays the same.
In Christianity, Jesus means Jesus.
And I doubt that saying ‘dog’ instead of Jesus would be accepted by the church…
In that sense, again, A Course in Miracles is very far from being
Christian, religious, or dogmatic.
It merely uses Christian symbols - perhaps because it is
‘a specific form of the universal course’ that was initially intended for,
and scribed by, people of the western culture.
Doing that in Chinese symbols would probably be less
effective for the vast majority of westerners.
The target audience would have missed many of the messages,
and would have been less attracted to read the book to begin with.
“This course has come from him [Jesus] because his words have
reached you in a language you can love and understand.
Are other teachers possible, to lead the way to those who
speak in different tongues and appeal to different symbols?
Certainly there are. Would God leave anyone without a very present
help in time of trouble; a savior who can symbolize Himself?
Yet do we need a many-faceted curriculum,
not because of content differences, but because symbols
must shift and change to suit the need.”
- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - Does Jesus Have A Special Place In Healing?
As we’ve seen above, changing the Christian symbols to Hindu ones,
for example, didn’t change the content, practice, or essence.
My bet, understanding, and experience are that it will not change
the outcome either. In the words of A Course in Miracles itself -
“This is a manual for a special curriculum, intended for
teachers of a special form of the universal course.
There are many thousands of other forms,
all with the same outcome”- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - Who Are God’s Teachers?
3. The meaning of the symbols.
A Course in Miracles uses Christian terms symbolically, as we've seen.
It uses Christian symbols, such as Jesus, to teach the universal course.
It gives a different meaning to those symbols than the meaning
Christianity gave them.
And it specifically tells us to look beyond the symbols, not to get stuck on them or worship them:
"Remember, then, that neither sign nor symbol should be confused with source, for they must stand for something other than themselves.
Their meaning cannot lie in them, but must be sought in what they represent."
The word ‘Atonement’ is a great example of the different meanings
A Course in Miracles gives to words compared to Christianity.
In Christianity, atonement means the reconciliation of God and humankind
through Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, Christianity’s atonement is based on the belief that our sinfulness
separates us from God.
In A Course in Miracles, however, atonement means “correction of perception.”
(A Course in miracles, Clarification of Terms: Introduction).
Not only are these 2 different meanings for the word atonement, but the
difference also shows how big the gap between Christianity and ACIM is:
1. In the Christian version of atonement, for a person to be able to be reconciled to God,
there must be (a) sin and (b) a divine judgment of sin.
A Course in Miracles does not support the point of view of ‘sin.’
In fact, it absolutely opposes it.
Instead, ACIM speaks of mistakes. The difference?
Sins need to be punished.
Mistakes only need to be corrected.
Neither judgment nor punishment is warranted for mistakes.
But a judging, punishing God goes hand in hand with the concept of sin.
2. A Course in Miracles opposes the view of a judging, punishing god.
Instead, it states:
"It is the only judgment there is, and it is only one:
“God’s Son is guiltless, and sin does not exist.”- A Course in miracles, Manual For Teachers - How Is Judgment Relinquished?
3. A Course in Miracles sees us as sinless, guiltless, and holy.
It states we were created that way, and we will always be that way, no matter what.
Mistakes that we do cannot change that.
Thoughts and beliefs we have cannot change that.
4. A Course in Miracles also rejects Christianity’s belief that our sinfulness separates us from God. Not only because there is no sin, but also because we have never separated from God.
In fact, ACIM’s atonement, defined as “correction of perception,'' is all about
correcting the belief, or perception, that we are separated from God.
All that could not be further away from Christianity as we know it today.
4. All of us are the son of God.
A Course in Miracles uses even words such as ‘Jesus’ and ‘Holy Spirit’ symbolically.
‘The son of God’, as well as ‘Christ,’ for example, is not Jesus the person
according to A Course in Miracles. Instead, it is everything God created.
“Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you.”
- A Course in miracles, Clarification of Terms: Jesus - Christ
(What God created, and who are ‘we,’ gets a bit more complicated than that.
I can only dive to that depth in my courses and workshops,
so bear in mind this is a close enough understanding of it.)
Christianity would not agree with that, of course.
Rather, it claims that only Jesus the person was the son of god.
5. Jesus the man was an illusion, and but one form of the universal help
In the Clarification of Terms, the course even says that Jesus the man was an illusion - just like all bodies are:
"The man [Jesus] was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do...
And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions."
