Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
Where the Way of the Heart Leads
Where has ‘the way of the heart’ led Henri Nouwen?
Here are several quotes from other books he’s written, one of them in his final year, when the teachings he had embraced throughout his life had come into their fullness
The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is the same as the one who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being." (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 1994)
Prayer is "soul work" because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one... It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realization of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated. (Bread for the Journey, Jan 15 and Nov 16 daily readings)
“Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God's house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God” (Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, 1998)
The belief that ‘God dwells…in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, whether a believer or not, is a fundamental concept of ‘God’ in panentheism. It states that ‘God is in all’ that the God of everything, who is above creation, is also IN creation and unites everything, that ALL is one. It is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that there are many paths to the unity of ‘God’, that every person has ‘his or her own way to God’, or that every person is on a journey TO God, therefore it is not necessary to ‘know about Jesus or not’, is called pantheism. It is the belief that all IS God. It too is a belief embraced by mystics of all religions.
The belief that all human beings will be saved, that ‘God’ dwells ‘in the inner sanctuary of each human being’, and since God will not destroy Himself, therefore there is no hell, is part of a belief system called universalism.
Henri Nouwen's teachings show he held to all of these beliefs.
The second edition of Henri Nouwen’s book “With Open Hands” (2006) has a foreword written for him by Sue Monk Kidd. She was at one time a Baptist Sunday school teacher who became involved with contemplative prayer. Her spiritual journey ended in Goddess worship.
Here are two quotes from her autobiography, called ‘The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine’:
“Today I remember that event for the radiant mystery it was, how I felt myself embraced by the Goddess, how I felt myself in touch with the deepest thing I am. It was the moment when, as playwright and poet Ntozake Shange put it, ‘I found god in myself/ and I loved her/ I loved her fiercely’” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 136). “Over the altar in my study I hung a lovely mirror sculpted in the shape of a crescent moon. It reminded me to honor the Divine Feminine presence in myself, the wisdom in my own soul” (p. 181).
Sue Monk Kidd’s autobiography was written a decade before Henri Nouwen asked her to write the foreword to his book! Henri Nouwen not only accepted Sue Monk Kidd's beliefs as valid, he openly endorsed them by allowing her to write the foreword to one of his books.
“Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen to the voice of love. … For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required” (In the Name of Jesus, pp. 6, 31, 32).
These are just a few of many quotes that show the fruit of Henri Nouwen's beliefs took him. Yet this book can be found on the bookshelf of, and often enthusiastically endorsed by, almost every pastor. The teachings of this man have influenced modern Christianity enormously and detrimentally. Yet warnings usually fall on deaf ears.
September 17, 2009
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Six
Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
PART SIX – Epilogue
Silence prevents us from being suffocated by our wordy world and teaches us to speak the Word of God.
We do NOT learn to speak the Word of God through our initiation of and participation in mystical silences, which is silence as defined by this book. We learn to speak the Word of God by reading it, studying it to learn God’s meaning, and living it out in daily and joyful obedience.
…solitude, silence and prayer allow us to save ourselves and others from the shipwreck of our self destructive society.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
The epilogue does contain very accurate warnings to believers. We ARE in the end times, and have been since Christ returned to heaven, where he is now sitting at the right hand of the Father. He WILL return soon, and that is how we have to live; as people prepared for his imminent return. There is even a Biblical warning here to guard against deception and false prophets. Those warnings are good and right. It is in HOW we prepare that this book not only falls far short of the mark, but actually leads down an entirely different path.
Our faithfulness in relationships is severely tested, and our inner sense of belonging is questioned again and again. Our anger and greed show their strength with added vehemence, and our desire to indulge ourselves in the despairing hedonism of the moment proves to be stronger than ever.
If we struggle with a lack of assurance of our salvation, that is a sign not of the end times, but of our age old rebellion against knowing the Word, trusting in the one who spoke it, and believing with our whole lives that he is sufficient to make us right with God. The evidence of our being accepted is a changed (transformed) heart; an entirely new will that has been washed clean of sin by the Holy Spirit. Not a transforming heart, but a fully transformed heart; a heart that belongs to a new creature in Christ; a heart that delights in serving God and knows the full contentment that we are right with Him.
As evidence of our transformed heart, we have a new desire to serve God. This is demonstrated naturally by our life choices, and our willing co-operation with the Holy Spirit. The struggle against the old man's desires will continue, but we live with a new heart, as victors through Christ. We cannot remain in sin (anger and greed, worldly temptations) and really have a transformed heart. The Spirit will convict us constantly that our choices are not honouring to the Father, and that will grieve us. If it doesn’t, that is a sign we are rebelling against the Father.
By solitude, silence, and unceasing prayer the Desert Fathers show us the way. These disciplines will teach us to stand firm…When we have been remodeled into living witnesses of Christ through solitude, silence and prayer, we will no longer have to worry about whether we are saying the right thing or making the right gesture, because then Christ will make his presence known even when we are not aware of it.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-23)
The Way of the Heart attempts to show that if we are being tested by vehement desires, then the solution is to be led by human leaders to use human tools of self-sacrifice, and therefore to be. The emphasis is on our sacrifice. The emphasis in Hebrews 10 is on CHRIST.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
As we continue to submit our lives to the Lord, and daily ‘take up our cross’ to put our self will to death and follow him in obedience, we mature in faith. As we resist the temptation to follow our own will, we grow stronger in trusting God, and our Adversary will flee from us (James 4). It is not what we DO, it is WHO we TRUST that matures our faith and prepares us for the end times. And as we trust and obey, we begin to DO the right things out of our changed heart. The doing is not our own interpretation of offerings, but it is a right response to the commands of God that HE has given.
PART SIX – Epilogue
Silence prevents us from being suffocated by our wordy world and teaches us to speak the Word of God.
