Examining Frannie #7: The Heart in Biblical Theology

The Influence of Eckhart Tolle

A lot of Frannie's New Age teachings are derived from the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. A brief glance through his books The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose will reveal the influence he has had upon the spiritual formation of Frannie. If you want to better understand her teachings then it is highly recommended that you become more familiar with the New Age guru, Echhart Tolle. Here are a few points of similarity:

1) His story is radically similar to Frannie’s - Click Here

2) He maintains a religious relativism which views all doctrine and exclusive claims to truth as a manifestation of the egoic mind.

3) Although Christianity may assist in higher levels of consciousness, it is essentially an obstacle to a highest state of consciousness.
4) Eckhart explains that we must get our usual, conditioned, limited thoughts out of the way. We must become mentally silent. That silence leaves room for the voice of wisdom from within.
5) The egoic mind is a prison which keeps us from seeing the True Self.
6) Maintains a panentheistic position.

Marcia Montenegro, an expert on the New Age movement, has written two articles on Eckhart Tolle which is worthy of your consideration.

A New Earth, Ancient Deception: An Evaluation of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

A New Earth and the Spiritually Elite: A Look at Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

While on The Mystic Show, when Franne was asked by the host if she was awakened or enlightened, which in the context of that show is always rooted in New Age thought and Eastern religion responded: "I was all of that... I was awakened, I was enlightened... some of the experiences where like the Buddhist term satori..." 

The term Satori in Buddhism refers to a state of consciousness of self-realization, that is, the True Self that is one with God.

Frannie’s error of the Perfect Heart

“You are originally unlimited and perfect.  Later, you take on limitations.” “This is perfection.  It is the only part of you that is perfect. Your minds are not perfect; they never will be, seeking for imperfection all the time.” “God pulls us back to the union that we were born to. The truth is that your heart and God are together as One.  You began as a spark of God even before you were born.” “This is who you were and what you sought until the mind complicated things, because it always does.” “we’re going to be God, unlimited mind.”

As we can see from the statements above, Frannie maintains that the heart is the only part of ourselves that is perfect since the heart and God are together as One. This perfect part of us is the True Self which is pure and unlimited. However, this view is a rejection of the teaching that the image of God within us has been tarnished and disfigured and that we have an inclination towards sin, and that this is a spiritual problem in the deepest recesses of the human heart. As a result of the ancestral sin of Adam and Eve, our hearts are sinful and in need of restoration.

For a brief glance at the Catholic view of Original Sin see:

1) The Guilt of Original Sin

2) The Nature of Original Sin

The approximation to truth that we can find in her teaching is that prior to the fall of man, when our first parents were in a state of Adamic perfection, they walked with God in the cool of the day. But as a result of their sin, we are not born in a state of Adamic perfection with sanctifying grace and the preternatural gifts. The spiritual journey is not one of enlightenment where we come to the point of realizing our true perfection which lies buried beneath the ego, rather it is a journey of sanctification where we are restored to the image and likeness of God.

Frannie’s Error of the Egoic Mind

Frannie teaches that its only through conditioning and limitations which the mind takes on do we begin to live out of a false self, an illusory sense of self created by the egoic mind. As a result the mind is viewed as “the enemy”. Throughout her presentation she continues to speak of mind in a negative light, referring to it as something that has nothing to do with God, is always critical, and always complicates things.

“...our minds are critical they speak negatively they look for what's wrong in a situation... the mind is always looking for the imperfection...”

“ ...let your mind let go”

“You let our minds lead us away from God, making Him complex...they tell us what God is and what he isn't, and what he can't be... our minds don't know anything about this our minds tell us what God thinks... the mind knows nothing about the experience...”.

“the mind looks at it [beauty] and just tries to make it different”

Such statements by Frannie are consistent with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, a New Age guru, and what we might find in the writings of Eastern gurus[1]:

1)                   “Do not listen to your mind...”

2)                   “...the mind is the source of delusion.”

3)                   “As long as the mind is there, the real 'I am God' state cannot be experienced...”

4)                   “Our mind leads us astray.”

