YOGA - ANOTHER CHRISTIAN SUPERSTITION

Christians In Bondage

Christian Taboos Driven By Superstition

Christians are not supposed to be superstitious.  In reality, it is not so.  Today, on the Facebook I happened to read a posting from friend that asked whether Christians should practice yoga?  Many Christian taboos are driven by superstition and legalism, and rather than fear of God.  This is one of them.

This question about yoga is not something new.  As a young Christian, I was warned against getting into yoga, martial arts and acupuncture.   Interestingly, sometime in 2008 the government  of Malaysia raised a hue and cry against Muslims being involved in yoga and made a laughing stock of itself.

I venture to elaborate on my views.  Everything in our body is created by God, not only the muscles, but including the chakras and all their wonderful hidden functions.   The body functions can be activated and exercised physically to make the body perform better.  Stretching, rubbing, massaging and stimulation with the needle or electrical pulses do this work.  Nothing spiritual needs to be involved.

However, some people have used spiritual  stimulation of the body through Yoga, Karate or Tai Chi, or acupressure or acupuncture. 

What is Yoga, Tai Chi, Karate?

Now, what is Karate or Tai Chi? Speaking as a past exponent of these arts, they are nothing more than physical regimentation of the body to perform certain reflexes.  In the course of the regimentation, joints, sinews and muscles are stretched.  Nerves are trained to react and respond rapidly.  This is basically the same with yoga.  Acupressure and acupuncture are nothing more than physical stimulation of certain central nervous gateways.  But Yoga is stretching exercises imbued with spiritualism.  Without the spiritualism, it is just an exercise of the muscles, joints and sinews.  There is also some form of meditation in Karate and Tai Chi, but usually only at the advanced stages of these practices.  Most of the practitioners of Karate or Tai Chi who do meditate do not really identify their acts of meditation as anything spiritual, mostly that is.  To them, it is mainly a cultural thing.  But I do remember 2 of my past teachers warning me that if I am not careful during the meditation sessions, I could suffer spiritual attack and can lose my mind.  This is for those who know.

Exercising Without Spiritual Involvement

Let me point this out.  It is possible to perform Karate, Tai Chi, acupressure and even Yoga without the involvement of the spiritual dimension at all.  Yes, people can be drawn into the spiritual dimension of these arts if they are ignorant of its existence.  This was so with me in the past.  Yoga can be practiced as a body stretching exercise by dispensing with all the symbolic hand signs, meditation and chanting. For example, the sound "Om" is spiritual salutation of sorts.  Certain body stances are stances of worship.  Just don't do these.  Karate and Tai Chi can be practiced without meditation.  Acupressure can be done by simple massaging or even an Osim Japanese electrical massager.   As one Pastor Shibu Peediakal very aptly quoted Titus 1: 15. ”all things are pure to the pure”.   If say exercising with Hindu-based yoga-like stretching is disallowed, then to be consistent, is not cremation also to be disallowed since the concept in Hinduism is the sacrifice of the body to Agni?  `

“All Things Are Pure”  When The Heart is Pure

“All things are pure” however does not apply to an act like pornography, or robbery for that matter. Sex is not the same as pornography.  Sex is a reproductive function to be performed with one’s life-long partner, and it comes together with bodily pleasure, by the grace of the Lord.  Watching pornography for pleasure is an act which stems out of lust of the flesh.  “ Pornography”  comes of out of the word “porneia” ( meaning fornication).  It is engaging in sex outside of marriage in the pursuit of lust of the flesh.  Lusting after the flesh is a sin.  But the act of sex with one’s mate is pure, and does not defile.  The lust for sex outside of marriage defiles.  Love for pornographic material is after the manner of lusting after the flesh.  Watching pornography with lust in the heart defiles.  But if I chanced upon a pornographic scene in a movie, which I happen to be  watching, and I do not lust but in fact watch it with disdain, do I sin?  Surely not.   So it is not seeing that is sin, but what is in the heart.    Robbery is not pure because I cannot commit a robbery without premeditating it as an evil.  

Sex in itself is not evil or impure.  Similarly meat ( food ) in itself is pure, having been  created for food.  But somebody thought it right to offer food to his idols and added a spiritual dimension to that food.  However, the fact that the food was offered to idols does not make the food impure for consumption.  But it is reverence in the heart for that food for the fact that it has tasted by idols, or is blessed for being so, makes the person sin.  The food remains “pure” .

Conclusion

If you want to do stretching exercises, go ahead and stretch. You can stretch doing yoga-like actions,  Tai Chi like motions or torture yourself with Karate leg-pulling and kicking, bending and pounding with the fists.  Just don’t get into the meditation stage or “stilling” the mind.  Do the exercises while filling your mind with Psalms and praising God that He gave you the ability to do so.  If you want to massage a nervous system median here and there, go ahead.  And if you are so sensitive to being in advertently drawn into idolatry, then don’t call it yoga or chakra.   But really, the fact that you continue to call the stretching movements "yoga" or the median points "chakra" does not make the activity spiritual.  If you feel uncomfortable, then invent your own terminology by all means.    The median points were there in Adam before the term "chakra" was invented.  Adam had muscles and joints long before the first idols appeared.  You don't have to do Yoga.  You just do stretching exercises.  

But when churches ( in USA ) bring Yoga as Yoga into the church together with its meditation or chanting, then they are also bringing in idolatry into the church.  But if these (not so) smart churches had just bring in exercises for loosening muscles, joint and sinews, there would not have been a problem.  What is crucial is not to get involved with making their spiritual sounds, chantings or meditation, for it is the meditation and chanting rather than the form that makes Yoga to be Yoga.  Yoga without the chanting and meditation is just stretching exercise, even if you still want to call it Yoga.

What I love about Jesus is that His teachings go straight to the heart.  God searches the heart.  Jesus is never interested in people going through the motions of trying to appear holy.  Holiness is in the heart.

If you choose to be superstitious and live a Christian life under bondage, it is your choice.  Who can stop you?

Jesus says in John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."