Many Christians discovering meditation

[Revmitchell]

Like many churchgoers in the Bible Belt, Kristy Robinson teaches Sunday school with her husband and helps prepare communion at their Episcopal church in Franklin, Tenn.
Advertisement

She rounds out her church- and prayer-filled life with another spiritual practice that's not quite as familiar: meditation.

"I'll see a difference in my day if I don't," says Robinson, who opens each day with 20 minutes of absolute silence.

All the chanting and incense and — yikes — even meditation altars may seem too New Age and mystical for some, but meditation has gone mainstream and been embraced by suburban moms and busy people.

Younger generations get an introduction in yoga classes, careerists escape on meditation retreats and boomers seek tranquility in meditation gardens. Meditation, it seems, is no longer associated as a counterculture activity made hip by The Beatles and favored by flower children.


More Here

 

[Crabtownboy]

Like many churchgoers in the Bible Belt, Kristy Robinson teaches Sunday school with her husband and helps prepare communion at their Episcopal church in Franklin, Tenn.
Advertisement

She rounds out her church- and prayer-filled life with another spiritual practice that's not quite as familiar: meditation.

"I'll see a difference in my day if I don't," says Robinson, who opens each day with 20 minutes of absolute silence.

All the chanting and incense and — yikes — even meditation altars may seem too New Age and mystical for some, but meditation has gone mainstream and been embraced by suburban moms and busy people.

Younger generations get an introduction in yoga classes, careerists escape on meditation retreats and boomers seek tranquility in meditation gardens. Meditation, it seems, is no longer associated as a counterculture activity made hip by The Beatles and favored by flower children.


More Here

Our small Baptist church encourages meditation. Every Thursday evening we have a gathered hour of meditation. Sometimes it is at chuch, and sometimes in a members home. It is a time to listen quietly, to listen for that "still, small voice." Meditation has become a meaningful part of our lives.

 

[annsni]

Al Mohler just wrote an article about this the other day.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2782


I do think there is grave danger in churches embracing this Eastern religious practice.

 

[Mexdeaf]

I hope Marcia weighs in on this...

 

[donnA]

Why are churches supporting, encouraging and participating in eastern religions? Why are they mistakenly trying to mix Christ with false religions?

 

[mcdirector]

wow . . . when did we leap from meditating on the Scripture to just meditating?

 

[Marcia]

wow . . . when did we leap from meditating on the Scripture to just meditating?

The crucial issue here is that biblical meditation is not the meditation that is getting popular in churches. I have been following this trend for the past 12 years in the church. I have studied it, read books by its proponents, written on it, and spoken on it. This is from my article on Contemplative Prayer:

"...meditation on God or on the words of God is never presented as an exercise without thinking. Many of the words translated as "meditation" in the Bible are words meaning to muse, ponder, utter, or make a sound. Most of these words are in Psalms where the psalmist is praising the precepts and words of God and affirming that these are what we should learn, obey, and think upon. This is definitely not leaving ordinary thinking for another level of consciousness. Nor do we take actions to make a (non-existent) "veil" between God and us thinner. Did not the death of Jesus on the cross rip the heavy veil in the Holy of Holies of the Temple, forever serving as a symbol of how Jesus opened the way to God for those who believe?25

Due to Eastern and New Age influences in our culture, the word 'meditation' has come to mean a technique to enter another state of consciousness, to go inward, to go beyond thinking, or to realize spiritual enlightenment. We cannot read these techniques and purposes into the Biblical word translated as "meditation," which originates from several different Hebrew words that do not carry the Eastern-New Age meanings. The contexts of these words indicate an active pondering, thinking and learning, not a technique nor a disengagement from the mind.

The meditation that is getting popular is listening for God "within" which is not Biblical. We are to meditate on God's word, and use our minds in doing so.

This mysticism undermines God's word and is very subjective and inner directed. Some are even teaching that one should repeat a word or phrase over and over. This is due to the Eastern influence on the Catholic monks who started this (inspired partly by Thomas Merton). They had Buddhist monks and a TM (Transcendental Meditation) teacher come teach the monks where all this got started.

