January 26, 2004
Dear David Muyskens,
I just finished reading with great
interest the article entitled:
Restoring Tradition of Meditation
by Chris Meehan of Religion News
Service .
This was particularly timely as I
have been recently doing extensive
research on this kind of meditation
as to how truly prevalent it was in
the history of Christianity as well
as whether or not it is Biblical.
In this regard, I wrote a
documentary/debate with Rick
Foster's RENOVARE as well as a
separate documentary/debate with
Christian Psychologist Dr. John
Stoll, who both teach and promote
this kind of meditation and "centering."
I hope and pray you take everything
to heart, as there are very good
Biblical reasons to do so.
Kindest regards in Christ,
James Sundquist
President
Rock Salt Publishing
*******************
The complete transcript of my
dialogue with Lynda Graybeal, one of
the Directors at Renovare regarding
Richard Foster's Teaching, is
available at:
http://www.cephas-library.com/psychology/renovare_psychology_richard_foster_1.html
But here is an
excerpt which address whether
Rick Foster and Brennan Manning's
definitions of
Meditation are, in fact,
Biblical or Christian:
LYNDA GRAYBEAL OF RICK FOSTER'S RENOVARE:
4.
False Disjunction, e.g. the
only kind of "centering down"
is New Age "centering down". This
ignores the rich history of
centering down in the Church, and
the fact that practices from many
religions including centering
down have been co-opted by the New
Age movement. In conjunction with
this, one huge mistake many people
make is to take our present
knowledge of the New Age movement
and read it into books and teachings
prior to its inception. In doing
this, they can declare that people
who lived decades, and sometimes
centuries ago, taught New Age
beliefs.
JAMES SUNDQUIST RESPONSE:
Once again I do not recall ever
saying that all centering down is
"New Age" centering down. I can
center down to do my homework,
center down to practice my guitar. I
can say that Christ is the center of
my life, so thinking about him and
praying to him could be argued to
mean that I am centering down.
Additionally, what other religions
do with regard to centering down (as
you stated above), is totally
irrelevant to Christianity,
regardless of whether or not the New
Age Movement has co-opted this
practice. As true believers we are
do obey the Word of God only and not
incorporate the beliefs and
practices of all other religions,
because they are not of God!
Why Richard Foster's version is New
Age is not a false
disjunction is that he employs and
prescribes identical techniques to
what the New Age employs such as
vain repetitions, Ashtanga Yoga,
Kundalini, and Buddhist prayers at
Quaker gatherings that I can
document. In quote after quote,
Richard Foster gives accolades to
promoters and practioners of Eastern
Mysticism and Meditation which
mirror his own views. There is not
even anything to mask what he is
doing. Secondly, you are not even
historically accurate. Though the
New Age term itself might be recent,
the beliefs and practices the term
refers to, go back to the Garden of
Eden. All New Age beliefs, each and
every religion, have at their very
foundations the lies of Satan, which
are always, always, always to take
away from the Deity of Christ and
the Word of God. Their beliefs stem
from the Fall of Adam, and later
from the Tower of Babel, and
Babylon.
Even at the time of Christ, Jesus
himself commanded us NOT to pray as
the heathens do with vain
repetitions (such as breath
mantras). Here is the direct
commandment of our Lord himself:
"But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen
[do]: for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking."
Matthew 6:7 KJV
So if the Lord does not hear these
kind of prayers, who are we really
praying to? What possibly God
ordained purpose could they have?
And yet what do we find Richard
Foster recommending in his book
Spiritual Classics?
Richard Foster states:
"Practice lectio devina by taking a
Bible text that you love, reading it
over attentively, then entering into
prayer through a single word or
phrase." p.35 "Why does this little
prayer of one syllable pierce the
heavens?" p. 45 (Source: Richard
Foster, Spiritual Classics,
p. 35, p.45)
Jesus Christ said that if you want
to be his disciple, you must obey
him. So how is praying with vain
repetitions and repeating a single
word or phrase over and over obeying
Christ, when he gave specific
instructions which forbade it?
Your version of centering down and
imagination does not even fit the
Biblical meaning of meditation, but
is, in fact, the opposite. Richard
Foster's idea of meditation is to
imagine the loins of your mind to be
let down and relaxed that anything
might enter. Here is the proof:
Richard Foster in his book,
Prayer: Finding the Heart's True
Home, speaks of the practice
of "breath prayer," in which a
Christian-sounding word or phrase is
repeated over and over again like a
mantra. Foster wrote that
"Christian meditation is an attempt
to empty the mind in order to fill
it" (Ray Yungen, Time of
Departing, Lighthouse Trails
Publishing, 2002, pg. 72). But fill
it with what? This "breath prayer"
idea has gained popularity in
charismatic circles that frequently
sing of "breathing in Jesus" or
variations thereof. (SOURCE: Jacki
Alnor, Christian Sentinel,
April 2003. Richard Foster quote
taken from Richard Foster,
Celebration of Discipline,
Harper & Row Pub., San Francisco, CA
1978, p. 15.)
This is precisely the technique that
lets demons enter a person. But we
are to be circumspect which is what
a night watchman is, as this
literally means having eyes all
around our head to guard against
imaginations and seducing spirits
that would love to enter us.
