Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey – Promoting Contemplative?

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On January 9th, Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey (their program for children) presented a show called “Solitary Refinement.” Much like the recent Fox Home Video production, Be Still, “Solitary Refinement” is an infomercial for Contemplative Spirituality. Talking about going to monasteries to learn the disciplines of silence and solitude, getting rid of distractions and thoughts in order to hear God, the program makes references throughout that encourage children to practice the “spiritual disciplines,” with a particular emphasis on the disciplines of silence and solitude. Anyone who has been researching and studying the contemplative prayer movement will understand the message in this presentation.

The original air date of this Adventures in Odyssey episode was 1996. This means that 11 years ago, long before contemplative spirituality (i.e., Spiritual Formation) had become mainstream in Christendom, as it has today, Focus on the Family was already heading in this direction. Now over a decade later, they are reintroducing the episode to a new generation of children. Interestingly though, it first aired several years after Rick Warren said that the Spiritual Formation movement was a vital and needed wake up call to the body of Christ (see Purpose Driven Church).

Click here to listen to this 25 minute Focus on the Family program. (2017 – link no longer online)

If your children listen to the Adventures in Odyssey, we encourage you to monitor this show as it may introduce your children to non-biblical spirituality.

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Focus on the Family Promotes Contemplative Authors

Be Still DVD – Advertising for Contemplative Prayer

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