I am increasingly amazed at the number of professing Christians who practice yoga as a form of exercise. This week, I even saw a flyer soliciting a yoga class that is held at a Christian church! The Bible does tell us to meditate, but meditation in the Bible is far different than what is participated during yoga "exercises".
I believe many Christians would not participate in yoga if they were educated about exactly what they are chanting and meditating on in yoga class. If you fall in that category, you may be interested in the articles below:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/10.78.html
More information on the Christian perspective of yoga:
http://www.yogadangers.com/Christianconcernsb.htm
Filed under: Apologetics
you are mad
You know, you can participate in yoga without accepting the spiritual teachings. You can simply participate in order to enjoy the physical and mental work out.
Why does everything have to be a threat to Christianity? Why can’t Yoga be for Christians?
Are Christians not intelligent enough to participate on a non-religious basis? Can they not make distinctions on their own?
Not to mention, it is ignorant for you and other Christians to immediately assume that it is not for other people. Its ok if Yoga is not your thing. But why does that automatically mean that it cant be for other people?
Participating in other faiths/spiritualities is a GOOD thing. It does not make you a bad christian to learn about other faiths. It does not make you a bad christian to even participate in other ones. As a matter of fact, it probably makes you a better one because you can better understand what other people believe.
Clearly you have never participated in a Yoga class. And it truly shows your ignorance in supporting these authors/writers.
This post reminds me of a short conversation from The Simpsons:
Reverend Lovejoy: “Get a divorce.”
Marge Simpson: “But isn’t that a sin?”
Reverend Lovejoy: “Marge, just about everything’s a sin. Y’ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we’re not supposed to go to the bathroom.”
This is an apt quote. A farcical interpretation of the very nature of the Bible’s intentions? Maybe. But perhaps more accurate than we think.
This Yoga post demonstrates that engaging in strict interpretations of the Scripture is dubious and tenuous. What we learn, then, is that Christianity is rigid and unrelenting. A my-way-or-the-highway mentality that doesn’t hold much water in everyday society. Following a set of beliefs that seemingly prohibits free thought and free expression is too confining, in my opinion.
Of course, I don’t want to single out Christianity. This can be extrapolated and applied to other religious, as well. Simple spirituality, to me, is much more concerting and affirming. I do not believe that a religion provides us with a moral foundation or the proper guidance. This theory is borne out historically from the selling of indulgences to the passing of a collection plate, which is simply capitalism being played out in a “house of holy.”
I think we, as a people, take some matters too seriously, and certainly this post is an example of such.
I can see that the audience of my comments is diverse, which is great, but in this case requires for a multi-angled response. Christians obviously read my comments in a different context than non Christians.
First, to “balto17”, I would like to say that The Simpson’s is clearly not a place of theological authority, and their writer’s implication that the Bible is just a book of rules for Christians is wrong on many levels. Yoga is certainly not just a “thing” that is in the “Do Not Do” category for Christians, but rather it is philosophically in contradiction with Christianity. It isn’t a matter of “strict interpretations” as you put it, but rather, differences in fundamentals which are in opposition.
Secondly, to “ignorance” I would respond that there clearly are benefits to physical fitness and stretching. There are benefits to relaxation and meditation. Those things are fine and even recommended for Christians. However, I challenge the mise that “you can participate in yoga without accepting the spiritual teachings”. Moreover, I never said that yoga was a threat to Christianity, or that it wasn’t for other people, as you have stated. My admonishment was that yoga and Christianity are philosophically opposed, and that reconciling them together was not possible because of their contradictions in beliefs. Meaning that, to do one, meant compromising the other, and therefore, educated Christians would naturally not be attracted to Yoga for any reasons.
You asked the rhetorical question, “Are Christians not intelligent enough to participate on a non-religious basis? Can they not make distinctions on their own?” To which I reply, that it is because Christians can recognize the distinction that we can demonstrate through logic that the belief systems are different enough that they can’t co-exist.
Many Eastern religions teach that the source of salvation is found within, and that the fundamental human problem is not sin against a holy God but ignorance of our true condition. These worldviews advocate meditation and “higher forms of consciousness” as a way to discover a secret inner divinity. Yoga, deeply rooted in Hinduism, essentially means to be “yoked” with the divine. Yogic postures, breathing, and chanting were originally designed not to bring better physical health and well-being (Western marketing to the contrary), but a sense of oneness with Brahman—the Hindu word for the absolute being that pervades all things. This is pantheism (all is divine), not Christianity. The biblical worldview is completely at odds with the pantheistic concepts driving Eastern meditation. We are not one with an impersonal absolute being that is called “God.” Rather, we are estranged from the true personal God because of our “true moral guilt,” as Francis Schaeffer says. No amount of chanting, breathing, visualizing, or physical contortions will melt away the sin that separates us from the Lord of the cosmos—however “peaceful” these practices may feel. Moreover, Paul warns that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). “Pleasant” experiences may be portals to peril. Even yoga teachers warn that yoga may open one up to spiritual and physical maladies.
The answer to our plight is not found in some “higher level of consciousness” (really a deceptive state of mind), but in placing our faith in the unmatched achievements of Jesus Christ on our behalf. If it were possible to find enlightenment within, God would not have sent “his one and only Son” (John 3:16) to die on the Cross for our sins in order to give us new life and hope for eternity through Christ’s resurrection. We cannot raise ourselves from the dead. In the Bible, meditation always means pondering God’s revealed truths and reflecting on how they pertain to us. David revels in the richness of God’s law throughout Psalm 119. He encourages us to meditate on it: “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word” (Ps. 119:15-16). Since all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), all of it is profitable for meditation in the biblical sense.