I have a few articles addressing this:
Contemplating Contemplative Prayer: Is It really Prayer?
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_ContemplativePrayer1.html

Meditation and Ps 46.10 (Misuse of Ps 46.10 to support eastern styles of meditation)
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_MeditationPsalm.html

The "Be Still" DVD (promoting this kind of meditation for evangelicals - it originally was started in the Catholic Church by monks Keating, Pennington, and Menninger. Richard Foster imported it to evangelicals)
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_BeStillDVD.html

 

[Marcia]

Our small Baptist church encourages meditation. Every Thursday evening we have a gathered hour of meditation. Sometimes it is at chuch, and sometimes in a members home. It is a time to listen quietly, to listen for that "still, small voice." Meditation has become a meaningful part of our lives.

Crabtownboy, have you examined the passage that has this phrase, "the still, small voice?" It is not a support for this kind of meditation. For one thing, we are nowhere told to meditate like this, only to meditate on God's word.

Btw, God did not speak in a "still, small voice." This is the translation in the RSV but other versions and the word itself means more of a sound of "sheer silence," or a "gentle blowing," and it was after this sound that God spoke to Elijah in a regular way. Elijah heard what God had to say in the normal way God spoke to Elijah. We are nowhere told to listen for some kind of "still, small voice" within us.

This is from my article on the New Age book Eat Pray Love, because the author promotes this type of meditation and tries to use the Bible to support her view.

Many cite the "still small voice" or "sound of sheer silence" (some translations have "the sound of gentle blowing") in 1 Kings 19 when Elijah is despairing near the cave on the mountain, fleeing the wrath of the murderous Jezebel. But this sound was not God's voice, just God's way of getting Elijah's attention. Nor was Elijah practicing a form of silent meditation or contemplation at the time. After God has Elijah's attention, God speaks to Elijah in words (verse 13). God's message was not through the "small still voice," or the silence, or the blowing. Moreover, Elijah was there in the first place because God had previously told him to go there, using words (verse 11). Furthermore, narratives about prophets are not instructions on how to hear God. Prophets were chosen by God to receive direct revelation from God; they were the exception, not the rule. Elijah had been receiving these revelations already. It is not normative practice today to sit and wait to hear God's voice. God has already spoken ? in the canon of Scripture. Nor are we instructed to descend into self and silence to hear God; instead, we are instructed to read and meditate (meaning think about and ponder) on God's word.

Source
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_EatPrayLove.html

 

[Mexdeaf]

The crucial issue here is that biblical meditation is not the meditation that is getting popular in churches. I have been following this trend for the past 12 years in the church. I have studied it, read books by its proponents, written on it, and spoken on it. This is from my article on Contemplative Prayer:


The meditation that is getting popular is listening for God "within" which is not Biblical. We are to meditate on God's word, and use our minds in doing so.

This mysticism undermines God's word and is very subjective and inner directed. Some are even teaching that one should repeat a word or phrase over and over. This is due to the Eastern influence on the Catholic monks who started this (inspired partly by Thomas Merton). They had Buddhist monks and a TM (Transcendental Meditation) teacher come teach the monks where all this got started.

I have a few articles addressing this:
Contemplating Contemplative Prayer: Is It really Prayer?
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_ContemplativePrayer1.html

Meditation and Ps 46.10 (Misuse of Ps 46.10 to support eastern styles of meditation)
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_MeditationPsalm.html

The "Be Still" DVD (promoting this kind of meditation for evangelicals - it originally was started in the Catholic Church by monks Keating, Pennington, and Menninger. Richard Foster imported it to evangelicals)
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_BeStillDVD.html

Thanks, Marcia. I have learned to value your opinion on these type of things as our resident "New Age expert".

 

[Crabtownboy]

Crabtownboy, have you examined the passage that has this phrase, "the still, small voice?" It is not a support for this kind of meditation. For one thing, we are nowhere told to meditate like this, only to meditate on God's word.

We are not told anywhere not to meditate. When Jesus went into the wilderness to pray I am sure he spent time listening ... meditating.

