Afterthought
Puritan Board Senior
Okay, so I probably should have posted this as soon as I got home so that my memory wouldn't be as blurred concerning the facts of the situation. The other day, my brother and I visited a small group lead by a youth pastor. This youth pastor suggested that we meditate before we started our "bible study" that day in order to keep us from straying from bad interpretations. Now, I will describe as best as I can remember what he told us all to do.
(1) He told us to assume a posture we would be comfortable with for a while and to not move.
(2) He told us to confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness. If we forgot something, he suggested we ask the Holy Spirit or wait in silence for the Holy Spirit to bring to remembrance them (can't remember which).
(3) He told us to ask God to come down and fill us and the room with His presence.
(3.5) He told us to consider the sufferings Christ went through for us. He told us to consider His love for us and to thank Him for saving us. To help us to do this (or so I think was his motive), he graphically described some of Christ's sufferings for us.
My memory is a little fuzzy at this point, but I remember that (4) we were to be silent--not even praying--but to be silent and "listen for God's voice." He said that sometimes what people heard would bring them to certain emotional states (e.g., joyful crying). He said that we should have a notebook and pencil ready to write anything important down that we heard. He said that this was the most difficult part of meditation.
(5) Near the end of the exercise, he asked us to tell to the group anything we had heard if believed it was appropriate (or maybe if we felt comfortable sharing? My memory fails me at this point.). No one said anything, so he continued to encourage us to not be afraid to tell the group what we had heard God say if we heard anything. He did this for a while with no one responding, and then the exercise ended. He played a couple of worship songs which he said we should feel free to sing along to if we wished.
Now, I was okay until we got to the "listen to God's voice" part of the whole exercise. I rationalized that statement away by giving the pastor the benefit of the doubt (even though I was already a bit alarmed since I thought meditation was supposed to be on God and the Bible?), but then I was completely thrown off by what he said about "writing down what you heard." I followed the pastor's exercise because I am not sure what to believe concerning this, but I was careful to pray for protection for our group and me from deceiving ourselves into thinking we heard God if indeed we had not--including any impulses or feelings that the exercise might induce. Note that this was not a Charismatic church and appears to be solid in theology otherwise. They might lean towards Arminian theology slightly, but I'm not sure. Their worship services on Sunday make me think it to be a Southern Baptist-like church.
So now my question. Is there any way or sense in that this exercise is biblical or true? Is there any way or sense in that we can "hear God's voice" through meditation? Is there any possible way that the youth pastor was correct? If so what? Am I wrong in the way I am reacting to this? I apologize that I wasn't bold enough to ask the youth pastor afterwards for clarifications of his terms and for not posting about it asap in order to keep myself from losing as many facts as possibe from memory. I am really concerned about this--more so for the others in the group who might be deceived or harmed by this exercise in the future than for myself because I know to test everything by the Bible and know to be skeptical at appropriate times and so am better protected from harming myself from this exercise, but all the same, I want to know the truth and know I am not infallbile and so am concerned about this in those ways too.
(1) He told us to assume a posture we would be comfortable with for a while and to not move.
(2) He told us to confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness. If we forgot something, he suggested we ask the Holy Spirit or wait in silence for the Holy Spirit to bring to remembrance them (can't remember which).
(3) He told us to ask God to come down and fill us and the room with His presence.
(3.5) He told us to consider the sufferings Christ went through for us. He told us to consider His love for us and to thank Him for saving us. To help us to do this (or so I think was his motive), he graphically described some of Christ's sufferings for us.
My memory is a little fuzzy at this point, but I remember that (4) we were to be silent--not even praying--but to be silent and "listen for God's voice." He said that sometimes what people heard would bring them to certain emotional states (e.g., joyful crying). He said that we should have a notebook and pencil ready to write anything important down that we heard. He said that this was the most difficult part of meditation.
(5) Near the end of the exercise, he asked us to tell to the group anything we had heard if believed it was appropriate (or maybe if we felt comfortable sharing? My memory fails me at this point.). No one said anything, so he continued to encourage us to not be afraid to tell the group what we had heard God say if we heard anything. He did this for a while with no one responding, and then the exercise ended. He played a couple of worship songs which he said we should feel free to sing along to if we wished.
Now, I was okay until we got to the "listen to God's voice" part of the whole exercise. I rationalized that statement away by giving the pastor the benefit of the doubt (even though I was already a bit alarmed since I thought meditation was supposed to be on God and the Bible?), but then I was completely thrown off by what he said about "writing down what you heard." I followed the pastor's exercise because I am not sure what to believe concerning this, but I was careful to pray for protection for our group and me from deceiving ourselves into thinking we heard God if indeed we had not--including any impulses or feelings that the exercise might induce. Note that this was not a Charismatic church and appears to be solid in theology otherwise. They might lean towards Arminian theology slightly, but I'm not sure. Their worship services on Sunday make me think it to be a Southern Baptist-like church.
So now my question. Is there any way or sense in that this exercise is biblical or true? Is there any way or sense in that we can "hear God's voice" through meditation? Is there any possible way that the youth pastor was correct? If so what? Am I wrong in the way I am reacting to this? I apologize that I wasn't bold enough to ask the youth pastor afterwards for clarifications of his terms and for not posting about it asap in order to keep myself from losing as many facts as possibe from memory. I am really concerned about this--more so for the others in the group who might be deceived or harmed by this exercise in the future than for myself because I know to test everything by the Bible and know to be skeptical at appropriate times and so am better protected from harming myself from this exercise, but all the same, I want to know the truth and know I am not infallbile and so am concerned about this in those ways too.
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