Centering Prayer

[qwalifried]

awesome!



[laurian27453]

Check out you tube "A Lamp in the Dark - The untold history of the bible" - enjoy. It is a full documentary.

[DavidJohnTheHermit]

To Father John D. Dreher, you have completely misunderstood Centering Prayer. Firts one must understand the Cloud of Unknowing, and very few secular Priest do. Just like the Dark Night, few secular Fathers have answers. The Carmelities do.

[tuffguytofiles]

father do you have to pray regular at first before you start contemplating?

[julesario]

I wonder father have you ever had sex with a vibrator?

[laurian27453]

youtube - Ray Yungen contemplative prayer preview.

Read "Faith Undone" by Roger Oakland.

Blessings.

[laurian27453]

The bible says - call no man your Father! These practices of prayer are not biblical but mystical - don't even think about doing ANY of this stuff. Read the King James bible and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to all truth. Blessings.

[cmjdcmd]

@laurian27453 The king James bible is missing 7 books that were in the original Torah that Jesus used. All other bibles are based off of the catholic bible. Jesus meant don't call your biological father father, but to rather think of him as a foster parent and of God as your true father. Catholic priests have the title of father because they represent the true father, God in heaven. Just because a form of prayer doesn't appear in the bible doesn't make it bad. God continues to teach! God Bless!

[fivecrownsful]

Anything done with an awarness of our Lord jesus christ is a prayer. Prayer is simple heart speaking to heart.

[fivecrownsful]

I'm a chrisrtian who is shocked at the amount of fundamentalists commenting here. Being a christian don't mean we have to be narrow minded people. Althougth i believe the christian creed i try to be open minded to other forms of spirituality and prayer.

[laurian27453]

@fivecrownsful The bible tells us to follow the narrow path - the broadway leads to distruction - take heed, don't be deceived the bible says. These forms of spirituality are NOT of the God of the bible - the choice is yours - be blessed and steer clear. Blessings.

[mottledbrain]

This form of 'prayer' is neither Catholic nor Christian.

It is not Christian contemplation and this type of prayer is not

recommended by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, or St. Teresa of Avila.

[hopkins4545]

@mottledbrain You're full of it. Gregory of Nyssa and countless, countless others have encouraged Centering Prayer for ceturies in Christian mysticism and theology.

[mottledbrain]

@hopkins4545 From Catholic Insight magazine:

This technique originated in St. Josephs Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Spencer, MA. According to Father John D. Dreher, it is neither Christian nor prayer. It is essentially a form of self-hypnosis ... God is seen as a part of the universe who can be experienced at the centre of ones being, and not as one who is transcendent ... It takes these characteristics from Hinduism, through the medium of Transcendental Meditation.

We must REACH OUT.

[Rincewind117]

@mottledbrain I read that article, and from that it is clear that John D. Dreher is completely ignorant of what centering prayer even is. Not only that, he takes quotes out of context and horribly misinterprets them just so he can support his wounded little ego in his crusade against something he doesn't understand. Centering prayer is entirely Christian. The three catholic monks who developed it, developed it out of Christian texts. Centering prayer has no relation to Hinduism whatsoever.

[johannesguitarist]

Nice vid !! :-D -  Johannes

[1rams123]

Do NOT engage in "centering prayer". Centering amounts to nothing more than Eastern Transcendental Meditation... This is a known recipe for demonic possession/obsession.

[thrufaithalone]

Is prayer talking to God or an altered state of mind? This is eastern mysticism.

[tornadoparrot]

quiet place, quiet setting, thinking about the word rest...does this type of prayer involve a pillow? =P

[jesusfreakrkg]

so what happens if someone reads "Judas hung himself" over and over? That can't be good in trying to lower suicide rates...

[tornadoparrot]

I'm not sure if you meant to ask me a question or accidentally replied under my post.

[smcneal057]

Let me ask you, "If you eat an apple do I know how it tastes?"

[tornadoparrot]

Let me ask you, "if you know how an apple tastes do I eat it?"

[smcneal057]

What if I can't eat apples?

[tornadoparrot]

Then the worms will.

[smcneal057]

If I wanted to know how an apple tastes and I have an allergy. You mean to tell me you wouldn't be kind enough to tell me how it tastes? That is sad.

[tornadoparrot]

Would it matter?

[smcneal057]

To a person who can't taste the fruit and wishes to hear it from your mouth...yes. That could be the greatest gift given to that person. It does matter.

[tornadoparrot]

Maybe, though if a person truly wanted to know how it tasted and I did not tell them...or maybe I couldn't because I was mute... then they would have many other ways to find out how it tasted. It would be sad to blame the mute for not telling the apple allergic person how an apple tasted.

[smcneal057]

I am done with you...

[tornadoparrot]

I'm just following your reasoning...I'm not sure why you don't like it.