Yoga and Christianity have very different concepts of God. As previously stated, the goal of yoga is to experience union with “God.” But what do yogis mean when they speak of “God,” or Brahman? Exactly what are we being encouraged to “unite” with? Most yogis conceive of “God” as an impersonal, spiritual substance, coextensive with all of reality. As already explained, this doctrine is called pantheism, the view that everything is “God.” It differs markedly from the theism of biblical Christianity. In the Bible, God reveals Himself as the personal Creator of the universe. God is the Creator; the universe, His creation. The Bible maintains a careful distinction between the two.
Another difference between yoga and Christianity concerns their views of man. Since yoga philosophy teaches that everything is “God,” it necessarily follows that man, too, is “God.” Christianity, however, makes a clear distinction between God and man. God is the Creator; man is one of His creatures. Of course man is certainly unique, for unlike the animals he was created in the image of God. Nevertheless, Christianity clearly differs from yoga in its unqualified insistence that God and man are distinct.
Finally, let’s briefly consider how yoga and Christianity differently conceive man’s fundamental problem, as well as its solution. Yoga conceives man’s problem primarily in terms of ignorance; man simply doesn’t realize that he is “God.” The solution is enlightenment, an experience of union with “God.” This solution (which is the goal of yoga) can only be reached through much personal striving and effort. Christianity, however, sees man’s primary problem as sin, a failure to conform to both the character and standards of a morally perfect God. Man is thus alienated from God and in need of reconciliation. The solution is Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God reconciled the world to Himself. He now calls men to freely receive all the benefits of His salvation through faith in Christ alone. Unlike yoga, Christianity views salvation as a free gift. It can only be received; it can never be earned.
Clearly, Christianity and yoga are mutually exclusive viewpoints. Yoga is an ancient spiritual discipline whose central doctrines are utterly incompatible with those of Christianity. Even hatha yoga, often considered to be exclusively concerned with physical development, is best understood as merely a means of helping the yogi reach the goal of samadhi, or union with “God.” Furthermore, we’ve seen that all yoga, including hatha, has the potential to be physically, mentally, and spiritually harmful.
In light of such evidence, it may appear that this question–”Can yoga philosophy be separated from yoga practice?”–has already been answered in the negative. And this is certainly the view of many yoga scholars. Dave Fetcho, formerly of the Ananda Marga Yoga Society, has written, “Physical yoga, according to its classical definitions, is inheritably and functionally incapable of being separated from Eastern religious metaphysics.” What’s more, yoga authorities Feuerstein and Miller, in discussing yoga postures (asana) and breathing exercises (pranayama), indicate that such practices are more than just another form of physical exercise; indeed, they “are psychosomatic exercises.” Does this mean that separating theory from practice is simply impossible with yoga?
If one carefully looks through an introductory text on hatha yoga, one will see many different postures illustrated. A number of these may be similar, if not identical, to exercises and stretches one is already doing. Indeed, if one is engaged in a regular stretching program, this is quite probable. This raises an important question: Suppose that such beginning level yoga postures are done in a context completely free of yogic philosophy. In such a case as this, doesn’t honesty compel us to acknowledge at least the possibility of separating theory from practice? I see this distinction as legitimate only at the very beginning of such practices, and only with regard to the postures. The breathing exercises, for various reasons, remain problematic. But this distinction raises yet another question, for how many people begin an exercise program intending never to move beyond the most basic level? And since by the very nature of yoga practice, such a distinction could only be valid at the very earliest of stages, why would a Christian ever want to begin this process? It seems to me that if someone wants an exercise program with physical benefits similar to yoga, but without all the negative spiritual baggage, they should consider low-impact or water aerobics, water ballet, or simple stretching. These programs can be just as beneficial for the body, without potentially endangering the soul. In my opinion, then, Christians would be better off to never begin yoga practice.
I want to begin by dispelling Galatiansc4v16’s misconception that this is a debate exclusively between Christians and non-Christians. It is unfair and disheartening to see that the blogger would characterize anyone in disagreement with him as automatically a non-Christian or even simply incorrect within the context of Christianity.
I am a Christian – I am a Yoga Teacher – I am going to seminary next fall to become ordained and one day preach in the Presbyterian Church (USA) – And, Yes, I am a woman. I hope that my gender, my denomination, my religious status, and my part-time job as a Yoga instructor would not disqualify the entirety of my response which follows, but perhaps suggest a way of understanding another person’s, although dissenting, legitimate additions to this conversation in the context of the Christian faith.
My main frustration in Galatian’s last posting is the assertion that Christians should shy away from all interaction with the non-Biblical world and non-traditional practices simply because they are not specifically affirmed in the ancient mid-Eastern text. I teach Yoga because it has improved my flexibility, my breathing, my concentration, and my ability to relax and push “worldly” things out of my mind.
And in achieving an open mind, when I walk out of the aerobics room, I feel more ready to experience God in the world around me. Rather than rushing past the front desk, I stop to have a conversation with a man I’ve never met about how he misses one of his great spiritual leader, Pope John Paul, who although more conservative than he, demonstrated an unprecedented papacy in reaching out to people of other faiths and engaging in their traditions Pope John Paul was the first Pope to enter a Jewish synagogue – Did this subject him to beliefs that were not his own? Yes, of course. Did this experience in any way threaten or detract from his own Christian faith? His friends and memoirs suggest not.
In the same way, as I experience a religious practice of another faith, I do not necessarily subscribe to the beliefs of the Yogi’s or of the Hindus – but I do walk away appreciative of a new way of experiencing God – a way that indeed opens a person up to experience the radically other, the greatness, the universal Creator God: But in what context at all can this be a negative experience?
My God, the personal God, is also the God of you, and of the Hindus, and of the animals, and of the Earth – I have faith in this and though ancient Yogi teachings may challenge my ideas about who God is, they do not threaten God, God’s self. In the Old Testament, God reveals God’s self as “I am.” God is because God is – not because of what we believe God is, but just because God is. This God is universal – this God is personal, as the Bible demonstrates, as Christ has shown in revealing himself as God.
