Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

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Why am I writing now about CS? Well! It so happens Scazzero and his books and Daily Office are the basis of an 8 week attempt to recapture emotional and spiritual health in our very evangelical/Pentecostal church. Contemplative Prayer Movement and Its Origin – Compiled by S.E. Ray Scazzero only brings confusion to any biblical understanding of the nature of humans by mixing in false psychological concepts of what a person is by nature. Is anyone born with a “true self” before being contaminated by parents and the world as erroneously claimed? Or are they blank or clean slates? No! The Bible declares that we are all descendants of Adam and therefore born in sin. Peter Scazzero: Without being immersed in Scripture on a daily basis, I don’t believe it is possible to lead others for Jesus and to Jesus. How can we unless we are listening to him? According to the Bible, all humans are under the conviction of sin. In fact, human depravity is a clear doctrine in Scripture. All but Jesus are by nature depraved. Scazzero avoids the word “depravity” throughout his book as he uses psychologically derived reasons why people behave sinfully. His technique is to eradicate each flaw or sinful behavior category through identifying it in one’s home environment or genealogy rather than in one’s own personal depravity. He evidently does not think people need to die to the old nature, the old self, but rather to keep what they like about themselves, which may indeed be the very worst of sins, that of pride.

In his book The Emotionally Healthy Church, Peter Scazzero is similarly concerned with the matter of change and transformation in the Christian life. As a pastor in New York City he raises what he believes to be a pressing need in most churches – emotional health. Scazzero’s thesis is that many Christians need what amounts to a second conversion. “Something is desperately wrong… We have people who are passionate for God and his work, yet who are unconnected to their own emotions or those around them’ (37). Much of the basis of this conclusion stems from personal experience; Scazzero had trained and pastored for a number of years before he came to these conclusions. Leadership can be a painful journey - especially in a church or ministry that depends on the depth and quality of the relationships within. Whether married or single, most emotionally unhealthy leaders affirm the importance of a healthy intimacy in relationships and lifestyle, but few, if any, have a vision for their marriage or singleness as the greatest gift they offer. Instead, they view their marriage or single-ness as an essential and stable foundation for something more important—building an effective ministry, which is their first priority. As a result, they invest the best of their time and energy in becoming better equipped as a leader, and invest very little in cultivating a great marriage or single life that reveals Jesus’ love to the world. The title and subtitle are metaphoric symbolism. Crossing the Tiber River near Rome is often used for Protestants returning to Roman Catholicism. Scazzero is an Italian name for Peter Scazzero who is senior pastor of New Life Church in Queens, New York City. Rev. Scazzero has not claimed Rome for his official residence, but makes many trips across the Tiber. Scazzero’s stated mission is to introduce Catholic contemplative prayer and practice to evangelicals. Scazzero avoids the term Catholic for obvious reasons but uses “Contemplative Prayer” freely, assuming probably correctly, that evangelicals will not know the meaning of the term. Emotional health was powerfully changing people at New Life, but people remained too busy. After a four-month monastic sabbatical in early 2004, Founding Pastors Pete & Geri Scazzero, profoundly transformed by their season of silence and solitude, began introducing the treasures of the contemplative tradition.

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In 1981, David assisted with a church plant near OSU’s campus called Christ’s Church. He was in pastoral ministry there for ten years, seven of those years being the preaching pastor. How should leaders be intentional about creating an emotionally healthy culture in their leadership team? There is no need for such a third commandment or even for encouragement to love self. The Bible reveals that humans already love themselves and that is the basis of comparison of how to love others. The apostle Paul wrote: “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nouurisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church” (Eph 5:29). Contemplative prayer differs from Christian prayer in that the intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own being. There he is, supposedly, to experience the presence of God who [already] dwells in him. Christian prayer, on the contrary, centers on God in a relational way, as an independent power apart from oneself but realized intimately through the Holy Spirit. Pantheism teaches that God is all things. But Pantheism has now been combined with Theism (God is a personality) and this produces panentheism, which attempts to retain God’s personality but adds that He also indwells every created thing.

But, Mike Perschon, an Edmonton associate pastor of a Mennonite church, describes in a magazine “Youth Worker” his contemplative experience: “I built myself a room – a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer and Christian mysticism. In that space, I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I meditated for hours on word, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns.” In addition to the word “authentic,” Scazzero uses the terms “true self” (p. 56) and “false self” (p. 49). The word “authentic” is not in our Bible, and we cannot imagine any translation using the word “authentic” as an adjective before the word “self.” Furthermore, the designations “true self” and “false self” are not in the Bible as Scazzero is using them. These are psychological constructs regarding human nature. In contrast the Bible identifies humans in relation to their fallen nature and their need for salvation and new life in Christ by grace through faith (Romans 6-8).Emotionally unhealthy leaders also engage in more activities than their combined spiritual, physical, and emotional reserves can sustain. They give out for God more than they receive from him. The demands and pressures of leadership make it nearly impossible for them to establish a consistent and sustainable rhythm of life. In their more honest moments, they admit that their cup with God is empty or, at best, half full. I like to say it this way: Their “being with God” is not sufficient to sustain their “doing for God.” Of special interest is the fact that David was one of those who was asked to be on the research team for the book “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell. He did his research with the team in the summer of 1972 in Dallas, Texas. His research resulted in Chapter 9 of the book titled: The Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament Fulfilled in Christ.

But what many leaders fail to appreciate is that we are all anchored in our past. In other words, none of us are "blank slates". We each bring the blessings and curses of our families of origin (Exodus 20:5) into our relationships, churches, organizations, and businesses.

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Indeed, Scazzero’s combination of man-made psychological notions and “contemplative spirituality” is the heart of his EHS message! However, his promise of a “revolution into the deep places of your life” will more likely increase the life of the old nature rather than conform a person to the image of Christ. And, while Scazzero quotes Scripture, he over-shadows it with psychotherapeutic theorists, mystics, and contemplatives.

Secondly, the book minimizes the offensiveness of sin. This is perhaps most strikingly seen in a quotation where he reflects upon a scene in a film. As a result, I was not present with myself, with God, or with others. I saw my sadness as something to be overcome through prayer and Scripture. I would declare, "the joy of the Lord is my strength!" while ignoring the deep cries of my heart.And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. There is a prayer practice that is becoming popular within the evangelical church. It is primarily known as contemplative prayer. It is also known as centering prayer, listening prayer, breath prayer and prayer of the heart. The practice is now widely embraced and taught in secular and professed Christian seminaries, colleges, universities, organizations, ministries and seminars throughout the United States. Academic promoters have introduced these practices in the fields of medicine, business and law, while countless secular and Christian books, magazines, seminars, and retreats are teaching people how to incorporate these techniques into their daily lives. Promoters promise physical, mental and spiritual benefits. In other words, believers are to be looking at Christ and following him, not looking at their parents in their attempt to not follow them. While believers are instructed to “work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling, …it is God which worketh in [then] both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). Biblically based spiritual transformation is essentially a work that God does in believers as they respond by trusting and obeying Him. Adding psychological notions and techniques will only interfere rather than help. In fact, turning elsewhere for what God has already provided in His Word is essentially idolatry. In this case, the idol is not of wood or stone. The idol is self as god trying to transform itself through psychological theories and techniques. The Great Commandment But this teaching undermines the biblical teaching of the sinfulness of all men and makes the atonement at the cross unnecessary. Furthermore, if God is in every human and all things, then he is in all religions. Tony Campolo and others see that this is a necessary corollary and Campolo has stated: ‘Mysticism provides hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam.’ (Speaking My Mind).