We do NOT learn to speak the Word of God through our initiation of and participation in mystical silences, which is silence as defined by this book. We learn to speak the Word of God by reading it, studying it to learn God’s meaning, and living it out in daily and joyful obedience.
…solitude, silence and prayer allow us to save ourselves and others from the shipwreck of our self destructive society.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
The epilogue does contain very accurate warnings to believers. We ARE in the end times, and have been since Christ returned to heaven, where he is now sitting at the right hand of the Father. He WILL return soon, and that is how we have to live; as people prepared for his imminent return. There is even a Biblical warning here to guard against deception and false prophets. Those warnings are good and right. It is in HOW we prepare that this book not only falls far short of the mark, but actually leads down an entirely different path.
Our faithfulness in relationships is severely tested, and our inner sense of belonging is questioned again and again. Our anger and greed show their strength with added vehemence, and our desire to indulge ourselves in the despairing hedonism of the moment proves to be stronger than ever.
If we struggle with a lack of assurance of our salvation, that is a sign not of the end times, but of our age old rebellion against knowing the Word, trusting in the one who spoke it, and believing with our whole lives that he is sufficient to make us right with God. The evidence of our being accepted is a changed (transformed) heart; an entirely new will that has been washed clean of sin by the Holy Spirit. Not a transforming heart, but a fully transformed heart; a heart that belongs to a new creature in Christ; a heart that delights in serving God and knows the full contentment that we are right with Him.
As evidence of our transformed heart, we have a new desire to serve God. This is demonstrated naturally by our life choices, and our willing co-operation with the Holy Spirit. The struggle against the old man's desires will continue, but we live with a new heart, as victors through Christ. We cannot remain in sin (anger and greed, worldly temptations) and really have a transformed heart. The Spirit will convict us constantly that our choices are not honouring to the Father, and that will grieve us. If it doesn’t, that is a sign we are rebelling against the Father.
By solitude, silence, and unceasing prayer the Desert Fathers show us the way. These disciplines will teach us to stand firm…When we have been remodeled into living witnesses of Christ through solitude, silence and prayer, we will no longer have to worry about whether we are saying the right thing or making the right gesture, because then Christ will make his presence known even when we are not aware of it.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:19-23)
The Way of the Heart attempts to show that if we are being tested by vehement desires, then the solution is to be led by human leaders to use human tools of self-sacrifice, and therefore to be. The emphasis is on our sacrifice. The emphasis in Hebrews 10 is on CHRIST.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
As we continue to submit our lives to the Lord, and daily ‘take up our cross’ to put our self will to death and follow him in obedience, we mature in faith. As we resist the temptation to follow our own will, we grow stronger in trusting God, and our Adversary will flee from us (James 4). It is not what we DO, it is WHO we TRUST that matures our faith and prepares us for the end times. And as we trust and obey, we begin to DO the right things out of our changed heart. The doing is not our own interpretation of offerings, but it is a right response to the commands of God that HE has given.
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Five
Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
PART FIVE – Prayer Introduction - Prayer:
Henri Nouwen states that ”solitude and silence can never be separated from unceasing prayer…Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.”
There is a practical contradiction here between Biblical prayer (speaking to God) and at the same time being silent. When Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave them good advice (Luke 11). He did not tell them to sit in solitude ‘listening to God’. His model prayer used words. And these words were expressed in a context of submitting our will to God’s.
Words have been given to us for communication, and we are to use them in prayer. Though at the same time we must realize that even with our best words, our prayers can never adequately communicate our true needs. We are comforted knowing that in praying as we are taught, the limitation of our words is removed, as:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27)
We are to pray as we have been taught by Christ, with words, trusting that He who knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8) hears us. Not only hears our prayers, but according to Revelation 5:8, keeps them.
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is ‘come to rest’. The Greek word for rest is ‘hesychia’ and ‘hesychasm’ is the term which refers to the spirituality of the desert. A ‘hesychast’ is a man or woman who seeks solitude and silence as the ways to unceasing prayer. The prayer of the ‘hesychasts’ is a prayer of rest.’
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is not ‘come to rest’!
It is not difficult to find the meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible manuscripts. Strong’s Concordance or Vine’s Expository Dictionary can provide a fuller meaning of the original words used, as English words often are not available to convey the fullness of a particular Hebrew or Greek word or phrase.
These particular words do not even translate as a phrase in either Young’s Literal translation, the King James Bible, the English Standard Version or the American Standard Version.
There are two places in the King James Bible (none in the NIV) where the phrase ‘pray always’ is used: Luke 21:36 and 2 Thess 1:11. Taking 2 Thess 1:11 and examining it (this is the only verse where that phrase translated ‘pray always’ is consistently used) the Greek words ‘proseuchomai’ (G4336) and ‘pantote’ (G3842) are used. The meaning for the first word is given as prayer offered to God i.e. supplicate, worship in earnestness. The second is ‘at all times’.
The Greek word used by Henri Nouwen as ‘rest’ (the meanng he intends is to be in mystical silence) – in its original meaning ‘hesychia’ doesn’t have anything to do with ‘pray always’. “Pray always’ means…’pray always’…pray in a Biblical way, simply and with words.
The Prayer of the Mind
One of these demonic ruses (against praying) is to make us think of prayer primarily as an activity of the mind that involves above all else our intellectual capacities. This prejudice reduces prayer to speaking with God or thinking about God. For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God…Sometimes the absence of an answer makes us wonder if we might have said the wrong kind of prayers, but mostly we feel taken, cheated, and quickly stop ‘this whole silly thing”.
