In response to letter targeting Faith columnist

I've read Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones' column in the Acorn many times, and there is no doubt he is a truly compassionate individual with good intentions, and I appreciate his efforts to bring more love and light into the world.

However, as Mark Buchler recently pointed out in his letter to the Acorn, Dennis' frequent references to Jesus do contradict the Bible and are contrary to the Christian worldview in general.

In his letter, Mark cites several Bible passages to make his point, but in this brief letter I would like to offer an insight of my own that might help clarify things.

That is, I grew up in New Age spirituality and was quite devoted to it for most of my life, but in my 30s I became a Christian and my worldview changed completely. After becoming a Christian I developed a passion for studying the Bible, and for several years now it has been a continual source of inspiration and guidance for me.

Consequently, because of my New Age background, when I read Dennis' columns I immediately recognized the New Age perspective. We can compare Dennis' teachings to the Bible, verse by verse, and see that they are contrary, but it might be simpler to just recognize that we are really comparing New Age with Christianity.

As our society becomes increasingly multicultural, we will no doubt see a parallel increase in such attempts at religious syncretism, i.e. Jesus as only a "teacher."

On the one hand, that's a good thing because we have the privilege of living in a country where choice of religion is according to individual conscience, so we need to be tolerant of others' desire to express what they believe, which I'm sure Mark is; yet at the same time this also means we have the privilege of expressing our concern that people will be misled about the orthodox teachings of our religion.

I'm sure that many feel Dennis' columns are basically innocuous and warm, but having been on both sides of the fence I can also see where many of his ideas are problematic for Christians and not so innocuous; and it's not just a matter of Jesus' identity but the whole worldview in general.

I personally have no problem with Dennis' columns appearing in the Acorn because I'm sure they are helpful to many, but it would be nice if a Christian writer could also post a column. Michael LeVan Simi Valley