The approximation to truth that we can find in her teaching here is that as a result of sin we have a tendency to move away from our creator towards the creature. We can pridefully resist the will of God in a spirit of self-determination. As a result of sin within our hearts and what sin as done to the world in general we do pick up negative messages and tend to live out scripts from early childhood. We can easily come to accept things that are not true about ourselves. As a result of these effects it can be difficult to become the best version of ourselves. God wants to restore us as much as possible on this side of heaven, restoring us in the image and likeness of God.

The Heart in Biblical Theology

As a result of Frannie’s view concerning the perfect heart and the egoic mind there exists a heart/mind conflict which is contrary to biblical theology. Therefore, as we listen to Frannie share her teachings with us we are not being presented with Christian teaching, rather she is indoctrinating us in the New Age thought of Eckhart Tolle. While there may be language and concepts that are similar to what we would understand from a Christian perspective, as I shared concerning the approximation of truth, we have to understand that everything she says is contextualized within this system of thought which is contrary to Catholic teaching.

לֵב is the Hebrew term that is most often translated as ‘heart’ in our English translations of the Old Testament. The heart is the seat of the will, thought, intellect, and emotions, all those aspects of the soul which we usually think of as the inner person.

"However, in its abstract meanings, “heart” became the richest biblical term for the totality of man’s inner or immaterial nature. In biblical literature it is the most frequently used term for man’s immaterial personality functions as well as the most inclusive term for them since, in the Bible virtually every immaterial function of man is attributed to the “heart”.” By far the majority of the usages of leb refer either to the inner or immaterial nature in general or to one of the three traditional personality functions of man; emotion, thought, or will."[2]

In the LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, לֵב is translated to καρδία, which is the dominant Greek word found underling ‘heart’ in our English translations of the New Testament. καρδία likewise has the same range of meaning as we found for לֵב

       "That the heart is the centre of the inner life of man and the source of seat of all the forces and functions of soul and spirit is attested in many different ways in the NT…

a. In the heart dwell feelings and emotions, desires and passions.

b. The heart is the seat of understanding, the source of thought and reflection.

c. The heart is the seat of the will, the source of resolved.

d. Thus the heart is supremely the one centre in man to which God turns, in which the religious life is rooted, which determines moral conduct"[3]

Essentially, every faculty of the soul such as passions, the will, and the intellect are all seated in the heart. Additionally, there are also many biblical passages which convey this same perspective. For example, Jesus tells us that “For out of the heart come evil thoughts…” (Matthew 15:19).

Likewise, Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God with all our mind. The Greek used here is dianoia which means... “Mind, thinking, understanding; this is a part of the inner person that thinks and processes information into understanding, including the making of choices, the seat of which is the heart.”[4]

The True Mind and Heart Challenge

Ever since I became a Christian in 2000 I have experienced one of the most common struggles of the Christian faith. Like John Wesley I have known the revelation of God having studied theology and scripture for many, many years. A great danger lies in the mere intellectual assent to the propositions of Christianity. A pagan philosopher can be fully convinced that reason has proven the existence of God, yet in his heart he does not believe it to be so. Likewise, one can be fully versed in Christian theology but never experience the transformative power of that blood which cleanses us from all sin. Our mind has it right, we know what God has revealed, but our heart has not yet come to faith. He is a man that still has an unbelieving heart though he knows the truth as God wills for any of us.

“…who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Listen to the conversation that takes place between John Wesley and Peter Bohler staring at 23:48. And if by chance view the film in its entirety.

The Role of Reason in the Christian Faith

Perhaps the best source for anyone as it relates to the importance of reason is the encyclical Fides et Ratio written by John Paul II.

On the Relationship between Faith and Reason 

In Fides et Ratio, John Paul II refers to theology as “rational discourse about God”, a description which epitomizes how deeply the two are in relation with one another. What is revealed can and is expressed as rational content otherwise it would be unintelligible. Reason is what enables us to think intelligently concerning the content of revelation. If most of the content of revelation is compatible with what can be known through reason alone then we can be reasonably certain of the truthfulness of those aspects of revelation which can only be known through faith. As it pertains to concepts which can be known by faith alone it is reasonable to believe them in as much as they are consistent with what is known, such that what is contrary to what is believed can be shown to be false, and what is believed can be shown not to be absurd. 

