SPIRITUALITY BEFORE BIBLE

A Jesuit approached a guru

and asked to be initiated

into the art of praying without ceasing

the guru said “Concentrate on your breathing

and the air you breathe in and out is God

and stay with that awareness”

the Jesuit soon realized

prayer is as easy

as breathing

and that with the guru’s method

praying without ceasing is easy-

all of us are praying without ceasing

as we breathe

as long as we are aware

 

but constant awareness is the great challenge

for all of us, not just Hindus and Jesuits –

and in addition, the challenge for Buddhist practice

is to hold the sadness of Samsara

and the vision of the Eastern Sun

at the same time –

to hold sadness at our broken/illusory world

and the joy of heaven

simultaneously

and in constant awareness

 

but any type of prayer, Eastern or Western,

is powerful –

it was three hundred years of praying

that came before and led to

the Nicene Creed

and to choosing what books went in the Bible

and what did not make the cut –

the Gospels of Peter/Mary/Magdalene/Phillip/Thomas/

Gospel of Truth/Gospel to the Egyptians/Secret Book of James –

prayer came before choosing

the Canon of Scripture –

the officially sanctioned books by the Church –

the Bible and Creeds came after the prayer of the Church

 

the Bible and Creeds are not unimportant

but they are not foundational

spirituality/prayer is.

 

Published by

Bruce Tallman

Since 2002 I have been a full-time spiritual director in private practice in London Ontario. I have published two books on spiritual direction for spiritual directors. One of them, "Finding Seekers," is a best seller in the field. I have also published two books on spirituality for the general public. The latest one is called "God's Ecstatic Love: Transform Your Life with a Spiritual Masterpiece." It is a 21st century update of Francis de Sales' classic "Treatise on the Love of God." See Amazon.com The London Free Press has published hundreds of my articles on spirituality, theology and ethics and I have facilitated marriage preparation with over 3500 couples since 1988. For more information see www.brucetallman.com

One thought on “SPIRITUALITY BEFORE BIBLE”

  1. I am confident the Christian can learn to pray without ceasing without going to a Hindu guru. Once we realize that all we do is a response to God, we can worship Him with all we do. That said, there’s no benefit to Hindu prayer. God is not the air we breathe, though it is a good reminder He gives us breath. God is not the Hindu god either, so any Hindu exercise is ‘worshipping’ in spirit, but not in truth. The same goes for any other non-Christian spirituality. If “Eastern” prayer means Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, Taoist, or any other sort of non-Christian prayer, then it is worthless.

    The prayer of a righteous man avails much, that is true. Yes, the Holy Spirit led faithful praying Christians to assemble the canon and the Nicene Creed. That does not mean that Scripture is a byproduct of prayer and thus non-foundational. Scripture is God-breathed, satisfactory to help us in all we need as Christians (be it reproof, rebuking, teaching, etc). We know what to pray about and who to pray to because Scripture has revealed it to us.

    That is not to even mention that the majority of the Bible came before the Church, as the Old Testament canon was settled before Jesus’ incarnation. The Bible as we know it, sure, had the canon closed centuries after Christ’s death. However, that does not mean that the books were either arbitrarily selected without a criteria, or only came together as a result of Christian prayer. Prayer helped the Church discern what was and wasn’t inspired. The books were either inspired or not inspired before the closing of the canon, and the Holy Spirit illuminated that to those who analyzed them.

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