Posted on 05/22/2015 8:54:09 PM PDT by imardmd1
Excerpted:
What Catholic mysticism does is reject the Bible as the sole and sufficient and perfect revelation of God and tries to delve beyond the Bible, even beyond thought of any kind, and find God through mystical “intuition.” In other words, it is a rejection of the God of the Bible. It says that God cannot be known by doctrine and cannot be described in words. He can only be experienced through mysticism. This is a blatant denial of the Bible’s claim to be the very Word of God.
This opens the practitioner to demonic delusion. He is left with no perfect objective revelation of God, no divinely-revealed authority by which he can test his mystical experiences and intuitions. He is left with an idol of his own vain imagination (Jeremiah 17:9) and a doctrine of devils.
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She (Sue Monk Kidd) determined that she was willing to lose her marriage, if necessary.
"I would not, could not forfeit my journey for my marriage or for the sake of religious acceptance or success as a ‘Christian writer.’ I would keep moving in my own way to the strains of feminine music that sifted up inside me, not just moving but embracing the dance. ... I felt the crumbling of the old patriarchal foundation our marriage had rested upon in such hidden and subtle ways. Though both of us would always need to compromise, there was no more sacrificing myself, no more revolving around him, no more looking to him for validation, trying to be what I thought he needed me to be. My life, my time, my decisions became newly my own" (pp. 98, 125).
(Excerpt) Read more at wayoflife.org ...
A warning re: your comment is “do not fail to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He reveals the meaning of Scripture to your mind and spirit in contemplative prayer.”
“If you have any Scriptural evidence of your claims, feel free to post them and I will try an respond accordingly.”
Catholics don’t need scriptural evidence for anything!
The Pope is the voice of God here on earth!
It also has to do with economics. People who are poor or just emerging from poverty tend to vote Democratic. When I was a kid, Catholics were often lower middle class with very large families.
Sorry, Mary can’t give you salvation. She can ask her son to intercede - that’s all.
BTW, the idea that Catholic mysticism rejects doctrine is as ridiculous as most things Cloud says. Teresa of Avila was mystic; she didn't "reject doctrine" in any way, shape, or form. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee"; did the Doctor of Grace reject doctrine? Of course not!
Hey, don’t leave us Orthodox out! The Latins are veritable protestants when it comes to devotion to the Most Holy Theotokos compared to us!
Take a look. The Akathist is a public devotion celebrated standing (Akathist= not sitting) throughout Great Lent.
http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Akathist.htm
We’ve been chanting this for 1500 years.
Catholics don’t worship Mary. She is holy, but not divine. Worship is reserved for the Divinity.
Only in a certain translation completed under the auspices of an Anglican king who had a Catholic wife, which contains errors just like any other translation contains errors. The word in the Greek, "battalogeo," does not mean "repetitious". It means "babbling". Jesus himself prayed the same prayer three times in the Garden of Gethsemane; that's "repetitious prayer". It's in your Bible.
Scripture tells us that we are to address OUR FATHER, not some secretary, in our prayer sessions.
And yet Paul asks his readers to pray for him. Evidently he didn't know any better.
Thirdly, Mary is dead, no matter what some guys in Rome dictate.
Jesus said those who believed in him would never die. (Jn 11:26) He told the Sadducees that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the God of the living, not of the dead.
Are you calling Jesus a liar?
I’m Catholic and the last Democrat I supported — and that was a mistake in and of itself! — was forty years ago. And I vote in EVERY election, even the little municipal ones for the proverbial dog catcher.
Mysticism is the search for truth through our emotional, subconscious, right side of the brain. Without including our feelings and emotions we miss half the story.
Okay, so the whole issue of "going boldly to the throne of grace" is a red herring, because it's perfectly legitimate to ask someone else to "go boldly to the throne of grace" on your behalf.
That's what intercessory prayer is. Paul asked people for it; it's in the Bible.
Right? Have we at least established that? Does that mean the argument won't be made again, but are you admitting we're right as far as that goes?
...The issue is you people praying to the mother of Jesus and devoting your lives to her...The issue is you people asking Mary to give you salvation, and mercy and hope...
So suppose Mary were standing in front of you right now, and you asked her, "Mary, please give me salvation, and mercy, and hope!" What would she say?
I think she would say, "I have and I do and I will give you Salvation and Mercy and Hope. I gave Him to you at Bethlehem and at Calvary. Do whatever He tells you! (Jn 2:5)"
Authentic Marian devotion leads one to the feet of Jesus. It can't lead anywhere else and be authentic. Period.
I ask lliving breathing people to pray for me, as I pray for others. I do not attempt to communicate with the dead for prayers or anything else as I am commanded to not communicate with the dead.
We are saved by grace, not deeds.
While doing good things for people is showing our fruits, it will not save us.
I remember the days when Jimmy Swaggart and the Bakkers got into a lot of trouble. Can we first establish that there are good Protestants and bad, and good Catholics and bad? I really don’t see why those Catholics who go *against* Church teaching should be held against us!
We know that...But there are a lot of People and a lot of literature from your religion that says Mary does give you salvation...And that you should pray to her for it...
And yet Paul asks his readers to pray for him. Evidently he didn't know any better.
And pray to WHOM for him??? Mary??? I think Paul knew who to pray to and it wasn't Mary...
So suppose Mary were standing in front of you right now, and you asked her, "Mary, please give me salvation, and mercy, and hope!" What would she say?
I think she would say, "I have and I do and I will give you Salvation and Mercy and Hope. I gave Him to you at Bethlehem and at Calvary. Do whatever He tells you! (Jn 2:5)"
Sorry, but Mary giving Jesus to the world thru the birth process doesn't save anyone...
Appears you are trying to 'weasel' thru the issue without answering it...Par for the course...
Yes I was sloppy with my posting. I know there is no caltholic teaching called “Thomas Merton.” I think that is easy enough to figure out but go ahead and pick at it. If you disagree with Merton, great. Sounds like you embrace catholic mysticism.
Like I said before, we will disagree on catholic mysticism just like we disagree on whether or not catholics worship Mary. If it looks, walks and talks like worship, it’s worship whether you admit it or not.
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