The question should not be Why would Christians want to subject themselves to experiencing the Great God of Everything, but Why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t Christians want to try to achieve the highest level of consciousness possible, to better understand and know and worship this beautiful, loving God that made a beautiful, but broken world?
The writer of John in the first chapter says that All things came into being through him – and he writes that Jesus, while in the garden, prayed that his disciples might better know God because of him – and that all his disciples might all be one. Blanket accusations, lines in the sand, and fear divide the church because of squabbles such as this. In a world of brokenness, why create further division between those who seek the truth and live in faith that they are seeking a fuller experience of God?
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (Galatians 4.16) For just as you have condemned the practice of Yoga, practicing Yoga as led me to a better understanding of the God of Christianity, the personal God you speak of, God, the Creator of the world – and for me, and many, this is truth. The revelation of God not only in the Bible, but in people, in nature, and in the world is truth.
Living in truth is being unafraid of that which may challenge it.
Galatians 4:8: Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. 9. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again? …
As Christians, we can be enslaved to a god of fear.
Correction of my typo:
As Christians we can NOT be enslaved to a god of fear.
As President Bush more closely aligns himself and this country with the religious right, we can begin to see the formation of a more rigid and unrelenting nation. I am not a religious person. I have philosophical and ethical beliefs and values that prohibit me from recognizing religion, but not from believing in a God. Galatians, I think your response is an idictment of your Christian religion. As I continued to read it, I couldn’t help thinking to myself that you are positing a false reality of Christianity. Since when was Christianity synonymous with ignorance? You essentially claim that Christians shouldn’t even bother learning about other religions. This statement is staggering, and to me, stands in stark contrast to religious ideals of caring, understanding and brotherhood. I do not think you truly know your own religion until you’ve studied and experienced other religions. It would provide you with a sound foundation and a stronger belief in your religion and your God.
Furthermore, my Simpsons comment was not intended to spark some sort of theological discussion. However, I would agree with it in essence. Having attended Catholic school for four years, I tend to agree that the Bible is a book of rules that demand you live your life a certain way. Incidentally, the Simpsons have been lauded and disparaged for their takes on religion. Religious magazines have included covers of Ned Flanders. It probably is the most religious show on television.
cyt:
Thank you for responding to my blog. I really appreciate your input. You certainly are not my enemy by responding, but unfortunately you have not told me the truth as you have sincerely indicated.
You begin by wanting to “dispel a misconception” that I did not make, and therefore, needs no dispelling. You claim that you are disheartened because I characterized anyone who disagreed with me as a non-Christian – but this I did not do. If you will look back at my response that you are referring to, you will see that I am only acknowledging that my readers are both Christians and non-Christians, and therefore the different world-view’s of the readers were requiring me to respond “two-fold” so that both world-views would be addressed. That’s all. In fact, my stating that was giving legitimacy to the non-Christian view, since I was giving a response to it “equal time”. Was my acknowledging there were non-Christians reading my blog being judgmental as you have indicated? The answer is no. If you read the reader’s entries to which I was replying, you will see that they are indicating themselves that they are not Christians. My acknowledgment of that is not being judgmental. I was not characterizing them, but only referring to their own characterizations of themselves.
The tone of your response clearly indicates that you were frustrated while you were responding (you said that you were frustrated in your third paragraph so I think it is fair for me to say that). I am sorry for that as I am sure frustration is not the state that Yoga normally leaves you in. Perhaps next time you can take a moment to relax before responding, because the tone of frustration comes through in your writing. Maybe if you respond to my blog after a Yoga session your response will have a calmer tone. I am particularly referring to your second paragraph, where you say “I hope that my gender, my denomination, my religious status, and my part-time job as a Yoga instructor would not disqualify the entirety of my response”. The fact that you feel the need to qualify your response that way indicates to me that you have already judged me and believe that I would disqualify your response on those bases. The judgment you are accusing me of in your first paragraph, which I did not do, you are actually doing to me in your second paragraph. Those bases obviously don’t disqualify your response, and my responding to it indicates that is so.
Your third paragraph again paints me with a broad-brush that I did not say. I didn’t say that Christians should shy away from all interaction with the non-Biblical world. I interact with the non-Biblical world everyday. In your response, you keep propping up straw men and knocking them down, which makes no point at all. It isn’t the non-Biblical world that is the problem; it is the anti-Christian world to which I address my concern. The point of my post was not that Yoga is merely a secular thing, but rather, that it is something that is in opposition with Christianity, as far as belief systems go.
You claim in your next paragraph that it is the result of Yoga, not Christ that creates a desire to stop and talk with a man, rather than rushing past him. I might ask why is it that Christ is not sufficient enough to create such a desire? Why must you add Yoga in order to have this desire? You state that you walk away from Yoga appreciative of a new way to experience God. Again I ask if Christ is sufficient, why do you need a new way to experience God?
You start to lose me in your sixth paragraph when you claim that your God, is my God, and is also the god of Hindus, etc. I am not sure if you read all of my post that you seem to be responding to, but I discussed in depth how the Hindu God is quite different than the Christian God. Hinduism is pantheism, and Christianity is monotheism. These by definition can not be the same. “A” and “not A” can not be the same. Not wanting to rehash this here, I recommend scrolling back up and rereading my response before this one, where I discuss the clear differences between these Gods, as well as the differences in the views of man and sin that these two belief systems have.
I noticed that you also said that Yoga may challenge your “ideas about who God is”. This is perplexing because as a Christian, you understand “who God is” already. And if that is the case, certainly, the Hindu practices of Yoga would not bring you closer to that understanding, but further away, as again, the Hindu god is very different than the Christian God.
