Yoga and Christianity

[Mickey]

The devil does not really exist.

I will pray that you discover your error before it is too late.

 

[Hunter24]

I can’t “point” to them in the sense of producing them for the purpose of scientific verification–but the resurrected Body of Christ, and the Assumed body of Mary are two physical objects NOW LIVING, which will never be destroyed. One day, ALL the bodies of ALL of the Saints will likewise be resurrected and glorified, thereafter never to be destroyed. And at that time, also, a new Heaven and a new Earth will be manifest, wherein will exist a multitude of obects which will never be destroyed. Bear in mind: “glorified” does NOT equate to “spiritual”: Christ was able to be touched, was able to consume food. His was an absolutely physical, material Body. But . . . likely this answer is not the most satisfactory for you. Sorry. Again, you are in my prayers.

You did absolutely nothing to answer my question, you just dodged it and answered using what i had stated isnt a valid answer because it is disputeable.

Im hate to break it to you but everything that begins ends. the glory that was the Roman empire? crushed by the Germans. every person who has ever been born? their physical body has died. even our sun will some day run out of Hydrogen and go out. Change and death are a natural part of life.

Its not some “Culture of Death” like you say it is, its the realization death is but the next step in the cycle. death makes room for new life and allows us to go on and be reincarnated to our next life. Its called the circle of life for a reason.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

“Culture of Death” denotes a culture where death is seen as an answer to problems: Too many Jews, unwanted pregnancies, threatening enemies, sick people who live too long, too many prisoners, etc.

 

[flameburns623]

You did absolutely nothing to answer my question . . .

Actually, I DID. You just didn’t like my answer.

. . . . Change and death are a natural part of life . . .

Entropy and death, within the Christian world-view, are unnatural and are the consequence of sin.

Its not some “Culture of Death” like you say it is, its the realization death is but the next step in the cycle. death makes room for new life and allows us to go on and be reincarnated to our next life. Its called the circle of life for a reason.

It’s called the deification of decay, entropy, and death: you have ascribed absolute attributes to Death, have made a god of Death itself, and have embraced a religious philosophy which gives honor and obeissance to Death. Sorry, but Christianity is rooted in the God of Life, the God Who Is Life.

 

[flameburns623]

“Culture of Death” denotes a culture where death is seen as an answer to problems: Too many Jews, unwanted pregnancies, threatening enemies, sick people who live too long, too many prisoners, etc.

The things you mention are the cultural artifacts of an underlying philosophical embrace of Death, such as the approach which Hunter takes.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

The things you mention are the cultural artifacts of an underlying philosophical embrace of Death, such as the approach which Hunter takes.

And yet even as Catholic Christian we must embrace death.

Knight of Columbus slogan “Memento Mori” Remember death. “Unless the grain of wheat…”, “Must die to self…”, etc, etc.

That is very different from killing as a means to convenience.

I think Mystic is talking about death in the Christian frame.

 

[Hunter24]

Actually, I DID. You just didn’t like my answer.

no i asked for a physicaly observable object which will exist for the rest of time and you responded with religious objects whos existance is very much in dispute.

Entropy and death, within the Christian world-view, are unnatural and are the consequence of sin.

how would the world function without death? how would we eat? what would happen when more and more people and animals are born and none die, flooding the world with far to many living creatures?

It’s called the deification of decay, entropy, and death: you have ascribed absolute attributes to Death, have made a god of Death itself, and have embraced a religious philosophy which gives honor and obeissance to Death. Sorry, but Christianity is rooted in the God of Life, the God Who Is Life.

Death is not a god, although there are gods of death from various cultures. Christians love to play word games, and what you mean by death is very different from what I mean. When i say death I am refering to the death of the physical body, while you refer to a permenant death of the soul, which doesnt happen. What you are doing here is trying to portray me as some death worshiping cultist, which i am not. Death is just another step in the cycle, just the same as birth, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, all are inevitable and compleatly natural. Birth and Death are intertwined like Yin and Yang, one cannot exist without the other, If nothing lives than nothing can die, and if nothing dies nothing can live. Death is NOT the end, it is just another step in the journey.

 

[Tommm]

To practice yoga asana or exercise without the other seven limbs. Is like eating without chewing first you will get something out of it, but most likley it will be a stomach ake.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

To practice yoga asana or exercise without the other seven limbs. Is like eating without chewing first you will get something out of it, but most likley it will be a stomach ake.

