New Age disguised as Christian
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Meditate for Thirty Minutes.... Remember: Sit down. Sit still and upright. Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert. Silently, interiorly, begin to say a single word. We recommend the prayer-phrase "Maranatha." Recite it as four syllables of equal length. Listen to it as you say it, gently, but continuously. Do not think or imagine anything—spiritual or otherwise. Thoughts and images will likely come, but let them pass. Just keep returning your attention—with humility and simplicity—to saying your word in faith, from the beginning to the end of your meditation.
World Community for 'Christian' meditation
THIS IS NOT CHRISTIAN AT ALL!!
Sitting down, blanking mind and chanting some christian sounding syllables...RUBBISH!!! THIS IS NEW AGE MOVEMENT in disguise. -
this isnt new age, its been in india since a few thousand years ago.
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hmm.....the definition of new age is revamping and repacking something oldOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:this isnt new age, its been in india since a few thousand years ago.
serious -
So are we gonna start condemning or ask to ban stuff that are unChristian like?
Macham like extremist PAS members who banned wayang kulit and dikir barat, labelling them as 'unIslamic'
Unless one personally attend these groups and know they are not focused on Christ, there is nothing wrong to bring in meditation. After all, meditation helps lots of people in form of theraphy. -
okay
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Christian doctrines and lifestyle are not like as and when u like u change it to suit ur own purpose and finally we measure not on world's standards of therapuetics or solace purpose. We are in the world but not of this world.
what the Bible never says....we question. what the Bible suggests, we obey and follow. Meditation is mentioned in the Bible but not in this sit down, blank mind manner. It is to fill our minds with the riches of God's word. Opposite huh?
PAS and watever ban tt on nationwide. They rule over other ppl outside their jurisdiction. This thread aims to speak to Christians only.
so the bottom line is? Can Christians we knows the word still do tt?
I cant explain to you. since u r not in the loop to understand.
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I aint in the loop, but I am not in a shell. Luckily for us, certain people are not the gahmen nor a religious leader, else.....
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Originally posted by laurence82:I aint in the loop, but I am not in a shell. Luckily for us, certain people are not the gahmen nor a religious leader, else.....
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Really?
I forgot, I was talking to self proclaimed God here...please accept my humble human apologies.... -
u add in tt 'self-proclaimed' urself. i nv say i am God anywhere
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Again, accept my humble human apologies....
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Chanting the word and meditation is absolutely rubbish and unchristian......beware!!!!!!
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Chanting the word Maranatha and using meditation to know GOD better is absolutely nonsensical and unchristian. Why not chant "I love hamburgers"?
It is not biblical and in no way it is part of the christian faith.
Beware... -
so..are we gonna start the Second Inquisition?
Root out all unChristian-like things, root out all Christians who deviate from the mainstream teachings..destroy, burn..muahahhaha
Dont you see that many of you here in this forum choose to spend more time throwing stones at non believers and at one another, than spending more time to build your personal relationship with God or reflecting on your behaviour? Questions after questions on non believers pop up, different denominations fighting one another..
Some even post pictures making fun of the Pope and the Catholic Church, some, coming from different denominations, choose to believe his denomination teachings is the only Truth, and try to bring up history of centuries of misconducts by the Catholic Church and other teachings.
Many, especially one nimwit, choose to indulge in self righteousness, self denial and self assurrance his way, and his belief rule all over others, even people of the same faith.
What if people come up evidence that meditation has existed since the early time of Christendom? Who is right who is wrong? Are you all gonna start insisting the mainstream teachings are right, any slight deviation from the mainstream or even ur own denominations teachings are wrong? Arent some of you all, self proclaimed righteous Protestants, no different from the Catholics who executed the Inquisition centuries ago, which u all condemned? Who is trying to act God here, insisting his way is right, and those who deny any if his 'facts' shall be deemed as having no understanding of the subject matter or receive no blessings of God? You can go all the way to question the practice of these meditators, but do not question their faith in God, for none of you are qualified to say anything at all.
This is Eternal Hope for goodness sakes. Many of u Christians here has turned this place into Eternal Blasphemy of God's name!
Why I am picky on this subject? Look at the extremist Muslims, they are doing what some of you are doing now, picking and 'weeding' things that are unIslamic. They have even gone into nitty gritty details of how Islam should be practised, and came up with ridiculous stuff such as matyrdom in violence, as well as tudung and other funny apparel to clamp down on people. And i have never seen other places with such high degree of intolerance. And there was even no debate on what is faith for the extremist Muslims or even here!!!
