Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
Jo, here's a quote from a PhD thesis found (pg 20;quoting Andrew Louth) that I find interesting:
For Christians love is the love of Christ which unites us to him and
through him to one another. And so Christian theology, and in particular
Christian mystical theology, is ecclesial, it is the fruit of participation in
the mystery of Christ, which is inseparable from the mystery of the
Church.
here
I don't know how much that quote helps define what a Christian Mystic is, but perhaps it helps at least a little . . . |
StG, I dare not argue with a PhD, BUT I will let Paul argue for me. If those standards existed back in day, Paul definitely would've qualified as a Doctor of divinity, being that he was a pharisee of pharisees;
He said;
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
So we read that Christ and the church is no longer a mystery to those that have the Holy Spirit. There is no deep meaning left to understand, it's revealed to us. That's why I say mysticism is antithetical to Christianity and the term "Christian mystic" is an oxymoron.
To a born again Christian, Christ is no longer a mystery. But a Mystic leader, however, is so mystery-centric that they would like to keep Christ and the church a mystery and convince others of the same. That way you'd have to rely on a guru to decipher those mysteries for you. But in order to indoctrinate...I mean explain those mysteries to you, you first have to chant Jesus's name 5 times or pray-read in order to get into a suggestible frame of mind. Only then will you be ready to receive the vision... Sound familiar?
/sarcasm
The pharisees were the same way in that they shut the doors of heaven in people's faces, not entering themselves nor letting those who try (Matthew 23:13).
Members of the LC's are taught mysticism in the guise of biblical Christianity. Because of that, separating the two becomes difficult and unfortunately for some it's just easier to throw it all away after leaving. For others they continue to try and reconcile mysticism to Christianity in vain. And then there are those that discard all the leaven and go on to develop a healthy and fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
To make a point on how it all connects, take Jewish mysticism for example. Kabbalism is all about collecting "sparks" . It's said that the world originally was a perfect vessel but then it was destroyed and now it's up to us to collect all the pieces. Each time you do a good deed, you're collecting these sparks and taking one step toward the Messiah.
That sure sounds similar to dominion theology within Christianity in that Satan caused the fall and took control of creation by force. So now, as God's army of overcomers, we have to accomplish certain tasks in order to take dominion back.
Dominionism within the LC's is setting up a single church in each city with the expectation that this deed will defeat Satan's kingdom on earth and take them one step closer to the 2nd coming of Jesus and the New Jerusalem.
This is just one example. If you look hard enough, you'll see that all the heretical doctrines within Christianity are rooted in older systems of mysticism.