8873	Forums / Theology Forum / What's Contemplative Spirituality?	on: June 29, 2006, 11:41:50 AM
Although i do not agree with this kind of quietism i do think that the reformed judgmental ism is just as wrong toward the inactive parts of the christian experience. There is more of a tendency to lean toward the semi plagianistic view of moralism than to lean toward the mystical aspects of the christian experience today in our fast pace society. We are creatures of habit and so we learn to think in a habitual manner at the very young years of our lives. As you know i am a mediator and unless i explain my experience then i really cannot offer a different view of these tendencies in our culture of human effort and active obedience. I have been memorizing large portions of scripture over the last 25 yrs and love the Psalms especially. I grew up with the semi plagianist mentality of reactionary theology. That is for every disobedience there needed to be an active obedience to counter act that bad action. What was so devastating to my faith  this temptation to live under the circumstances rather than above the circumstances. Here i think is the heart of the problem of this struggle in the American consciousness.  Its really not the action that brings about the real heart change, but it is the world view of the person who reacts to the circumstances. There is a general disposition in our 20th century christian culture that says that if we work hard enough at change then there will be lasting change, if we take one step at a time until we become well adjusted citizens and socially integrated. Here in this paradigm is a germ of reactionary philosophy in which if the circumstances in ones life become so unraveled then there will be a change that comes from a heart full of guilt which brings about required steps to take to achieve the change in ones life. In my own thinking there is a red light that goes off. And it is because i have fallen into this reactionary pattern in my own life because of the peer pressure that comes by a majority of people going this way. The pressure to be this way is so great today that i must clean my own heart from the temptation to react out of guilt rather than to go the route of meditation and joy and rest. The truth is that unless you have experienced hours of meditation in the Psalms over many years then judging the mystical transforming nature of the scripture by your modern day reactionary philosophies then you will not understand where i am coming from. The necessary element in reformation experience is in the supernatural, and the supernatural is not just what Christ did on the cross, or the creation of the earth , or the miracles in the old testament but they are in the mystical elements of desire, love , joy, rest etc. in the very desires of our moment by moment walk with God. This world view goes beyond giving advice to someone who is going through a divorce, it gets to the cell of an inmate who cannot do a thing about his predicament and must learn to trust in God in rest. Here is the essence of the struggle to captivate the American mind. Rather than the circumstances of divorce or any thing that a person goes through being the deli-ma that causes the anxiety that destroys faith, it rather is what caused the person to go down the road in those young years. It really is not even the actions that accrued in the home, but it really is the world view that taught the individual pragmatism, or semi plagianism. A person learns to react to circumstances based upon his theological surroundings from his birth. If you know anything about the word of God it depicts a person who struggles with sin and does not promise smooth sailing on this earth. It depicts many trials, tribulations and problems even to the point of great sacrifice. It does not offer solutions to being in circumstances as reacting directly to those circumstances in a way that you lust over solutions to get out of the circumstances. Remember that the amount of lust you have to get out of the circumstances equal to the amount of lust you will be taken God for granted once you have performed the duty to relieve the circumstances. I know this is true because this is the heart of the fight i have as it relates to taking everything captive by the word of God. THis is the world view struggle that has an equal effect on the peer pressure that needs to be over come in this semi plagianism American mentality. We really have not understood the meaning of trials , and falling into sin and how to over come the heart problems until we have learned to rest in Christ and the struggle and rely on Him to over come our enemies. We must spend quite a lot of amounts of time pondering in quiet the essence of God , the profound power of God, the awesome abilities in God to perform on our behalf. We do not believe in quietism but we do believe in instant, supernatural transformation through the word meditated on to change our dispositions in a radical way through this resting.