And if any of you bugger is denying this, I have no doubt you are lying thru ur teeth, or that you are swimming in ur sea of sins! -
The 'warning' here applies only to believers and not u since u r not part of the body of Christ.
Edification is part and parcel of christian discipline and to ensure doctrinal accuracy. we do things that pleases God and abstain from that which contradicts His word and not about how u feel God's truth shld be encompassing and cater to ur desires and wants.
Eternal Hope caters to Christians and Non-Christians who are curious to know abt God. Not for ppl who are against this aspect (U click and read urself, we nv force this thread into ur screen) and is trying to see Christianty using a carnal lens. u will nv see the picture and Christianity and its teachings will continue to irritate u. -
The 'self righteous' and all these descriptions r fr u. all of us here in EH posts God's Word and relate it to some situations mentioned in the discussion. We never claimed that we r sinless, on the contrary all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. What we are is simply forgiven.
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What if people come up evidence that meditation has existed since the early time of Christendom? Who is right who is wrong? Are you all gonna start insisting the mainstream teachings are right, any slight deviation from the mainstream or even ur own denominations teachings are wrong? Arent some of you all, self proclaimed righteous Protestants, no different from the Catholics who executed the Inquisition centuries ago, which u all condemned? Who is trying to act God here, insisting his way is right, and those who deny any if his 'facts' shall be deemed as having no understanding of the subject matter or receive no blessings of God? You can go all the way to question the practice of these meditators, but do not question their faith in God, for none of you are qualified to say anything at all.
what if? The Bible is clear in all its teachings and there is no GREY area when God's word is concerned. Black and white is the manner the Bible presents God's absolute and eternal truths. What the Christendom does is still of human origin and they do not form dogmas. Just because some church fathers formulate some doctrines and say they must be taken as if they r from the Bible doesnt mean they r from the Bible. Protestants believers only what the Bible says and even this is according with His Word. well..again....this is in the context of Christians who hold the Word as ultimate and final authority on all things it speaks on and not on u who dun even hold the Bible in that manner.
as such...kindly refrain fr participating is such 'arguements' reserved only for Christians. -
Again, proving my points in my earlier post......
Worse, anyone non Christian - no right to speak, then suka suka barge in to other forums and condemn others... -
Accept my humble apologies.
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There is not a single doubt that the claims of meditation and the words chanted are unchristian and baseless, as they are not from any part from Christian doctrines.Originally posted by laurence82:so..are we gonna start the Second Inquisition?
Root out all unChristian-like things, root out all Christians who deviate from the mainstream teachings..destroy, burn..muahahhaha
Dont you see that many of you here in this forum choose to spend more time throwing stones at non believers and at one another, than spending more time to build your personal relationship with God or reflecting on your behaviour? Questions after questions on non believers pop up, different denominations fighting one another..
Some even post pictures making fun of the Pope and the Catholic Church, some, coming from different denominations, choose to believe his denomination teachings is the only Truth, and try to bring up history of centuries of misconducts by the Catholic Church and other teachings.
Many, especially one nimwit, choose to indulge in self righteousness, self denial and self assurrance his way, and his belief rule all over others, even people of the same faith.
What if people come up evidence that meditation has existed since the early time of Christendom? Who is right who is wrong? Are you all gonna start insisting the mainstream teachings are right, any slight deviation from the mainstream or even ur own denominations teachings are wrong? Arent some of you all, self proclaimed righteous Protestants, no different from the Catholics who executed the Inquisition centuries ago, which u all condemned? Who is trying to act God here, insisting his way is right, and those who deny any if his 'facts' shall be deemed as having no understanding of the subject matter or receive no blessings of God? You can go all the way to question the practice of these meditators, but do not question their faith in God, for none of you are qualified to say anything at all.
This is Eternal Hope for goodness sakes. Many of u Christians here has turned this place into Eternal Blasphemy of God's name!
Why I am picky on this subject? Look at the extremist Muslims, they are doing what some of you are doing now, picking and 'weeding' things that are unIslamic. They have even gone into nitty gritty details of how Islam should be practised, and came up with ridiculous stuff such as matyrdom in violence, as well as tudung and other funny apparel to clamp down on people. And i have never seen other places with such high degree of intolerance. And there was even no debate on what is faith for the extremist Muslims or even here!!!
And if any of you bugger is denying this, I have no doubt you are lying thru ur teeth, or that you are swimming in ur sea of sins!
It is sad and terrible that if people are convinced by these lies, then nobody will want to hear the truth anymore. -
So what is the Truth and what are the Untruths?