The Apostle Paul commands us to
"gird up the loins of our minds,"
not let them down, not empty our
minds.
We are to put on the helmet of
salvation to protect our minds, as
well as the shield of faith that we
might ward off the fiery darts of
the enemy from penetrating that part
of our armor. One girds up the loins
of their mind for war, as that is
precisely what we are in...a
spiritual war. Any good soldier
girds up his or her mind when he or
she stands guard on a night watch. I
know this first hand because I used
to stand guard in four-hour shifts
at night over missile batteries in
the U.S. Army in West Germany.
Emptying your mind and/or falling a
sleep on guard duty would get you
court-marshalled. You had to be
vigilant and constantly alert, i.e.,
we are to have the loins of your
mind girded up...not let down!
Succinctly, we are to have the mind
of Christ....not mindlessness!
This is perfectly consistent with
what the Apostle Paul further tells
us:
"Be sober and be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as
a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour" I Peter
5:8
How can a Christian be ever vigilant
and sober within his mind, if he is
spending a lot of time emptying his
mind by practicing any
type of meditation which is the
direct opposite of Biblical
meditation?
For one of the very best Scripture
passages on the context and real
meaning of what the Bible teaches
about "meditation," read the
entirety of Psalm 119, where you
will find the word "meditate" time
and time again.
You want context? The entire passage
uses the word "meditate" to describe
the author's intent to meditate on
the statutes, laws, and decrees of
the Lord, that the author might not
sin against God. Now traditionally,
the "centering down" form of
meditation promoted by Richard
Foster involves CLOSING the eyes.
Well let's see what the writer in
Psalm 119 thinks about that. In
Psalm 119:148 we read:
"My eyes stay open through
the watches of the night, that I
may meditate on your promises."
Psalm 119:148 NIV
When Jesus was praying in the Garden
of Gethsemane, he rebuked his
Disciples for NOT keeping their eyes
open, for he wanted them to WATCH
and PRAY (Mark 14:38) WITH HIM.
Let's take an even closer look at
what Jesus had in mind in terms of
how he prayed (the highest form of
meditation which is to "watch" and
"pray") in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus Christ's idea of how to pray
was to resist temptation to the
sweating of drops of blood. No human
besides Christ has ever accomplished
this feat. Nevertheless, Christ our
Lord does set an example of what
should be taking place during our
praying. This kind of praying has
nothing in common with techniques or
purpose of praying for Eastern
Meditation or any other religion.
Christ's method of praying has
nothing in common with Richard
Foster's revised definition of
meditation or "centering down."
Jesus Christ gave even more
instructions when his disciples
asked him how to pray. The Lord
gives them (and us) instructions on
how to pray when he gives us the
Lords' Prayer. Once again, he gives
us no instructions which resemble
"centering down" meditation. This
prayer is a petition and requires
the mind to be fully engaged, not
unplugged. Finally, it tells us to
appeal to the Lord to protect
us from the Evil One (i.e., Satan).
Eastern Meditation REMOVES the
protection to let the Evil One IN to
our minds.
Just prior to this, Jesus had lifted
up his OPEN eyes to the Heavens to
pray...not close them when he raised
Lazarus.
"Then they took away the stone [from
the place] where the dead was laid.
And Jesus lifted up [his] eyes,
and said, Father, I thank thee that
thou hast heard me." John 11:41 KJV
So we don't even see Jesus praying
or instructing us how to pray or
meditate like anything even
resembling Eastern Meditation or
Richard Foster's version of
meditation.
Again the Apostle Paul says:
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things
[are] honest, whatsoever things
[are] just, whatsoever things [are]
pure, whatsoever things [are]
lovely, whatsoever things [are]
of good report; if [there be]
any virtue, and if [there be] any
praise, think on these things."
Philippians 4:8
KVJ
With the mind of Christ, this is the
kind of thinking or meditation we
should be practicing.
What is pure or commendable about
Carl Jung's practice of divination
or the complete balance of his
theory of the subconscious, which he
believed came from what we possessed
in our subconscious as animals
before we became human (thus totally
denying the creation of man directly
from the dust by a Sovereign
Creator) ?
What is of good report of Carl Jung?
What is noble about his personality
theory, which he also drew from
paganism and a spirit-guide that
possessed him? Are not these things
clearly abhorred by both Jesus
Christ and the Apostle Paul? We are
to flee these things, not
embrace, promote them and feed them
to God's children.
You want to call your kind of
meditation Biblical. But I challenge
you to go through the entire Old and
New Testaments and do a word search
for the word "meditate" or
"meditation", and look it up in the
Hebrew and the Greek (as you did
with the word "you" in the New
Testament). You will not find one
instance or precedent for the word
meaning anything close to your
revisionist definition. You will not
find a precedent for it. You will
not find an example of Jesus Christ
or any of the Apostles practicing it
or recommending it. But you
will find it practiced and
promoted in Eastern Meditation and
the New Age Movement.
Finally, the New Age Movement did
not borrow or hijack centering down
from Christianity. Though not under
the same name, the practice is as
ancient as Babylon and the Tower of
Babel. And the Tower of Babel was
constructed because of the same lie
Satan used in the Garden of Eden,
"You shall be as God."