I believe you sway off track as far as Christianity goes when you claim that “this God is universal – this God is personal”. These two statements again, are contradictory in nature. The pantheistic Hindu god is “universal”; the Christian God is “personal”. The two can’t be reconciled together. Jesus said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life, no one can come to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). He did not say “I am A way, A truth, and A life”, and any universal path to God will work equally.” The reason why the Christian doesn’t want to experience any universal path to God is because the Christian already has access to God through Jesus. He doesn’t need another path, and obeys Jesus when He says that He is the only way.
You ask, “Why wouldn’t Christians want to try to achieve the highest level of consciousness possible”? The answer is because our plight is not found in some “higher level of consciousness”, but in placing our faith in the unmatched achievements of Jesus Christ on our behalf. If it were possible to find enlightenment within, God would not have sent “his one and only Son” (John 3:16) to die on the Cross for our sins.
Finally, regarding truth, you say that “practicing Yoga as led me to a better understanding of the God of Christianity”, and that “for you” – this is truth. Anytime someone says, “for me, this is truth”, the implication is that truth is self-definable. This is relativism, not absolutism. Truth by definition is not self-definable, but rather, is true, regardless. If you say, “for me, trucks don’t exist” and proceed to walk out in front of one, you will find out that your believing that they don’t exist doesn’t create the reality you believe. The result is: SPLAT! Likewise, the God who created you and me, and everything else, will one day hold us accountable for our beliefs and our actions. If this God is the pantheistic god of Hinduism and Yoga, then all that you have said is true and what I have said is false. On the other hand, if the God of Christianity is the God who created us all, the pantheistic god of Hinduism doesn’t exist, because the Christian God said so (Isaiah 43:10).
Remember when Jesus was talking with the woman at the well? She brought up a point of disagreement between the way the Samaritans believed and the way the Jews believed. She said, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” (John 4:20). Notice that Jesus didn’t’ say, “well, God is universal and you can worship him on the mountain and others can worship him in Jerusalem, because it doesn’t really matter because it is all the same God”. No, he corrected her false understanding by telling her what was actually true: He said “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24). Jesus said we must worship in truth. Meaning if we have a false understanding of who God is, we are not really worshiping at all. This is a far cry different view than the “God is Universal” theory you have put forth, while trying to reconcile the contradicting beliefs of pantheism and Christianity. You are at odds, not with me, but with Jesus’ own words in John 14:6 and John 4:20-24.
You indicate your further misunderstanding of the definition of truth in your closing sentence: “Living in truth is being unafraid of that which may challenge it.” This is a self-contradicting statement because if something is true, nothing can challenge it. Truth is not challengeable, if it were, it would by definition, not be truth. Unless of course, you are a relativist, as your response indicates that you are.
I understand your position, wanting to reconcile Christian beliefs with something you enjoy and are employed by. Jesus said that in order to follow him, we must deny ourselves. If we use relativism in order to justify doing something that is incompatible with His Truth (John 4:23-24), that is sin. I urge you to sincerely reread my previous posts and the links contained there, and reconsider your position.
There is nothing wrong with Christians stretching and doing physical exercise, which I have stated previously and enjoy doing myself. It becomes problematic when we take it to the level of meditating to/with false gods.
Sincerely,
tr
Balto17:
Thanks for returning and posting again. I’ll make this one short.
I never did say or claim that Christians should not bother learning about other religions. I have spent a long time studying many other religions, and I believe that all Christians should do that as well.
Your thinking that I was saying Christians should not learn about other religions was a misunderstanding of what I was actually saying. Learning about other religions and participating in them are very different activities. The Creator of our universe specifically forbad us from worshiping other gods, and doing so is sin in His eyes. One can learn about other religions without violating this command.
If you agree that the Bible is just a book of rules, you are getting your information from a source who has not read it for their self. I would urge you to do so for yourself, as you will see that that conclusion leaves a lot to be desired.
The commandments of God were given to us, not to be a list of rules, but rather, to demonstrate to us that we could never live up to the righteous standards of God, and therefore, need His divine intervention. On this conclusion, we can cry out to Him as one who is helpless in this endeavor on our own and without Him. It is this cry out for Him that he desires and requires from us. That is the purpose of the “rules”; the law, the commands.
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 1 Timothy 1:8
I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” Romans 7:7
Sincerely,
tr
I have read the Bible. As I stated, I spent four years in a Catholic school. My biggest problem with Catholicism, and its offshoots, is the feeling of helplessness that pervades it. As you said, the commandments are not rules, but rather are there “to demonstrate to us that we could never live up to the righteous standards of God, and therefore, need His divine intervention.” I have never agreed with that precept, because to me it demeans human life and existence. It means we’re all sheep, being led blindly through our meaningless lives. If that’s true, then it follows the Bible was written as a book of guidelines and rules about how to live one’s life.
I will apologize, however, for making such a sweeping generalization about Christians failing to learn about other religions. I think, though, that doing yoga is a way to learn about that religion that doesn’t contradict any of the principles of Christianity.
Here is a blog I found that demonstrates the truth of my original post:
“All Yoga Is One”
This article from http://www.yoga-age.com clearly shows that all yoga is the same. Note the section, Fundamental Unity of Different Yoga Systems. This should ring alarm bells among believers who think they can Christianize yoga for health purposes.
http://sliceoflaodicea.blogspot.com/2005/02/all-yoga-is-one.html
http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/philosophy/phylosophy18.html
More orthodox views on this issue:
Parkwood Baptist Church Loves Yoga!
Parkwood Baptist Church in Annandale, Virginia is so pleased to be offering yoga classes that it has a link on its homepage, right next to their 40 Days of Purpose promo. The class begins with the ancient Sanskrit salutation from the Baptist yoga master, “Namaste” (”I bow to the divine within you.”) Strangely, the pastor refers to this yoga class as “outreach”. How odd to be telling non-believers that you salute the god within them when they aren’t even converted.