Its about finding it and understanding it, not something u can discern, picked out and classify..else u will be the same as those who try to deny the existence of God from logical or scientific side of arguments. -
well, all i can say is this. Christians, who obey and follow, gets saved, non-believers, ignorant or those who deny salvation, despite hearing the message of salvation, goto hell.
be as indignant as you want, that's the whole message. its not like God sabo you, "force" you to believe. everyone has done something wrong, lie, cheat, steal, whatever.. and the result is spiritual death and condemnation. God knows we can't save our sorry asses, and dies a horrible death so that we have a way out, if you choose to repent and believe.
you can of course choose not to believe, its your pasa, i'm sad, but its still your pasa. if you are so sure of what you believe in, why are you so furious when you see Neontera's post? if you are so sure of what you believe in, why would you be so shaken?
for example, i am sure of my own salvation, so no matter how u post stuff telling me i am screwed if i believe in Jesus, and i will goto hell because i believe in Jesus, or i will goto hell if i don't believe in other "gods", i won't get mad. i'm very convinced in the existance of God, the creator of the universe. I definitely believe in Jesus, historically recorded, and supernaturally ressurected. i've seen the power of God at work, in my life, and in the lives of those who believe.
i've felt the loving presence of the Holy Spirit, i've seen the deliverence of people oppressed by demons, i've known of great christian servants, dying with a smile on their face, totally at peace, which doctors could never understand. one example, is the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Mr Bill Bright. most people, die with certain unease, nervousness, but ol' Bill died with total peace and actually, he was looking forward to it. because, to us, we are going home.
feel free to be indignant, complain, flame, do as you wish. like i said, its your life, you account for it. everything that is happening around the world now, are all prophecies taking place. let me list down a few examples.
Signs of the End of the Age
Luke 21
5Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6"As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."
7"Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?"
8He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."
10Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12"But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17All men will hate you because of me. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By standing firm you will gain life.
20"When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
those i have highlighted, aren't they coming true? how many christian cults have you seen? mormons, moonies, christian science.. jehovah witnesses.. all claiming to a certain extent, they are the real deal. in fact, the founder of the moonies cult declared himself the returned christ.
pestilence - given the last 20 decades, look at the outbreak of various incurable deseases such as aids. hell, give u the last 20 years, a sudden outbreak of SARS, Chicken Flu, Mad Cow disease.
Wars and rumour of wars, kingdoms against kingdoms, nations vs nations. World war 1, world war 2, the nations of islam smashing the nation of isreal etc.. even the war on iraq (babylon) was prophecied hundred of years ago.
Jeremiah 50 (i have chosen selected obvious verses, read the whole passage if you want to)
1 This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians [1] :
3 A nation from the north will attack her
and lay waste her land.
9 For I will stir up and bring against Babylon
an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.
They will take up their positions against her,
and from the north she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like skilled warriors
who do not return empty-handed.
10 So Babylonia [2] will be plundered;
all who plunder her will have their fill,"
declares the LORD .
18 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king of Assyria.
41 "Look! An army is coming from the north;
a great nation and many kings
are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
42 They are armed with bows and spears;
they are cruel and without mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
to attack you, O Daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
go ahead and deny what that has happened, try to come up with your "logical" explaination how this thousands of years old prophecy came true. turn a blind eye, carry on your merry ways. but to me, it is as plain as can be. something tremendous is going to happen, its whether you are prepared when it happens.
like i said. its your life, and your pasa. if you want to understand more about Jesus and His gift of life, and what the hell is going on with all these prophecies coming true. you can message either me or neontera or other christians you know. i'm sure they will be more than willing to explain to you. -
Reading thru the gooblegook..
i saw something like the bible predicting the world wars and muslims waging wars against the nation of israel..
to be truthful, i almost fell over my chair laffing..it make nostradamus look like a prophet of God too...since he is also known to make accurate predictions...
U believe in ur Bibles predicting these stuff, ur passa..there is nothing wrong for u, and u and other alone to believe in these stuff..but u never read my post (i am sure) carefully...
i simply dont care what u believe in, and i even made this point all over my replies - ur faith is urs alone, the existence of God canot be logically argued out, and so far i have never made a point to argue against ur belief..
second, i did warn against using articles which 'logically' argues for stuff in the bible such as predictions, or research which cleverly argue all religions link to Christ and so on..even made it a point against people who argue against existence of God there is two sorta argument - argument for faith and argument of facts..
