Who is the author of that website? I haven’t been able to find that information on the site. There are a great number of accusations made on that website, without reference to where the facts are coming from. There’s also a lot of weirdness there. Since this thread is about Yoga, here’s a quote from the cross and the veil’s article, which is unsigned (no admitted author that I can see), and has zero direct references to either church documents or to reference material on the non-Christian practices the unnamed author demonizes.
The number one rule of modern debate is this: Once you reference the Nazis, you’ve officially lost the argument, because you’ve essentially resorted to name-calling rather than point-proving. Most (I will not say all) practitioners of Yoga that I have met are good people with good intentions… Not Nazis.
Let’s be careful here… Sure, there are sexual abusers in the Yoga movement. I’ve met some of them… However, the news is currently AFLAME with the worldwide priestly sex abuse scandal… Now is NOT the time for Catholics to be painting wide brushes about entire religious movements because of one or a few sexual deviant leaders. Those on the other side of the argument could do the same thing to us, and it would be just as unfair to us as it is to them.
I was going to say that I liked this lady better than the unknown “cross and the veil” author because she is straightforward about who she is and has lots of hyperlinks to back up her statements… However, she is so Protestant as to use quotation marks when referring to the Desert Fathers as if such a thing couldn’t possibly exist.
christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_BeStillDVD.html
I’m not “ambushing them” because I don’t agree. I’m a theology student, and I have been taught that if one is going to argue Catholic doctrine, one should be able to cite said doctrine.
You did ambush them. Where are you getting your theology degree ? And please provide Hindu documents to support your point of view about mixing Yoga with Catholicism…after all it is their religion and it is sacred to them…not just an exercise. True Hinduism is quite offended at how America reduces their holy worship postures to mere exercise. It is so much more than that to them.
I’m not even disagreeing with the main point of “C&V’s” article on Yoga, (that it is a Hindu religious practice and therefore incomparable with the Christian Life). I would actually agree with that if the Yoga taught at most fitness centers and YMCAs was anything resembling the Hatha Yoga as taught in India. As one who converted to Christianity from a Hindu cult, I can say with conviction that going to a Yoga class at Gold’s Gym is NOT “practicing yoga”, it is going to an exercise class with takes it’s physical moves and a vague sense of “being mediative” from real Hatha Yoga. This “Yoga” is safe, in my opinion, because it is devoid of the religious aspects of Indian Hatha Yoga. People (including instructors) in this America practice are more interested in getting butts that look good in jeans than in loosing "self"in Shiva (Hindu god of Yoga).
Well…IF it can be reduced to mere exercises as supposedly then confirmed by Hindus…Or why be offended??? Then there you have it… just an exercise NOT a religion… Once reduced of course.
I agree with you, to a point. I have met many an Indian who are unhappy with the state of Yoga in the USA because it is a secularization of a religious practice… Which is why I believe it to be perfectly safe for Christians… because it is secularized. I’m not encouraging any “mixing”… I’m saying that the practice of Yoga postures in America it totally secularized, which makes them no different from Jazzercize… Which many Indian Yogis would agree with, as you have implied.
Wow…a bit shocked since you expected so much documentation from others before on this thread. I just really appreciate the opportunity to share information freely and honestly and for others to do the same for me so I can continue to learn. Another great thing to Google to learn more about this current topic…would be to Google “Kundalini Yoga &Lucifer”. Worth learning…at least for me it was. God bless.
And see, this is where I think a good practicing Catholic will automatically not get involved. If you just go to youtube, and search Kundalini, and listen to some of their talk… It’s all about some form of “spirituality”… they are NOT talking exercise.
My question is still not answered… Do you know who wrote the articles on C&V?
Do you think it is possible for something to be un-Christian and not Satanic?
vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html
Well, of course. As long as you don’t think of UNChristian as meaning the same thing as ANTIChristian.
This is exactly what I’m getting at with my quote from Vatican II. Just because something is UN-Christian doesn’t make it ANTI-Christian. That’s a much simpler way of stating what I was trying to say, thanks LilyM.
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html
Even if Yoga practices (even the dreaded KUNDALINI Yoga) fall under the category of “other rituals…based on superstition or other errors [which] constitute an obstacle to salvation” (and I am most certainly NOT convinced of this), then it is still NOT satanic, but a misunderstanding of God’s revelation in light of the fact that the Indian tradition which created Hatha Yoga was created before the coming of Jesus Christ into the world and his living explanation of the nature of God. Misunderstanding who God is but still Loving Him is a far cry from worshiping Satan.
You’re welcome.