Contemplative Prayer part 3

I have recently found some material that is being circulated in churches that are moving toward the use of contemplative or centering prayer. It is to be used as a manual of sorts to teach pastors, other leaders and perhaps even lay people how to do this type of prayer. As I read the handout, I was filled with a sense of dread at the knowledge that this misinformation was being used to deceive God fearing, upright leaders in a church somewhere. I can’t for the life of me figure out why churches are so anxious to adopt a prayer method that is not Biblical.

The first paragraph starts like this: We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. In the Christian tradition Contemplative Prayer is considered to be the pure gift of God.
Anyone who thinks of prayer as thoughts or feelings doesn’t know what prayer really is. Prayer is talking to God pure and simple. We have an outline for the way in which we should talk to God in Matthew 6:9-13, and in Luke 11: 1-4. Jesus never said that prayer was a gift. Nowhere in the scripture is this intimated. There are many things in “Christian tradition” that in fact have no basis in scripture, such as labyrinth walking, papal authority, and a host of other things that I won’t go into here. As for prayer being a gift from God, I can’t find anything in scripture that would indicate that this is the case.

The paragraph goes on. It is the opening of mind and heart – our whole being – to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, and emotions. Through grace 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. How is it that somehow we can be privy to the “mystery of God” by chanting a mantra? How is it that so many are allowing themselves to be deceived into practicing a method of prayer that is not even mentioned in the Bible? Are they saying that we cannot really know God in His fullness unless we practice contemplative prayer? Are they saying that there is special knowledge to be learned about God by emptying your mind and allowing whatever to enter? Sounds like Gnosticism to me.

The material goes on to say that, Centering prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of Contemplative Prayer by preparing our faculties to receive this gift. This is a hoot. Toward the end of the instructions there are things listed of what Centering Prayer supposedly is and is not. The first item is, It is not a technique but a way of cultivating a relationship with God. Wow. It’s a method but not a technique. Hmmm. Maybe somebody can help me with that one.

This material also goes on to talk about how Contemplative Prayer is inspired by so many great spiritual writers, and the book The Cloud of Unknowing, whose author is anonymous. One of the writers they mention is Thomas Merton. Zen, according to Merton, offers us the pure act of seeing, pure consciousness. It is this, Merton writes, that is the real meaning of knowledge in meditation and contemplation leading to salvation in Christ.”
“The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion . . . It is beyond words. We are already one.” -Thomas Merton
And in the last public utterance of his life, delivered on the day of his death in Bangkok, Merton said: “And I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own traditions, because they have gone, from the natural point of view, so much deeper into this than we have.” Quote from the book, “Lost Christianity” by Jacob Needleman, p.112.
How is it that so called Evangelical Christians are taking heed of the teachings of a man that had come to the conclusion that Buddhism was on an even plain with Christianity?

Another one mentioned in the “manual” is Teresa of Avila. Some items pertaining to St. Teresa - Quoting a short biography by Caroline T. Marshall on the life of St. Teresa of Avila:
“After a prolonged sickness that almost led to her death, Teresa was introduced to the Third Spiritual Primer, by Francisco de Osura, a Franciscan. De Osura followed a tradition of Christian mysticism that had been deeply influenced by the Sufi mystics of Islam. In this system emphasis is placed on prayer in which the worshipper detaches himself from everything except God. A sort of spiritual intuition, which is combined from memory, will, and understanding, enables the supplicant to receive a direct experience of God, who then illumines the soul with knowledge of Himself. De Osura’s inspiration was to be the foundation of Teresa’s mystical and spiritual life.” (Emphasis mine)
Is it possible that there is spiritual deception in the origins of Islam and other religions influenced by mysticism?

I found the following quote on the web, and thought it was appropriate.
However the Bible clearly states as we have seen that human disciplines, techniques etc. are not the appropriate way to approach God, gain salvation, or to gain spiritual incite or power. Instead of human effort God has provided another way -which is through the atoning and finished work of His Son the Messiah who is the sacrificial Lamb of God, who we may approach by faith and is based on historical and biblical revelation.


That pretty well sums up my feelings on the matter. I posted earlier that one of my fears is that Contemplative Prayer is not a path into the throne room of God. That it indeed leads someplace else. The church seems to be in the process of ignoring the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and trying to make their own path to God.