Yoga Warning

[Dawn33]

How about just using traditional, stretching, exercise and self-defense tactics?

 

A lot of what is in yoga is natural stretching techniques.  I use breathing in both martial arts, when I use to compete, and in climbing.  There is nothing wrong in any of it, as long as you leave the spiritual stuff out.  Why throw the baby our with the bath water???

I agree with you OneLight in my yoga class we do the breathing too but there is nothing spiritual about it. We do it because it helps us concentrate on the sometimes painful and difficult stretches we need to hold.There is no meditation, chanting or anything like that.

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Alex....

     Oh my Brother,,,,,,let me go back here a few steps because I really am not sure you understand what the whole point is(At least as far as what I was saying)I didn't feel like you were being argumentative at all so there is no need to apologize,I understand you said you are confused ,let me try to explain further.....

      No Alex.....it is not about what it seems like or looks like to "us here"...Here,we are your Brothers & Sisters in Christ & you have had the opportunity to explain to us what YOU do when you are in the "lotus position",,,,,thats great ,Alex,,,,,I think we all understand what you are doing & your intentions are all good & your heart & mind are Christ centered,,,,,,,but here ,we have the chance to explain ourselves & reason together & talk,,,,,,,

      I think the best example was what Shiloh gave ,he & a married woman having lunch,both Christians,,,perhaps they even met to discuss some church business as they are both on the same commitee for an outreach program,,,,,,,,but a neighbor sees them together & thinks"Hmmm the "Christians " are hypocrites,they are adulterors!",,,,,,,,,,,it is as i  quoted earlier from Scripture"abstain from all appearances of evil"      Is the lotus position a bad thing,an unHoly thing,yes,,,,as Shiloh explained what it actually means but even though it does not mean that for you ,what do others see(mostly unbelievers )

      Alex,why call what you are doing "yoga" if it has nothing to do with yoga at all,according to you..............now that you know ,as it seems you are getting some confirmation here from more than 2 or 3 witnesses,that this can APPEAR to be a pagan practice,,,,,,will you do this in public?If you do this at home & pray to our Lord in the lotus position then I believe there is nothing wrong with it,would anyone know what or who you are praying to if you were in a public gymn? See what we are saying?,,,,,,,,,,,,,just be mindful of how others may perceive what you do,in all things 

      I do feel like One Light feels,"Why throw the baby out with the bath water"................it works for you,fantastic ,,,,,,,,,,,on the other hand,I agree with Shiloh & I have had much experience with eastern practices,they have not lead to a good place & I have learned to make better choices and to stay away from such things.I don't think this can be compared to Christmas & Easter celebrations,,,,,,,& though these traditions do have pagan origins WE are very clear about what WE as Christians are celebrating,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A day to celebrate the birth of our Lord & Savior & a day to celebrate that our Lord & Savior IS RISEN,,,,,,What do others see when they pass by my house on these holidays,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,They see Scriptures posted in my windows & my proclamations "OUR REDEEMER LIVES","HE IS RISEN",THE SAVIOR IS BORN & so on ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,there is no mistaking "Me & my house,we serve the Lord"...         I am sure I will be a very easy target for anyone looking to do a Christian harm

     I do hope this helps you to understand a little better that it is not YOU that we are really worried about(now that you have explained),it is what you are representing to the world,,,,,,,,       God Bless you Alex,give God Glory in ALL things                          With love-in Christ,Kwik  

[RustyAngeL]

Thank you for answering my question about you being a believer.  I'm glad to know that you are.  Sometimes when questions like this come up there is a lot of confusion..  I apologize if I hurt you in anyway.  Here at Worthy we have one common goal and that is to lead others to Christ.  I am thrilled to know you are one of our brothers.  God Bless You, and knock em dead on the golf course!

 

Because He Lives! RustyAngeL

[B3L13v3R]

This was written by a Hindu Yogi and Yoga instructor Yogi Baba Prem.

