Views on Yoga?

[Mike]

Most of the yoga teachers I've had have honored different religious interpretations - so that all can resonate.

You might want to clarify this, because I'm seeing some real red flags here.

 

[Comprehender]

You might want to clarify this, because I'm seeing some real red flags here.

Mike,
Let me give you a little background...
I have mentally distanced myself from a life-consuming cult (Mormonism).
In the process, I've realized that the only way to communicate with God is directly - not through a bishop, not through a Mormon temple, not through any person... but directly with God.

I've come to embrace the heart of Christ's teachings, which is also the heart of many other religions. "God is no respector of persons." All of us are God's children - & God loves Buddhists as much as Christians & Atheists. God is love (1John 4:8). The kingdom, or realm/experience of God is within you (Luke 17:21). How can you feel God except within you? You can't feel God through anybody else!

So, the key is to find healthy ways to resonate to the kingdom of God within us.
Some sing in choirs, some read scriptures & might say a prayer & then open up the scriptures for an answer ("biblomacy"). These are tools to resonating with the kingdom of God within. Yoga is another tool - but what I like about it is that it is an extremely effecient tool - that not only has potential to help us spiritually, but also emotionally & physically.

Yes, sometimes yoga teachers mention things I don't understand or believe - like chakras. And sometimes the music isn't my usual style - but so what! Most of the time, I have a great experience in yoga & it's helped me a lot. I know better than to make anybody my god, or to worship the tools... but I don't disregard them because they aren't included in a particular belief package.

I hope that clarifies what I wrote.

 

[Mike]

I've come to embrace the heart of Christ's teachings, which is also the heart of many other religions. "God is no respector of persons." All of us are God's children - & God loves Buddhists as much as Christians & Atheists. God is love (1John 4:8). The kingdom, or realm/experience of God is within you (Luke 17:21). How can you feel God except within you? You can't feel God through anybody else!

Thank you for your response. I agree that the Lord loves those who have been led away from the Truth. Hopefully, we can agree that His Truth was revealed through His Word. I'm wondering how you can reconcile what you said above with what we're told in 2 Corinthians and Galations.

2 Corinthians 11
"3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."

Galatians 1
"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"

Doing yoga for the purpose of stretching and relaxation without clearing your mind to yield itself to false teachings is one thing. I believe core yoga that includes the spiritual aspect is dangerous. I have to be honest. It sounds to me like you're allowing the spiritual underpinnings of it to compromise your hold on the Truth.

 

[alexlove]

my family is from Japan, yoga and thai chi and all that is big there, me and my mom do yoga but as a stretch we are both Christians. stretching your body has nothing to do with worship and to insinuate so is absolutely ridiculous.

how you move your body in a stretch while im sure has some meanings but just because it has a meaning doesnt mean we cant take it and do it for God.
thats like rock music, at first it was no Godly at all, and now we have chrisitan rock music.

 

[Comprehender]

Mike,
According to 99% of other Christians (who believe different gospel interpretations than you)... you're interepretation is wrong & according to you, 99% of them are wrong. But guess what? All are right and wrong! We might have a little slice of truth, but nobody is "all knowing."

Truth is in perspective.
The more perspectives, the more truthful.
If you fear yoga, that fear is coming from you & a fear of the unknown.

If you have your house built on such shakey ground that bringing up any spiritual aspect of yoga shakes it, maybe you need to firm up your foundation.
That's not to say my foundation is completely firm - I have hang ups to, but yoga isn't one of them. (For that parable see Matt 7: 24)

 

[Comprehender]

my family is from Japan, yoga and thai chi and all that is big there, me and my mom do yoga but as a stretch we are both Christians. stretching your body has nothing to do with worship and to insinuate so is absolutely ridiculous.

how you move your body in a stretch while im sure has some meanings but just because it has a meaning doesnt mean we cant take it and do it for God.
thats like rock music, at first it was no Godly at all, and now we have chrisitan rock music.

It really depends on how you take it.
Some yoga classes, especially pilates - are pretty much just physical exericise & stretching.
Some focus more on mentally focusing on breathing & spirituality.

What matters is that we feel the spirit of God.
I don't think the spirit of God is just when we feel that tingling uplifting feeling.
I think the spirit of God is more encompasing - to include anything that is healthy & GOoD for us.
Some feel it through music, reading scriptures, walking in nature or doing yoga.
If someone wants to discuss worshiping false gods, let's discuss romantic & sex infatuation that permeates TV, films, books & music.

 

[Mike]

Mike,
According to 99% of other Christians (who believe different gospel interpretations than you)... you're interepretation is wrong & according to you, 99% of them are wrong. But guess what? All are right and wrong! We might have a little slice of truth, but nobody is "all knowing."

Comprehender, I'm sorry if I came off as being confrontational. That wasn't my intention. I was just noticing the leakage of "all road" into the conversation and wanted to say what I was seeing. No, I don't see others within the Body of Christ as being "false Gospels" if they don't agree with all my points. There are salvation issues and non-salvation issues. What you're referring to within Christendom are mostly non-salvific, and admittedly, I could be wrong about many of them.