When you say "church" you mean Roman
Catholicism and the Carmelite Order
traditions. But Roman Catholicism is
both pagan and apostate.
Indeed, your version of centering
down indeed matastesized into the
Church and spread spiritual death
into the Church, just as various
forms of cancer metastasize in the
organs of the human body, eventually
causing physical death. Your form of
"centering down" is also rooted in
the Church's first and tragically
on-going heresy, Gnosticism.
Despite what you believe and stated
above, centering down has no
rich history or even existence in
the TRUE CHURCH. For you to claim
that New Age beliefs are only
recent, reveals a tragic lack of
knowledge of both history and
Scripture. As the prophet Hosea
declares:
"My people are destroyed for lack
of knowledge: because
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will
also reject thee, that thou shalt be
no priest to me: seeing thou hast
forgotten the law of thy God, I will
also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6
KJV
The complete transcript of my
dialogue with Dr. John Stoll and
Carl Jung teaching is available at:
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/James/
But here is an
excerpt on that debate which
addresses whether or not
"Prayer Centering" is
Biblical or Christian:
Dear Dr. Stoll,
Thank you for your continued
dialogue in responding to my
concerns.
To be consistent with our previous
format, I begin by quoting you, then
responding in red.
Response to your June 9, 2003
Letter.
*****
JOHN STOLL:
As to what you pointed out as to
"centered spirituality"
wondering if I got that from Jung,
the answer is, no. I got that as a
boy from my Father, a Godly Bible
expositor, who reminded the people
to "center their spiritual life on
Christ" rather than on the world. My
Father probably never even heard of
Jung. However, various words such as
the word, "centered" are not
necessarily the exclusive domain of
Godless Psychologists.
As someone with advanced degrees and
50 years of studying, teaching, and
counseling, you should be the first
to know that cantered spirituality
is primarily known for it New Age
connection. It is not taught in the
Bible. There should be no confusion
about this. And there should be no
mixing of Godless Psychology with
Biblical Christianity in order to
get cantered. So, you are saying
there is such a thing a Godfull
Psychology? This is an oxymoron. You
even concede that term is used in
Godless Psychology in your last
letter to me.
So why didn't you completely expose
it and renounce its New Age and
normally understood connection? Your
father indeed may not have heard of
Jung, so may have used the term
innocently enough, but you should
know better than to use the term
today, when most do understand that
its most normal usage is identifying
it with the New Age. And this raises
another question, how did your
father get along so admirably in the
faith WITHOUT probably ever knowing
who Carl Jung was? I have known the
Lord for 50 years and studied the
Bible too and I never once ever
heard of the term or even concept of
being spiritual centered as a
Christian. I have never even heard
any great Bible scholar teach such a
concept.
There is no such Scripture. Go ahead
and use your search engine in the
Bible (I tried it in KJV and NIV)
and find me a chapter and verse to
support this very unorthodox gnostic
idea of being spiritually centered.
You will certainly find "sanctify",
"justify", in a Bible word search,
but you won't find "centered" or "Centered
Spirituality". Now you may say "well
you wouldn't find "trinity" either
in a Bible search. True enough. But
you will still find a host of
Scriptures that support the very
Orthodox Christian concept behind
the Trinity. But there is no
Orthodox Christianity behind either
the word(s) "centered spiritual", or
the concept. And even if you really
mean centered on Christ, then there
is no other center. Are you
suggesting if Christ is the fulcrum
center, that we are then to balance
psychology with Scripture? If we are
to worship him with all of our
heart, mind, strength and soul (not
just spiritually center ourselves),
there isn't anything else to balance
it with to be centered spiritually.
Now if you wish to use the term
centered in the way you would use a
level which has a little bubble in
it, or a carpenter's plumbline, as
the Prophet Amos used the term, then
you would still mean everything must
be in plumb with the Scriptures. But
Carl Jung is clearly out of plumb
and clearly NOT centered, so he must
be totally rejected. The New Age
uses also uses the term Christ-Centered
Spirituality But it is not the same
Christ. Your defense of using the
term centered spiritually because
you mean Christ exclusively (but did
not state this) would be like
insisting on using the word gay in
talking about people who are
colorfully dressed. After all, that
is what the word meant in the King
James Bible. When almost everyone
hearing you describe people as gay
would almost universally be
understood to mean that they are
homosexual. And were you use of
centered spiritually used in
isolation or where you precisely
defined it to mean totally obedient
to the Scriptures, being born again,
and totally reliant on the Holy
Spirit, I will concede your use of
the term. But because you have
inundated it with Psychology and
Carl Jung teaching, this makes it a
great stumbling block.
***********
Centering
Down, Is This Biblical?
Dear Dr. Stoll,
I trust that you have had a chance
to review my last commentary. This
is more or a less an epilogue to the
discussion of “Centering.”
I have since learned the “centering”
is a key term invoked and promoted
by Thomas Keating and Basil
Pennington, as part of “centering
prayer” which is at the heart of
contemplative prayer. Sound good?
Just a better version of Biblical
prayer and meditation? Not when you
discover that this centering is a
blended Christianity with Eastern
mysticism. Your own mentor, Morton
Kelsey, himself mentored by Carl
Jung, stated: “You can find most of
the New Age practices in the depth
of Christianity...”I believe that
the Holy One lives in every soul.”
