What is Bible-Based New Thought? Most of the New Thought disciplines in the United States grew out of a Bible teaching. The “founders” of the various New Thought traditions weren’t looking to start new denominations. Many felt they’d found a deeper way to practice their Christian faith. They’d found a way to respond to the contradictions in the faith, and specifically in the text, that ran so many people out of the church. Their approaches were shunned and out of necessity, they formed various study groups and spiritual circles and experimented with the spiritual insights they were gaining through their alternative spiritual practices. New Thought is a Practical Christianity that empowers people to realize their potential by becoming consciously aware of Spirit within them. In New Thought Christianity, the Bible is the primary textbook for life. We use a metaphysical approach to the Bible literature and understand that the stories and events have something to say about humankind’s developing awareness of our relationship to God and what it means to open ourselves up to God’s activity. In the early New Thought writings, you find quote after quote of Scripture. The Bible was an essential, if not central, part of their spiritual study. Even while embracing other spiritual traditions and finding inspiration in the texts of Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and other major world religions, these pioneers continued to deepen their love of the Bible. What separated them from their more fundamentalist peers is that they do not take the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. The Word of God is spiritual. It is like God – invisible, inexhaustible, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Like God, God’s Word is everywhere and evenly present. There’s no such thing as containing all of God in the pages of a book full of human fingerprints. For them, the Bible was spiritually true but not necessarily factually true. But that didn’t mean getting rid of the Bible; rather, you need a way to interpret the stories while acknowledging the human influence that cannot be removed from the text. Enter Metaphysical Bible Interpretation. New Thought teaches universal spiritual principles that enable people to build happy and prosperous lives. New Thought helps people to change their circumstances by changing their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.