LECTIO DIVINA, CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER, AND HEARING THE SPIRIT

A Bible-study leader had been concerned about one of her group who was reluctant to study Scripture but instead was determined experience it. She had been practicing a technique called Lectio Divina (LD) and wrote me for whatever insight I might have to offer.

I consulted Wikipedia and found that:

• In Christianity, Lectio Divina (Latin for divine reading) is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's Word. It does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the Living Word. 

• Traditionally Lectio Divina has 4 separate steps: read, meditate, pray and contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.

• The focus of Lectio Divina is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example, given Jesus' statement in John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you" an analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context, etc. But in Lectio Divina rather than "dissecting peace", the practitioner "enters peace" and shares in the peace of Christ.

We all have our own ways of approaching Scripture and prayer. We find that certain ways work better for us than others. I have my own methods. I like to pray as I am walking. Praying on my knees is a sure prescription for discomfort, while praying in bed guarantees sleep. Walking helps me focus on my Savior.

However, I would never suggest that you have to pray as I do in order to receive prayer answers from God or to experience Him. However, this tends to be what a wide variety of mystics claim – that if you don’t use their techniques, you will miss out on the blessings of God.

Implicit in this insistence is the denial of the sufficiency of Scripture:

• All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17) 

In many ways, Scripture informs us that God has given us all of the counsel we need to be “thoroughly equipped for every good work.” However, the mystics, in claiming that we require their techniques, deny this truth.

However, the LD practitioner would object:

• This isn’t a matter of promoting our techniques but rather the teachings of Scripture.

Perhaps I’m being a bit picky here. While Scripture does require meditation on Scripture (Psalm 1), it does not seem that Scripture requires LD meditation. In this regard Wikipedia claims:

• When the passage is read, it is generally advised not to try to assign a meaning to it at first, but to wait for the action of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the mind, as the passage is pondered upon.

Although traditional Christians all acknowledge the vital role of the Spirit in illuminating Scripture (1 John 2:19-20, 23-27; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 3:14-18), non-mystics trust in this illumination and guidance apart from any practice of waiting, listening, sensing or silence.

However, this not what should cause any alarm or division. Rather, it’s LD’s insistence upon approaching Scripture apart from mental understanding. Can Scripture benefit apart from understanding? Not according to Paul! Even speaking in unknown supernatural tongues, if not accompanied by understanding, was useless for spiritual growth:

• Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? (1 Corinthians 14:6)

Can the Spirit illuminate while the mind is trying grasp the meaning of a passage? There is a mistaken assumption that the Spirit cannot illuminate our minds while our minds are actively engaged in thought and prayer. However, in many ways, Scripture shows us that the Spirit is not sidelined by our thinking. Rather, He works in conjunction with our mental activity:

• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2) 

Knowing God’s will or leading is not a matter of turning our minds off but of transforming them. We therefore cannot separate the serious study of the Scriptures from the Spirit illuminating Scripture. They go together.

Give no Rest to your Voice

What would a church service look like in Hitler’s Germany? As people disappeared, never to be heard from again, and as reports came back of mass exterminations, would the sermons address these horrors? Would they instead be content to continue to just preach salvation and sanctification? Would the leadership argue that the church has no business preaching politics? Would the pastor not mention Jews being herded onto cattle-cars? Would he not direct a public outcry?

However, we need not place ourselves in Hitler’s Germany to ask these questions. Today, we are surrounded by reports, photos, and even boastings of genocide, beheadings, and the kidnapping of thousands of wives and girls for sex slavery. For example, in Nigeria alone, many thousands of Christians have been slaughtered and kidnapped:

• On April 14, 2015, Amnesty International released a report detailing the brutality of the Nigeria-based, radical Islamist group Boko Haram. The report estimated that more than 2,000 women and girls have been captured by the group since the beginning of 2014.  

The horrors have reached proportions that have never before been seen. Entire communities of Christian have been utterly destroyed. Countries have been emptied of Christians, and the persecutors threaten to continue their rampages, aided by many nations. The church can no longer remain silent. We can no longer claim that we are called to preach the “Gospel” alone! Instead, the Gospel has profound implications.

Jesus certainly didn’t limit His teachings to matters of salvation and sanctification. For Him, the Gospel had to express itself in action:

• "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' … The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'” (Matthew 25:34-45)

We can no longer shy away from these concerns, claiming that we might lose church members or politicize the Gospel. Instead, the Gospel requires us reach out to the broken:

• This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

John restricted his concern to “material possessions.” However, millions of our brethren have experienced and are facing far worse today – the taking of their wives and daughters for sex slavery and the beheading of their sons through no fault of their own.

We have never conceived of such mass horrors, and yet we remain silent, and our silence makes a mockery of our religion. God cries out through the Prophet Isaiah:

• "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:6-7) 

However, the church is confronted with far worse today – the extermination of entire populations of Christians and other non-Muslims! Why then do we remain silent? Are we afraid of the results? Ironically, if we are really concerned about the results, we must act:

• If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:10-11) 

We cannot model our lives after the priest who passed by the dying man. If we love our neighbor, we must instead model our lives after the Good Samaritan. What did his religion look like?

• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27) 

If this is true, we have to cry out for the oppressed! We have to awaken the conscience of the church.

What if we fail to raise our voices? It is nothing short of sin:

• Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James 4:17) 

However, it is even worse. It is a betrayal and a rejection of the Gospel, which requires us to show the world our love for the brethren:

• “I [Jesus] pray… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

Where is our unity? Where is our love for our brethren? Silence does not speak of love. Nor does it speak of our oneness in our Savior.

Brethren, please commit this to prayer. Have your churches pray. Start prayer chains and prayer groups. Bring these concerns into your churches, to your pastors, and to anyone who will listen. Cry out and be heard. Support those Christian groups that have been intervening. Do not give your voice any rest:

• Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)

Quakerism: Silence, Spirit, and Disdain for Theology

In a traditional Quaker meeting, there is no sermon or Scripture. Instead, all sit quietly until the Spirit stirs someone to get up and speak. One of their guiding lights, R. Jones, had written that Quakerism:

• “Turns away from arid theological notions and insists instead upon a real and vital experience of God revealed to persons in their own souls.”

Quakerism prides itself on being doctrine-less. Although Jones insists on turning away from “arid theological notions,” his claim is highly theological. Nevertheless, he is right that God can speak to us in many ways, even directly into our heart and mind, as Scripture even asserts:

• For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21)

• "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”  (John 16:8)

In fact, as Proverbs tells us, the wisdom of God is all around us, crying out to be taken by all:

• Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand… (Prov. 1:20-24)

Wisdom is available but rejected. Why? It is painful. It carries a “rebuke.” This is because wisdom first requires us to see the truth about ourselves and repent – the last thing in the world we want to do! It is only after we remove our own blindness that we can see clearly enough to correct others (Mat. 7:1-5) However, according to Jesus, we therefore prefer to hide away in the darkness of denial and rationalizations:

• “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”  (John 3:19-20)

Consequently, unless we are being drawn into the light of truth we will hate it. In order to cover up this hatred, we might even boast that we are seeking or even that the Spirit is talking through us. In fact, Scripture warns us of our almost limitless ability to delude ourselves:

• Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16)

• Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14)

• Thus says the Lord God, "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.” (Ezekiel 13:3)

How is it that we can be so horribly self-deluded? There are two reasons for this – one voluntary and one involuntary. We voluntarily harden ourselves to God. As a result of this, we beckon in the darkness of self-delusion (Rom. 1:18-32):

• But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. (Psalm 81:11-12; 2 Peter 2:18-21)

We also struggle against blindness and involuntarily remain in darkness. Growth into the light is a slow process, as Jesus indicated:

• “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Without being born-again, we can have little assurance that we are receiving the truth. In fact, it is offensive to the non-born-again:

• The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:14)

However, when someone does have the Spirit of God, they love the Word of God:

• “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

What does it mean to hear His voice and to follow Him? Jesus explained:

• “If you remain in me and my words remain in you… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:7-10)

In His Great Commission, Jesus reaffirmed the centrality of His Word – His teachings:

• Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mat. 28:19-20)

For Jesus, His teachings weren’t “arid theological notions,” but living and essential truths. Are these Quakers then hearing from God? Not unless they are repenting of their sins and crying out for the mercy of God!

The Culture Wars: Is Silence an Option?

In light of the growing disdain for the evangelical, Bible-believing church, even among Evangelical youth, is it wise to continue the “culture wars” and to publicly proclaim our disdained opinions?  Many think not!

Blogger Timothy Dalrymple commented on a billboard sign purchased by the MissionGathering Christian Church in San Diego, a Bible-oriented “emerging church,” evidently wanting to distance itself from the evangelical church:

• “MissionGathering Christian Church IS SORRY for the narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive, manipulative actions of THOSE WHO DENIED RIGHTS AND EQUALITY TO SO MANY IN THE NAME OF GOD.”  

Dalrymple astutely observed:

• They’re perpetuating the worst images of conservative Christians who support traditional marriage.  (2) They’re holding themselves our as a better alternative.  They are the good Christians, the more Christ-like Christians, who are not judgmental — even as they’re judging sixty percent of North Carolinians, a majority of Californians, over half of Christians in the United States and the great majority of Christians around the world.  In other words, (3) they’re saying “our hearts are with you” in that “we feel the same anger and scorn in our hearts as you do.”

However, even if Dalrymple is right, the problem remains – the evangelical church is alienating much of society and in the process is loosing the vast majority of its youth, according to recent surveys. Should we therefore keep a low political profile in hope that the prevailing culture might warm up to us once again?

Blogger Rachel Held Evans is convinced that we should:

• We are tired of fighting, tired of vain efforts to advance the Kingdom through politics and power, tired of drawing lines in the sand, tired of being known for what we are against, not what we are for.

• So my question for those evangelicals leading the charge in the culture wars is this: Is it worth it? Is a political “victory” really worth losing millions more young people to cynicism regarding the Church? Is a political “victory” worth further alienating people who identify as LGBT?...And is a political “victory” worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks—what if we get this wrong?