Link left off, but entire article presented, emphasis mine...

This Yogi clearly recognizes there is no “Christian Yoga.”

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“There is no Christian Yoga.

 

By Yogi Baba Prem, Vedavisharada, CYI, C.ay, C.va

 

It was quite astonishing to see on the flyer “Christian Yoga! This Thursday night….” I could feel the wheels spinning in my brain. “Christian Yoga”, I thought. Now while Christians can practice yoga, I am not aware of any Christian teachings about yoga. Yoga is not a Judeo/Christian word! It is not a part of the Roman Catholic teachings and certainly not a part of protestant teachings. It is not found within the King James Version of the bible. It is a Hindu word, or more correctly a Sanskrit word from the Vedic civilization. So how did we get “Christian Yoga”?

 

From this I could conclude that “Christian Yoga” could only indicate one of two possibilities:

 

1) Christianity is threatened by yoga and is attempting to take over this system that is expanding and successfully teaching spirituality to the masses.

 

2) Christianity is subconsciously attempting to return to the spiritual roots of civilization—the Vedic civilization.

 

I thought to myself, “why would they want to take over yoga?” Could it be due to the decline of members within the Christian church within the last 60 years? Is this an extensive marketing plan cooked up in some New York marketing guru’s head? Is it an attempt to water down the teachings of yoga and import their own teachings into the system? Or is it that they cannot stand not to own everything spiritual?

 

I think the best reason might be that yoga, and eastern spirituality, offered answers to the spiritual questions that the spiritually hungry masses had. It offered a practical, rational, logical, and truthful approach to spirituality. It did not contain any form of self-righteous condemnation, but offered love and acceptance to all. It did not prey upon victims with terms such as “Sin” and “eternal damnation”. But most importantly, it had answers! It offered a practical approach to cultivating a relationship with divinity. It offered a systematic approach and an abstract approach to meet the varying temperaments of the spirituality hungry.

 

The second possibility was that Christianity was itself looking for answers. Possibly the fundamentalist view, inflexibility, and condemnation was no longer fulfilling the needs of the masses or the leaders of the church. Offering yoga classes allowed the Christian to secretly practice Hinduism without having to renounce their Christian tradition.

 

Possibly by embracing the technology of yoga and meditation, the Christian church could finally return to the idea of love and acceptance that it believed it was founded upon. It is ironic that one religion would need to look to another religion to teach them about love, peace, harmony, and forgiveness. If successful, it could embrace these ancient teachings and save itself from what has been a steady decline in church attendence of the past few decades.

 

But possibly in their wisdom, the current fathers of the church realized that their time as a dominte religion was coming to a close. So within America they must absorb yoga before they are absorbed by it. This is a common religious view that has appeared numerous times within world history. Absorbing yoga would allow the church to more quickly move their resources to India. Taking over the country would allow them to own all the spirituality, and then ‘pick and chose’ which tasty spiritual treats they would share. After all they have 2000 years practice with this.

 

Indian being a loving, peaceful people, openly embraced their brothers from the west. They looked the other way as their temples were torn down. They accepted it as karma as their families were torn apart over differing religious beliefs. The Indians thought it was thoughtful of the missionaries to dress up just like swami’s, to be “just like them” and to share in their kindred spirit.

 

Modern day scholars from India frequently present the attitude of “let them have yoga, I am interested in protecting Hinduism.” I have heard this sentiment on numerous occasions, but the reality is that yoga is a part of Hinduism. Allowing one part to be taken from Hinduism opens a door for the distortion of the teachings. We must remember that the roots to modern day yoga comes from Vedic Yoga. The same Vedic Yoga that is the authority of Hinduism. Allowing one branch to be severed from the tree of knowledge will not necessarily kill that tree, but it can produce strain and have an unbalancing effect upon the tree.