Here’s an article on Parkwood Baptist’s Yoga classes from Beliefnet. Note the headline, “Yoga stretches Traditional Christian Boundaries”.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/129/story_12947_1.html
Here’s the church website promoting yoga classes.
http://www.parkwood.org/control.cfm
For more info on the dangers of eastern tradition entering the church, please see articles below.
http://sliceoflaodicea.blogspot.com/2005/02/parkwood-baptist-church-loves-yoga.html
Updated blog on this subject:
http://galatiansc4v16.blogspot.com/2005/05/yoga-is-not-for-christians-part-2.html
Galatians, although your write well and seem intelligent enough, your cultish variety of christianity is quite baffling.
Obviously you have never even seen a yoga class at a gym or you wouldn’t be comparing it to water aerobics! I was an athlete all my life in various sports, gymnastics being the most similar, and never were any ot the stretches similar to what I do in yoga except for one or two. So you really don’t seem to understand your subject very well.
I’ve been practicing yoga for years at the gym and never has religion entered the exercise. Gyms do a version of ashtanga, or power yoga, and rarely is there any meditation involved, or chanting. You’re confusing different yoga styles. They are all not one and the same. Some are strictly meditative, ashtanga is primarily physical.
The benefits of yoga that I have received in my 30’s are far and above superior to any other sport I have participated in. My flexibility and balance have improved tremendously and I have in no way been thinking about learning more about hinduism, one of your reasons why you stated that christians shouldn’t even consider starting yoga because then they’d be inspired to go down a different path. In fact, I never knew what religion was directly involved with it until today after reading all this anti-yoga ridiculousness on several “christian” sites.
I only learned about this anti-yoga perspective from evangelical christians yesterday and decided to do some internet searches on it because I was truly baffled that there was even a controversy over something that many, many do purely as a great exercise.
Really, you can do yoga without getting all mystical about it. I have for several years and my skiing has improved tremendously because of it. So I’ve just disproved your theory and it only takes one negative to disprove a theory. And in the meantime, go to a yoga class in a gym setting and learn a little more about a subject you spend a lot of time writing about.
Shabie
Shabie:
I recognize that most non-Christians, as well as some Christians, will have a problem with my statements and conclusions on yoga. I accept that reality, but that does not change the truth of what I am saying.
Your arguments comprise two categories:
(1) An attack on my perceived lack of experience, and
(2) Your experiences.
Calling my belief (which by the way I have laid out clear and logical arguments for) a “cultish” version because there are lots of yoga participants that are ignorant of the roots of yoga, is very similar to the attacks Paul received in Acts 24:5 and 28:22, because of his exclusionary belief that there was only one God. To that I respond as he did to them, “I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14).
Just because you have never been to a yoga class as I described, or have never recognized the religious influences, does not mean that they don’t exist, or even that they aren’t the majority of types of classes. It only means that you have either not been to ones like I described, or you have not noticed the religious tones in the ones you have experienced. Your particular yoga class may have a minimum of obvious influences, but many classes are as I have described, and I think that if you looked into your own classes further you might even find some of the influences there. Most importantly, that the fundamental foundation of yoga is based on a philosophical concept that is contrary to Biblical Christianity. No “type” of yoga can escape that truth.
As far as my water aerobics comment in my earlier response goes, I was not saying that other exercises were identical as yoga, but that there are other exercises in general that people can do for exercise. Pilates is one that I could have mentioned that would have been closer related to yoga. My point is the same; there are other ways to get exercises that do not compromise one’s Christian beliefs.
You admit in your post that you “only learned about this anti-yoga perspective from evangelical Christians yesterday and decided to do some internet searches on it”, – hardly an exhaustive research effort. This demonstrates that you have not studied this issue very long and is why you can only respond based on experience, and not on facts. I would recommend that you do more study before you respond so authoritatively based on your experience only. In contrast, I have studied this subject for more than 14 years and have come to my conclusions based on years of in-depth research and comparison of the practices with Biblical Christianity, not a “cultish” variety as you labeled me.
Your ignorance of this longtime issue not only has you confused with the legitimate Christian critique of yoga, but also with the fact that yoga experts agree with my conclusion, not yours, that the religious influences can not be removed from any yoga practices. (See: All Yoga Is One
http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/philosophy/phylosophy18.html and also quotes at the end of this post for more evidence that yoga experts more knowledgeable than yourself agree with my conclusion.
I had another post recently on this subject and there is some additional information in it that explains the inability of Christians to combine yoga practices with their worldview. I’ll conclude this post with some of that same information and I would encourage you to continue your study of the issue so that you may see and understand the ultimate problem with yoga being incorporated into the church and why yoga’s premise altogether is incompatible with Christianity.
Your quote, “So I’ve just disproved your theory and it only takes one negative to disprove a theory” demonstrates that you have never had a Logic 101 class. I would recommend your refraining from attempting to use logic to defend something you have “certified” on experiential basis alone.
Tony
That second post can be found at:
http://galatiansc4v16.blogspot.com/2005/05/yoga-is-not-for-christians-part-2.html
and it concludes this way:
I’ll conclude with some statements from yoga sources and some links to some authoritative short articles that demonstrate this truth:
John Ankerberg and John Weldon write at: http://www.apologeticsindex.org/y01.html
“The basic premise of yoga theory is the fundamental unity of all existence: God, man, and all of creation are ultimately one divine reality….. Physical yoga and Eastern philosophy are mutually interdependent; ultimately, you cannot have one without the other. David Fetcho, a researcher with an extensive background in yoga theory and practice, states:
“Physical yoga, according to its classical definitions, is inheritably and functionally incapable of being separated from Eastern religious metaphysics. The Western practitioner who attempts to do so is operating in ignorance and danger, from the yogi’s viewpoint, as well as from the Christian’s”….
…..This is why people who practice yoga only for physical or mental health reasons are ultimately the victims of a confidence game. They are promised better health; little do they suspect the end goal of yoga is to destroy them as individuals.”
