Contemplative Prayer - False Doctrine

[D-Dawn]

It is a natural and horrible tendency of mankind to try to "earn" salvation. Even though Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father, we still try to throw in some of our efforts...as if they have any validity at all. Christianity (true Christianity) is unique in that Grace is taught, rather than works, yet we still tend to try to prove ourselves to God...as if He doesn't know our every fiber. I think the same tendency often occurs in prayer too. We think we have to "pray harder" or just "believe a bit more" in order to have our prayers answered (i.e. - get what WE want.) Our efforts don't "make" God do our bidding...any more than our works bring us closer to salvation. Our efforts in prayer can honor God...but not force Him to act like some genie in our pockets.

 

We can come boldly to the throne...because God has adopted us as His children. A child asks his earthly father for things with the absolute understanding that the father is capable of doing what the child requests...however, the child is also very aware that the father may or may not grant the child's request. Batting eyes, pouting, and asking Mom instead do NOT ever work on our Heavenly Father. If it is not His will...it is NOT His will.

[Starsman]

How do you think Jesus received revelation, though He was a man like us? What do you think was happening in Gethsemane, when His prayer was so intense He sweat blood? What about the prophets? How do they receive their knowledge from God? Do you know? What about the man Paul describes who was caught up to the 3rd heaven? What about Peter, while as he prayed he fell into a trance?

[missmuffet]

 

Hi Bopeep.   It's not just the emergent church.  It is in evangelical churches.   It used to be that "evangelical" was a safe term.   It used to be that evangelical was associated with conservative theology.  Not anymore.   Evangelical pastors like Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley and Beth Moore are into this.  I am sure there are others.  Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling"  is a best seller and is taking evangelical churches by storm.

That so grieves me. Chas Stanley was one that I always thought was sound teaching. I guess we all need to take heed lest we fall.

 

It has not come out of Dr.Stanley's mouth that he believes in contemplative prayer.He is a sound teacher and I will not let Satan sabotage him.

[ayin jade]

 

 

Hi Bopeep.   It's not just the emergent church.  It is in evangelical churches.   It used to be that "evangelical" was a safe term.   It used to be that evangelical was associated with conservative theology.  Not anymore.   Evangelical pastors like Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley and Beth Moore are into this.  I am sure there are others.  Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling"  is a best seller and is taking evangelical churches by storm.

That so grieves me. Chas Stanley was one that I always thought was sound teaching. I guess we all need to take heed lest we fall.

 

It has not come out of Dr.Stanley's mouth that he believes in contemplative prayer.He is a sound teacher and I will not let Satan sabotage him.

 

 

 

Bo

 

http://christianresearchnetwork.org/2013/03/06/charles-stanley-advises-christians-to-simply-listen-for-gods-voice/

[missmuffet]

 

 

 

Hi Bopeep.   It's not just the emergent church.  It is in evangelical churches.   It used to be that "evangelical" was a safe term.   It used to be that evangelical was associated with conservative theology.  Not anymore.   Evangelical pastors like Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley and Beth Moore are into this.  I am sure there are others.  Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling"  is a best seller and is taking evangelical churches by storm.

That so grieves me. Chas Stanley was one that I always thought was sound teaching. I guess we all need to take heed lest we fall.

 

It has not come out of Dr.Stanley's mouth that he believes in contemplative prayer.He is a sound teacher and I will not let Satan sabotage him.

 

 

 

Bo

 

http://christianresearchnetwork.org/2013/03/06/charles-stanley-advises-christians-to-simply-listen-for-gods-voice/

 

I have never heard anything unbiblical come from Dr.Charles Stanley and I have been reading his word and listening to him for years sooooo.....when I hear something myself that puts up a red flag then I will take that seriously.

[ayin jade]

 

 

 

 

Hi Bopeep.   It's not just the emergent church.  It is in evangelical churches.   It used to be that "evangelical" was a safe term.   It used to be that evangelical was associated with conservative theology.  Not anymore.   Evangelical pastors like Charles Stanley, Andy Stanley and Beth Moore are into this.  I am sure there are others.  Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling"  is a best seller and is taking evangelical churches by storm.

That so grieves me. Chas Stanley was one that I always thought was sound teaching. I guess we all need to take heed lest we fall.

 

It has not come out of Dr.Stanley's mouth that he believes in contemplative prayer.He is a sound teacher and I will not let Satan sabotage him.