It is quite understandable that we should experience speaking with real people, who need a word and who offer a response, as much more meaningful than speaking with a God who seems to be an expert at hide and seek. But there is another viewpoint that can lead to similar frustrations. This is the viewpoint that restricts the meaning of prayer to thinking about God…Prayer therefore requires hard mental work and is quite fatiguing…Since we already have so many other practical and pressing things on our minds, thinking about God becomes one more demanding burden…
How can we possibly expect anyone to find real nurture, comfort and consolation from a prayer life that taxes the mind beyond its limits and adds one more exhausting activity to the many already scheduled ones? …They wonder how they might really experience God. The charismatic movement is an obvious response to this new search for prayer. The popularity of Zen and the experimentation with encounter techniques in the churches are also indicative of a new desire to experience God.
There is something being set up here called a ‘straw man’ argument. This is a debating technique where a position is deliberately misrepresented, so the debater’s own version of ‘truth’ will appear superior.
First the idea of prayer using words is criticized as unproductive if the desired answers aren’t received.
Second, the idea of thinking during prayer is criticized as ‘hard mental work’.
Then the argument is put forth that since ‘our frustration tolerance is quite low’ it is a superior idea to allow ourselves to be more directed by our feelings, as in the charismatic movement.
Zen (Buddhism) and encounter techniques (humanism) do not belong in a Godly church, though they are presented in this book as legitimate ways to ‘experience God’. If prayer is looked at primarily as an activity to engage in to obtain needs or desires, then one might feel ‘taken or cheated’ at not getting those desires met.
This entire argument is made from the point of view of the desire of man, not the desire of God. It is a man-centered argument, placing man on the throne and God in service to Him.
Looking to the Bible for some guidance as to how to pray, we find:
You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7)
Here we see that we do not get what we ask for in prayer because of our motives, because we want what we feel is our due. In the straw man argument set up by Henri Nouwen, the real reason the pray-er is frustrated is because he lacks the repentant humility that considers prayer a privilege. In his pride, he considers that God ought to answer his prayers.
The God of the Bible, in His grace, allows us to come to Him in prayer. What an honour that is, to bring our praises, our petitions and requests, and to be heard! It is an affront to come before Him demanding answers!
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18: 1, 7-14)
Looking to these words for our example, we can see that coming before God in prayer, with the self-righteous attitude in the ‘straw man’ argument Henri Nouwen gave, isn’t going to get his prayers answered because of his attitude, not his method of prayer!
…Real prayer comes from the heart. It is about this prayer of the heart that the Desert Fathers teach us.
From a Biblical perspective, ‘real prayer’ comes from repentance and humility before an all-powerful God. It does not come from a heart seeking personal fulfillment, however righteous-sounding an argument may be made.
The Prayer of the Heart
…Prayer is standing before the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one.
Prayer can never make a person ‘one’ with God. When Christ returns for his Bride, the community of the faithful, she will be spotless and ready…and pure. Just as in Godly marriage the ‘two are not one’ until after the covenant is struck, so there is no ‘union’ prior to the wedding feast of the Lamb!
Isaac the Syrian writes: ‘Try to enter the treasure chamber…that is within you and then you will discover the treasure chamber of heaven. For they are one and the same. If you succeed in entering one, you will see both. The ladder to this Kingdom is hidden inside you, in your soul. If you wish your soul clean of sin you will see there the rungs of the ladder which you may climb.’
We cannot cleanse our hearts from sin by looking within. We need to look without – to Christ, and trust in him ALONE. We cannot trust what comes out of our own will. The word translated ‘heart’ both in Hebrew and Greek does not refer to the emotions, but the will or mind of man. A man’s ‘heart’ is his self will. This is what Scripture says about the natural state of the human heart (will):
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:5-6)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Prov 20:9)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
This chapter is ended by attempting to show a link between mystical prayer and a pure heart.
Prayer and Ministry
In this section the advice is given to quietly repeat a single word that holds some meaning for you, in order to create an inner stillness, to move to what the book calls the center of your being, where you will hear the ‘voice of God’. It is best, he says, to use words from Scripture.
The discipline is not directed toward coming to a deeper insight into what it means that God is called our Shepherd, but toward coming to the inner experience of God’s shepherding action in whatever we think, say or do.
Henri Nouwen also includes a story about a peasant who wondered how he could fulfill the ‘precept’ to pray without ceasing (1Thess 5:17), as he understood it. ‘How can I pray without ceasing when I am busy with many other things?” He found his answer in the words of a staretz, a mystical teacher. The peasant began to pray one short phrase thousands of times. Then, he says, ‘I gave up saying the prayer with my lips. I simply listened to what my heart was saying.’
The verse the peasant began with, in its context, has nothing to do with a spiritual discipline, or of replacing all prayers with a single ‘prayer’ of a repetitious few words. The verse has to do with encouraging each other and building each other up. It is definitely not a command to mystical or repetitious prayer.
The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that is on our mind becomes prayer. …when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into his own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness, and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God’s heart has become one with ours.
There are seriously unbiblical beliefs, brought in as the conclusion and the point of the teaching on prayer. The man-centered focus of this teaching is clearly emphasized here. True spiritual transformation does not happen through our efforts, rituals or mystical or emotional experiences.
True transformation happens when a believer accepts Christ’s life in him, and yields his will to the will of God, following and being obedient to His commands. It is Christ’s righteousness that makes us acceptable to God.
You thought I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you… (Psalm 50:21)
PART FIVE – Prayer Introduction - Prayer:
Henri Nouwen states that ”solitude and silence can never be separated from unceasing prayer…Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.”
There is a practical contradiction here between Biblical prayer (speaking to God) and at the same time being silent. When Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave them good advice (Luke 11). He did not tell them to sit in solitude ‘listening to God’. His model prayer used words. And these words were expressed in a context of submitting our will to God’s.