Two reasons why i said this - while the other Christians try to stand up to SIS and argue that the existence of God cannot be argued by logical or scientific argument alone, here you are posting articles that researchers try to argue (cleverly) that all the world happenings are linked and predicted by the Bibles...seem u are wasting ur comrades time and making the rest confused..take a pinch of salt at every research, and do ur own reasoning, just dont force it down my throat
The second reason is most people here start to deviate, and talking about non believers and other things..dont understand why some cannot spend more time productively reading Bibles or talking about other stuff...if u can talk about non believers, why cant i join in? If not happy, dont use this 'not happy, dont talk here" thingy..kinda lame excuse..
If ever want to talk about these things, dont blame non believers or atheist come smashing in to debate. For every action there is a or some consequences. To quote ef ai, why cannot talk about religion? Its sensitive, but no reason why cannot intelllectually debate on it.
i am just questioning the actions of people here..if wanna condemn other religion, dont do it here, do it offline, mabbe among few friends..i am itching to do one citizen arrest for people who do this..but fortunately, most of my friends are mature Christians, and some of them are from CHC or New Creation, which some of u people condemn or discourage.
But I say, their behaviour compared to u guys are much better, and u guys behave more like the Catholic Inquistors, this fact some of u people used to condemn Catholics and making fun of them...why extend animosity out to non believers when there is fightings among diff denominations..
Not happy some more? go ask Qitai and the rest what happened to them when their Christian friends become too evangelistic...how some rambunctious people force people to take in the word of God. I dont see anywhere in the Bible Jesus is a bengster who act pai kia, so dont become one.
spend some time do some soul searching...and consider ur own actions instead of blaming people who do not believe. change oneself to influence others, if u want to spread the word of Gospel. I dont think God himself want a fanclubs full of rubbish people to spread his word. -
I dun really understand what is ur point laurence82. What Neon did was to point out that meditation is unchristian and we should not be taken in by what the website told us. Who actually is condemning or banning anything? I think in a way u are condemning christians also, as they dun share your beliefs abt meditation ---- "After all, meditation helps lots of people in form of theraphy" "Macham like extremist PAS members who banned wayang kulit and dikir barat, labelling them as 'unIslamic' " "Catholic inquisitors blah blah blah..." Before you criticise people, you already have perceived ideas yourself. How to argue intellectually and fairly like what u said u are doing? Do u attend PAS meetings as well? Then why are u also criticising them?Originally posted by laurence82:So are we gonna start condemning or ask to ban stuff that are unChristian like?
Macham like extremist PAS members who banned wayang kulit and dikir barat, labelling them as 'unIslamic'
Unless one personally attend these groups and know they are not focused on Christ, there is nothing wrong to bring in meditation. After all, meditation helps lots of people in form of theraphy.
From your posts, u said u are disgruntled about the in-fighting and conflicts among the churches, even though u are not a christian. Thank you for your concern abt this issue. But......do u actually know the entire picture. Obviously u do not, as you are not even in a church yourself. Why do we disagree with ur frens who are in Modern Churches? Do you actually know why? If you do not, is it fair for u to comment on this?
You are right in saying Christians should go build their own relationships with Christ and not dabble in other issues too much. I agree with u. Thus there is no point in starting a war with you over this issue. I invite u to read the bible yourself and find out for yourself whether meditation is christian or not. If it is, you can post it and share with us your discovery.
Whether you want to believe in HIM, it is actually a free choice. Not all Christians will force christianity down your throat. Not all Christians will tell u u will go to hell if u dun believe in HIM. I personally dun believe in that and there are a lot more Christians out there who dun believe in that too. To be fair to the Christians here, if you are unsure what a thread is talking abt, pls dun argue abt it and then said you are debating intellectually. -
I never put forth meditation as something Christ proposed. So dont put words into my mouth. Neither did I argued for meditation as a fact.
Your post is the third example in this topic of Christians pointing out the faulty practices of other Christians.
And I didnt say everyone here wanna ban meditation and other heretic practices. But extremism has its beginning too, so my points are - continual pointing out of heretic practices, differences between denominations, condemnation of other religions are just catalysts for extremism. This effect will not be immediate, neither would people realise till its too late. At its early stage, most people do not believe they are extremists. If you believe the Catholic Inquisitions are wrong, step out of the shell and see yourself and your doings.
Besides, this is Singapore. While I never deny evangelism exist in every religion, force the issue, you will get clashes and rebuttals. This, sadly, is the reality here.
Seriously, infighting among churches really dont affect us much. For non believers, we can only shake our heads.
In fact, pointing out some thing which is wrong is the same as condemning it.