Truth is in perspective.
The more perspectives, the more truthful.
If you fear yoga, that fear is coming from you & a fear of the unknown.

"Truth" is not perspective, and it's not determined by more perspectives or a consensus. Truth is in Him, and it is always the same. I have nothing to fear in Christ, but I do stay away from things He tells me to stay away from that could compromise the foundation of my faith. When yoga goes from purely an exercise in stretching to a clearing of the mind to accept other messages as some sort of truth, it becomes dangerous. When we draw from other religions that do not confess that Jesus is Fully God or that His Sacrifice atoned for our sins, that is grafting false Gospels into our faith.

If you have your house built on such shakey ground that bringing up any spiritual aspect of yoga shakes it, maybe you need to firm up your foundation.
That's not to say my foundation is completely firm - I have hang ups to, but yoga isn't one of them. (For that parable see Matt 7: 24)

He is my Rock and my Salvation. Choosing to stay away from spiritism isn't an indication of being on shaky ground, IMO. It's just being Led by the Holy Spirit to use discernment. It's wise to stay away from these things.

 

[Fedusenko]

Mike,
According to 99% of other Christians (who believe different gospel interpretations than you)... you're interepretation is wrong & according to you, 99% of them are wrong. But guess what? All are right and wrong! We might have a little slice of truth, but nobody is "all knowing."

Truth is in perspective.
The more perspectives, the more truthful.
If you fear yoga, that fear is coming from you & a fear of the unknown.

If you have your house built on such shakey ground that bringing up any spiritual aspect of yoga shakes it, maybe you need to firm up your foundation.
That's not to say my foundation is completely firm - I have hang ups to, but yoga isn't one of them. (For that parable see Matt 7: 24)

If it isn't worship then it isn't Yoga. It is stretching and stupid positions. Yoga is a worship. Research. You are saying are doing Yoga without worshiping... don't you feel silly. Is this a non-issue? Only if you don't mind being wrong.

Truth is not perspective. Truth is only 100% accuracy. Not a little bit or mostly right, but completely right. Your foundation for truth is quite sandy. You know how you did those really really long math problems in school and you did all your arithmatic correctly up till the end and you forgot to square root your hypotenus? Remember how you got that wrong, even though it was mostly right? It was wrong. Sorry dude. By sorry I mean I pity the fool. That is more true than that muck I quoted. And by more true, I mean opposite of your false statements cause there is only true or false, truly.

 

[felix]

Yep! Exactly!

And to my friend, Felix... Namaste. :nod
Or if you're more comfortable with this, fine:

Namaste is Hindi and I don't speak it.

 

[felix]

If it isn't worship then it isn't Yoga. It is stretching and stupid positions. Yoga is a worship. Research. You are saying are doing Yoga without worshiping... don't you feel silly. Is this a non-issue? Only if you don't mind being wrong.

Truth is not perspective. Truth is only 100% accuracy. Not a little bit or mostly right, but completely right. Your foundation for truth is quite sandy. You know how you did those really really long math problems in school and you did all your arithmatic correctly up till the end and you forgot to square root your hypotenus? Remember how you got that wrong, even though it was mostly right? It was wrong. Sorry dude. By sorry I mean I pity the fool. That is more true than that muck I quoted. And by more true, I mean opposite of your false statements cause there is only true or false, truly.

Well said.

 

[felix]

my family is from Japan, yoga and thai chi and all that is big there, me and my mom do yoga but as a stretch we are both Christians. stretching your body has nothing to do with worship and to insinuate so is absolutely ridiculous.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning to attach and unite with Brahma. If you aren't uniting with or attaching with Brahma, why the hell are you calling it yoga and going to a yogi? Just go to your backyard and roll on the mud and call it "muddy love" or whatever.

how you move your body in a stretch while im sure has some meanings but just because it has a meaning doesnt mean we cant take it and do it for God.
thats like rock music, at first it was no Godly at all, and now we have chrisitan rock music.

Just because something is suffixed by Christian doesn't mean it is correct according to Bible. If that's the case, ask top business school management guys to mange the church, hire the best singers to play gospel music and choir and invite all with a world class reception and hospitality and invite great secular speakers and pay them to speak the good news of the Bible. All is christian but without Christ.

 

[Fedusenko]

Back at you, Felix!

 

[Comprehender]

Mike,
Thanks for your kind response.
Sometimes I jump ahead & I apologize.
I'm not very patient or open to other perspectives, sometimes.

I love Christ and what Jesus' parables teach!
We teach our children about Christ & doing good as Jesus taught.

 

[Comprehender]

If it isn't worship then it isn't Yoga. It is stretching and stupid positions. Yoga is a worship. Research. You are saying are doing Yoga without worshiping... don't you feel silly. Is this a non-issue? Only if you don't mind being wrong.