Words have been given to us for communication, and we are to use them in prayer. Though at the same time we must realize that even with our best words, our prayers can never adequately communicate our true needs. We are comforted knowing that in praying as we are taught, the limitation of our words is removed, as:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27)
We are to pray as we have been taught by Christ, with words, trusting that He who knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8) hears us. Not only hears our prayers, but according to Revelation 5:8, keeps them.
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is ‘come to rest’. The Greek word for rest is ‘hesychia’ and ‘hesychasm’ is the term which refers to the spirituality of the desert. A ‘hesychast’ is a man or woman who seeks solitude and silence as the ways to unceasing prayer. The prayer of the ‘hesychasts’ is a prayer of rest.’
The literal translation of the words ‘pray always’ is not ‘come to rest’!
It is not difficult to find the meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible manuscripts. Strong’s Concordance or Vine’s Expository Dictionary can provide a fuller meaning of the original words used, as English words often are not available to convey the fullness of a particular Hebrew or Greek word or phrase.
These particular words do not even translate as a phrase in either Young’s Literal translation, the King James Bible, the English Standard Version or the American Standard Version.
There are two places in the King James Bible (none in the NIV) where the phrase ‘pray always’ is used: Luke 21:36 and 2 Thess 1:11. Taking 2 Thess 1:11 and examining it (this is the only verse where that phrase translated ‘pray always’ is consistently used) the Greek words ‘proseuchomai’ (G4336) and ‘pantote’ (G3842) are used. The meaning for the first word is given as prayer offered to God i.e. supplicate, worship in earnestness. The second is ‘at all times’.
The Greek word used by Henri Nouwen as ‘rest’ (the meanng he intends is to be in mystical silence) – in its original meaning ‘hesychia’ doesn’t have anything to do with ‘pray always’. “Pray always’ means…’pray always’…pray in a Biblical way, simply and with words.
The Prayer of the Mind
One of these demonic ruses (against praying) is to make us think of prayer primarily as an activity of the mind that involves above all else our intellectual capacities. This prejudice reduces prayer to speaking with God or thinking about God. For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God…Sometimes the absence of an answer makes us wonder if we might have said the wrong kind of prayers, but mostly we feel taken, cheated, and quickly stop ‘this whole silly thing”.
It is quite understandable that we should experience speaking with real people, who need a word and who offer a response, as much more meaningful than speaking with a God who seems to be an expert at hide and seek. But there is another viewpoint that can lead to similar frustrations. This is the viewpoint that restricts the meaning of prayer to thinking about God…Prayer therefore requires hard mental work and is quite fatiguing…Since we already have so many other practical and pressing things on our minds, thinking about God becomes one more demanding burden…
How can we possibly expect anyone to find real nurture, comfort and consolation from a prayer life that taxes the mind beyond its limits and adds one more exhausting activity to the many already scheduled ones? …They wonder how they might really experience God. The charismatic movement is an obvious response to this new search for prayer. The popularity of Zen and the experimentation with encounter techniques in the churches are also indicative of a new desire to experience God.
There is something being set up here called a ‘straw man’ argument. This is a debating technique where a position is deliberately misrepresented, so the debater’s own version of ‘truth’ will appear superior.
First the idea of prayer using words is criticized as unproductive if the desired answers aren’t received.
Second, the idea of thinking during prayer is criticized as ‘hard mental work’.
Then the argument is put forth that since ‘our frustration tolerance is quite low’ it is a superior idea to allow ourselves to be more directed by our feelings, as in the charismatic movement.
Zen (Buddhism) and encounter techniques (humanism) do not belong in a Godly church, though they are presented in this book as legitimate ways to ‘experience God’. If prayer is looked at primarily as an activity to engage in to obtain needs or desires, then one might feel ‘taken or cheated’ at not getting those desires met.
This entire argument is made from the point of view of the desire of man, not the desire of God. It is a man-centered argument, placing man on the throne and God in service to Him.
Looking to the Bible for some guidance as to how to pray, we find:
You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7)
Here we see that we do not get what we ask for in prayer because of our motives, because we want what we feel is our due. In the straw man argument set up by Henri Nouwen, the real reason the pray-er is frustrated is because he lacks the repentant humility that considers prayer a privilege. In his pride, he considers that God ought to answer his prayers.
The God of the Bible, in His grace, allows us to come to Him in prayer. What an honour that is, to bring our praises, our petitions and requests, and to be heard! It is an affront to come before Him demanding answers!
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18: 1, 7-14)
Looking to these words for our example, we can see that coming before God in prayer, with the self-righteous attitude in the ‘straw man’ argument Henri Nouwen gave, isn’t going to get his prayers answered because of his attitude, not his method of prayer!
…Real prayer comes from the heart. It is about this prayer of the heart that the Desert Fathers teach us.
From a Biblical perspective, ‘real prayer’ comes from repentance and humility before an all-powerful God. It does not come from a heart seeking personal fulfillment, however righteous-sounding an argument may be made.
The Prayer of the Heart
…Prayer is standing before the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one.
Prayer can never make a person ‘one’ with God. When Christ returns for his Bride, the community of the faithful, she will be spotless and ready…and pure. Just as in Godly marriage the ‘two are not one’ until after the covenant is struck, so there is no ‘union’ prior to the wedding feast of the Lamb!
Isaac the Syrian writes: ‘Try to enter the treasure chamber…that is within you and then you will discover the treasure chamber of heaven. For they are one and the same. If you succeed in entering one, you will see both. The ladder to this Kingdom is hidden inside you, in your soul. If you wish your soul clean of sin you will see there the rungs of the ladder which you may climb.’
