Willow Creek and Focus on the Family Promote Contemplative Prayer Proponents

[billiefan2000]

Willow Creek and Focus on the Family Promote Contemplative Prayer Proponents - Christian Newswire


Willow Creek and Focus on the Family Promote Contemplative Prayer Proponents


Willow Creek and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality will join forces to promote Contemplative Prayer

Contact: UndergroundNews.us, 608-469-7956

MADISON, Wisc., Sept. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- Starting on September 15, Willow Creek will distribute the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Church-wide study, which includes a kit, the EHS book, the EHS Group workbook, the teaching DVD, and The Daily Office.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality was co-founded by Pete and Geri Scazzero


It is an organization that is supposed to "apply emotional health to biblical spirituality in order to transform leaders, relationships, churches and organizations" according to the EHS website.





Tenet 4 of the 12 Foundational Tenets on the website states, "the church today parallels that of the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th century.


Following the example of Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus, the desert fathers fled to the desert to seek God, we too must find our deserts in the midst of our activity for Christ.



We can learn a great deal from the contemplative, monastic tradition as we seek to remain rooted as we engage the world with the gospel."




However, many believe the desert fathers received many of their meditative techniques from Eastern beliefs or they developed spontaneously to be like the meditative techniques used in false Eastern religions.




The father of Contemplative Prayer, Thomas Merton, is widely recognized as the person in the twenty-first century who promoted Contemplative Prayer.



On page 17 of "Spiritual Classics" edited by Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin, it is said,



"His (Merton's) interest in contemplation led him to investigate prayer forms in Eastern religion.



Zen masters from Asia regarded him as the preeminent authority on their kind of prayer in the United States."




Also, on June 21, 2009, Focus on the Family put an article on their website called "Taking Off Our 'Happy Faces' at Church" by Lynne Thompson.



The article freely promoted the Scazzero's and their book "The Emotionally Healthy Church" (Zondervan) despite the Scazzero's promotion of Contemplative Prayer.




Other endorsers of the Scazzero's include John Ortberg (Menlo Presbyterian Church)


and Dr. Jack Hayford (President of the International Foursquare Churches).


A rebuttal article on Contemplative Prayer by Marcia Montenegro

Contemplating Contemplative Prayer: Is It Really Prayer? (Page 1 of 3)

[billiefan2000]

BTW on a side note:


Trinity Church of Omaha Nebraska where Les Beauchamp is the current pastor




(disappointed in him cause a few years ago I had respect for him but he has gone down the seeker and emergent path so fast)



well, Trinity church of Omaha Nebraska has been very supportive of the teachings of Pete Scazzero and John Ortberg and other contemplative promoters






(just mentioning that as a warning for folks in Omaha area who maybe reading this to avoid that church at all costs

and also for those who go there. I know of folks who sadly go there




BTW: Trinity Church is also part of the infamous Willow Creek Association

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Ray Yungen on what really Contemplative Prayer is and who promotes it











Ray Yungen on Emerging Church & Intersprituality

[WartHog]

From GotQuestions.org

Question: "What is contemplative prayer?"

Answer: It is important to first define “contemplative prayer.” Contemplative prayer is not just “contemplating while you pray.” The Bible instructs us to pray with our minds (1 Corinthians 14:15), so, clearly, prayer does involve contemplation. However, praying with your mind is not what “contemplative prayer” has come to mean. Contemplative prayer has slowly increased in practice and popularity along with the rise of the emerging church movement—a movement which embraces many unscriptural ideas and practices. Contemplative prayer is one such practice.

Contemplative prayer, also known as “centering prayer,” is a meditative practice where the practitioner focuses on a word and repeats that word over and over for the duration of the exercise. While contemplative prayer is done differently in the various groups that practice it, there are similarities. Contemplative prayer involves choosing a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within. Contemplative prayer usually includes sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settling briefly and silently, introducing the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within. When a contemplative pray-er becomes aware of thoughts, he/she is to return ever so gently to the sacred word.

This sentence Really threw me for a loop!: "Contemplative prayer usually includes sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settling briefly and silently, introducing the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within." WOW!!!

Although this might sound like an innocent exercise, this type of prayer has no scriptural support whatsoever. In fact, it is just the opposite of how prayer is defined in the Bible. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6). “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:23-24). These verses and others clearly portray prayer as being comprehendible communication with God, not an esoteric, mystical meditation.

Contemplative prayer, by design, focuses on having a mystical experience with God. Mysticism, however, is purely subjective, and does not rely upon truth or fact. Yet the Word of God has been given to us for the very purpose of basing our faith, and our lives, on Truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17). What we know about God is based on fact; trusting in experiential knowledge over the biblical record takes a person outside of the standard that is the Bible.

Contemplative prayer is no different than the meditative exercises used in Eastern religions and New Age cults. Its most vocal supporters embrace an open spirituality among adherents from all religions, promoting the idea that salvation is gained by many paths, even though Christ Himself stated that salvation comes only through Him (John 14:6). Contemplative prayer, as practiced in the modern prayer movement, is in opposition to biblical Christianity and should definitely be avoided.