Meditation and Some Christians

A born again friend was feeling down, sort of long-term-down, and I suggested they try meditation. The friend demurred, saying that meditation as such did not enter into their religious experience, and that their church sort of thought of meditation as an entryway for Satan... as if idle minds are the devil's workshop. True enough, except that minds are not idle during meditation.

I asked, "Jesus withdrew to the desert for 40 days. What do you think he did out there? Take photographs? Work on his new  book?"

This took them by surprise. They mumbled about fasting. I said that fasting is not an activity like meditating or working; one does not eat much... that's fasting. You are not actively fasting in the sense that you are actively thinking about stuff.

Then there was something about 40 days and night and Noah and the Deluge... some stuff about the specialness of the number 40 and blah, blah, blah. "Oy vey!"  I said. " Now you blind me with Gematria ! " (magic and prophecy with numbers).
Blind me with Science... or blind me with Scripture; take your choice.

It was a vision quest at the beginning of the ministry.
It was the conception of the spiritual coming to the forefront, and the needs of the body becoming secondary.
Jesus did not "power down" every time there's a gap in scripture.

I said I was quite sure that Jesus - as well as 100% of other religious geniuses - meditated upon this profound change in their lives.
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