Here is a letter from one of our readers, and I asked the person if it was OK to post and it is used with permission. I’ve done some reading and writing in spiritual formation; I have not read exhaustively, but I am aware of extraneous influences. What do you think?
Scot,
I have considered myself an emerging minister since I went to [an evangelical seminary and studied with a well-known theologian]. I have studied Church History and Christian Mysticism, but I have become concerned with the mixture of unhealthy spiritual practices being brought in along with “new” practices. I have come to observe as I speak with young people that Kaballah and forms of Buddhist practices are being accepted and promoted. I have read in numerous Christian spiritual formation books that the practices they are promoting will bring us closer to a global spiritual understanding. In other words, they are borrowed practices from eastern mysticism.
Should we be concerned? As a military chaplain, I practice pluralism in my ministry, but I remain an Evangelical minister. I treat all equally important, but I don’t practice all beliefs.
Respectfully,