We cannot cleanse our hearts from sin by looking within. We need to look without – to Christ, and trust in him ALONE. We cannot trust what comes out of our own will. The word translated ‘heart’ both in Hebrew and Greek does not refer to the emotions, but the will or mind of man. A man’s ‘heart’ is his self will. This is what Scripture says about the natural state of the human heart (will):
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:5-6)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Prov 20:9)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
This chapter is ended by attempting to show a link between mystical prayer and a pure heart.
Prayer and Ministry
In this section the advice is given to quietly repeat a single word that holds some meaning for you, in order to create an inner stillness, to move to what the book calls the center of your being, where you will hear the ‘voice of God’. It is best, he says, to use words from Scripture.
The discipline is not directed toward coming to a deeper insight into what it means that God is called our Shepherd, but toward coming to the inner experience of God’s shepherding action in whatever we think, say or do.
Henri Nouwen also includes a story about a peasant who wondered how he could fulfill the ‘precept’ to pray without ceasing (1Thess 5:17), as he understood it. ‘How can I pray without ceasing when I am busy with many other things?” He found his answer in the words of a staretz, a mystical teacher. The peasant began to pray one short phrase thousands of times. Then, he says, ‘I gave up saying the prayer with my lips. I simply listened to what my heart was saying.’
The verse the peasant began with, in its context, has nothing to do with a spiritual discipline, or of replacing all prayers with a single ‘prayer’ of a repetitious few words. The verse has to do with encouraging each other and building each other up. It is definitely not a command to mystical or repetitious prayer.
The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that is on our mind becomes prayer. …when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into his own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness, and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God’s heart has become one with ours.
There are seriously unbiblical beliefs, brought in as the conclusion and the point of the teaching on prayer. The man-centered focus of this teaching is clearly emphasized here. True spiritual transformation does not happen through our efforts, rituals or mystical or emotional experiences.
True transformation happens when a believer accepts Christ’s life in him, and yields his will to the will of God, following and being obedient to His commands. It is Christ’s righteousness that makes us acceptable to God.
You thought I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you… (Psalm 50:21)
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Four
Henri Nouwen 'The Way of the Heart' An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture
Silence – Introduction and Our Wordy World
Silence – Introduction and Our Wordy World
Silence completes and intensifies solitude. This is the conviction shared by the Desert Fathers. In such a (wordy) world, who can maintain respect for words? … All this is to suggest that words have lost their creative power. … The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life.
Our words do not have power to create. Our words do not give life. Though this is a popular teaching, it is only God’s words which have any power and which bring any life.
"Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess." (Deuteronomy 32:46-47)
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
Words that do not communicate, bring community or foster communion are human words. Human words fail, lead astray and prove untrue. True preaching is the communicating of GOD’s words to man. That does not fail.
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30) "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:25)
In Scripture, Jesus warns against ‘babbling’ or repeating many phrases in an effort to be heard by God (Matthew 6). But we are not taught to instead retreat into silence. We are reminded that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him. Our attitude is to be one of trust and faith. And we need to ask for what we need, using words.
It is Biblical to speak carefully and thoughtfully and to stay away from pointless chatter or ungodly speech. The ability to communicate using language is a gift from God to us. The Biblical opposite of many words is not silence, but care to speak the truth God has revealed, and not our own ‘truth’.
Silence
By ‘silence’ Henri Nouwen does not simply mean being quiet. It is the reaching of a spiritual void that is being taught.
…the word is the instrument of the present world and silence the mystery of the future world. If a word is to bear fruit it must be spoken from the future world into the present world. The Desert Fathers therefore considered their going into the silence of the desert to be a first step into the future world. From that world their words could bear fruit, because there they could be filled with the power of God’s silence.’
There are a number of statements here that either conflict with or have no basis in the Bible. It appears that ‘the future world’ here refers to heaven, or a future life with God. Looking carefully at several Biblical references to heaven (defined here as the place where God is) it is quite clear that silence is definitely not a normal state there. Rather, God’s Kingdom is continually filled with praises.
From the Bible, we learn heaven is full of noise and activity! There is no such thing in the Bible as ‘the power of God’s silence’.
When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. (Ezekiel 1:24)
I heard the wheels being called "the whirling wheels.” (Ezekiel 10:13)
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise— the fruit of lips that confess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices… (Rev 4:5a)
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Rev 4:8-11)
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Rev 5:10-12)
It is quite clear here that the place where the God of the Bible dwells is not a silent place! Where then is the silent place Henri Nouwen and the Desert Fathers seek?
First the term ‘silence’ should be defined as it is used in the Bible, and then the definition used by the Desert Fathers can be compared with that.
The term ‘silence’ used in the Bible (NIV used here) has the following meanings:
-made to stop speaking or boasting, to be shamed
-waiting for someone (human) to speak, listening
-silence of death or Hades -silence of utter destruction
-grief, sorrow or mourning -humility (as before someone greater)
-fear (not capable of words, terrified)
-respectful silence, as before a king
There is only one instance we read of a different silence, and it is found in Revelation 8:
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
This unusual silence precedes a specific judgment, and is notable for its uniqueness as well as the fact we are told how long it lasted. This also confirms the idea of heaven not normally being a silent place.
So where is the silent place? The silence is the place of the dead!
Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. (Psalm 31:17)
If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. (Psalm 94:17)
The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. (Psalm 115:17)
The prophets of the Bible, who received Words from God, did not retreat into mystical silences in order to connect in a supernatural experience. God’s spoken revelations were always initiated by God, not by man. In Acts 18:9. the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, saying “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent”, for it was through speaking that people heard the good news. We are told to speak the truth in love, to proclaim Christ. To do that we need to speak!
Can you imagine if all the apostles had retreated to the desert, with vows of silence, instead of proclaiming the truth?