(Source “A Time of Departing”, Ray
Yungen, page 67, Lighthouse Trails
Publishing Company, 2002.) So it is
not entirely out of order that I
would challenge you regarding the
use of this term, as it is now been
integrated into Christian. Centering
Prayer was further endorsed by
Brennan Manning.
Here is another one of your quotes:
"The study of psychology as a
scientific field poses problems for
the Christian, yet when integrated
with the psychological principles as
demonstrated in God's Word, it
offers the opportunity of opining
new insights regarding Christian
experiences and understanding of the
Biblical truths. An illustration may
serve to help underscore this
principle. The sulfa drug does not
kill the germ. It dissolves the hard
protective coating around the germ
so that the white corpuscles are
able to kill the germ. In a similar
fashion, psychology can provide the
tools used by God to penetrate more
efficiently, and dissolve the
defensive shell that people use to
insulate themselves from Biblical
truths, and from their fellowmen.
When this shell is broken, the
Spirit of God is able to perform His
work in their lives. Each problem
raised by life and psychology has
its answer in the Word of God. These
answers should be sought and found,
and when they are, along with
personal application, the normal
spiritual life that God has for each
of us will become evident."
So, psychology can break the shell,
so that the world, as with CGM can
break down the defenses so that
people will seek after God? What an
anemic view of the power of God's
word. The Bible is not able to
pierce or dissolve these defenses,
but Psychology is? Psychology is
sharper than a two-edged sword
separating even soul from spirit? I
thought only the Scriptures could do
that via the Holy Spirit. The word
of God itself does the penetration
and is certainly sharper than
psychology. In fact, psychology has
no blade at all and penetrates
nothing to produce righteousness.
Psychology and Carl Jung is what
dissolves the protective coating of
the armor of God so that the
Christian can no longer ward off the
fiery darts of the enemy. In
response to Dr. Stoll's proposition
that Psychology can dissolve the
shell that insulates people from
Biblical truths, here is what the
Scriptures say:
"Now when they heard [this], they
were pricked in their heart, and
said unto Peter and to the rest of
the apostles, Men [and] brethren,
what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost." Acts 2:37-38
If Dr. Stoll is right, When 3,000
who were saved asked "What shall we
do?" Shouldn't Peter have said.
"Take a Personality Profile Test?”
Or, “many of you standing here did
not get saved by hearing the
Scriptures, so I would now like to
educate you to some of the hundreds
of theories of psychology in order
to break down those barriers that
the Scriptures themselves were
unable to do, so that the Gospel can
penetrate more of you than the
Scriptures by themselves were able
to do. And for those of you who did
get saved. Now is the time to get
sanctified. But once again,
Scripture is good as far as it goes,
but we really need an additional
tool, we need a Personality Profile.
In many circles this will become
known as MBTI.”
Then in Acts 2:42
"And they continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine "
Would then read: "and they continued
steadfastly in the apostles doctrine
and Carl Jung occultic teachings and
Gnosticism."
Also,
Act 4:4 "Howbeit many of them which
heard the word believed; and the
number of the men was about five
thousand."
I would ask Dr. Stoll "Howbeit that
if hearing the word (Scripture)
caused five thousand to believe, why
does he state that Psychology can
break them down to receive Scripture
and be saved?" Does the Bible say
Psychology can prick the heart, or
does it say hearing the Word pricked
their hearts?
Rom 12:2 "And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what [is] that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of
God." KJV
Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any
longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God's will
is--his good, pleasing and perfect
will." NIV
**********
This is an amazing statement! You
can't even test what is God's will
until you renounce the patterns and
principles of this world (Jung,
Kelsey, Psychology). HOW ABOUT
THAT!!! Again I say "then"!!!!!!
Sincerely in Christ,
James
Sundquist
President
Rock Salt Publishing
January 28, 2004
Dear
David,
Thank
you for your response to my letter
and appeal regarding “Christian
Meditation”
as to
whether or
not it is Biblical. And though I
feel constrained to oppose you, I am
grateful that your tone was
diplomatic.
I should point out
further that though you response
seems to focus on one aspect of
“Christian Meditation” which is
“centering prayer” the scope of the
article did address the greater
issue of “Christian Meditation” in
which you were named and identified
with. In that article, in a
conference at St. Thomas More
Church, held by you and Steve
Cartwright, he states by centering
prayer they received the gift of the
presence of God,” as though the
presence of God did not already
exist in the manifestation of the
Gifts of the Holy Spirit ALREADY
identified in Scripture, in which NO
separate gift was listed anywhere
known as the “gift of the presence
of God.” Mr Cartwright further
states that there is “no analysis of
experience”....say what? We must
ALWAYS test these
spirits to see if they be of God. We
must always test every idea against
Scripture as Paul commended the
Bereans for. We must cast down vain
strongholds of imagination. No
analysis....this idea is totally
foreign to Scripture in terms of our
walk with the Lord. But it is
certainly at the heart of the New
Age Eastern Meditation that does not
gird up the loins of the mind, being
circumspect to every device and
seducing spirit that comes along,
masquerading
as an angel of light and
illumination to the hidden (occult)
mystery religions.