Christianity Today Article Entitled: Dangerous Meditations: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/10.78.html
“Overstressed Americans are increasingly turning to various forms of Eastern meditation, particularly yoga, in search of relaxation and spirituality. Underlying these meditative practices, however, is a worldview in conflict with biblical spirituality—though many Christians are (unwisely) practicing yoga.”
Several more articles on the depths of yoga, even for the unaware and “physical minded” person: http://www.yogadangers.com/Christianconcernsb.htm
Ingrid Schlueter who is the author of the blog: Slice of Laodicea has had several recent posts on this same subject at: http://sliceoflaodicea.blogspot.com
Does Yoga Conflict with Christianity? A Response to Yoga Journal
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/brr0104.html
The Danger of Centering Prayer
http://www.bibleguidance.co.za/Weekly/6%20Centering.htm
I sincerely believe that the Christian who is seeking the truth on this issue, and not just looking for a way to justify their workout preference, will ultimately come to the conclusion through study of the practice of yoga, that it is something in which a Christian should not choose to participate.
I found an interesting book today and thought I would recommend it here. It has some great points regarding what is being discussed here:
A TIME OF DEPARTING
Exposing the Truth About the Contemplative Prayer Movement
By Ray Yungen
http://www.lighthousetrails.com/atimeofdeparting.htm
Exposing the Dangers of Contemplative Prayer
If you’ve ever wondered about centering prayer, the silence, yoga, Reiki, the Desert Fathers and spiritual formation teachings, A Time of Departing is a book you must read!
Here is a great article of further explaination from Bob DeWaay found at:
http://www.twincityfellowship.com/cic/articles/issue83.htm
and reprinted below:
ISSUE 83 – Contemporary Christian Divination
July/August 2004
by Bob DeWaay
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.” (2Timothy 4:2-4)
There was a king in Israel who decided that he could set up his own way of coming to God. This king’s story will provide a needed warning for those today that do likewise.
The king was Jeroboam. Jeroboam received a prophecy that God was going to tear 10 tribes away from Solomon and give them to him (1Kings 11:31) because of the idolatry of Solomon (1Kings 11:33). Solomon then decided to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt until Solomon died (1Kings 11:40). At Solomon’s death the prophecy came true and Jeroboam became king over the 10 northern tribes.
However, once God had made Jeroboam king, Jeroboam became concerned. He reasoned: “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1Kings 12:27). So, being a pragmatist, he set up two convenient houses of worship: Dan in the northern part of the realm and Bethel in the southern. Then he made priests out of non-Levites and instituted his own feast day, hoping to keep the people from going to Jerusalem as required by Torah.
To further make the new way of worshipping God amenable to the people, he placed a golden calf in each place of worship: “So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt’” (1King 12:28). His words reminded the people of Aaron’s words. C. F. Keil comments, “What Jeroboam meant to say by the words, ‘Behold thy God,’ etc., was, ‘this is no new religion, but this was the form of worship which our fathers used in the desert, with Aaron himself leading the way.’”1 He did not mean that the calves literally brought them out, but that they were representative of God who had brought them out. Keil goes on to argue that rather than instituting an entirely different religion, Jeroboam was altering the worship of God to suit his religious and political needs. Says Keil, “The sin of which Jeroboam was guilty consisted in the fact that he no longer allowed the people to go to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, but induced or compelled them to worship Jehovah before one or the other of the calves which he had set up . . .”2
Jeroboam thought he could come to God anyway that he saw fit, that he could institute his own version of worshipping God. Prophets of God spoke to him (1Kings 11:31; 13:1; 14:7-10) and he was healed by God (1Kings 13:6), but in the end he was judged as an evil doer (1Kings 14:10-14). Jeroboam saw no need to follow the prescriptions of Torah concerning how Israel was to worship God. How wrong he was!
I believe that God reveals the only means by which we can legitimately come to Him. In this article we will examine the claims of contemporary Christian mystics who assert that they have discovered methods to contact God, hear His voice, and even see inner images of Jesus that come alive and speak: methods borrowed from worldly sources and not found in the Bible. I will claim that those who borrow practices from the pagans and try to use them as means to come to God sin in the same manner Jeroboam sinned.
Can Man Decide How to Come to God?
In the previous issue of CIC, I argued that methods are not neutral: either humans can come to the true God by any means that they see fit or God restricts the means by which we can come to Him. This was proven by the fact that various forms of divination are forbidden where divination is defined as any technique used to gain secret information that God has not chosen to reveal. If we could come by any means, then tarot cards, Ouija boards, crystal balls, psychic powers, etc. could all legitimately be used to contact God. Since certain techniques are forbidden, then the claim that humans can come to God by any means whatsoever is unbiblical. Therefore, we conclude that God has restricted the means of coming to Him and worshipping Him.
There are restrictions. The question is, “Who determines them?” The options are that individuals determine them for themselves, church traditions determine the restrictions, or the Scriptures determine the restrictions. I argue that if individuals determine the restrictions for themselves, there are no restrictions. A good example is Morton Kelsey, the most prolific writer among twentieth century Christian mystics. Kelsey, open to any religious practice that will help in the “inner journey,” writes, “The inner journey is as individual as our thumbprint. We need to guide others on their way and never impose our way upon them.”3
Many Christian mystics opt for the second option – church traditions. They find that mystics and their practices existed from the very early days of church history.4 It is surprising that contemporary evangelicals sometimes cite Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions to justify their practices. But many do. They usually try to also find Biblical support, but such support cannot be found without twisting the Scriptures.
I believe that Scripture alone determines the valid means of coming to God. The Scripture reveals one obvious restriction: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6). The Bible not only reveals the only way to salvation, but it also provides the means of grace for living the Christian life. God does not leave this up to man’s ingenuity. He has not left us to sift through the religious practices of the cultures of the world in order to choose which ones to “Christianize.” Those who do are modern day Jeroboams who will not grant to God the right to tell them how God will be worshipped.
