contemplative
The Emerging Ecumenicism: “We’re Ready to Believe You!”
The injection of transcendental meditation, code-named “contemplative prayer,” into the church creates a dangerous precedent for the future of the body of Christ. This is a place along the path from which there is no jumping off point. Contemplative prayer is not a recipe which is encouraged to be joined into the monthly rotation of one’s Christian practice, but rather is to become the new staple for those who have embraced it’s folly. And, once one adopts an element of pagan practice, full-blown paganism will follow in time. Just as the characterization of “gateway drugs” is rightly understood to lead one down a slippery slope into a full-fledged drug involvement, so transcendental meditation- with all of its Christian-sounding names- is a pathway to demonism. If one gets on that path, one will indeed arrive at its final destination. Continue reading
The Emergent Contemplative Prayer Model
The Emergent Contemplative Prayer Model
(Continued from the previous post) This lengthy introduction to transcendental meditation is not the focus of this study, however. The immediate concern is the fact that identical tenets, beliefs and practices to those of transcendental meditation have been repackaged under the Christian-sounding title of “contemplative prayer” and are being taught as biblical concepts by popular Emergent leaders.
I know of numerous Christians who maintain that contemplative prayer is not necessarily synonymous with transcendental meditation. I find myself doubting that, yet will leave that argument for another day. The focus of this portion of the series is specifically the contemplative prayer model practiced and encouraged by Emergent leaders, which is clearly nothing more than a warmed over demonic tradition, recast in Christian robes. Continue reading
