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What is going on at M-Fuge

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Paladin, Aug 12, 2005.

  1. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

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    Centered/contemplative prayer is scary to many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians whose culture has been inculcated with modernist rational reductionist philosophy that glorifies the mind and is suspicious of anything mystical.
     
  2. crazylegs

    crazylegs New Member

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    Gold Dragon,

    Give me one Scripture verse that backs up centering prayer..... just one.
     
  3. Brother Ian

    Brother Ian Active Member

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    All I can say is. . . .wow.
     
  4. USN2Pulpit

    USN2Pulpit New Member

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    This is just what I'm trying to tell you...I was at the first week of camps, and it didn't happen at the camp we attended.

    Let me be rightly understood: If this did happen a certain camps, I'm against it, and glad that it was changed. I also thank you for your efforts. I'm just saying it couldn't have been for every camp, or I would have seen it, too.
     
  5. crazylegs

    crazylegs New Member

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    USN2Pulpit,
    Your pastor possibly could have skimmed over it... or not done it... but, each pastor had to sign off on the curriculum... so, he was supposed to do it.

    Here is the image of the paper that our camp pastor gave to me... the one that contains the "Centering Prayer"

    -There are 3 links, but it's the same picture in each link.

    http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0KR72Q89IDTB30I6Z08GX55LO7

    http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0SLIDKLBRWPNU0BP48YTV1HS0W

    http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1J0UZM8S6VACF14XLC9SMHCMI3

    Let me know what you think.

    In Him,

    Jared Moore
     
  6. USN2Pulpit

    USN2Pulpit New Member

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    Thanks for providing the links. What I think is this: I don't like it, and I'm in agreement with you. If this was indeed mandatory curriculum for all camp pastors, thank God we had one who noted at the very least the confusion this would cause and elected (possibly to his detriment) not to do it.
     
  7. cojosh

    cojosh New Member

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    Very disturbing if it is true! Strange if not true!
     
  8. paidagogos

    paidagogos Active Member

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    That's right as far as a truism goes. However, you must realize that the culture you're critiquing with heavily laden connotative terms was molded from a Jewish-Christian monotheism whereas the culture spawning centered/contemplative prayer was a pantheistic non-Christian culture. After all, our Lord God Jehovah is a rational Being. Throughout the OT, you will find repeated reminders that God acted in concrete, observable, and verifiable ways to reveal Himself to the Children of Israel as a real and rational God. The NT, as well, reveals God as a definite, rational Being who entered real space-time history. So, our whole western culture has centered on a real, rational God who interfaced with the affairs of men. There is a discernable difference between the rational western culture and the mystical eastern culture immersed in pantheism and spiritism. In post-modern parlance, you are pulling centered/contemplative prayer from other religious traditions, not Christianity. The current vogue of centered/contemplative prayer is simply an outgrowth of the post-modern infatuation with spiritualism. In other words, the centered/contemplative prayer fad is a post-modern cultural thing. I think that I’ll stick with traditional western culture. ;)
     
  9. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

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    That's right as far as a truism goes. However, you must realize that the culture you're critiquing with heavily laden connotative terms was molded from a Jewish-Christian monotheism whereas the culture spawning centered/contemplative prayer was a pantheistic non-Christian culture.</font>[/QUOTE]This is not a truism. While centered and contemplative prayer is similar in appearance to some eastern polytheistic or pantheistic cultural practices, western monotheistic Judeo-Christian culture has also produced western monotheistic mystical practices that has been rejected by western monotheistic rationalistic reductionists.

    An fyi that I am not critiquing that culture since I am also a product of it. I am simply trying to hold up a mirror to myself.

    Most definitely. God is a definite and rational being.

    I agree that centered and contemplative prayer is part of a greater postmodern cultural movement within the Christian church, something I feel is a movement in the right direction away from some of the influence of rational reductionistic philosophy that has inculcated western Christianity in both positive and negative ways.

    I myself have not practiced and have not encouraged the practice of contemplative or centering prayer. But I do not oppose it simply because it is counter-cultural.

    I recognize that many wise and spiritual evangelicals and fundamentalists disagree with me.

    [ December 07, 2005, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: Gold Dragon ]
     
  10. paidagogos

    paidagogos Active Member

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