 

 

 

Bo

 

http://christianresearchnetwork.org/2013/03/06/charles-stanley-advises-christians-to-simply-listen-for-gods-voice/

 

I have never heard anything unbiblical come from Dr.Charles Stanley and I have been reading his word and listening to him for years sooooo.....when I hear something myself that puts up a red flag then I will take that seriously.

 

 

Did you look at that link? It shows what he said and the article he wrote that shows those words. It quotes dr stanley. From that article, you can look it up yourself.

[another_poster]

Apparently it is becoming popular in the emerging church movement.It is an exercise where a person focuses on a word and then repeats it over and over.It is to clear a person's mind of outside concerns so that God's voice can be heard.After the prayer the person is suppose to sit still and listen for guidance from God and feel His presence.It is similar to meditative exercises used in Eastern religions and new age cults.It should definitely be avoided.

Yes you are correct. Being still and knowing he is God is definitely unbiblical! 

 

I really think people are being too judgmental here. Can it be used for wrong? Yes. Can it lead you away from God? Yes. Will it always? No. Will other things like a church service do the same? Yes. Or a preacher? Yes. I noticed we don't tend to say stay away from anyone giving a sermon when that can be just as bad. Why the double standards? Why is this so wrong? (yes that question is directed to everyone). While I had no idea this was a thing I have used it and found it helpful. I rush around so much that I don't always take the time to listen to God. Just sitting quickly rushing through a prayer really doesn't do much. For me I find it helpful to listen to some music first and then sit in silence. Prayer is often called having a conversation with God yet the way most people do it is totally one sided conversation. That is not giving any respect to God. What did Jesus do in the time he spent in the wilderness just before his temptations. Essentially contemplative prayer.

 

Like anything else it can be taken too far and turned into a bad thing but that is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[Guest shiloh357]

It is not about being still and knowing that he is God.    This is about far eastern Buddhist practices infecting the Church and to accept this as harmless is indicative of the lack of spiritual discernment in the Body of Christ.

 

This is not "prayer."    This is about eastern mystical practices that lead to an altered state of consciousness.    It is rooted in experience and not doctrine.   God does not send us messages.   God speaks to us through His Word.   The Bible is what the Holy Spirit leads us to and it has the answers to all of the needs we have.    Contemplative prayer opens Christians up to deceiving spirits.    They may be led by "A"  spirit, but those  engage in Contemplative Prayer are not led by the Holy Spirit and are not hearing from God.  

 

It is pagan and rotten to the core and as Christians we are to avoid such practices.  To associate Jesus with Contemplative, pagan practices is disgusting  and is rejected as false teaching.

[Guest]

 

LORD Teach Me

 

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 1 Corinthians 14:15 (ESV)

 

To Pray

 

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Ephesians 5:19

 

~

 

Contemplative prayer (also referred to as centering prayer, breath prayer, meditation or listening prayer) is one of the most esteemed spiritual disciplines taught in spiritual formation. In both practice and purpose, contemplative prayer stands in contrast with what Scripture teaches about prayer. Practitioners believe that one must clear the mind of outside concerns so that God’s voice may more easily be heard and that one may be united with the “divine spark” within.

 

Advocates of contemplative prayer believe and teach that it is a necessary practice if one desires to become more like Christ. In claiming this, however, they often appeal to the practices of ancient Roman Catholic mystic monks rather than the Word of God.

 

At a glance Contemplative prayer, in its simplest form, is prayer in which you still your thoughts and emotions and focus on God Himself. This puts you in a better state to be aware of God’s presence, and it makes you better able to hear God’s voice correcting, guiding, and directing you…. The fundamental idea is simply to enjoy the companionshp of God, stilling your own thoughts so you can listen should God choose to speak. For this reason, contemplative prayer is sometimes referred to as ‘the prayer of silence.’

 

Contemplative Prayer is a prayer of silence, an experience of God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment…. Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart – our whole being – to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing – closer than consciousness itself.

 

Contemplative Prayer Biblical Prayer Practice & Technique Seeks to empty the mind and enter an altered state of consciousness by:

• repetition of a mantra;
• focusing on one’s breathing;
• contemplating images or icons.

Instructs one to sit in silence, waiting and listening to hear from God:

 

“Yet God speaks in many ways. We need to learn to listen for His voice. Normally, His voice is not audible … but I wouldn’t want to exclude that possibility. Who am I to say how God will choose to speak?”

