Karate sinful?

[JackVk]

I’m currently taking a Karate class to fill my credit hours at school. I’m not in it for the “religious” part of it; matter of fact, we don’t even talk about whatever the “religious” part is. But I can’t help but feel like I’m sinning. It obviously involves hurting people, since I now know how to break bones and poke out eyes. But it’s also a lot of self-defense. I am a big, strong guy (6’2", 190 lbs) and I live in a nice town, so I don’t think anyone will try to mug me. Should I not take the Karate 2 class?

 

[thistle]

I’m currently taking a Karate class to fill my credit hours at school. I’m not in it for the “religious” part of it; matter of fact, we don’t even talk about whatever the “religious” part is. But I can’t help but feel like I’m sinning. It obviously involves hurting people, since I now know how to break bones and poke out eyes. But it’s also a lot of self-defense. I am a big, strong guy (6’2", 190 lbs) and I live in a nice town, so I don’t think anyone will try to mug me. Should I not take the Karate 2 class?

No it is not sinful to learn it.
What would be sinful is if you use it to bully people instead of just for self defence and in defence of others.

 

[scottm]

A karate person doesn’t study karate to learn how to poke out other people’s eyeballs and stuff like that. He doesn’t study karate to fight other people. He studies karate to fight himself. It’s an inner thing.

Overpowering someone else – easy. Not impressive. Anybody can do it with a big enough stick.
Overpowering one’s own self – not easy, even with a big stick. Ever try to break a habit, or start a new one? Ever try to live like a saint for seven days? Very hard. Quite impressive when you do it. And that’s what karate is about. The eyeball gouging stuff is merely a tool for getting at the inner stuff.

And anyway, defensive fighting is not inherently bad. The Catholic “Just War” doctrine allows for fighting, which means Catholicism allows for the training of fighting, which means someone is supposed to know how to poke out eyeballs and whatever.

 

[Alexander_Smith]

Nothing sinful about learning a martial art. Even if you’re just learning it for sport purposes, it’s a great skill to have. I highly encourage most people to consider martial arts.

 

[bingbang]

I really hope this is a joke thread. Seriously, you think you are sinning by learning these things. You probably don’t know how to poke out someone’s eye more than the next guy on the street…its not like you can actually train poking out eyes. Secondly learning a skill that could save your life is not a sin if you only use it in a moral fashion. It is moral to fight off an attacker, right? So why would it be immoral to learn to do so efficiently?

 

[Orleans_Attny]

I’m currently taking a Karate class to fill my credit hours at school. I’m not in it for the “religious” part of it; matter of fact, we don’t even talk about whatever the “religious” part is. But I can’t help but feel like I’m sinning. It obviously involves hurting people, since I now know how to break bones and poke out eyes. But it’s also a lot of self-defense. I am a big, strong guy (6’2", 190 lbs) and I live in a nice town, so I don’t think anyone will try to mug me. Should I not take the Karate 2 class?

Taking Karate is no more sinful than taking golf lessons, music lessons, or reading a Robert Patterson novel.

Maybe even less so.

 

[jawgee]

I think that, quite to the contrary, karate can be a good thing in helping to develop virtue - self-mastery, discipline, etc.

 

[JackVk]

Thank you for the answers. It does give me a good workout, and it livens up an otherwise boring day. I get a good workout from it. And I don’t plan on starting a riot just to test my skills. That would end badly.

 

[Newbie2]

Thank you for the answers. It does give me a good workout, and it livens up an otherwise boring day. I get a good workout from it. And I don’t plan on starting a riot just to test my skills. That would end badly.

Just be like Kane in Kung-Fu. Come up with some catchy phrases that confuse people who might want to fight you. They just stand there scratching their heads and you just walk away.



But seriously, knowing how to bust someone else up is much different than actually doing it. I did several years of Karate in college just to keep in shape. We did a bit of non-contact or (limited, padded) contact sparring, but it was not required.

There were guys in the Karate club that just wanted to go out to bars and start fights, and they eventually left.

I just wish I’d have stayed with it. The flexibility training alone would have helped me age.

 

[markomalley]

Taking Karate is no more sinful than taking golf lessons, music lessons, or reading a Robert Patterson novel.

Maybe even less so.

You’ve obviously never seen or heard me at a g*lf course

(I avoid g*lf – a 4 letter word btw – because it is clearly a near occasion of sin)

 

[journierman]

If you were really into it to learn to hurt people, sure problems. If you were into it to mess around with eastern religions and meditation and stuff, sure problems. But for fitness, for self-defense, for the defense of others, no problems.

 

[tomarin]

Thank you for the answers. It does give me a good workout, and it livens up an otherwise boring day. I get a good workout from it. And I don’t plan on starting a riot just to test my skills. That would end badly.

I think that it’s a Catholic belief that God expects us to take reasonable care of our bodies, and part of that is keeping fit. So good luck with the karate.

The martial art that really intrigues me is a capoeira, from Brazil.

 

[Alexander_Smith]

You’ve obviously never seen or heard me at a g*lf course

(I avoid g*lf – a 4 letter word btw – because it is clearly a near occasion of sin)

Taking Karate is no more sinful than taking golf lessons, music lessons, or reading a Robert Patterson novel.

Maybe even less so.

Both these comments made me laugh out loud. Thanks for my daily humor.