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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Books "Quitting puts wrinkles on your SOUL."

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 4:33 PM

0340693258.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpgThe New York Times is reporting that Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the Conversations With God series of books, plagiarized a story by Candy Chand that appeared in many different places, including a Chicken Soup for the Soul book.

During a dress rehearsal, he wrote, a group of children spelled out the title of a song, “Christmas Love,” with each child holding up a letter. One girl held the “m” upside down, so that it appeared as a “w,” and it looked as if the group was spelling “Christ Was Love.” It was a heartwarming Christmas story from a writer known for his spiritual teachings.

Except it never happened — to him.

Ms. Chand said she originally wrote the piece about her son, Nicholas, and his kindergarten winter pageant and published it in Clarity in 1999. In his Dec. 28 blog posting, Mr. Walsch, who also has a son named Nicholas, said it happened at his son’s pageant 20 years ago.

Walsch said he's considering leaving Christian website Beliefnet. Many of the The New Agey Christians on Walsch's blog are ready to forgive and forget.

Wow! I mean wow!

Neale, you are so awesome and so real.

I don't see the big deal in what happened, and I mean no disrespect to Ms. Chand. Stuff like that happens to me, and all of us, all the time.

I have learned and been able to stretch my spirit so much with this blog.

Well , I for one am aghast....Neale, is this a rouse?...

If you have 9 or 10 children, how do you know it didn't happen?...maybe the 2 of you were at the same children's concert. No, I don't think Chand should be offended at all. Isn't that what the cosmic consciousness is all about? Minds and thoughts merging, even if it is a true story for one person, are we betting the odds that it could not have happened to thousands?.....geesh come on..!

I think there is something more behind this.

Neale, Someone once said,"I'm all in,I'm totally committed here,Even if the going gets rough,Especially then." Aging puts wrinkles on your face,Quitting puts wrinkles on your SOUL. YOU will not have to think but for a second as to why YOU received THIS message today. LOVE Your Friend, SEAN

And my favorite: Frankenstein's monster forgiving its creator:

Neale, I believe this is a beautiful story of creation. You've experienced Candy's story - twice - then and now! I don't think you stole it...it is a beautiful story of oneness! Empathy somehow. Am I going too far?

You two should unite and create something new...maybe a page that contains something like experienced stories. As you for instance being that girl in a story right now. And at the end everyone astonished! It would be a beautiful prove of oneness or love from all the people of the world!

What do you say?

Love,
Teja

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Comments (14) RSS

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1
Wow. I plagiarized once in middle school, and the experience of doing it, then getting caught really publicly, haunts me still. That's how it should always be, no?
Posted by tomasyalba on January 7, 2009 at 4:58 PM
2
This is a man who confused his own trite, pablumlike musing with the Voice of God. It's not such a reach to imagine he'd be equally self-serving and lazy about attribution when the work of another writer, a mere mortal, caught his fancy. Whatever....it's no surprise, but one would hope some level of disaproval would be forthcoming from his devotees. Then again, how intellectually and morally acute could they be. Have you READ his tripe? They actually LIKE it........
Posted by pooh on January 7, 2009 at 5:03 PM
3
Oh, please.

And dear god in heaven, I would be the happiest woman on earth if I never fucking heard the word 'awesome' used ever again.

Of course, I still say 'cool.' But that's cool.
Posted by Lola, Now in Iowa City, Iowa on January 7, 2009 at 5:08 PM
4
If every Christianist (not real Christians since they are in it for the money and the power) had to leave when they lie, Beliefnet would have next to nobody on it.

FYI: God COMMANDED you not to Lie, Cheat, and Steal. It wasn't a suggestion.
Posted by Will in Seattle on January 7, 2009 at 5:11 PM
5
Unfortunately, Neale probably won't take the intellectual leap between the experience of misremembering an experience a decade ago and the possibility that there may be some major inaccuracies some stories from a couple of millennium ago that he bases his life and livelihood on.
Posted by Andrew on January 7, 2009 at 5:22 PM
6
Ummm again, not to be a religious studies Nazi, but Beliefnet isn't a Christian website and Neal Donald Walsch is not regarded by himself or people in the Christian community as a Christian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefnet

I know it may just be a minor semantics distinction to you good people (what's one crazy theist from another right?), I just happened to have spent a lot of time academically studying religions, and I just see the Stranger as an institution that I've grown up with and thought you should know.
Posted by Vinowen on January 7, 2009 at 5:34 PM
7
Guys! You won't believe what happened to me yesterday! I was, like, you know, sleeping and then I woke up 'cause I had to go to class. But tried to roll over and I couldn't--I was lying on my back looking at all my feet, and then I had these two, like, antennae, and I was like "Wow. Bummer. I guess I'm missing CHEM 101," and I sighed, but this clik-clik-clak sound came out instead...

And you think THAT was strange, you won't believe the rest of my day...
Posted by Vlad Samsa on January 7, 2009 at 5:43 PM
8
Ahem.

It's been brought to my attention that this in fact, did not happen to me, but a fictional character... though I could've sworn it happened to me once, when I used to smoke more pot.

Now that I think of it, there was this one time I woke up bloodied and drunk on an airplane...
Posted by A Million Little Vlads on January 7, 2009 at 5:50 PM
9
This whole thing just makes me sad. I've read quite a few of his books. They're not particularly Christian, and made a lot of sense to me as a skeptical agnostic. They helped me get through a really bad time in my life, and I've recommended them to several friends.

But this is really just the last nail in the coffin for my respect for Walsch. I've had the impression for a while now that he was getting too far away from his own teachings and getting caught up in being a 'guru'. I was on his mailing list for a while, and as time went on, it seemed like the messages were less and less about spirituality or changing the world, and more and more about whatever Walsch himself was up to. The last book of his I read was called "The New Revelations", and was basically just a rehash of everything he'd written before, but in the context of 9/11. So this isn't really a huge surprise.

By his own admission, before he became an author he was kind of a schmuck. Sounds like he may have gone back to his old habits. I would still recommend his first few books, though. They're a lot better than the title (or now, the author) would suggest.
Posted by Morgan on January 7, 2009 at 5:59 PM
10
Yep, Christ was love, Christians made him hate...
Posted by xx on January 7, 2009 at 6:06 PM
11
have i told you guys about the time i went on vacation twenty years ago and i was walking on the beach and when i looked back there were two sets of footprints?
Posted by crotch rubber on January 7, 2009 at 7:37 PM
12
ZOMG!!1 Christians changing the facts to conform to what they want to be true? No way!
Posted by Urgutha Forka on January 7, 2009 at 9:06 PM
13
I'm not certain I understood Teja's letter.
Posted by Johnny on January 8, 2009 at 9:23 AM
14
@7

YES!!! I love it!

"Mr.Samsa, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I am going to have to kill you again."
Posted by morgi on January 8, 2009 at 4:58 PM

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