This article is fascinating to think about. Here's the opening lines:
Meditating does more than just feel good and calm you down, it makes you perform better – and alters the structure of your brain, researchers have found.
Meditation has come under attack from many in the Christian world and for good reason. Sadly, the new age movement and other non-Christian religions have used meditation for centuries. Yet we read in the Bible, about meditating all over the place, especially in the Psalms.
It looks to me that Christians need to reaquaint themselves with the practice of meditation. So what should a Christian meditate on? What is Christian meditation?
The Psalms give us many ideas:
God's law
God' unfailing love
God's precepts and his ways
God's decrees
God's wonders
God's statutes
God's promises
God's works
Other ideas can be found on the web including this wikipedia article, which describes Christian meditation as
a form of quiet (but not necessarily silent) contemplation often associated with prayer or scripture study. It is rooted in the Bible, which directs its readers to meditate. In Joshua 1:8, God commands his people to meditate on his word day and night to instill obedience. The psalmist says that "his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). The Bible mentions meditate or meditation twenty times.
That's quite a list to get started with! So what's your experience with meditation?
Filed in: spiritual discipline, science, religion
1 comment:
Interesting that New Scientist validates the meditation practice that Christians ought to be doing - it's part of our heritage from our brothers and sisters who followed in Jesus' footsteps before us. Steve, you ask 'what's your experience with meditation?' - for mine, check out: www.anamchara.org.uk - I focus on the Jesus Prayer and the stories of Jesus. Andrew
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