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Who likes Thomas Merton?
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. -Merton
Good points brought up. Indeed, many have touted their obedience to God's will and perhaps convinced themselves of God's will then have done just the opposite of God's will. However, I don't think either answerer had thought of or even encountered the time on their spiritual walk with Christ when it seems that one is abandoned by God. Much like the Psalmists would often lament of the persecution faced and a desire for a much needed deliverance, I see in Merton's quote a combination of the lament and also the trust that God will never lead astray. Surely you can be side-tracked by vices and sin, but Merton expresses a trust in the Lord, which is rightly placed.
The second answerer lays claims with no support. And accuses Merton of confusing passages when this person uses ambiguous terms such as, "spiritual mouth wash." No doubt you must always reconsider the advice of a person who advocates burning of books (or did this person mean burning Catholics? Not entirely clear...)
I also feel compelled to respond to the second answerer that Catholics are, indeed born again and spirit-filled. We are all baptised in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit just as He told us to do. We have also Confirmed that Holy Spirit in us for the journey ahead so that we do not be misled in a false guarantee of Heaven, but that we may abide in Christ throughout our lives following the assurance that if we do so with the Grace of Christ then Heaven will be our final resting place.
It is strange to see such snobbish comments from this person who claims to be spirit-filled, isn't it?
2 Answers
- 2 decades agoFavorite Answer
Years ago during my ‘mystic’ phase of Christianity I discovered, to my surprise and chagrin, (being a former Catholic, unaware of such depth in any person associated with the Catholic Church) the writings of Francois Fenelon, Madame Guyon and Brother Lawrence; Catholic mystics from the Middle Ages. From them I learned much. Hoping to discover a modern mystic I read several books by Thomas Merton several times, but was always left with a 'bad taste' in my spirit for much the same reason wleef2002 noted in his answer. For me, at that time, his work was too monkish (not surprising since he was a monk), too modern, too vague, too ???, to be of much practical value to me; and then there was always that 'bad taste' in my spirit that only large amounts of spiritual mouthwash could remove. Now that I am in an ‘apologetic’ stage of my walk, I see too much idolatry, false teaching, heresy and superstition in his work to be of any value to any one who is a Christian; of value to Catholics perhaps, but not to born again, spirit filled Christians.I recommend burning them, not reading them.
- Anonymous2 decades ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton
Hmm...I'm not sure I would agree with Merton on this. Many people have been desirous of doing God's will, and believed they were doing God's will, while they were torturing and murdering innocent people. I can't believe a loving God would give them a pass just because they were desirous of doing his will.
