Self-Help

For the last few decades, the so-called "self-help" writers have been emerging in the world with great force, and their proliferation has been such that their books occupy prominent places in bookstores and libraries around the world. The reason for their success? A society oversaturated with technology, rich and comfortable, but psychologically unbalanced, lacking horizons in the affective and spiritual plane.

The success of these authors must be attributed to postmodern man's insatiable need for transcendence, the same need that hides behind a veil of superficiality and sufficiency.

Now, what is the ideological framework that gives meaning to all this 'edifying' literature? What is most striking is the appropriation of the postulates of the Christian faith, linked with other elements of foreign origin. This, together with validating this line of teaching, blurs the boundaries between what is true and what is not.

The message transmitted is a pseudo 'gospel' that invites man to perfect himself, ignoring his abysmal impotence to do so. A man who starts from that fundamental fallacy -man's natural goodness- does not need a crucified Christ, shedding his blood in atonement for his sins. Belief in the intrinsic goodness of man disdains the whole redemptive work of Christ on the cross, judging it unnecessary.

This message also seeks to free man from the restrictions that the gospel and its morals have established in society, for a life without morals, or rather, with a morality tailored to man, in which everything is permitted, and in which no one asks him to account for his actions.

It is a message of "self-esteem", of self-worth, which is in absolute contrast with the true character of the gospel, since the Lord Jesus himself taught his disciples that they must die to this life in order to gain the life to come. The essence of the gospel message is the cross ("Christ crucified"), on which all who follow Jesus are crucified.

This literature is inspired by the 'New Age', an ideology of the late twentieth century, but whose roots are very old, and its pretensions, universalistic and totalitarian. Its goal is to destroy the testimony of God. It is based on diverse thoughts, especially those of orientalist cut, and even on modern liberal and rationalist theologies. Its aim is to try to distort the purpose of God, which is the salvation of all men through the only person that God has placed as mediator, that is, Jesus Christ.

May the Lord deliver from this pernicious postmodern plague all those who seek Him and love His Holy Name.

Design downloaded from free website templates.