The Claims of Christian Mystics
In the past few weeks I have studied many books written by Christian mystics between 1947 and 2004. Comparing their teachings, one to another, has led me to conclude that these mystics differ little in their practices and their use of the Bible. I will cite many of their works, explain their beliefs, and show how what they practice flows from their basic beliefs.
The Kingdom “Within”
One common theme is that the kingdom of God is inside the individual. Agnes Sanford was an early pioneer in bringing mysticism to twentieth century evangelicals. Her book “The Healing Light” was originally published in 1947. In it she said this about the kingdom of God: “‘The kingdom of God is within you,’ said Jesus. And it is the indwelling light, the secret place of the consciousness of the Most High that is the kingdom of Heaven in its present manifestation on this earth.”5 Sanford believed there were laws we needed to learn to “turn on” so that we could release God’s power and work miracles. “Learning to live in the kingdom of Heaven,” she goes on, “is learning to turn on the light of God within.”6 Since she does not explain the gospel in Biblical terms, one is left with the impression that what she calls the divine “force” is within each person to be tapped into if they only knew the laws that govern that force.7
Another twentieth century mystic who taught of the kingdom within was Ruth Carter Stapleton, the 1970’s teacher of inner healing and sister of President Jimmy Carter. She wrote, “The concentrated mind is more amazing. It can become a vehicle for communicating with the core of our being which Jesus called ‘the kingdom of God within.’”8
Morton Kelsey also taught this: “What meditation does mean is a way for us to unlock and open the door to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming that this holy kingdom was within us and among us.”9
Jose Silva taught that the kingdom of God was within us and that we needed to get into an alpha brain wave level and our right brain hemispheres to unlock the powers of the kingdom of God.10 Silva is the founder of the Silva Mind Control method that boasted 6 million followers in the 1980’s, but Silva is rarely confused with evangelicals.
Mystics latch onto the idea of the kingdom within because the idea gives a compelling reason for a “journey inward.” It dovetails nicely with the thinking of people in a culture influenced by New Age ideas and post-modern thought. Go deep inside of your self through an Eastern technique, and there you will meet God, or so they think. But does the Bible teach that the Kingdom of God is within human beings? The passage they are referencing is Luke 17:20, 21: “Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’” The phrase “the kingdom of God is within you” is found in the King James and the NIV. I believe that the context favors the NASB translation. Jesus was not telling His enemies, the Pharisees, that the kingdom was within them, but that it was among them in the person of Jesus Christ. If they were going to enter the kingdom, they would have to repent and turn to Christ for salvation (see Mark 1:14, 15). There is nothing in this passage that would suggest that if the Pharisees took an inward journey using meditative techniques they would find God’s kingdom!
Altered States of Consciousness
In 1980, the movie “Altered States” was released. It was about a man who used hallucinatory mushrooms and an isolation chamber to achieve a terrifying altered state of consciousness. The movie showed the dangers of such a journey. Interestingly, many of the teachers of Christian mysticism also warn of dangers that lurk for those who journey within. Kelsey, who learned his version of Christian mysticism by integrating many diverse religious practices with the depth psychology of Carl Jung,12 claimed that below our rational consciousness lays a whole inner world where one meets the “Other.”13 The problem is that when people learn techniques to access this inner realm beyond the conscious mind, they often meet horrible forces of darkness. According to Kelsey, evil exists there that is both intrinsic and extrinsic to the human psyche.14 Some who go on this journey do not have a strong ego and a strong connection to the outer, material world, and cannot get back.15
If it is so dangerous (as other Christian mystics besides Kelsey also admit), why go there? The answer is that mystics think that God is to be found within. The realm of the unconscious mind, demonic powers, Jesus Christ and His kingdom, and any other spiritual reality is hidden from us through normal means of knowing. Kelsey describes his beliefs:
There are various techniques for opening up the tight capsule of space and time. Zen and Yoga, paying attention to dreams, prayer, contemplation, meditation, and the use of biofeedback all can be helpful for some people in reaching stillness and opening themselves to new experiences within. . . . There is a real danger in much of Eastern thought and in our own scientific probing into the mind, but is not because there is something dark and evil lurking in either of them. The danger lies in the fact that Eastern ways of prayer and scientific interest in altered states of consciousness do not go far enough. The road stops once the relaxation, the peace and the detachment, or the extrasensory perception is achieved, and then one is left to wander.16
Kelsey thinks that those on the “inner journey” have to navigate the dangers and press further inward until they meet God there and find wholeness.
Richard Foster also mentions the danger: “So that we may not be led astray, however, we must understand that we are not engaging in some flippant work. We are not calling on some cosmic bellhop. This is a serious and even dangerous business.”17
Many Christian mystics think the “kingdom within” is a realm to be explored by spiritual pioneers who will brave the dangerous journey. Those who have done so can become guides or “masters” to help the uninitiated on their journey. Kelsey writes elsewhere, “Indeed I would suggest that everyone who is serious about relating to the spiritual realm find himself a spiritual director, if there were more men trained and experienced in this way.”18
Richard Foster laments the lack of “living masters” and claims that people are turning to Eastern meditation because the church has “abrogated the field.” 19 If Foster was right when he wrote that in 1978, he should be very encouraged now because today the church is awash in mystical practices. Some of the most popular Christian authors promote mystical practices from the middle ages.20 We now have our own “living spiritual masters” who are putting on seminars in a city near you.
The type of meditation that Christian mystics advocate requires a different state of consciousness than normal, awake, thinking. That is why there is so much interest in dreams among mystics. Sleeping is one time that all humans are in a different state of consciousness. The alpha level of brain activity happens when people are entering sleep and waking up. The theta level is a where people go under deep hypnosis or deep meditation, and in the early stages of sleep.21 Hypnosis and eastern meditative techniques purposely put someone in an altered state of consciousness with the hope of learning something about the unconscious or subconscious mind or contacting the world of the spirits. Christian versions of it suggest that God can be contacted by purposely entering an altered state of consciousness (though few like to call it that).