I
think it is fair to say that
“centering prayer” is what, in fact,
its founders and leaders who coined
the term say that it is. It is fair
to say that it is what is defined as
on the prayer
centering website which in
its own words states under the
definition of “centering prayer”:
Centering Prayer
is a method of
prayer, which prepares us to
receive the gift of God's
presence, traditionally
called
contemplative prayer
BASIL PENNINGTON:
Here is a quote from Basil
Pennington, who wrote the preface
for Brother Lawrence's Practicing
the Presence of God:
*'[T]he soul of the human family is
the Holy Spirit.'
Basil Pennington
Another quote from Thomas Keating:
"God speaks
through the prophets, but he speaks
better in silence."
No, that is not Scriptural. In fact
it contradicts this Scripture, as
the Apostle Paul would beg to
disagree with Thomas Keating:
Rom 10:17
So then faith [cometh]
by hearing, and hearing
by the word of
God.
Hbr 11:6 But
without faith [it is] impossible to
please [him]: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and
[that] he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.
So you can't even obtain faith in
silence, so it is impossible to
please God until you first hear.
You can not hear if it is silent,
that is an oxymoron!
Here
is a quote from Basil Pennington and
Thomas Keating in their book Finding Grace at the Center:
We
should not hesitate to take the
fruit of the age-old
wisdom of
the East and “capture” if for
Christ. Indeed, those of us who are
in ministry should make the necessary
effort to acquaint ourselves with as
many of these Easter techniques as
possible...Many Christian who take
their prayer life seriously have
been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM
and similar practices...” pp.5-6
“In
order to guide persons having this
experience [divineoneness],
Christian spiritual directors many
need to dialogue with Eastern
teachers in order to get a fuller
understanding.”
Now
this is quite an amazing statement
considering that you state: “It
would be tragic if some Christians
were held back from receiving the
gift of contemplative prayer because
they were frightened that it was New
Age.” David Muyskens, January 27,
2004
Yoga,
Zen, and TM are not New Age? So much
for light not having fellowship with
darkness, so much for coming out
from among them, so much you can not
simultaneously drink from cup of
demons and the cup of the Lord, so
much for the Scripture “if it does
not speak to the law and the
prophets there is no light in them,”
so much for Jesus Christ's own words
that a thornbush can not produce
figs!
BRENNAN MANNING:
PRAYER CENTERING Review
As mentioned above, the key to
spirituality, according to Manning,
is a special type of prayer which he
calls "contemplative prayer" or
"centering prayer."
For the uninitiated, this may not
seem ominous. It may sound like what
God calls us to do in His Word. It
is not. It is ominous. It is a
practice derived from Eastern
mysticism.
In The Signature of Jesus, Manning
writes, "The task of contemplative
prayer is to help me achieve the
conscious awareness of the
unconditionally loving God dwelling
within me" (p. 211). He also says,
"What masters of the interior life
recommend is the discipline of
'centering down' throughout the day"
(p. 94).
Manning attempts to head off the
charge that centering prayer comes
from Eastern mysticism and the New
Age movement by saying:
A simple method of contemplative
prayer (often called "centering
prayer" in our time and anchored in
the Western Christian tradition of
John Cassian and the desert fathers,
and not, as some think, in Eastern
mysticism or New age philosophy) has
four steps (p. 218).
He instructs the reader in the
practice of centering prayer, which
is a type of contemplative wordless
"prayer" a technique that involves
breathing exercises and the chanting
of a sacred word or phrase. Manning
begins "the first step in faith is
to stop thinking about God at the
time of prayer" (p. 212)! What
biblical support is there for this
idea?
The second step, according to
Manning, is to "without moving your
lips, repeat the sacred word [or
phrase] inwardly, slowly, and often"
(p. 218). Once again, where is the
biblical support for this practice?
None is cited, because none exists.
The third step concerns what to do
when inevitable distractions come.
The answer is to "simply return to
listening to your sacred
word. Gently
return your mind to your sacred
word" (p. 218).
Finally, "after a twenty-minute
period of prayer [which Manning
recommends twice daily] conclude
with the Lord's Prayer, a favorite
psalm, or some spontaneous words of
praise and thanks" (p. 219). While
he doesn't say how long this
concluding recitation or spontaneous
words might last, it seems he only
expects this to be a minute or two,
since the Lord's Prayer and most of
the Psalms are short and easy to
read in a minute or so. This
concluding recitation seems to be an
afterthought, something put in to
make the "prayer" seem Christian.
Yet even this fourth part is
biblically suspect. Jesus said, "And
when you pray, do not use vain
repetitions as the heathen do" (Matt
6:7). Any routine prayer repeated
each prayer session will soon fall
into the category of "vain
repetition," even if it is
Scripture. The Lord's Prayer is a
sample of the way we should pray,
and not some prayer we should
memorize and repeat back to God
daily.
