And if it were true that meditation opens you to demonic possession, then the Buddhist monasteries would be full of demon-possessed lunatics, rather than the incredibly calm and compassionate souls we see in the world of reality. In reality however, those whose minds are undisciplined, those who live life unaware, are much more likely to exhibit the uncontrolled "works of the flesh", and a list of bad behaviors. To actually quote something attributed to the Buddha to underscore this point about their practices, "More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm." So in reality, a meditation practice makes you less prone to harmful issues that seek your destruction. To me it is consistent with 'putting on the full armour of God' where you have live in constant awareness, which would obviously include a disciplined mind (which is what meditation practices teach), which allows you to "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit". To pray without ceasing, is in reality the practice of "mindfulness meditation".
The following are how emptying one’s mind gained an entrance for the evil spirit:
1.) Not using God’s word in meditating.
2.) Focusing on self rather than the Scripture.
3.) Not conscious with Christ.
There are degrees of gaining an entrance with the demons/evil spirits. Once example is when a person practiced quija board/or spirit of the glass will surely gain a devil's foothold. Based on my experience, my friend was possessed, we take care her for 2 years. A friend of mine in the Aikido class told me that he practiced Yoga, he dreamed a horrible/scary thing before he became a yogi. Gaining an entrance of demons is not always in the degree of possession like the movie ‘Exorcist,’ The foothold of the devil to a person may start from the mind deception as some of cult churches had. They claim themselves as christian but their doctrines were authored by the demons through angelic or Jesus-like appearance through their founder, and they thought it was from God. This is not solely for mind emptying—to gained devil’s foothold. There are a lot of factors that an evil can gain a foothold. The key is this—from the scripture.
Gal. 1:6-9
6. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7. which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we have said before, so I say again now,
if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.
How would you put your armor of God if one’s practices is the same with Transcendental Meditation as emptying one’s mind?
You don't want it to be there. Why? Why are you opposed to something that brings good to those who practice it, where it brings them closer to God beyond anything else they have done? Why oppose this? What is the basis for your misgivings? Bad experience with it? Fear and paranoia of the unfamiliar? I don't get it. Meditation practice is absolutely a form of worship. It is truly communion with the Beloved. It is an exchange of Divine Love. Why would you oppose that?
Worship can be done through singing, praising, adoration, and prayer. I’m not against how you define worship for contemplative. I’m just focusing on Rom. 12:1 as a basis for what we are discussing.
When I say engaging that, I mean it in the sense of like engaging the mind. It other words, availing yourself of what you already have available to you, as opposed to doing nothing with it. So engaging the Spirit within, means to avail yourself of that Gift, not just stick it on the shelf of 'beliefs'. Actively engage what you already have, allow it to let you grow, inform you, teach you, guide you, and so forth.
Sorry, I just particular with the word that you used. That would mean spiritual gifts—as preaching, exhortation, teaching, pastoring, discernment………
That is not what that passage is speaking about. It never says you judge a person's spiritual condition by their religious practices. You gauge the spiritual condition of the person by their behaviors. If you see a practice is directly responsible for causing harm, then say something about it then and show how it is related. But do you see harm coming from meditation practices? Where? Point to it, if you can. But do be careful that citing some extreme case as though that reflects the whole can be turned on anything, such as saying airplanes are dangerous because of a crash here and there, or that being religious makes you a terrorist. No, show me where the practice as a whole does more harm, than it does good. I will show you where it does more good, and in fact everyone should practice it because of its proven, demonstrated benefits. Show the detriments if any, if you can. I do not believe you can in any substantive manner, and this whole objection is baseless and ill-informed.
Breathe prayer, Centering Prayer and Chanting. How will you reconcile them with the scripture (about prayer)?
The more important question is how do YOU reconcile that?
Why bringing back my question to me? You have said that anything that is opposite of joy, peace, love, patience……Now, I’m asking how do you reconcile those people in different faith as having joy, peace, love, patience, compassion…….with the Scripture? What is your point of reference?
Please see below on what I'm asking you:
Recap:
Then, how would you know that is the bad fruit that bears? What is your point of reference?By Yoshua
Anything that is opposite of peace, joy, love, patience, compassion, etc, such as judging your brother using the Bible as a weapon, self-righteousness, divisiveness, resentment, jealousy, and so forth. In other words, the works of the flesh. That's all pretty self-evident in the Bible.By Windwalker
Thanks