Hey a third thread on yoga!

That would be these but since they are the basis of a pagan religion some feel they cannot be part of a Christian life style.

Yama refers to the five abstentions: how we relate to the external world.
Ahimsa: non-violence,
Satya: truth in word and thought.
Asteya: non-covetousness,
Brahmacharya: abstinence, particularly in the case of sexual activity.
Aparigraha: non-possessiveness; non-hoarding

**Niyama **refers to the five observances: how we related to ourselves, the inner world.
Shaucha: cleanliness of body and mind.
Santosha: satisfaction; satisfied with what one has.
Tapas: austerity and associated observances for body discipline
Svadhyaya: study
Ishvarapranidhana: surrender to (or worship of) God.

Asanas : Body postures

Pranayama : Breathing exercises, and control of prana

Pratyahara : Control of the senses

Dharana : Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness

**Dhyana **: Devotion, Meditation on the Divine

Samadhi : Union with the Divine

 

[Neil_Advani]

Nice ! Thanks for sharing this.

theyogakids.com/teacher-training/

 

[Dorothy]

Nice ! Thanks for sharing this.

theyogakids.com/teacher-training/

This helps me to see how we Catholics should get with it and teach our children Christ-centered prayer, and go into depth about the Sacraments and the virtues with guidance in how to properly use the Sacraments, and practice virtue.

To the glory of Jesus Christ Our Lord!

 

[JHow]

I need glasses. At first glance I thought this was a thread about YODA and Christianity.

“Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’”.

That’s pretty much how I feel about yoga, too. Downward facing dog just isn’t going to happen.

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

I hate to break it to you but everything that begins ends.

It is possible to imagine that nothing ends, but only changes form. Every cell in your body has died and been replaced since this time last year, but you probably get the sense that you’re still here I bet. Every minute 30 million cells in your body die and new ones take their place. Are you the same person you were a minute ago? Biologically you certainly are not. So what exactly are you? Where exactly do you think you are? Where did you begin and where will you end?

even our sun will some day run out of Hydrogen and go out. Change and death are a natural part of life.

And when it dies it will create carbon, which is one of the rarest substances in the universe, and as it happens, the substance of which we are made. And it only comes from burned out suns. So did the suns from which you and I are made die, or change form? Maybe conscious beings like you and I are just the way in which stars come to know themselves. Either way, it’s looking to me like a process, and I am unable to perceive a beginning or an end. Where did the processes that make universes start? Was the big bang the product of the collapse of something else? Or was it just what happens at the other side of countless black holes? If everything that has a beginning has and end, where did this process start and where did it end?

death makes room for new life and allows us to go on and be reincarnated to our next life. Its called the circle of life for a reason.

If you are transmigrating continually from one life to the next, then there is no such thing as death in any real sense. Yet you’re speaking of it as thought it was real. Aren’t we really talking about a transition, and if we are, when did you start making these transitions? When did you start? If you can answer that, then perhaps we could speculate about endings. But until then, how can we?

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

To practice yoga asana or exercise without the other seven limbs. Is like eating without chewing first you will get something out of it, but most likley it will be a stomach ake.

I listen to personal experience more readily than advice. I am a Catholic and have been doing asanas for twenty years. The result is that I have none of the aches and pains that my friends have. I lift weights 4 times a week and yet my muscles don’t ache. I run every day and yet my knees and joints don’t have the problems that younger runners have. Last time I had a stomach ache was October 1999, BTW. Do I believe in any of the spiritual practices that go with yoga? I honestly don’t know. Spiritually I am a Catholic, not a sadhu or a yogi.

 

[Pleroma]

Orthodox Christians should not practice yoga, its blasphemy. If you’re doing yoga you’re already worshipping a different image of God other than Christ.

Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul

The 15 million people in the US who are practising yoga are already worshipping a different image of God. No matter what anyone say one cannot strip off the religious elements associated with Yoga.

Its blasphemy.

 

[TheWarriorMonk]

I listen to personal experience more readily than advice. I am a Catholic and have been doing asanas for twenty years. The result is that I have none of the aches and pains that my friends have. I lift weights 4 times a week and yet my muscles don’t ache. I run every day and yet my knees and joints don’t have the problems that younger runners have. Last time I had a stomach ache was October 1999, BTW. Do I believe in any of the spiritual practices that go with yoga? I honestly don’t know. Spiritually I am a Catholic, not a sadhu or a yogi.