Held asks, “Is it worth it?” Instead, I think that we need to rephrase the question: “How do we honor God in our social engagement?” Certainly, we can’t support issues that He doesn’t support, but can we detach ourselves and remain respectfully silent? Can we fulfill our calling to be the “light of the world” with only our deeds? I don’t find any warrant for this in Scripture. Instead, we have been entrusted with the duty to also verbally defend the faith:

• I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (Jude 3)

• But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)

Our faith is being vilified within almost every institution of the Western world. In a recent release, our President equated the attempts to resist gay marriage with “prejudice.” Prior to this, Hillary Clinton likened efforts to resist extending full “human rights” to LGBTs to religious discrimination.

Even those calling themselves “Christian” denigrate the Biblical faith, leaving the impression that Christians – and by association, their Bible – are “bigoted” and “homophobic.” It is understandable that, when bombarded with a steady stream of such messages, the youth want to abandon what seems to be a sinking ship.

Can we remain silent? Doesn’t silence signal agreement? If we do remain silent, aren’t we, in effect, telling our youth that we have no answer to the charge of “bigotry?”

Perhaps we have been loosing so many of our youth because we have failed to be proactive enough in our defense of the faith - its rationality, love and justice? Perhaps we have rushed headlong into legislation without first establishing an adequate rationale or justification for our position?

   

Just recently, New York City school officials and Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a decision to ban “God Bless the USA” at a kindergarten graduation ceremony, because they deemed it “potentially offensive to other cultures.”

• Principal Greta Hawkins of P.S. 90 in Brooklyn reportedly pulled Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad from the June 20 graduation program saying the song is not “age appropriate” and could end up “offending other cultures.”

• The ban caught national attention after the New York Post reported that while the patriotic song was banned, the children would be hearing Justin Bieber’s teenage romance ballad “Baby.”

Shouldn’t Christians point out the hypocrisy of this decision? Isn’t “Justin Bieber’s teenage romance ballad ‘Baby’” even less “age appropriate?” Besides, isn’t the Bloomberg administration offending those who believe in “God?” Will not every law or edict offend someone? If we were to use “offending other cultures” as the ultimate test of a ruling, wouldn’t that mean that NYC wouldn’t be able to make a single ruling? Definitely!

Even worse, this ruling and many others like it send the message that the Christian faith is far more “offending” than others. How hypocritical of an administration that prides inside for being “inclusive!”

Here’s my point. Don’t Christians have a responsibility to speak up against the ubiquitous negative portrayals in the media and universities of Christians and the Christian faith? Should we remain silent as the media equates the Biblical faith with “hate speech?” Aren’t we required to make a defense for what we have committed our lives?

If the charge of “hate speech” goes uncontested, it becomes more than a charge but an indictment that will be used to silence the church, to fire Christians who speak of their faith, to shut down Christian businesses and even becomes an incitement to violence against those who spread the “hate speech.”

I don’t think that we have a choice. Silence isn’t an option when Christian are being expelled from universities because they have expressed disfavor regarding gay marriage and refuse to submit to the totalitarian process of re-education. Silence isn’t an option when Christians and Christian businesses are being targeted to perform acts that violate their faith, like being compelled to make tee-shirts for a Gay Pride event or to participate in an abortion. Silence isn’t an option when the State requires a Christian school or a home-schooling family to teach curricullum that violates their faith. Silence can not be an option when pastors can no longer teach the biblical faith because it can now be construed as a “hate crime.”

Held and others who preach against the “culture wars” – yes, they are engaged in their own “culture wars,” aren’t they – assume that if we adopt a live-and-let-live approach, our secular culture will adopt such an attitude towards us. However, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to suggest that this will happen. The church is vulnerable and the secularists smell blood.

Christian groups are fair-game. They are now required to provide insurance for procedures that violate the Christian conscience. College Christian groups are often either banned from campus or required to sign statements that they will alter their Christian charter.

This is serious. When we make small concessions and violate our faith, we then have to modify our theology to accommodate to and rationalize these compromises. However, we can’t modify the Bible without also disparaging it. The effect snowballs. One compromise will justify the next.

Nor will the secularist stop at the doors of the church. Many are now arguing that the church shouldn’t be privileged and remain exempt from federal employment guidelines. As corporations can’t discriminate according to faith or sexual orientation, the church also shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate in this manner. However, if the church can’t discriminate according to belief and life, then the church can no longer remain the church.

Ignoring the surrounding culture, as we hide beneath a blanket of silence, isn’t an option. We have to be the light, not only in defense of the faith but also in warning against sin.

Many of the “culture war” despisers argue that the church should be about its number one calling – the Gospel. Therefore, warning against sin and hypocrisy is an unhelpful distraction. However, calling the world to repentance is inseparable from the Gospel! God warned Ezekiel that silence wasn’t an option:

·        "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself…Say to them [Israel], 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'” (Ezekiel 33:7-11)

Life meant repenting from sin. Ezekiel did not have the option of silence. Silence meant death. Life required a man who had the conviction to speak the truth, even in the face of social condemnation.