Karate Spiritually Dangerous?

[Dj_Roy_Albert]

My daughter is in Kung Fu, she’s soon to be a green belt & she’s been in it for just 1 year. Her Sifu is a good Christian brother & he’s entire family are involved with the art. I wish I could take study with her, but I have several physical injuries to be able to pratice fully. Her Sifu doesn’t interject any " eastern spirituality" in the art, which is why I decided to enroll her in this particular school.

I would say that you should go to the school & have a discussion with your daughters soon to be instructor & tell him/her your hesitations in enrolling her.

 

[paramedicgirl]

Dj Roy Albert:

My daughter is in Kung Fu, she’s soon to be a green belt & she’s been in it for just 1 year. Her Sifu is a good Christian brother & he’s entire family are involved with the art. I wish I could take study with her, but I have several physical injuries to be able to pratice fully. Her Sifu doesn’t interject any " eastern spirituality" in the art, which is why I decided to enroll her in this particular school.

I would say that you should go to the school & have a discussion with your daughters soon to be instructor & tell him/her your hesitations in enrolling her.

You did the right thing by assuring yourself there was no “eastern spirituality” interjected into the sport. That is exactly what I have done, and what all Christian parents have a responsibility to do.

There is one other martial art offered in my town - Hupkido. (Oh the joys af living in an isolated community!) I still need to check that out as far as eastern spirituality is concerned.

 

[Dmollis2005]

paramedicgirl:

This is the kind of experience that alarms me. I know you said your encounter was with the Holy Spirit and for that you are blessed.

I think it could be just as possible for that type of encounter to happen with the devil when people have been taught to meditate on an inner spirit and visualize, opening their minds to dark forces. I see red flags when teachers use either technique with students.

I disagree, because it was after and doing this meditation that relaxed me enough to realize what the catholic faith meant to my family and I, as well as to the fact that I was severely being tempted, by sin, to do things unjust. I was suicidal and out of control at that time. Meditation relaxed me enought to realize what I was doing is wrong and realized the path I was going down. But it did lead me back to the catholic church, when I was 15, I dropped out of CCD classes for lack of interest and listened to heavy metal in secret. Got hospitalized a lot because of neuro-imbalanced induced during strenuous times. That is the devil at work bring ruin to my life. After what I can say is an, “out-of-body” shall we call it, they calmed me and brought me to realize my faullies. After words, I got back with the church, got confirmed and became an eucharistic minister at my church. You see, I had done this at age 18-19 and am now 20-21. After another experience like this, just much stronger an action before the reaction on my part. I’ll describe it so you better understand, during the prayers and silent reverence in which I meditated during it, something happened, like I wasn’t alone, a feeling of numbness of the senses, floating spiritually, then a neutral sense of emotions. One thing happened then after that was like a very strong feeling of love, like that of a parent for a child. That scared me and I stopped for fear of ther unknown. To this day I kept that part secret because of fear of rejection socially. Then I moved out to Oh and started a new life, this is when something even stronger happened. Sort of the same, just a different outcome, I soon realized that I was being drawn to something, the Knights of Columbus I joined to extend services to, that is were I met my girlfriend and got work out of in the most dire time of my life. Go figure??? I had talked to the pastor about it too and he didn’t know what to make of it, but sort of glad because good things were happening to me now and now that I have seen and experienced what sin does to a person, I am able to recognize it more easily. I still get tempted each day, but am able to recognize it.
Now I am not trying to change your mind about it, but I have adapted those fundamentalistic views on life more or less towards basic needs like food and shelter, just not on religion.
Anyway, I can’t explain what happened, nor do I strive to explain it. However I do take a different viewpoint on life now, As it says, “once was blind but now I see,” Just not easily seeing.
Forgive me for not mentioning this sooner or should I say at the time of the reply.
Also, I have learned for my kill them all attitude of the past, I have become very peaceful and learned that all life is precious.

 

[CatholicSam]

My husband worked as a karate instructor (and has his 4th degree black belt ) and came across many Christian karate clubs, such as K.I.C.K (Kicking in Christ’s Kingdom), and Kicking for Christ, etc. These American karate styles were straightforward self-defense, punching, and kicking, with no meditative aspects. They taught kids how to evade bullies who try to detain them using certain grips, etc. out of a purely practical standpoint. However, I would be very careful around anyone who tries to incorporate spiritual meaning or yoga-like exercises into the karate workout.