Prays according to the Scriptures. Micah 7:7; Ps. 4:3; 1 John 5:14, 15

Prays with both spirit and mind, not one or the other. 1 Cor 14:15

Talks to God the Father (Phil. 4:6) through Jesus Christ (John 16:23) in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Understands that what God has revealed in His Word is sufficient; new revelation is unnecessary. 2 Tim. 3:16–17

 

Objectives Seeks to experience God in an inexplicable way, often describing the believer’s relationship with God in erotic or romantic terms.

 

“There are many terms that seek to capture this dynamic … they all are attempts to capture the same thing: the movement beyond words to an intimacy that requires no words. This intimacy is the kind that lovers know when they give themselves over to the act of lovemaking.”

 

Desires to achieve a “God-consciousness” and a unity with God:

 

“He [God] wants to bring us further, to a transformation of consciousness, to unity-consciousness, to a full possession of our divinization.”

 

[T]he place to which we are going is one in which the knower, the knowing, and that which is known are all one. Awareness alone remains. The one who is aware disappears along with whatever was the object of consciousness. This is what divine union is.”

 

Expects to hear from God, usually through an inner voice or prompting:

 

“Growing intimacy requires that I pay careful attention to the other person. When that other is God, it’s necessary to still my own voice and listen in quietness. Then I can detect the gentle whispers of the Spirit. Too often we fail to hear God speak because we are not attentively listening.”

 

Understands that prayer is ultimately a form of worship. It should glorify God alone. John 14:13, 14

 

Understands that prayer is an act of reverence, approaching the very throne of God to receive mercy and find grace. Heb. 4:16

 

Acknowledges and humbles oneself before the holy God of the universe. Prayer should affirm God’s sovereignty and majesty. Matt. 6:9

 

“Everything in prayer revolves around who God is, what God wants, and how God is to be glorified. That is the sum and substance of proper praying.”10

 

The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2–4) offers a model of how Christians ought to pray as it “emphasizes the glory and supremacy of God.”11

 

Purposes to confess sin and acknowledge our position before God as rebellious sinners (e.g., Dan. 9:5–11;

Matt. 6:12): “We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.”12

 

Desires to align and submit our will to God’s. Ps. 86:11; Matt. 6:10; John 15:7; John 16:23; 1 John 5:14

“While God communicates to us through the Bible, we respond to Him in prayer.”13

 

Effects of Contemplative Prayer

 

As noted in the Spiritual Formation research article, the spiritual disciplines are rooted in unbiblical origins. In his book The Sacred Way, Emergent theologian Tony Jones acknowledges that “Centering Prayer grew out of the reflections and writings of the Desert Fathers.” These Desert Fathers, however, did not appear until the third century AD, long after the time of Jesus and His Apostles.

 

Contemplative prayer presupposes that the Christian must seek outside of Scripture to hear all that God is saying, thus Scripture loses its position as the final, authoritative Word from God.

 

The following quotes are from Dallas Willard and Richard Foster, respectively, who are both leading teachers of contemplative prayer:

Yet, Scripture itself informs us of its sufficiency (2 Tim. 3:16–17), and of God’s final word and revelation to us in Christ (Heb. 1:1–2).

Only the Bible as a whole can be treated as the written Word of God…. In any case we must certainly go beyond, though never around, the words of the Bible to find out what God is speaking to us.

 

Many discussions about hearing God’s voice speak of three points of reference, also called ‘three lights’ that we can consult in determining what God wants us to do. These are circumstances, impressions of the Spirit and passages from the Bible. When these three things point in the same direction, it is suggested that we be sure the direction they point is the one God intends for us.

 

While one may indeed “hear” from an entity in the spiritual realm, the voices heard, or impressions received, may not always be from God:

 

The Christian, however, is told to resist the devil (Jas. 4:7). This would necessarily include rejecting any practice which may engage one in direct communication with the Enemy and his servants.

 

I also want to give a word of precaution. In the silent contemplation of God we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm, and there is such a thing as a supernatural guidance. While the Bible does not give us a lot of information on that, there are various orders of spiritual beings, and some of them are definitely not in cooperation with God and his way! … But for now I want to encourage you to learn and practice prayers of protection.