Silence Guards the Fire Within
This inner heat (of religious emotions) is the life of the Holy Spirit within us. Thus, silence is the discipline by which the inner fire of God is tended and kept alive...implies a need to ‘tend’ God, as the inner fire. This is not only unbiblical, it is blasphemous.
Silence Teaches Us How to Speak
A word with power is a word that comes out of silence. A word that bears fruit is a word that emerges from the silence and returns to it. It is a word that reminds us of the silence from which it comes and leads us back to that silence. A word that is not rooted in silence is a weak, powerless word that sounds like a ‘clashing cymbal or a booming gong’ (1 Corinthians 13:1)
This statement does not have any practical meaning. The quote from 1 Corinthians actually has to do with speaking with love, or speaking without love. Love is not ‘silence’. References again are made to ‘the divine silence’ which is not a Biblical concept of God, but of hades.
It (the silence) allows us to speak a word that participates in the creative and re-creative power of God’s own Word.
Biblically, before the fall, it was intended for humanity to rule over God’s completed creation. We do not participate in God’s creating. Nor do we use human words to participate in recreating ourselves or anything else. God alone is the Creator.
The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Preaching
There is a way of preaching in which the word of Scripture is repeated quietly and regularly, with a short comment here and there, in order to let that word create an inner space where we can listen to our Lord. If it is true that the word of Scripture should lead us into the silence of God, then we must be careful to use that word not simply as an interesting or motivating word, but as a word that creates the boundaries within which we can listen to the loving, caring, gentle presence of God…This meditative preaching is one way to practice the ministry of silence.
The phrase used in this section (and repeated many times throughout the book) ‘slowly descend with the mind into the heart’ is a term for contemplative prayer. Every mystical branch of every religion…Kabbalah (Judaism), Sufism (Hinduism), yogic traditions, Gnostic, new age or ‘christian’ contemplative practices…they all use the same technique of entering the same mystical ‘silence’, and they all have the same goal: union with the ‘divine’.
The God of the Bible is a set-apart God, who will not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8 and 48:11) with the god of the silence.
The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Counseling
Here it is recommended that counselor and counselee together enter ‘into the loving silence of God’… waiting there for the healing Word.’ The claim is that this is the way to ‘discern God’s will’. Yet His will for all of us is clearly and fully revealed in Scripture:
Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deut 10:12)
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (Acts 20:27)
The Ministry of Silence - Silence and Organizing
Here he states that what guides a pastor’s role is helping keep people from becoming so busy ‘that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.’ They are, he says, to call them ‘away from the fragmenting and distracting wordiness of the dark world to that silence in which they can discover themselves, each other and God.’
God is not unable to make Himself heard. He does not need OUR silence in order for us to hear Him. He does not speak when WE decide to listen.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
If one’s heart has been changed from a heart of stone (self-willed) to a heart of flesh (seeking God’s will) through true repentance and the forgiveness of sins, then one will have a hunger, given naturally by the Holy Spirit, for God and His Word. It will never be a discipline to spend time learning of Him and praying to Him, pondering His will and repenting from one’s own. We will grow in our trust of Him and we will have joy in obedience as we walk with Him!
Henri Nouwen teaches that it is through the self-discipline of our efforts that we acquire this heart of flesh, and that is Biblically untrue. God and God alone gives this new heart. The Holy Spirit teaches, counsels and guides in everyday life, as we work out the will of God in our life through obedience. The spirit that comes in the silence Henri Nouwen teaches of is not the same spirit. The spirit that inhabits that dark stillness is not God.
Conclusion
If we do not come near to God in silence, as Henri Nouwen teaches, how do we come near the God of the Bible in a way He allows, and grow in faith?
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:20)
Persevere in trials, believing and not doubting…ask God for wisdom, Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…get rid of moral filth and humbly accept the Word planted in you…Do not only listen to the Word, do what it says… look into and continue to look into the perfect law that brings freedom…keep a rein on your tongue…look after widows and orphans in their distress…keep yourself from being polluted by the world. (James 1)
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 1:9-11)
It IS Biblically valid to say that ‘resting in God’ or ‘resting in Christ’ means living in a deep and abiding trust in Him in all situations and at all times. And living out that trust in our everyday choices and actions.
Henri Nouwen and The Way of the Heart - Part Three
Henri Nouwen ‘The Way of the Heart’ An Evaluation and Comparison to Scripture.
Note that quotes from the book are in blue font.
PART THREE – Solitude
Note that quotes from the book are in blue font.
PART THREE – Solitude
This section has several headings, since this is the ‘meat’ of the teaching, we will look carefully at each subsection.
When he (Anthony) emerged from his solitude (and torments), people recognized in him the qualities of an authentic ‘healthy’ man, whole in mind, body and soul. They flocked to him for healing, comfort and direction. …solitude is the furnace in which this transformation (into the self of Jesus Christ) takes place…
In 2 Corinthians 11, we are warned that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light, and his ministers as servants of righteousness. We also know from Matthew 7:21-22 that there will be people who will provide ‘healing, comfort and direction’ who will NOT be from the Lord. We need to be very careful to examine the claims and lifestyles of people who claim to be from the Lord, against Scripture. If we truly accept that ALL Scripture is useful for teaching and training in righteousness, then there is a trustworthy sufficiency there that we can look to for our training and instruction. What we find outside of Scripture that is really truth will not add to the truth of the Bible nor contradict it in any way.
If it is true that our spirit is transformed through physically separating ourselves from everyone and everything around us and living as a hermit in an ascetic lifestyle, or of gaining spiritual growth through entering into mystical ‘silence’, then why are these things nowhere taught in the Bible as THE way for believers to grow more and more like Christ? If there is truly a spiritual and Godly richness there, then we should have been abundantly advised of it in the Book which is supposedly sufficient for our training. And it is conspicuous in its absence.