 

Hinduism should reclaim its full heritage and not allow other groups to rename its sacred teachings under their banner, especially when they have no history of those teaching within their own system. If they wish to ‘borrow’ and say this comes from our brothers and sisters in Hinduism, then that is another thing. But frequently groups attempt to privatize the information and present themselves as the original authority. Hinduism should guard against its sacred traditions becoming distorted and taken away.

 

Scholars at universities should take the stand that yoga is part of Hinduism, though one is not required to be a Hindu to practice yoga. It is important to acknowledge the roots of the tradition; after all we are expected to give credit to the original sources within books and research papers, but yet Hindu scholars have ignored this fundamental western view when it comes to their own heritage.

 

One does need to be Hindu to practice yoga, but it is clear from historical evidence that Yoga comes from Hinduism.”

 

Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.”

[1to3]

1to3.   Before you jump on your high horse and judge overweight  preachers and their pride,  you probably need to check your pride.  There are many overweight preachers out there, but they love their people and they pray for them and visit them in the hospital and do all kinds of service for them.   So frankly, your little prideful rant is uncalled for.

 I would like to apologize to you shiloh and to all persons.

 

After some reflection and prayer, I would like to apologize to you all for my comments on being -fat-. At the time I wrote it I did not see it as being not the right thing to do, I thought to point out that food indulgences can be another stronghold that many can be blindside about.

I do apologies and will try to in the future be more careful as to what I write in a post.

My goal is to grow in Christ always and repent when I see I've missed the mark.

I hope you all can accept my apology

Sorry , I am truly sorry

[Diatheosis]

"Possibly by embracing the technology of yoga and meditation, the Christian church could finally return to the idea of love and acceptance that it believed it was founded upon"

 

Oh Jesus, Joseph and Mary, don't know that much about love and acceptance, once you get to know the idea of karma and original idea of reincarnation, which by no means is evolutionary. Instead, the old karma haunting after the soul will affect the outcome for several lifetimes from one incarnation only, let alone the total sum of negative karma gained through myriad lifetimes. The elite of the brahmin cast should not come here to preach acceptance, I gather. Most of their people are not even expected to exit samsara, but their suffering is justified due to their past actions. Well, you can speak of acceptance in that regard.

 

Such a blessing we really do not have to rely upon any technology to feel acceptance and love, or try to earn good points. But then again, no matter how expertized this guru is ob the mind, not knowing Jesus person ally heart to heart really leaves a big part of reality unknown to him. 

 

Another good reading might be "Death of a Guru: The Story of Rabi Maharaj", a story of a son of a famous guru who found Jesus.

[another_poster]

Another Poster,

 

Christian holidays are not based on pagan worship, that is just ridiculous.  Why turn to a pagan religion practice for stretching?   There are plenty of stretching and limbering exercises available without having to turn to paganism.

There is plenty of evidence to support the claim that various christian holidays were originally pagan celebrations so it is not ridiculous. 

Stretching is stretching. If your worried stretching is a sin then don't do it. I see no problem with stretching. I stay away from other religions so would never attend a session if they had the spiritual side attached. I would find out first before attending. It isn't hard to ask.

 

There is still a such thing as holiness, where we don't touch or come close to those things that displease the Lord.   Let me put it this way.   I can go to lunch with a married woman and have absolutely NO romantic intentions.  Neither of us would.   But how does it appear?  What do those who might know me or her think?  What would her spouse think?  No matter what your intentions are, there are lines you don't cross.

 

We seem to forget that when it comes to our relationship with God.  He says to us, "be holy as I am holy."  "Come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing."  We need to live outside the box of what seems fine to us.   We need to take holiness seriously.

 

God says that not only are we not to abstain from worshipping other gods, we are not to worship Him in the manner that the pagans worship their gods. (Deut. 12:29-32)

I would think you are having lunch with a friend. See I don't leap to judging people. If her spouse was unaware and she tried to hide it from her spouse then that is a different issue. It is so sad when christians want to instantly judge people. If we are to abstain from appeareance of evil does that mean the apostles were wrong to speak in tongues at pentecost? After all they obviously had the appearance of evil (drunkeness). Intyeresting conclusion you draw there. Or did you not realise that is what you were saying? 