 

There are other ‘spiritual voices,’ too…. Satan … too will speak in our heart once he sees he no longer holds us in his hand. Only if we learn to recognize this voice as well can we … correctly identify and firmly resist him and make him flee from us (1 Pet. 5:9; Eph. 6:11).17

Commonly Misused Verses

 

It is the first half of this verse that is most commonly abused by advocates of contemplative prayer. Psalm 46:10a may also be rendered as “Cease striving and know that I am God…” as it is in the NASB. The context of this verse is one of war and conflict.

 

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Ps. 46:10

 

“The verb ‘Be still’ (Hebrew, rapah) is used 46 times in the Old Testament with meanings everywhere from describing laziness to ordering relaxation…. In no biblical usage or context does the Hebrew verb enjoin God’s people to meditate or contemplate. Rather, believers are to rest and trust in God.” “This is not a contemplative call for reflection but a redemptive call to surrender and to know God personally and intimately before his swift judgment is unleashed (Hab. 2:20; Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 2:13).”

 

This verse is used by contemplatives to support the practice of silent waiting before the Lord. However, understood in context, this verse offers a picture of submitting oneself to the Lord, trusting in and waiting patiently for Him to act according to His will. “Only to God did [David] look with complete calmness.” “Psalm 62 is not a call to unexpressed contemplation, but rather a song of expressed confidence…. The psalmist is not providing an example for retreating into silence. Rather he is telling fellow believers to go to God.”

 

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Ps. 62:1

 

Additional Concerns The “Divine Spark”

 

Practitioners and teachers of contemplative prayer often maintain that inside all humans there is a “spark of the divine.” Hence, the purpose of contemplative prayer is to become aware of – and connect with – this inner divinity:

 

This teaching of a “divine spark” existing in all humans contradicts both the biblical doctrine of original sin and the fact that, without Christ, all men are dead in their trespasses and sin (Rom. 3:10–18; 3:23). Pastor Larry DeBruyn teaches:

 

Contemplative prayer is a process of inner transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to divine union. One’s way of seeing reality changes in the process. A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists.

 

Although God lives in the souls of men who are unconscious of Him, how can I say that I have found Him and found myself in Him if I never know Him or think of Him, never take any interest in Him or seek Him or desire His presence in my soul?

 

Parallels to Practices of Eastern Religions

 

Absent birth by the Holy Spirit from above, any mystical assumption that the human heart possesses a divine essence, a resident kingdom of God within, does not accord with Jesus’ teaching and is therefore, heretical (Compare Mark 7:14-23.). In order to either “see” or “enter the kingdom of God” a person must be born from above. In his teaching, Jesus spoke of persons entering the kingdom. But He did not speak of a kingdom of God residing in people.

 

The New Birth, the requirement for entering the kingdom of God, comes from without a human soul, not from within it.

 

While contemplative prayer mirrors the practices of the Desert Fathers, as noted above, it may also be viewed as a “Christianized” version of what is known as Transcendental Meditation . TM has its roots in Hinduism, and was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1959. Maharishi states:

Through Transcendental Meditation, the mind unfolds its potential for unlimited awareness, transcendental awareness, Unity Consciousness.

This is strikingly similar to several of the quotations cited above, wherein proponents of contemplative prayer would have the practitioner still himself so as to become more aware of God within.

 

In their book Finding Grace at the Center, Roman Catholic monks Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington write:

We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible…. Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences.

Persisting in such practices as transcendental meditation invariably will lead to universalism, as pastor-teacher Ken Silva demonstrates in his article Meditating on Contemplative/Centering Prayer.

 

Furthermore, Scripture unambiguously instructs the Christian to refrain from pagan practices (Lev. 18:3; Deut. 18:12; 1 Cor. 10:20; Gal. 4:8). The Christian has been called out of the darkness of the sinful world and its man-made religions, and is called instead to be set apart in Christ (1 Pet. 2:9–12; Phil. 3:20). http://christianresearchnetwork.org/topic/contemplative-prayer/

[OneLight]

Again, another blanket statement.  Would those who consider meditation unbiblical care to reflect on the following?
 
Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

1 Timothy 4:12-16

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

I read every quote in the article that that Charles is said to of made and none of them indicate eastern religion, but biblical underlying from verses like those above.  Meditating on God and His word is scriptural.  The Spirit that will guide you IS the Holy Spirit.  He will let you know when a demonic spirit is trying to lead you astray, if you are willing to hear His voice and get out of your own head (understanding).  Our own minds can be deceiving, which is why we need to trust the Lord in all we do and NOT lean on our own understanding.