Ephesians 4 counsels us to live in a manner worthy of our calling, to live with others in tolerance, humility, patience and gentleness; to work and learn together to become equipped for work of service to God; to grow up in the knowledge of the Son of God (and all Scripture teaches us of this) to maturity in faith, not swayed by error but speaking the truth in love, growing up in Christ together with the others in the body of believers. We are not to walk in ignorance of the Word of God, but are to become transformed by the renewing of our minds…of our thoughts and attitudes. This is meant to be reflected in our actions towards others.
Solitude - The Compulsive Minister:
With quotes from Thomas Merton (a modern day mystic), Henri Nouwen claims our society is ‘a dangerous network of domination and manipulation in which we can easily get entangled and lose our soul. The basic question is whether we ministers of Jesus Christ have not already been so deeply molded by the seductive powers of our dark world that we have become blind to our own and other people’s fatal state and have lost the power and motivation to swim for our lives.’
He goes on to describe someone a christian who lives a secular life; he accurately describes some of the ‘fruit’ of such a life as anger and greed, and advises ‘solitude’ as the antidote. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus calls those who claim to be believers but were not, ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ and warns that we shall know them by their fruit. Whether someone really trusts God or not is reflected in their lifestyle and attitudes. In reality, such a person will never be truly transformed by works of their own (such as living an ascetic lifestyle); but must repent of their greed and anger and turn to faith and trust in God, accepting the righteousness that comes from faith in the sacrifice of Christ for his life. That is the ONLY way of salvation. ‘The Way of the Heart’ does not deal with repentance and submission of this kind.
It is not so strange that Anthony and his fellow monks considered it a spiritual disaster to accept passively the tenets and values of their society. They had come to appreciate how hard it is not only for the individual Christian but also for the church itself to escape the seductive compulsions of the world. What was their response? They escaped from the sinking ship and swam for their lives. And the place of salvation is called desert, the place of solitude.
The only place of salvation for a believer is in Christ. No desert experience can provide salvation. It is true that a believer cannot passively accept the tenets and values of society. In fact, a born again and Spirit filled believer will not accept the tenets and values of God-less society, they will be abhorrent to him. James 4 says ‘don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.’
But nowhere are we told to flee culture, we are instead told to live lives set-apart to God where ever we are, as a witness to His love, and as salt and light in the world. James 4 tells us that God gives grace to the humble; we are told to ‘resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ and ‘come near to God and He will come near to you’ and in 1 Peter 5 we are told to resist Satan and stand firm in the faith. 1 Timothy 2 tells us to live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness, praying for those in authourity over us. Romans 12 counsels us to live at peace with all men, as far as it depends on us. This assumes we live in culture, though not as part of it.
Solitude - The Furnace of Transformation:
Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant (‘turn stones into loaves’), to be spectacular (‘throw yourself down’), and to be powerful (‘I will give you all these kingdoms’). There he affirmed God as the only source of his identity…Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter – the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self.
Comparing these claims against Scripture, we can immediately see that Jesus was not at any time a victim of his society, nor ever entangled in the ‘illusions’ or ‘compulsions’ of the ‘false self’, as is implied here. The Bible says that Satan tempted him, and he responded not as Adam and Eve did, by turning away from God’s instruction, but by responding the way he did any time he was presented with untruth, with ‘It is written’ quoting the words of God. Jesus was the Son of God before Satan tempted him, he did not need to go through that time in order to have ‘an encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self’, in order to become transformed into something else.
Nowhere in Scripture is a believer described as a victim of society. In fact, we are told by Christ in Matthew 16 that even the gates of Hades will not overcome His congregation of called out ones. In Luke 19, Jesus gave his disciples authourity to overcome all the power of the enemy. In Romans 12, we are told to overcome evil with good. In 2 Peter 2, we are told that a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him; and that we escape the corruption of the world through knowing Christ. We are told to persevere in patience and to grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ.
This is done through obedience IN life, not in removing ourselves from everyone and entering mystical and unbiblical silences. Scripture does not teach us that we need to go through temptations and self-induced hardships in order to have ‘an encounter’ with God who ‘offers himself’ to us. We receive the Holy Spirit when we repent and turn to God in faith, receiving righteousness through the atonement of Christ, an atonement we could never make ourselves. Henri Nouwen’s teaching places man in the center, being served by God. The Bible teaches the complete opposite.
In this chapter, the authour begins to lay out his definition of the kind of solitude that he claims leads to transformation: He claims that “we are dealing here with that holy place where ministry and spirituality embrace each other. It is the place called solitude.” That statement, while poetic, does not make practical sense. Ministry is to others. Spirituality is a term used to describe a person’s beliefs about life and purpose, a preoccupation with what concerns the inner nature. It does not need to have anything to do with God, and often doesn’t. How you look at your purpose in life (spirituality) relates to how you treat others (ministry) only in actually being with them, and not in solitude.
He states that the solitude he is teaching is NOT that which comes from being alone, of thinking about things, of a specific private place to ‘recharge our batteries’ or ‘gather new strength’. He is very clear that the solitude he teaches is a mystical one. 'Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs.'
In 2 Corinthians 5: 17 we read that …”if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” You do not become a new creation through your own works (spiritual disciplines). You ARE a new creation if you are in Christ! He goes on at length in this chapter describing, often in mystical and poetic language, his personal experience of finding ‘salvation’ in his solitude, of trying ‘to run from the dark abyss of my nothingness and restore my false self in all its vainglory’. As we come to realize that it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us, that he is our true self… This is a very poetic statement that at first glance, can appear true. But it isn’t.
The verse he misquotes and takes out of context should read: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) If, through faith, the Holy Spirit makes a home with me, that does not make my true self the Holy Spirit. That is a false teaching. In becoming a new creation, I am given a ‘new heart’ (Ezekiel 11:19 and 18:31) that delights in serving God. But I am still ‘me’. I do not become the Holy Spirit.