The instruction utilizes odd jargon
such as the "false self" and
"crucifixion of the ego" and a
curious mix of spiritual and
psychological terms. To understand
his language one would need to have
a more candid overview of centering
prayer, which I found in an
unusual-for me, not for New
Agers-non Christian source called
Gnosis Magazine. The following is a
condensation of the article titled
"From Woundedness to Union" (Gnosis,
Winter 1995, pp. 41-45). The author
is a Ph.D. who was tutored by the
inventors of centering prayer:
Thomas Keating and Basil
Pennington [who Manning credits for
teaching him this prayer form] were exploring how to achieve a more
concentrated experience on the
general model of a Zen sesshin,
having been quite experienced in
sesshins. During these experiments
they came upon a form of meditation
from which tears, repressed
memories, deep intuitions all came
to the surface in a jumble, along
with a sense of catharsis and
bonding among the participants.
From his years as abbot, Keating
recognized that this technique
accelerated the sensitizing of the
unconscious which is the goal of the
contemplative life. He recalls, "I
saw people going through in ten days
what it might have taken twenty
years to go through at a monastery."
He believes that this unloading of
the unconscious is a purification
process at work to which he attaches
traditional Christian terminology as
the struggle against sin. This is
called "Divine Therapy."
The main goal is to dismantle the
"false self," the needy, driven,
unrecognized motivations behind
untransformed human behavior. They
suggest the false self as a modern
equivalent for the traditional
concept of original sin. The "true
self" is buried beneath the
accretions and defenses. A huge
amount of healing has to take place
before our deep and authentic quest
for union with God is realized.
This, in essence, constitutes the
spiritual journey.
The most fruitful connection here
[for the author of the article] is
the linking of the "dark night" of
the traditional apophatic path and
the psychological process, the
"darkness" of the psyche. If
psychoanalysis represents
"cataphatic therapy"-using words,
concepts, and awareness to
illuminate the darkness of our inner
ground-centering prayer presents a
kind of "apophatic psycho therapy"
("apophatic" meaning that which
points one towards the ineffable,
beyond all words, concepts, and
forms).
Periods of psychological ferment and
destabilization are signs that the
journey is progressing, not failing.
The results can often be horrifying
to ourselves. As trust grows in God
and practice becomes more stable, we
penetrate deeper and deeper down to
the bedrock of pain, the origin of
our personal false self. In response
to each significant descent into the
ground of our woundedness, there is
a parallel ascent in the form of
inner freedom, the experience of the
fruits of the spirit and beatitude.
By interweaving the contemporary
language of psychological healing
with the traditional language of
Christianity a new synthesis is
born.23
Chapter seven is entitled "Celebrate
the Darkness" (a title that is
decidedly not only unbiblical, but
even antibiblical; darkness is
always presented negatively in
Scripture, see, for example, 2 Cor
6:14; Eph 5:8, 11; 1 Thess 5:4-5; 1
Pet 2:9; 1 John 1:5-10). Manning
writes "the ego has to break; and
this breaking is like entering into
a great darkness. Without such a
struggle and affliction, there can
be no movement in love" (p. 145). He
goes on,
With the ego purged and the heart
purified through the trials of the
dark night, the interior life of an
authentic disciple is a hidden,
invisible affair. Today it appears
that God is calling many ordinary
Christians into this rhythm of loss
and gain. The hunger I encounter
across the land for silence,
solitude, and centering prayer is
the Spirit of Christ calling us from
the shallows to the deep (p. 149).
In centering prayer the word sin
becomes a religious word attached to
a method of psychological therapy,
and the biblical presentation of
true moral guilt is omitted.24 It is
a system completely open to the
manipulation of the inventors who
feel the liberty to use the biblical
language any way they see fit.
Manning attempts to give it the
validity of tradition by saying that
it is has been rooted in Catholic
monastic practices since the 5th
century: "It is a comfort to know
that this is a path that others have
tracked before us" (p. 149).
The practice of centering prayer is
expanding in many parishes and is
now moving beyond Catholic
boundaries as many are coming to it
from the Recovery Movement. The
Catholic Church does not have an
official position on this form of
prayer, but some Catholic scholars
refute the mind-emptying techniques.
They also call for psychological
studies because of the reported
occurrences of depression among
practitioners of New Age type
meditation.
The result of this mystical practice
is that the practitioner becomes
less interested in objective
spiritual knowledge found in the
Bible and more interested in the
subjective experience which is found
through centering prayer. This may
account for the antagonistic
attitude toward traditional forms of
faith. Manning speaks of "several
local churches I have visited, [in
which] religiosity has pushed Jesus
to the margins of real life and
plunged people into preoccupation
with their own personal salvation"
(p. 193). Of course, centering
prayer requires no interest
whatsoever in one's own personal
salvation since it presupposes that
all are already saved. That is what
we discover when we "center down."
Manning's attitude toward the Bible
seems to be markedly different from
that of Calvin and Luther, for
example, or of anyone who has a high
regard for it as the very Word of
God:
I am deeply distressed by what I
only can call in our Christian
culture the idolatry of the
Scriptures. For many Christians, the
Bible is not a pointer to God but
God himself. In a word-bibliolatry.
God cannot be confined within the
covers of a leather-bound book. I
develop a nasty rash around people
who speak as if mere scrutiny of its
pages will reveal precisely how God
thinks and precisely what God wants
(pp. 188-89).