Btw, God did not speak in a "still, small voice." This is the translation in the RSV but other versions and the word itself means more of a sound of "sheer silence," or a "gentle blowing," and it was after this sound that God spoke to Elijah in a regular way. Elijah heard what God had to say in the normal way God spoke to Elijah. We are nowhere told to listen for some kind of "still, small voice" within us.

You are right, it does mean "utter silence." I learned that from Carlyle Marney years ago. He said the translation "still small voice" should read "utter silence". He said that the accurate translation of "utter silence" is a harder truth.

This is from my article on the New Age book Eat Pray Love, because the author promotes this type of meditation and tries to use the Bible to support her view.

Have you read any of the writings of the early Christian Desert Fathers? [Just curious]

Joshua 1:8 says,

8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Here are more Biblical references to meditation:

Genesis 24:63
He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
Genesis 24:62-64 (in Context) Genesis 24 (Whole Chapter)
Joshua 1:8
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Joshua 1:7-9 (in Context) Joshua 1 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-3 (in Context) Psalm 1 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 39:3
My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
Psalm 39:2-4 (in Context) Psalm 39 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 48:9
Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.
Psalm 48:8-10 (in Context) Psalm 48 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 77:12
I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
Psalm 77:11-13 (in Context) Psalm 77 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:15
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
Psalm 119:14-16 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:23
Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.
Psalm 119:22-24 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:27
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
Psalm 119:26-28 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:48
I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees.
Psalm 119:47-49 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:78
May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts.
Psalm 119:77-79 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:97
[ m Mem ] Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Psalm 119:96-98 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:99
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
Psalm 119:98-100 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 119:148
My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.
Psalm 119:147-149 (in Context) Psalm 119 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
Psalm 143:4-6 (in Context) Psalm 143 (Whole Chapter)
Psalm 145:5
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
Psalm 145:4-6 (in Context) Psalm 145 (Whole Chapter)

I guess that is enough.

 

[Matt Black]

Marcia, I assume that you don't have any problems with meditative techniques on Scripture such as lectio divina or Ignatian meditation, which help make Scripture 'come alive' to the reader/hearer of the Word?

[ETA - for the record, I too have problems about any attempt to integrate Hindu or Buddhist meditation into mainstream Christianity. I also have reservations about the likes of Thomas Merton.]

 

[Crabtownboy]

Marcia, in my OP I said:

Our small Baptist church encourages meditation. Every Thursday evening we have a gathered hour of meditation. Sometimes it is at chuch, and sometimes in a members home. It is a time to listen quietly, to listen for that "still, small voice." Meditation has become a meaningful part of our lives.

If you read my quote carefully I did not say the "still small voice" inside ourselves, but the "still small voice" of God ... guess I was not clear. But as you said, "utter silence."

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Double posting

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Marcia, I assume that you don't have any problems with meditative techniques on Scripture such as lectio divina or Ignatian meditation, which help make Scripture 'come alive' to the reader/hearer of the Word?

[ETA - for the record, I too have problems about any attempt to integrate Hindu or Buddhist meditation into mainstream Christianity. I also have reservations about the likes of Thomas Merton.]

Whats up with the Latin? I think everytime someone uses Latin it sounds more mysterious than it is. I'm teaching my kids Latin to help them understand english word better and one of them wants to be a doctor so I thought here's a good head start. However, Lectio Divina just means Divine Reading or reading the scriptures. However, is it reading the scriptures? Or is it many hours of mindless repeatition of scriptures until enlightenment comes? It it is the Later how is it any different then the Budhist repeating their verses or saying Um over and over. I don't think God wants us to engage mindlessly. David Says he Meditates on Gods word (because it fills him with hope and shows the character of God.) not some esoteric enlightened state. Just some thoughts.

 

[annsni]

Crabtownboy - Just to be sure we're speaking of the same thing using the terminology, can you explain what you mean by "meditation"? Can you describe what your church has taught on how to do it? What exactly do you do when you meditate each week? I think that will be very helpful to this conversation. We've seen from Marcia that the term "meditate" can have multiple meanings so I want to be sure we're using the same meaning.