Rather it is my self-will that delights in serving my own desires that I put to death. The will of the new ‘me’ delights in submitting to and serving God, and I choose to feed and nurture that will, enabled by the Holy Spirit. In Luke 9:23 Jesus tells us that if we want to follow him, we must do as he does and let nothing come between us and the will of the Father…we are told to deny our self (our will) and daily take up our cross and follow him. That doesn’t necessarily mean, as is sometimes thought, that we put up with whatever ‘burden’ of life we happen to have, it means that we are willing to put the ‘old man’, the self-will, to death, and do, out of our new heart, the will of God.
We do not acquire or deserve this new creation by our will or our effort. It is given by God, exclusively at His will. When I seek to gain my own salvation, I will lose it, Jesus warns in Luke 9. When I am willing to lay down my will (my ‘life’) I will find it.
Solitude is not simply a means to an end. Solitude is its own end…Solitude is the place of our salvation. Hence, it is the place where we want to lead all who are seeking the light in this dark world.
It is good and necessary for every believer to grow in the knowledge of Christ through studying the Word, thinking about its meaning, repenting of our own will and acts, and actively applying to life, what is learned. It is true that we can benefit from periods of being alone. But this is not the solitude he is teaching. The occult mysticism being taught here denies the saving power of the gospel.
Romans 10 tells us that faith (salvation) comes from hearing the message (the gospel of Christ) and accepting it! That is grace, for there is nothing we can do to earn that salvation, to earn that new heart that delights in God’s will.
We are a new creation in Christ!
Our transformation comes from not retreating into mystical solitude, battling ‘demons’ and gaining ‘salvation’ through overcoming them…our transformation comes from allowing our new heart to influence our attitude, through our obedience to Christ, in putting our self will to death. This is accomplished, not in mystical or physical solitude, but in LIFE!
In 2 Corinthians 5:11, we read: “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” How do we persuade men? Not by retreating to solitary mysticism. Here is what we are taught:
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me. " (Jesus speaking about the salvation he offers…John 14:1)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
It goes without saying here that it is not possible to ‘be alert’ in the altered state of consciousness taught in contemplative prayer.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) (Some translations say: study to show yourself approved…)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Solitude - A Compassionate Ministry
Anthony’s life after he had emerged from his period of total isolation…People from many walks of life came to him and asked for advice…(he had now) an inner disposition that could no longer be disturbed by those who needed his guidance. Somehow his solitude had become an infinite space into which anyone could be invited.
Compassion is not something we strive to learn, or to acquire. That is humanism. Godly compassion is gained only when we understand what we have been forgiven of, and that awareness is evidenced by how we treat others. Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the two servants in Matthew 18.
When we encounter difficulties and opposition in our lives, and we persevere in trusting in God through them, we receive hope (Romans 5), because ‘the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.’
The phrase ‘an infinite space into which anyone could be invited’ sounds very poetic, but what does it mean? It is mystical nonsense. Nobody comes to salvation by anyone other than Christ. Nobody comes to salvation through an ‘infinite space’ in anyone else. Only believers have received and accepted the invitation to life in Christ.
Compassion is the fruit of solitude and the basis of all ministry.
The Bible tells us we have troubles so we can learn to trust God in them (James 1). Having learned that, we are able to comfort people who are also going through those same troubles (2 Corinthians 1). It has nothing to do with solitude or devising hardships of our own in order to martyr ourselves to them, and everything to do with trusting God, who is our refuge and our strength (Psalm 46, 59, 91) and walking in this faith, through the trials of life. Compassion is NOT the ‘fruit of solitude’.
We are commanded to show compassion to each other (Eph 4, Col 3, 1 Peter 3), recognizing the compassion of God for us. We do not need mystical experiences to understand or obey this command. We just need to do it with humility. The fact that we struggle to do this shows us our need of God’s righteousness, it points us to the need for salvation through Christ.
Remember in Matthew 7, the ones who stood before Christ proclaiming their own compassionate actions? He did not know them! So it is quite possible to exhibit a false compassion that mimics the real thing, even deceiving ourselves. We can be led astray through not rightly understanding this.
In solitude our heart of stone can be turned into a heart of flesh… This is an unbiblical statement. It is God our Father who gives us the heart of flesh, it is not an event brought about through the human effort of solitude. That is a man-centered teaching, and denies the grace of God. Romans 9:15-16 tells us that it is entirely at God’s will that we receive this heart, saying ‘It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.’
There is an emphasis in this chapter on social justice. That is, compassionate acts for the physical and emotional person, rather than spiritual compassion given through sharing the gospel – coupled quite naturally with care for the physical.
The emphasis in this false teaching is on humanity and its temporary suffering. Compare the Bible, which teaches us that we are to care for the spiritual person and the physical needs (James 2). Note also, in Matthew 25:31-46 a careful reading shows that the ones who knew Christ and ministered to the spiritual man accomplished what the ministers to the physical did not.
Social justice is not the Biblical gospel.
This section is concluded with a quote by modern day mystic Thomas Merton: They (the monks) knew that they were helpless to do any good for others as long as they floundered about in the wreckage. But once they got a foothold on solid ground, things were different. Then they had not only the power but even the obligation to pull the whole world to safety after them.
Humanity cannot ‘pull the whole world to safety’ through doing good for others. Bible prophecy says they will try, but true peace only comes to the world through Christ’s return.
The conclusion to this section on ‘solitude’ claims that ‘It is very important for us to realize that Anthony concluded his life in total absorption in God’. It continues to link this unbiblical idea of separating ourselves from life and, through human works, attempting to join ourselves to ‘God’ through mystical contemplation.
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