- A Course in Miracles, Clarification of Terms, 5. Jesus-Christ, 2
It then goes on to speak of how Jesus is just another form of the essence that can be called Christ, and all those forms are one (as everything is one):
"Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal...
Is he [Jesus] God's only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized."
- A Course in Miracles, Clarification of Terms, 5. Jesus-Christ, 1+6
Keep in mind it's just a specific form of the universal course, and other forms switch the word Christ with terms like Buddha.
6. My salvation comes from me - not from God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.
“Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you.
So, too, does the source of guilt.
You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else.
When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind,
you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place.
In understanding this you are saved.
The seeming cost of accepting today’s idea is this:
It means that nothing outside yourself can save you;
nothing outside yourself can give you peace.
But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you,
or disturb your peace or upset you in any way.”- A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 70, “My Salvation comes from me”
Here as well, we can see how clearly A Course in Miracles goes out against
what Christianity stands for.
Instead of salvation coming from Jesus, God, or the Holy Spirit,
as Christianity would claim, the course states that:
“Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you…
nothing outside yourself can save you;
nothing outside yourself can give you peace….
your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can
hamper your progress. You are free from all external interference.
You are in charge of your salvation.”- A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 70, “My Salvation comes from me”
Can that be further away from the teachings of Christianity?
Even the question ‘what is salvation?’ is answered differently by Christianity and ACIM.
According to Christianity, salvation is the deliverance from sin and its consequences,
believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ.
According to A Course in Miracles, however, there is no sin - as we have seen.
Salvation is achieved by abandoning our ego’s stories about who we are.
"Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought; -
you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself"
Going back to the understanding that ACIM is but a specific form of the universal course,
one can say that salvation is A Course in Miracles’ equivalent of enlightenment,
which, again, is very different than the Christian point of view.
According to A Course in Miracles, as we have seen, there is no sin.
Salvation is achieved by abandoning our ego’s stories about who we are,
rather than accepting Jesus as your savior and doing whatever the church says.
"Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought; -
you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself"
Just like in many other spiritual traditions, knowing and remembering who you are -
“know thyself” - is one of the main cornerstones, if not THE cornerstone,
of salvation, or enlightenment.
Which brings us to the next point.
7. You were created by Love like Itself, & you are still as Love created you.
“I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”
“Love Created Me Like Itself.”
- A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 67, "Love Created Me Like Itself."
"Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought; -
you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself"
Christianity claims that we are born sinners as a result of ‘the original sin’,
and need to accept Jesus as our savior to be redeemed.
A Course in Miracles, yet again, sees things not only differently -
but completely the opposite way.
“Today’s idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are.
This is why you are the light of the world.
This is why God appointed you as the world’s savior….
Holiness created me holy.Kindness created me kind.
Helpfulness created me helpful.
Perfection created me perfect.
Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself
is appropriate for use.
We are trying today to undo your definition of God and
replace it with His Own.
We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.
… this is not your tiny, solitary voice that tells you this.
This is the Voice for God, reminding you of your Father and of your Self.
This is the Voice of truth,
replacing everything that the ego tells you about yourself
with the simple truth about the Son of God.
You were created by Love like Itself."- A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 67, "Love Created Me Like Itself."
These are 2 opposing, mutually exclusive thought and belief systems.
Either we’re born sinners - as Christianity claims,
or we are not the body, were never born, and sin does not exist, as ACIM suggests.
Either you get punished for your sin (unless you bow down to external authority -
Jesus & the church), or you’re always and forever loved and welcomed just as
you are, changeless in spite of any thought, belief, or action.
“You are as God created you.
Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God’s Son.
You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness in which you were created,
and in which you will remain throughout eternity.”- A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 94, “I Am As God Created Me.”
This is an example of A Course in Miracles’ teaching of the choice we have to make:
What thought system, what belief system, what teacher, do you choose?
ACIM suggests there are only 2 options: Love, or fear.
These 2 options do have other names, though.
Love is referred to and symbolized by the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God, etc.
Fear is the thought system of the ego.
8. It’s about you, not about God.
In my personal experience, Christianity and the new testament speak more
about God than about us, our nature, and how to attain ‘salvation.’
Yes, it certainly speaks of those, but as far as the quantity of the message goes,
there is a lot of talking about God, and not so much about our psychological
complex and how to rise above it (except for the obvious ‘accept Jesus as your savior.’)
In A Course in Miracles, the focus is about you, and how to do the work
that will help you attain salvation, or at least “smile more frequently.”
