Dangerous Praying

I recently read that contemplative prayer is a tool of the Evil one.  I had no idea this was the case.  I had foolishly believed that contemplative prayer was a beneficial approach to spiritual growth.  Much to my surprise, when I did a search online about contemplative prayer, I found several websites that had much to say about why this particular type of prayer was anathema. 

I won’t point you to particular web sites – just run a search and you will find them pretty quick.  

What I will do is share some of their observations and, of course, mine in response.

For example, one site said that contemplative prayer is a prayer in which a person clears their minds of outside concerns so that God’s voice may be more easily heard.  I didn't hear anything objectionable about that idea.  However, this particular writer quoted scripture (uh-oh) to point out how invalid this approach actually is.  So, according to the New Testament letter to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6). 

Okay.  But isn't not being anxious quite a task in and of itself?  One might even think they need to deliberately focus on God to avoid being anxious in times of prayer.  Hmm.  Jesus also instructs us not to be anxious in his Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew.  In that message, Jesus says that our priority is to seek first God’s kingdom.  He says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Jesus offers no insights into anxiety and prayer, though he does have some great things to say about prayer. 

I won’t go much further on that because what happens is that this post becomes a series of proof texts to counter someone else’s proof texts.  That doesn't get us anywhere except to show that the Bible includes a variety of traditions from which Christians draw to develop their own particular systems of belief.  I will, however continue with some other points that I found against contemplative prayer.

One writer said, and I quote, “The Bible instructs us to pray with our minds so, clearly, prayer does not involve contemplation.”  I’m sorry…contemplation doesn't use your mind?  That is interesting.  Exactly how is one supposed to contemplate?  Likewise, the author stated that the Bible portrays prayer as being comprehensible communication with God, not an esoteric, mystical meditation.  

However (and forgive me – I am proof texting right back at them again!), in the letter to the Romans, Paul writes that sometimes the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in less than comprehensible ways: “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” 

Granted, it could be argued that what Paul meant is that the Spirit speaks to God in a manner we cannot convey in words.  But it could also mean that the Spirit enables us to pray without words, but in sound – and as many Pentecostals would say, in the tongues of angels.  That may or may not require contemplation, but it isn’t comprehensible.

Another objection was that this kind of praying is too mystical; too close to “New Age” prayers; too similar to Eastern Religious practices.  Perhaps, but mysticism is a part of the Christian religious tradition.  One author wrote, “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.” 

What is remarkable is that in order for there to be a written record, people had to have experienced God! 

I will leave that alone for now, but what I found from the persons who found contemplative prayer objectionable was something of an underlying anti-Catholic sentiment.  As one wrote, “contemplatives have sold out to Catholic mysticism and abandoned the clear teaching of Scripture.”  That certainly seems to come from an Anabaptist point of view towards the Catholic Church.  Of course for others, Catholic or not, contemplative prayer is “a satanic counterfeit designed to trick non-believers through whipped up mystical experiences into thinking they were experiencing God.” 

I have to wonder, if you ever attended a Christian weekend retreat with music and speakers, you might feel you experienced God.  I've been to many a Christian concert where the singer/evangelist whips people up into a frenzied, emotional state through singing the same phrase over and over.  What about those kinds of experiences?  Are they incorrect?  And if you claim to have experienced God through contemplative prayer, it seems – according to the previous quote – that it wasn’t God but Satan.  So how is one to know?  The answer there seems to be that you belong to a “proper” church (not Catholic) that doesn't employ mystical, contemplative prayer as these things are unbiblical.

Of course, so are tattoos, eating pork, and wearing clothing made of mixed materials. 

It seems that there is always someone opposed to something within the church that doesn’t jive with their particular understanding of how it should be.  People will stand in opposition towards practices that seem out of the ordinary.  Yet claiming to oppose a style of prayer that has existed and been a part of the Christian tradition for centuries seems a bit much.  But then, this kind of rhetoric comes from those who cannot abide anything that isn't black or white.  Contemplative prayer – reflective prayer, I would say, can certainly be a gray area.  But if it is to honor, experience, and grow in the presence of God, I fail to see the objection, and I find that it hardly merits the level of vitriol I have found online.