In The Signature of Jesus Manning
rarely cites Scripture. Why should
he, when the truly important
knowledge of God comes from his
experience of centering down and not
from the Bible? Remember "God cannot
be confined within the covers of a
leather-bound book." While Manning
would acknowledge that some
elementary truths of God can be
found by reading the Bible, intimate
knowledge of God only comes through
centering prayer.25
Source:
http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1997ii/Caddock.html
BRENNAN MANNING Review by Jackie
Alnor:
http://www.lighthousetrails.com/manningreview.htm
_______________________
There are several statements in your
letter I would also like to
challenge:
It is
astonishing to me that you would say
that these people are not
integrating Carl Jung into their
books and teaching. Carl Jung has
been a vast influence,
initially
in Roman Catholic mysticism and
gnosticism. In fact it was prevalent
in Roman Catholicism BEFORE it was
brought to Evangelical Christianity.
This in common knowledge which you
can prove with your own website
search of Catholic Retreat Centers
who are great devotees and promoters
of Carl Jung. Even the various
authors promoting this movement such
as Richard Foster's books are laced
with quotes from Carl Jung.
You
state that centering prayer is NOT
using a repetitive mantra. Well this
may be the case for you, but it
collides with the observed practices
in a host of Christian meditation
retreat centers and the actual
prescriptions offered by leaders of
the movement.
You
have correctly quoted Scripture. But
you have not made any connection
with the term “centering” and those
Scriptures. There is not one single
example of the practice in
Scripture. Not not one single
example. Your example of Christ
commanding us to pray
secret in
our prayer closes says nothing about
being silent, only to not be seen or
heard by others. Secondly, if if is
so important to be in isolation to
pray, then why are you then
promoting group techniques?
Furthermore, show me one Scripture
where God “goes deeper than
conversation”, Show me one Scripture
that says we are any closer to God
in silence than we we confess our
faith with our lips, or when Jesus
prayed to the Father to the sweating
of drops of blood, or Daniel's
prayer? It is amazing to me that all
of you who promote this
“contemplative prayer” think you are
closer to God than all of the
persecuted and martyred saints
throughout the ages who did not
practice this form of prayer...that
somehow they missed out. What you
are proposing is that somehow a very
subjective (and untested by the
testing of the spirits to see if it
be of God) is superior to the
objective Word of God. This is
particularly true when the
Scriptures themselves declare that
the is already sufficient to the
perfecting of saints
(sanctification)...that we
already
lack nothing. Sola Scriptura was
sufficient for the Apostle Paul and
he told us it was
sufficient...nothing
deficient....lacking nothing. If we
lack nothing without “prayer
centering” then what can this
practice add? Are you saying that
prayer centering is a way to open
our hearts that could be achieved by
reading the Scripture and praying
the same way the rest of the saints
have always prayed? There is no
presence of God when two or more are
gathered in his name without even
practicing “centering prayer?” God
is not already present in a believer
by virtue of his simple obedience to
Christ's commands such as the Great
Commission (which the Desert Fathers
did NOT practice), by simply
praising his name (The Lord occupies
the praise of his people)?
“Centering Prayer” is not listed as
one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit,
and yet a Christian does not have
the presence of God until they
practice Centering Prayer?” If this
is true, then there is no presence
of God in all the Gifts of the Holy
Spirit that are listed in Scripture.
But that idea is absurd. Without
God's presence in the Gifts of the
Holy Spirit, what Christian would
even want them and of what value
would they be to the Church?
Psalm 62 You state: “It is the
quiet prayer the Psalms speak of
("For God alone my soul waits in
silence" Ps. 62)”
You
have quoted the Revised Standard
Edition. The King James or even the
NIV does not contain the words “in
silence”. Here is the proof:
Psa
62:1 [[To the chief Musician, to
Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.]] Truly
my soul waiteth upon God: from him
[cometh] my salvation.” Psalm 62:1
KVJ
“My
soul finds rest in God alone; my
salvation comes from him.” Psalm
62:1 NIV
So
where is “in silence” in these
passages?
But
even more crucially, is the rest of
the verse you did not quote (“from
him cometh my salvation”), because
this reveals what the whole chapter
is really all about, and that is
what the Psalmist David was talking
about what he was waiting for...and
that is his salvation. In fact the
whole rest of Chapter 62 is talking
about salvation...and the
expectation of Christ's coming to
save him ultimately. The Psalm even
ends with the assurance that God
will reward man according to his
works whether they are wicked or
righteous. Even if David were
waiting “in silence” he is waiting
for his salvation, not simply a
subjective experience of practicing
the presence of God. Finally we are
not even told that Psalm 62 is a
prayer as you state!
Psalm 46
"Be
still, and know that I am God," Ps.
46,
Once there is nothing in the context
of this Psalm to suggest the author
was praying. If anything the Lord
was trying to do what he did with
Job and that is to get him to pay
attention to everything the Lord is
doing and has done in Creation and
Judgment..man was not being credit
for contributing to some sort of
dialogue with God. This Psalm is
almost a reprimand to mankind. This
“be still” was
analogous to trying to get a
fidgety child to “sit still” and pay
attention. God
was simply tell man to stand in awe
and behold
all that GOD was doing including the
devastation he caused on the earth.