(A Course in miracles, Workbook - Lesson 155)
Apart from the theoretical part of ACIM (called ‘the text’),
there are 365 daily lessons, each with its daily practice.
The purpose is to help us attain salvation by means of changing our perception.
"This is not a course in philosophical speculation,
nor is it concerned with precise terminology.
It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception.
The means of the Atonement is forgiveness.- A Course in miracles, Clarification of Terms - Introduction.
Another way to describe A Course in Miracles’ goal is these immortal words,
often wrongly attributed to the great Sufi poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī:
“The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love,
for that is beyond what can be taught.
It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness
of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.”
Either way you look at it, while A Course in Miracles talks about God,
Jesus and the Holy Spirit, more than anything else this is a course about you.
It teaches who you are, what are “the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence,
which is your natural inheritance”, and how to remove them.
It teaches how to correct your perception so that you could attain the
love, peace, and happiness we all want and deserve.
9. God did not create this world.
According to Christianity, God created this world.
It is the foundation of the biblical story, the beginning of it all.
According to A Course in Miracles, God did not create this world.
It's too much to get in to in a blog post, but the basic idea is that the son of god
(which is all of us) had a thought - 'how would things be if they were not perfect oneness?'.
"Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea,
at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh.
In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea,
and possible of both accomplishment and real effects"
This 'what if' kind of wondering led to a whole thought process that culminated in
the projection of that thought. That projection is this world.
It's kind of like closing your eyes and imagining you're on a tropical island,
it’s like daydreaming.
If our imagination was strong enough, it would have seemed real enough -
just like dreams sometimes do.
Either way you look at these metaphors for what really happened, one thing is sure -
this is very different than what Christianity has to say about how this world was created,
and who created it.
To dive deeper into A Course in Miracles' story of creation, check out my courses
and workshops, as, again, that is too much for a blog post to cover.
10. No heaven and hell, no sin, no punishing god.
The meanings A Course in Miracles offers to words are very different than
the ones Christianity (and secular culture too) got us used to.
We’ve above the difference in words, or terms, such as salvation and atonement.
Heaven and hell are yet another excellent examples of that.
In Christianity, heaven and hell are, in a way, a result of your actions,
thoughts, and acceptance (or lack of acceptance) of Jesus as your savior.
God judges you, and heaven - or hell - is your sentence:
your reward, or your punishment.
A Course in Miracles speaks of them as a result of your awareness,
your belief of what you are:
“Heaven is not a place nor a condition.
It is merely an awareness of perfect oneness,
and the knowledge that there is nothing else”
“guilt is hell… your holiness is the salvation”
- A Course in miracles, Workbook - 39, “My Holiness Is My Salvation”.
We’ve already seen that according to ACIM there is no sin,
and you are forever guiltless.
Mistakes happen, and they can be corrected - but the whole concept of
‘punishment for your sins,’ and a judging, punishing God is the very opposite
of the teachings of A Course in Miracles.
"It is the only judgment there is, and it is only one:
“God’s Son is guiltless, and sin does not exist.”- A Course in miracles, Manual for Teachers – 10: How Is Judgment Relinquished?
So yet again, we see that not only does A Course in Miracles differ from Christianity,
but it is the opposite of it in spite of using Christian symbols.
It rejects many of the foundational cornerstones of Christianity,
and sets up a framework that is very much the direct opposite of the Christian belief.
The bottom line.
A Course in Miracles is very far from what it seems to be at first glance.
If you think it is Christian, or even if you think it is new-agey, you’re in for a surprise.
As we’ve seen, in spite of using Christian terminology, ACIM surprisingly offers the
opposite of the Christian doctrine, or at least the opposite of the religious,
commonly accepted, non-mystical understanding of Christianity.
Whether that's your cup of tea or not is but a personal preference.
But if you were ever curious about A Course in Miracles and stayed away from it,
thinking that it is Christian or religious, you can be at peace about that & give it a try.
The best places to start are:
1. The free online version of A Course in Miracles.
Tip: You can start from the theoretical ("The Text") part or the practical ("The Workbook") part, whichever calls your name the most.
2. 🎁 Free Resource 🎁 The Ultimate Guide to A Course in Miracles™
What is it, what does it teach - and what must you know about it?
3. Our celebrated online Course in Miracles Workshop,
"If My Salvation Comes From Me - Why Isn't It Happening?"
I'll be happy to help and answer your questions if you'll have any.
To your better life,
with tons of 💖
Eldad Ben-Moshe
Founder, Teacher, and Coach
Better Life Awareness Center
P.S.
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