I think and act along the same lines. I incorporate yoga stretches in my routine, and have for a long time. I’m at the age where if you didn’t take care of care of yourself your whole life, major problems start showing up. I have friends and classmates from back in the day with immune dysfunction, kidney failure, heart conditions (include some with bypasses), knees so bad they need crutches, etc. I can’t even invite most of my friends that live locally to my martial arts class, because they are so physically out of shape it would be dangerous to their health. Me…some minor age-related issues, but I can go to a several-hour hardcore martial arts seminar and go pedal to the metal.

People should keep themselves in shape, and if yoga stretching helps, go for it.

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

Orthodox Christians should not practice yoga, its blasphemy. If you’re doing yoga you’re already worshipping a different image of God other than Christ.

-How so? How is a Catholic who is doing some stretching worshiping another God? Please explain the process by which that happens if you would.

-Since I am a Catholic, I believe that there is only one God.

-Since there is only one God, there are in fact no “other Gods.”

-And if there are no other Gods, then I cannot in fact worship another God, which means I cannot worship another God by doing yoga.

Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul

I’m having trouble seeing any compelling evidence that this article presents. I read it and there is nothing in there but a rash proclamation by the head of the Southern Baptist Seminary against yoga. By the way, 140 years ago that same organization would have called you a blasphemer if you opposed slavery in the south. I’m afraid I wouldn’t check with such people on my own spiritual decisions. I make my own decisions.

The 15 million people in the US who are practising yoga are already worshipping a different image of God. No matter what anyone say one cannot strip off the religious elements associated with Yoga.

The main element of yoga is breathing. Yoga is all about breath. Therefore, according to what you have said, you cannot strip off the religious elements associated with breathing.

The next important aspect of yoga is just being. Yoga is all about being. Therefore, according to what you have said,you cannot strip off the religious elements associated with just being.

Perhaps you can help me to avoid these egregious errors in my ways by sharing what method are you employing to facilitate not breathing and not being?

 

[Pleroma]

-How so? How is a Catholic who is doing some stretching worshiping another God? Please explain the process by which that happens if you would.

-Since I am a Catholic, I believe that there is only one God.

-Since there is only one God, there are in fact no “other Gods.”

-And if there are no other Gods, then I cannot in fact worship another God, which means I cannot worship another God by doing yoga.

That depends on whether you as a catholic follow and abide yourself by the Ten commandments or not. “Thou shall worship no other gods before me”. There existed many gods, in fact the Hebrew god Yahweh had a female consort. So saying there is only one god is an ignorance on your part but as a Jew or as an orthodox Christian one shouldn’t worship other gods and even after knowing this you continue to do it then you are no longer a jew or an orthodox Christian.

If it’s really just exercises and has no religious significance to them or to you then it is okay However, from the initial research I have done in yoga journals it seems that the sun salutations yoga exercises were originally designed as a form of worship the sun god. Specifically it was a bow to the sun. No one, Jew or gentile is permitted to worship the sun.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Namaskara
vinyasakrama.com/Surya_Namaskara_(Sun_Salutation
yoga.com/ydc/enlighten/enlighten_document.asp?ID=260&secti
on=9&cat=91
Until further research is done to definitively rule out any elements of
worship associated with yoga, I recommend that you stay away from it.
Yoga Chants

Yoga-and-Bowing

You cannot perform yoga and call yourself a catholic because if you’re performing yoga you’re not worshipping Yaweh nor are you worshipping Christ, you’re worshipping the Sun-god. So don’t perform yoga and at the same time call yourself a Catholic, its blasphemy.

I’m having trouble seeing any compelling evidence that this article presents. I read it and there is nothing in there but a rash proclamation by the head of the Southern Baptist Seminary against yoga. By the way, 140 years ago that same organization would have called you a blasphemer if you opposed slavery in the south. I’m afraid I wouldn’t check with such people on my own spiritual decisions. I make my own decisions.

“R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has said he agrees that yoga is Hindu — and cited that as evidence that the practice imperiled the souls of Christians who engage in it.”

He is right, yoga and Christianity aren’t compatible.

Yoga and Christianity: Are they compatible?

If you still want to practice and get converted to a different religion without being you yourself aware of it then sure go ahead. Best of luck to you.

The main element of yoga is breathing. Yoga is all about breath. Therefore, according to what you have said, you cannot strip off the religious elements associated with breathing.