 

[Matt Black]

Lectio divina means that you read a passage of Scripture slowly twice, and then think or speak out one or two words or phrases which leap out at you. You then read it a third time, asking yourself the question, "What is God saying to me in this passage?" You read it a final time, asking yourself the question, "What should my response to God from this passage be?" So, no, not mindless repetition. (Even if it was, it's Scripture, not some Vedic mantra, so what's wrong with that? If nothing else, it's a good way of memorising chunks of the Bible.)

[reply to Thinkingstuff]

 

[Crabtownboy]

Crabtownboy - Just to be sure we're speaking of the same thing using the terminology, can you explain what you mean by "meditation"? Can you describe what your church has taught on how to do it? What exactly do you do when you meditate each week? I think that will be very helpful to this conversation. We've seen from Marcia that the term "meditate" can have multiple meanings so I want to be sure we're using the same meaning.

Yes ... it varies a bit from week to week depending on who is leading the meditation.

We gather together and ask for prayer requests or celebrations.

Then we usually read a short scripture and almost always listen to a piece of music. Often, but not always, it is a hymn from the Northumbria Community. We so not sing along. The music chosen is always a quiet piece of Christian music that helps us quiet the voices in our heads.

Then we sit quietly for 30 to 40 minutes listening and/or praying ... actially I consider listening also a form of prayer. I am sure different folk approach it differently from week to week depending on what is going on in their lives.

We then finish with spoken prayer. Anyone can pray who feels led to pray.

Then we quietly leave.

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Lectio divina means that you read a passage of Scripture slowly twice, and then think or speak out one or two words or phrases which leap out at you. You then read it a third time, asking yourself the question, "What is God saying to me in this passage?" You read it a final time, asking yourself the question, "What should my response to God from this passage be?" So, no, not mindless repetition. (Even if it was, it's Scripture, not some Vedic mantra, so what's wrong with that? If nothing else, it's a good way of memorising chunks of the Bible.)

[reply to Thinkingstuff]

Sounds like biblical teretts syndrom. Just kidding. Why speak something that jumps out at you? And those questions go with all quiet time devotions reading of the scripture as well I don't see the difference so why put a latin term to it. Quiet time or devotions seem sufficient. I don't think God wants us just to repeat scripture unless it is to remember it. I'm thinking specifically of the mystical Jews Cabalist. They seem to have issues.

 

[Matt Black]

You don't have to speak it out loud necessarily, just note what happens to stand out for you on the first two readings. Lectio is a bit different from what I understand most evangelicals mean by the term 'quiet time', in that it is a specific discipline or method of reading Scripture, usually based on the Church's lectionary. It's neither just opening the Bible at random and reading it in the hope that the Holy Spirit will speak to us*, nor is it a 'Bible study' involving Bible-reading notes, both of which in my experience tend to be meant when evangelicals use the phrase 'quiet time'.

*Not that I'm saying or implying that the Holy Spirit doesn't speak to us by this method - He does - just that that isn't lectio.

[ETA - BTW, it's Tourette's syndrome!]

 

[Thinkingstuff]

You don't have to speak it out loud necessarily, just note what happens to stand out for you on the first two readings. Lectio is a bit different from what I understand most evangelicals mean by the term 'quiet time', in that it is a specific discipline or method of reading Scripture, usually based on the Church's lectionary. It's neither just opening the Bible at random and reading it in the hope that the Holy Spirit will speak to us*, nor is it a 'Bible study' involving Bible-reading notes, both of which in my experience tend to be meant when evangelicals use the phrase 'quiet time'.

*Not that I'm saying or implying that the Holy Spirit speaks to us by this method - He does - just that that isn't lectio.

[ETA - BTW, it's Tourette's syndrome!]

I was considering the questions that you state you're asking yourself which I do every quiet time. I don't read the bible randomly but purposefully depending on what area's of my life are currently affected so I guess thats different than the Lectio (based off the liturgical year selected readings). However, the questions are the same. And protestants have the ability to step outside the liturgical year readings which is nice.