Truth is not perspective. Truth is only 100% accuracy. Not a little bit or mostly right, but completely right. Your foundation for truth is quite sandy. You know how you did those really really long math problems in school and you did all your arithmatic correctly up till the end and you forgot to square root your hypotenus? Remember how you got that wrong, even though it was mostly right? It was wrong. Sorry dude. By sorry I mean I pity the fool. That is more true than that muck I quoted. And by more true, I mean opposite of your false statements cause there is only true or false, truly.

Let's say someone asks you how many lives there are in a room.
You look around, see 5 people and say 5.
Wrong. There are trillions of lives - because in each person, there are trillions of microbes.

Truth is in perspective... the more perspectives the more truthful.

If I asked where you are right now... you might say the living room, or maybe a city or state in the US.
But if you want to be more thorough in your truth, you'd say that you are in the western hemisphere in the earth, in the solar system, milkey way galaxy, in the universe...
Where is the universe?
Who knows???

Which reminds me of a cute little postcard of a picture of the earth on it that said...
"Wishing you were here."

One more thing about perspective - you assumed I was a "dude" - why?
Because I tend to analyze things intellectually & am somewhat bold in sharing my perspective?
You assumed I was a "fool" - why?
Because I don't agree with your perspective?

 

[Mike]

Let's say someone asks you how many lives there are in a room.
You look around, see 5 people and say 5.
Wrong. There are trillions of lives - because in each person, there are trillions of microbes.

Truth is in perspective... the more perspectives the more truthful.

Comp, this scenario breaks down easily enough. He knows how many lives there are in that room. And his count will be pin-point. He is the Truth, He knows the Truth, and the Truth is in Him. There is only one Truth, and it is His. What any man says would stand a great chance of being wrong, but it isn't man's truth we're after. It's God's truth. My perspective doesn't lend anything. But there is Absolute Truth, and He is it!

Since we are not the Truth, we do the next best thing and go to His Word. Anything that strays from it is false.

I think we're way off course here, but I'll yield the last response to you, and then we can let this discussion get back to topic. :yes

 

[felix]

Let's say someone asks you how many lives there are in a room.
You look around, see 5 people and say 5.
Wrong. There are trillions of lives - because in each person, there are trillions of microbes.

Truth is in perspective... the more perspectives the more truthful.

If I asked where you are right now... you might say the living room, or maybe a city or state in the US.
But if you want to be more thorough in your truth, you'd say that you are in the western hemisphere in the earth, in the solar system, milkey way galaxy, in the universe...
Where is the universe?
Who knows???

Which reminds me of a cute little postcard of a picture of the earth on it that said...
"Wishing you were here."

One more thing about perspective - you assumed I was a "dude" - why?
Because I tend to analyze things intellectually & am somewhat bold in sharing my perspective?
You assumed I was a "fool" - why?
Because I don't agree with your perspective?

The example you provided is the best example for deception and deceiving. E.g, "Did God really tell Eve not to eat from the tree of good and evil?". Ans: No. God only said to Adam even before Eve came into existence. There is a PhD in this deceptive lies called Satan and only his slaves use this deceptive lies to cheat others.

Truth is never perspective. Scripture says, Christ is the Truth. If you say Christ is perspective, then you are not a Christian and had never read your Bible and does not know what Christianity is. So, stop commenting on a subject you aren't aware of.

 

[Fedusenko]

Let's say someone asks you how many lives there are in a room.
You look around, see 5 people and say 5.
Wrong. There are trillions of lives - because in each person, there are trillions of microbes.

Truth is in perspective... the more perspectives the more truthful.

If I asked where you are right now... you might say the living room, or maybe a city or state in the US.
But if you want to be more thorough in your truth, you'd say that you are in the western hemisphere in the earth, in the solar system, milkey way galaxy, in the universe...
Where is the universe?
Who knows???

Which reminds me of a cute little postcard of a picture of the earth on it that said...
"Wishing you were here."

One more thing about perspective - you assumed I was a "dude" - why?
Because I tend to analyze things intellectually & am somewhat bold in sharing my perspective?
You assumed I was a "fool" - why?
Because I don't agree with your perspective?

Oh boy! I don't normally do this, but I enjoy you so I will oblige.

Is there truth in your trick questions? If you want truth and deception is how you get it, what does that say about you? Is that really the example you want to use to make your point and defend your loose hamstrings with?

I am in my living room. That is true. I am also in the northern hemisphere. Is that more true? No, just more truth. "More true" is an idiom. That means a phrase that doesn't make actual sense, but has a colloquial meaning. I wonder what George Boole would have to say about this... hmmm, no I don't.

Yes, I called you a dude, but you assumed you knew what I meant. Again, a little research is in order for you. "It seems that the tables have been turned, Mr. Bond," at least from my perspective.

And I don't think you are a fool, I just like Mr. T Hey look, their waves are in synch!