This can be clearly seen in verse 8
where he states:
“Come,
behold the
works of the Lord, what desolations
he hath made in the earth? And this
is “prayer centering?” What possible
role did man have in this activity?
More proof from Biblical scholars
regarding what “be still” means in
Psalm 46:
http://cana.userworld.com/cana_Meditation_Psalm.html
Psa
131:2 Surely I have behaved and
quieted myself, as a child that is
weaned of his mother: my soul [is]
even as a weaned child”
Once again this quieting oneself is
just like what Psalm 46 is asking us
to do. In fact this verse even
reinforces that Psalm 46 by trying
to get the child weaned off of
behaving like a child and simply
behaving more like an adult. But it
has nothing to to with “centering
prayer” and just like with Psalm 46
there is nothing in this chapter to
even suggest the author is praying.
Finally I would like to respond to
your use of Ephesians 3:16,17, and
19. First allow me to put these
quotes:
Eph
3:16 That he would grant you,
according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened with might
by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able
to comprehend with all saints what
[is] the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know
the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be filled
with all the fulness of God
Now I
will agree with you that this
passage is a prayer because Paul
states that it is in verse 14 when
he says “for this reason I knee
before the Father.” We are also not
left in the dark what Paul was
referring to that we might be filled
to the measure of fullness of God.”
The impression created in vast
majority of proof texts in
“Christian Meditation and “Centering
Prayer” is that some new information
or elevated state of consciousness
is going to be achieved which all
other Christians who don't practice
it will not attain. But Paul tells
in this very chapter who would
received these riches (all
Christians) and even what they would
receive. It is essential that when
Paul write a phrase such as “for
this reason” , of King James renders
it “for this cause” you have to go
back to the earlier part of that
passage to see what the reason was
that he was referring to, or what
cause. Well Paul tells us
immediately prior in Verse 13. So,
what reason does Paul give for
kneeling before the Father. He says
“so all the rest of the Christians
in Ephesus
won't get discouraged because of
Paul's suffering. There is no
mysterious altered state of
consciousness that you are going to
experience in your inner being. Paul
goes further as you go back even
further in passage. There are not
some new found riches yet to be
discovered by “centering prayer” as
you seem to imply. Paul tells us
what theses riches are when he
declares that it was the mystery of
Christ which was not made known yet
to the Gentiles in previous
generations. In other words, what
was hidden is now revealed in
Christ. BUT IT IS ALREADY
REVEALED...”and to make it plain to
everyone the administration of this
mystery” (Verse 9).
Now
this is not to say there are not
riches yet to be revealed, as Paul
in other place says” “But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love
him.” I Corinthians 2:9 But these
are riches that we will obtain when
we are resurrected in our glorified
bodies...not before, and certainly
not acquired by means of “prayer
centering” or the type of meditation
described in your movement. Paul
would agree that we should no longer
be as a child but become mature. But
this maturation comes through
sanctification of his Word so that
we won't be tossed to and fro by
every wind of doctrine and cunningly
devised myths and fables dreamed up
by Gnostics and Mystics and their
descendants that Paul himself
opposed.
Three other very valuable resources
on “Christian Meditation” are:
http://www.mediaspotlight.org
Ask for article on Renovare
and Richard Foster by Al Dager
http://www.lighthousetrails.com
In
Particular, Ray Yungen's Book “Time
of Departing”
and
http://cana.userworld.com/cana_meditation.html
and
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:noahdove%40lightspeed.bc.ca&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&edition=us&selm=120820011325402872%25noahdove%40lightspeed.bc.ca&rnum=3
Well I
hope that this treatise will
demonstrate to you that the concerns
Christians have regarding whether or
not “Christian Meditation” is New
Age is not without foundation and
documentation. That in the end, it
is a clear and present danger to the
Church
Kindest regards in Christ,
James
Sundquist
*********************
Dear
James Sundquist:
I wish
I could share with you what
Centering Prayer is
and how the Lord has blessed me
through its practice. Centering
Prayer is
not a form of meditation, it does
not use a mantra, it is all about
the
indwelling Christ and spending time
in an intimate, loving relationship
with him. It
should not be lumped with eastern
meditation or Jungian psychology.
It is a
way of opening our hearts to be in
contemplation which is a silent and
intimate
communion with God. It is the
prayer Jesus taught when he said we
are to go
into our secret room and there
commune with Abba, the most intimate
term for
Father. It is communion with God
that goes deeper than conversation,
which is,
of course, also important as we come
closer to God. It is the presence
of
God that is known in this silent,
contemplative prayer. Its
consequence is
knowing that Presence in the rest of
life. It is the quiet prayer the
Psalms
speak of ("For God alone my soul
waits in silence" Ps. 62, "Be still,
and know
that I am God," Ps. 46, "I have
calmed and quieted my soul, like a
weaned child
with its mother.") It is what Paul
prayed for: "That you may be
strengthened
in your inner being with power
through his Spirit, and that Christ
may dwell
in your hearts...so that you may be
filled with all the fullness of
God."
(Eph. 3:16,17&19) I hope this helps
clarify gift that many Christians
who
practice Centering Prayer are
receiving. It would be tragic if
some Christians were
held back from receiving the gift of
contemplative prayer because they
were
frightened that it was New Age.
David
Muyskens