·         The Nature of Philosophy

               

Philosophy is the attempt to understand reality, everything that exists whether material or immaterial, through the use of reason alone apart from divine revelation. The inspiration of doing philosophy is borne out of the basic human desire to know existence through the senses, and enter into reasoned discourse from these effects to understand their underlying causes. Essentially philosophy is interested in ultimate causes in determining the precise nature of reality. The use of philosophy is logically expressed by deductive reasoning where one starts with a major and minor premise and reasons to a conclusion through the use of a syllogism, “...which is the culmination of reasoning.”[5]

Through the light of reason alone the intellect can discover many truths such that God exists, that there is only one God, and the nature of his attributes. As an independent discipline, philosophy serves as a bridge between every intellect engaging the same reality and making the same observations through sense experience. Its limitation rests in the fact that it is only concerned with knowledge that can be discovered through the use of reason alone and therefore can not inform the philosopher of those things which can only be known through divine revelation. The possibility exists that one could discover many truths concerning reality through the use of reason alone, however, there are immaterial realities that are not as evident or immediately known by the intellect.

·         The Nature of Theology

Theology encompasses matters concerning revelation and its application. The “theos” concerns 'God', and the “logy” part refers to the 'study of'. In other words, theology might be defined as words from God, words about God, and words towards God. This would include every aspect of revealed religion from His divine disclosure, our reasoned discourse concerning Him, to the liturgical life. Revelation contains elements of reality which can only be known through the light of faith, such as the incarnation, and the trinitarian nature of God. Since divine revelation not only contains knowledge which can be known through the light of faith alone it therefore overlaps philosophy in what can be discovered through the natural light of reason.  Even though truths which are not mysterious in nature can be known by reason alone, revelation enlightens the intellect to grasp those truths more readily. As grace builds upon nature, so does faith build upon reason.

·         The Use of Philosophy for Theology

The more pertinent question regarding the relationship between faith and reason concerns the merits of studying philosophy for use in theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Exposition of Boethius's On the Trinity, explains three uses for philosophy in the study of theology.[6] 1) Philosophy establishes a rational basis for understanding those truths which can be known of the faith, such as that God exists and that there is only one God. This rational demonstration serves as a preparation for the study of theology. 2) Philosophy can be used to explain those truths which can be known by faith alone through the use of similitudes, such as when Augustine utilizes examples from philosophy to elucidate the trinity in his De trinitate.[7] 3) Philosophy can be employed to repudiate objections to the faith; to demonstrate the falsity of what is claimed against truths revealed by God. In each case, philosophy serves the purpose of demonstrating the reasonableness of faith and its compatibility with reality.

Conclusion

The heart of the matter is that Frannie’s ideas are not informed by Catholic teaching. Her presentations are attempts to indoctrinate Catholics and whoever may attend her retreats with New Age spirituality. One could simply save their money and read a book written by Eckhart Tolle because you will be exposed to many of the same ideas. Like Tolle, Frannie Rose has become a New Age guru. Her students are not being educated in the truths of Christianity nor are those who become influenced by her. Take serious consideration of these matters and don’t allow yourselves to be deceived by a rhetoric as if what she teaches is compatible with Catholic teaching. I would advise you to empty your mind of everything that she is teaching you, and to listen to that voice of reason that is beckoning you to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

[1] Goodrick, E. W., Kohlenberger, J. R., & Swanson, J. A. (1999). Zondervan NIV exhaustive concordance. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Pub. House., 1541. 

[2] Brian Mullady, Philosophy for Theologians: Lesson Five: Logic (Cromwell, CT: Holy Apostles College & Seminary, 2015), 1.

[3] Ralph McInerny, A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press 1990), 18-19.

[4] Ralph McInerny, St. Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), 168.

[5]John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1996), 228.

[6] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1980). Theological wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press. 466.

[7] In Kittel, G., Bromiley, G. W., & In Friedrich, G. (1964). Theological dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans. 611-612.