The British Messianic Jewish Alliance
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The British Messianic Jewish Alliance
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The
Dried Up Soul.
Spring 2000 Issue 208The
influence of “alternative spirituality” has subtly invaded the attitude of
many believers toward being “spiritual”. It is this “Star Wars
spirituality” that makes us look weirder than we really need be. The
myth of spiritual techniques People
are looking for a dynamic new spirituality that will liberate them from the
harsh reality of the world in which we live. The spirituality that is presented
in the Bible is not one of superheroes, bionic power and laser vision. The
examples of spirituality in the Bible are of normal people with all the
weaknesses and character flaws that you and I have.
The “spiritual” diet of many leaves them forever looking for
something new; all the trends come and go and the masses still do not feel
“spiritual” enough. The problem is that they are being urged to find
something that God never promised and to become something that is closer to the
pagan mystery cults of New
Testament times than the biblical model of spirituality. In recent days a modern
version of “Celtic Spirituality” has been promoted as the saviour of
dried-up Christian experience. You can go on courses that teach you how to map
out your spiritual life. We are told about the diverse spiritualities that exist
within the Christian Church. All this sounds like “do not bother about
Biblical standards as long as the technique is imaginative and makes you feel
good about yourself.” The
Cultural displacement of Yeshua I
cannot help wondering how I would suppress a snigger in church if I heard this
Celtic prayer to the “Wild Goose of the Almighty”: “Great
Spirit, Wild Goose of the Almighty. Be my eye in the dark places; Be my flight
in the trapped places; Be my host in the wild places; Be my brood in the barren
places; Be my formation in the lost places.” I am sure that God the Holy
Spirit is not too offended at being called the “Wild Goose of the Almighty”,
but the term is hardly the “radical alternative” that Celtic spirituality is
being sold as. “The Wild Goose”, we are told, is a symbol of “The Spirit
breaking free from conventional churchianity”. This is just presenting yet
another new way to revive your flagging spiritual life. No course or technique
can heal a soul far away from a vibrant relationship with God Himself through
Yeshua. I would have imagined that if you wanted to find a culture on which to
base true, rather than other-worldly, spirituality and “break free from
conventional churchianity”, it would be the culture in which Yeshua was born
and brought up. Yeshua was not a Celt, neither did He pray to the “Wild Goose
of the Almighty”. Click
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