Christians against yoga

[Guest guest]

 Christian Yoga - The new appropriation Strategy of delinking yoga from

Hinduism

 

(received from conversionwatch@, no author mentioned)

 

June 2, 2005

 

 

Hindu gods are responsible for enormous damage on a scale too vast to measure

and it isa \'doctrine of Demons\' says Jan Markell of Olive Tree ministries

 

Jan Markell wrote an article titled \'Eastern Mysticism and Christianity are

Incompatible\' to counter the increasing interest christians are taking in

\'Yoga\'. Christian Strategists are worried that christians who benefited from

Yoga may further explore Hinduism and start appreciating that. This sense of

respect for other religions would play doom to the evangelical christianity

which survives on generating ill will and hatredness towards the \'lost

people\', i.e., the term used for non-christians.

 

Jan writes:

 

\"What do you say when a good friend who loves God, reads her Bible, and talks

and walks her faith becomes a devotee of “Christian yoga”? You might brace

yourself and prepare yourself, because “Christian yoga” is coming to a church

near you. And to those who understand yoga’s Hindu roots and to all former New

Agers, it will never be compatible with Evangelical Christianity.\"

 

The May 20 edition of “Christianity Today” on line featured an interview with a

woman who says she is an Evangelical and proud of it, however, she is a devotee

of yoga. She says she breathes in Christ and out stress. Holy Spirit in, fear

out. God the Father in, carbon dioxide out. She is so thankful someone pried

open her Evangelical mind to the wonders of yoga. She states, “Give me five

minutes of yoga and my mind immediately goes to the metaphor of God’s Spirit

being omnipresent and as necessary as air.” She insists the Hindu gods will

never make it to her yoga mat. She would be in the chorus singing that yoga

doesn’t belong to Hinduism but to “world spirituality.” Frankly, that doesn’t

sound any better.

 

A popular video called, “Outstretched in Worship” has fueled the yoga popularity

among Christians, be they Mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, or Catholics. Just

don’t throw the baby out with the bath water as proponents insist there are so

many “benefits” of yoga. And now that it is “sanctified”, let’s have a brand of

“Christian yoga.”

 

Daniel Akin, dean of the school of theology at the Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary, said Christians who are drawn to the physical benefits of yoga should

avoid its spiritual and psychological underpinnings. “Yoga is rooted in Eastern

mysticism and it is incompatible with Christianity,” he says.

 

Laurette Willis, a yoga veteran of 22 years and an Evangelical Christian, said

the experience left her vulnerable to “psychic influences” she believes were

demonic. “It opened the door to twenty years of involvement in the New Age

movement.” Willis says that many yoga postures are based on ancient Hindu

worship of the sun and moon as deities, and rejects the notion that they can be

redeemed by putting a Christian spin on them. Willis concludes that yoga’s

emphasis on cultivating divine energy within oneself conflicts with

Christianity’s goal of finding salvation in Christ. Yoga means joining together.

It’s the joining of the individual spirit with the universal spirit. Christians

should be seeing red flags rather than exploring a trendy new “experience.”

 

The day has come when we need a “spiritual Better Business Bureau” to deal with

fads, dangerous trends, and mysticism now entering the church. And while many

are aware of the dangers, too often today church leaders are warmly receiving

deceiving spirits. No matter what the supposed “health benefits” of yoga may be,

it is not worth the risk to one’s spiritual health.

 

So what do you say to that friend who has embraced “Christian yoga?” You need to

tell them that to believe that yoga complements all faiths and is harmless is to

believe a lie and it is actually hazardous to your health. Hindu gods are

responsible for enormous damage on a scale too vast to measure. With the death

of discernment so prevalent in the 21st Century church, it could be welcomed

into your church—and in the front door, not the back door. Remember that chasing

after the “doctrine of demons” is one of the greatest “end-time” signs and the

seduction of the East over the West is fueling it all.

 

 

Our comments: Churches earlier setup such \" spiritual Better Business Bureau\"

called \'Office of Inquisition\'. Unfortunately such dangerous evangelist

christians have a strong influence on US Government policies.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I guess you want us to see what kind of drivel is out there, but is

it really necessary to actually post it here in its entirety and

spread it around even further? I mean, we are where our

attention takes us, we are our attention. Like "you are what you

eat," and I'd rather not eat this! Luckily, I didn't take a bit -- I left off

as soon as I got a whiff!

 

Another way of looking at the "removal" of yoga from Indian

religious roots is that the positive effects of the physical system

can have a broader reach. Because the physical system

hathayoga offers is greatly healing and can bring balance to the

human being, it's good if folks are practicing asanas, even

without scripture.

 

Please see my post number 16667 re transformation, esp. the

last 2 paragraphs.

 

It's important not to mistake the raft for making the journey, to

paraphrase Thich Nhat Hanh.