 

I used to have lunch with female friends and my spouse had no problem with that. I paid for those lunches because my view is that the one who gives the invite has the responsibility to pay.

 

The problem with yoga (any part of it) is that it cannot be detached from its paganism.   Yoga means "joined together."  It is referring to being joined with the Hindu god Brahman which is nor really a god, per se.  It is more like a force and it brings you into union with the universe.   The "stretching"  and sitting the lotus position is all about being in union with the Hindu god/force.   You can't really separate it out or compartmentalize it.  It doesn't work that way. 

of course you can. You also don't have to do every single exercise. Just because a definition says it means something does not mean it is impossible to separate the two.

 

How about just using traditional, stretching, exercise and self-defense tactics?

but what are their roots? Where did they come from? It could easily be argued that they were adapted from pagan pravtices as well so best not to do any exercise or stretching! Really if you want to stick to what you have been saying you can not seriously suggest any kind of stretching. Not unless you can be 100% certain where it originated and has never been part of any belief or faith that opposes christianity. 

 

You pretend that easter & christmas do not have their roots in pagan holidays but openly admit they were designed to replace pagan holidays for converts. That means it is rooted in pagan holidays.

[another_poster]

Ive had some folks ask me about yoga and how it affects the witness to unbelievers. Many unbelievers see Christians doing yoga and think ok I can stay with those beliefs. It may not seem so bad in the us, but some outside the us have commented on how bad a witness it is, especially in areas heavily populated by those of hindu and buddist faiths.

The same can be said about a lot of music people listen to today especially the use of drums. So should we ban music as well? Where do we draw the line? Individuals are different. Some christians can have one or two drinks and stop no problem while others if they have one drink will keep going till they are drunk. So for the one who can't stop drinking would be a sin while it would not be for the one who can stop. Of course it would be wrong for the one who can stop to drink around the one who can't stop. 

[Guest]

Most of what 90% of Christians do at Christmas time is rooted in paganism, Easter is rooted in paganism....

If you are married and had what is considered a traditional ceremony, then that is rooted in paganism....

if you wear a wedding ring....

that is rooted in....

paganism....

 

~

 

Alex,

 

See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 1 Thessalonians 5:15

 

You Have

 

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

 

Got To Get Grounded

 

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

For More Than 90% Of What Christians Do

 

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

 

More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

 

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 1 Corinthians 15:12-21 (NIV)

 

Is Rooted In The Resurrection Of The Christ, Including Christmas

 

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

 

~

 

Be Blessed Beloved Of The KING

 

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

 

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them. Numbers 6:24-27

 

Love, Your Brother Joe

[Guest shiloh357]

Sorry Another poster,  but the evidence that Christian holidays is sketchy at best  and is often based on a revised version of history.

 

When you are married, and you having dinner with someone who is not your spouse, it not only raises concerns from friends, but from your spouse as well.  Again, it is about avoiding all appearance of evil.  If the relationship matters to you, if your spouse matters to you, then you will do NOTHING that could potentially compromise the relationship.   It should be the same with your relationship with God.

 

Billy Graham would not even ride alone in an elevator with a woman who was not his wife.  It is no wonder his ministry has gone down as one of most honest ministries and why he is seen as a man of integrity.   He didn't compromise.  His marriage was important to him.  That's the kind of holiness that we should have in our relationship with God. 

 

Yoga is a unified whole.  The stretching is part of it.  The stretching isn't a separate part from Yoga.  It is part of the package.   You might, in your imagination be able to separate the two, but  they are not separate no matter how hard you want them to be.

 

Saying that Christmas and Easter replace pagan holidays isn't the same thing as claiming they are based on pagan holidays.  At least, not to a rational,  thinking person.   The Christian celebration of those holidays are entirely different  and no conspiracy theory you can conjure up about it will change that.