I once heard a preacher mention RC Mysticism which includes imagining the presence of God by constantly thinking in their mind that God is present before them. Does anyone have more info on this?
Also I have read the book Practicing the presence of God by Brother Laurence. Here the author writes about forcibly thinking about God and then it becomes a practice. Is this book RC mysticism?
I remember I bought this book from a trusted source in the US.But I could only read a few pages, then I decided to put it in the bin.
"Is this book RC mysticism ?"
I found it did not line up with sound NT teaching, I think you could call it "mysticism".
I got very high reviews on a Internet site. But here are some comments that I would agree with:
"This was a man who did not truly believe in the sufficiency of Christ's suffering on his behalf. Thinking he had to make up the difference somehow, such was the mindset of the monks..."
"I believe it is faulty in that it encourages a mystical view of God and the practice of contemplative prayer. "
The introduction to the book reads:
"who discovered the greatest secret of living in the kingdom of God here on earth. It is the art of "practicing the presence of God..."
We don't need to discover the "greatest secrets" - we need to read what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures how to live our Christian lives.
There is mysticism that is heretical, but there are true Christian mystics that were sound on biblical teaching, and the experience of the presence of God. Some of the well known Christian mystics were Madam Guyon, William Law, Brother Lawrence, and there was also mysticism in the writings of A. W. Tozer, Watchman Nee, and Andrew Murray to name a few.
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