The next important aspect of yoga is just being. Yoga is all about being. Therefore, according to what you have said,you cannot strip off the religious elements associated with just being.

Perhaps you can help me to avoid these egregious errors in my ways by sharing what method are you employing to facilitate not breathing and not being?

Yoga is not just about breathing, its more than that. Its an ancient method to become one with the Sun-god. Its a practice to realize the polytheistic gods of the eastern religions.

saṁyogo yoga ityukto jīvātma-paramātmanoḥ॥
Union of the self (jivātma) with the Divine (paramātma) is said to be yoga.
—Yoga Yajnavalkya I.43

You cannot strip off the polytheistic gods associated with yogic exercises. All those Christians who practice yoga cannot or should not be called as Christians any more. They are already worshipping and bowing to a different God.

 

[TheWarriorMonk]

You cannot perform yoga and call yourself a catholic because if you’re performing yoga you’re not worshipping Yaweh nor are you worshipping Christ, you’re worshipping the Sun-god. So don’t perform yoga and at the same time call yourself a Catholic, its blasphemy.

For many of us, we’re not worshiping anyone or anything when we are working out, as this above post implies…we’re just working out. Implicitly, we are respecting the bodies that God gave us. There are too many people not taking care of themselves, which is disrespecting that which God gave them.

“R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has said he agrees that yoga is Hindu — and cited that as evidence that the practice imperiled the souls of Christians who engage in it.”

He is right, yoga and Christianity aren’t compatible.

People that want to see the devil in everything will see the devil in everything.

Yoga is not just about breathing, its more than that. Its an ancient method to become one with the Sun-god. Its a practice to realize the polytheistic gods of the eastern religions.

If you believe that when you practice, then you are practicing another religion. Others of other simply stretch to remain flexible, strengthen ourselves, and lessen the possibility of injury.

You cannot strip off the polytheistic gods associated with yogic exercises. All those Christians who practice yoga cannot or should not be called as Christians any more. They are already worshipping and bowing to a different God.

Don’t get me started…do you balance the flavors in your food? If so, you are practicing Five Element Theory and thus practicing Buddhism. Hands in Christian prayer position? This is a mudra, and thus you are practicing Hinduism and Buddhism.

There are things that are ubiquitous (eating, drinking, sleeping, body movement, etc.), and things that are specific to particular religions, which MUST include the attachment of a spiritual element, otherwise its not religious. You are conflating the two.

 

[Gary_Sheldrake]

So saying there is only one god is an ignorance on your part but as a Jew or as an orthodox Christian one shouldn’t worship other gods and even after knowing this you continue to do it then you are no longer a jew or an orthodox Christian.

Actually, saying that there is only one God is simply what I believe. I can’t worship other Gods if I don’t believe in other Gods.

You cannot perform yoga and call yourself a catholic because if you’re performing yoga you’re not worshipping Yaweh nor are you worshipping Christ, you’re worshipping the Sun-god. So don’t perform yoga and at the same time call yourself a Catholic, its blasphemy.

I am calling myself a Catholic and performing yoga at the same time, so evidently, it can be done.

“R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has said he agrees that yoga is Hindu — and cited that as evidence that the practice imperiled the souls of Christians who engage in it.”

He is right, yoga and Christianity aren’t compatible.

Well, as a Catholic, I don’t spend a whole lot of time seeking guidance from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but the next time I’m looking for talking points to defend slavery I will be sure to consult them, because they have long track record of twisting scripture to defend morally untenable positions, such as…defending slavery.

Yoga and Christianity: Are they compatible?

If you still want to practice and get converted to a different religion without being you yourself aware of it then sure go ahead. Best of luck to you.

There are no compelling talking points in this article. Just a man writing an article for an ultra right wing fundamentalist publication saying that yoga is bad for Christians. That is not a reasoned argument.

Yoga is not just about breathing, its more than that. Its an ancient method to become one with the Sun-god. Its a practice to realize the polytheistic gods of the eastern religions.

saṁyogo yoga ityukto jīvātma-paramātmanoḥ॥
Union of the self (jivātma) with the Divine (paramātma) is said to be yoga.
—Yoga Yajnavalkya I.43

Honestly, I respect your opinions, by I think your ideas are rather ill-informed. It is possible to gain something of an education on eastern philosophy from Google searches, and Wikipedia, however, it would be better to do some serious research.