Foster claims that what he often receives through meditation is guidance for solving problems and living a better life, approvingly citing Kelsey to that end.22 He points out that people who are not religious have other uses for meditation:
It may have value in dropping our blood pressure or in relieving tension. It may even provide us with meaningful insights by helping us get in touch with our subconscious mind. But the idea of actual contact and communion with a spiritual sphere of existence sounds unscientific and faintly reasonable. If you feel that we live in a purely physical universe, you will view meditation as a good way to obtain a consistent alpha brain-wave pattern.23
He goes on to say for those who live in a universe created by an infinite, personal God, meditation is a communication between the “Lover and the one beloved.”24 Since the same techniques are being used, this means that when the alpha level is achieved there we hear from God. Christian mystics commune with God in an altered state of consciousness.
Morton Kelsey describes altered states of consciousness and the benefits of them. He describes various versions of Eastern religion which enable the “conscious mind to halt.”25 Writes Kelsey, “In both Yoga and Zen meditation, the activity of the brain changes. Alpha and sometimes theta waves are produced, and in both of these the capacity of the mind changes.”26 He says, “[P]sychic gifts often depend on a state of relaxation like this. The most gifted psychics often have to relax to the point where silence begins to take over before they can tune in to these gifts.”27 The following material is Kelsey telling what sort of capacities can be gained by being in an altered state of consciousness through Eastern forms of meditation:
A person may become open to telepathy and thus know what is going on in other people’s minds, to precognition, . . . to clairvoyance, . . . or to psychokinesis (one’s thoughts have some kind of direct effect upon physical objects, including healing of humans beings). These capacities are often found among Hindu gurus, Zen masters, or anyone who uses deep meditation, as well as among Christian saints. They appear to be one of the results of continued meditation. There is danger, of course, if people enter meditation just to find these capacities.28
Kelsey is very frank about the fact that the actual practice is the same for Christians or people from other religions, as well as the results. Kelsey says, “Alpha waves are apparently induced in the brain.”29 He even suggests that rhythmical breathing that is taught in various meditative practices, Christian and otherwise, may “go along with alpha and theta wave activity in the brain.”30
Kelsey, who has done more research and writing on this topic than any recent Christian author, believes that any technique that works can be adopted by Christians regardless of its source. He says, “When we are clear enough about our own point of view, we can find help in the methods of Eastern Christianity or in the ways of the Far East, perhaps by consulting the I Ching or through mandala contemplation; we may even find help in the ways of shamanism or Islam. If we are clear about where we stand and the direction we must take, such methods may be useful in order to follow our own way to the end.”31 The end for Kelsey is described as follows: “Only as the whole person is turned toward the meditative process does the experience of the Divine expressed in Jesus Christ become a reality.”32 My question is: how does he know it is really Jesus Christ he is meeting through these techniques? The assumption apparently is that if a Christian goes into an altered state of consciousness using pagan techniques, the Christian will meet Jesus there. Those of other religions evidently do not. This is a dangerous assumption.
Kelsey may sound extreme, but consider this: he has a book published by an evangelical publishing house, and in the 1970’s was an author popular with people in the Charismatic renewal. Richard Foster quoted him approvingly. Greg Boyd in his recently published Seeing Is Believing also promotes a version of mysticism and cites Kelsey approvingly. Boyd calls his own practice “resting in Christ” and equates it with one of Kelsey’s practices.33 Other authors may be better at “sanitizing” Eastern mysticism when they integrate it into their Christianity, but Kelsey is more honest about where it comes from and more unabashed about explaining the various issues about mystical practices. These practices do invoke an altered state of consciousness involving gaining an alpha brain level similar to hypnosis. Calling it “resting in Christ” or by any other name does not change the nature of the practice.
We will now examine some of the techniques that Christian authors have promoted to put people into the form of “altered” consciousness we have been describing.
Techniques For the Journey Inward
Breathing Techniques
Most Christian mystics recommend connecting prayer to breathing (we showed why earlier, because rhythmic breathing is helpful in achieving alpha level brain-waves). Ruth Carter Stapleton recommends that a person sit upright and erect in a chair.34 To enter meditation she has a breathing exercise: “At last, seated or lying down, use your breath as an expression of inspiration. . . . Breathe in deeply before meditation, repeating in your mind as you breathe, ‘I breathe in the Spirit,’ and exhaling saying, ‘I breathe out love.’”35
Richard Foster has his own version of this:
Having seated yourself comfortably, slowly become conscious of your breathing. This will help you get in touch with your body and indicate to you the level of tension within. Inhale deeply, slowly tilting your head back as far as it will go. Then exhale, allowing your head slowly to come forward until your chin nearly rests on your chest. Do this for several moments, praying inwardly something like this: ‘Lord, I exhale my fear over my geometry exam, I inhale your peace. I exhale my spiritual apathy, I inhale Your light and life.”36
Morton Kelsey suggested using the “Jesus prayer” (“Lord Jesus have mercy on me”) repetitively in conjunction with breathing, citing several medieval sources.37 Kelsey summarizes, “The ancient Christian traditions of hesychasm38 stressed the use of the Jesus prayer and an imageless sense of God’s presence as well as awareness of breathing. The essential element linking these practices was the search for silence, for inward stillness.”39
Agnes Sanford had a slightly different process, but still spoke about breathing. Here is Sanford’s technique:
In order to receive God’s life in the body, we must first be able to forget the body so that we can quiet the mind and concentrate the spiritual energies of God. . . . Many people find it helpful to meditate with the feet raised, resting upon a footstool or even upon another chair. . . . The one who prays will discover the reason for this as he connects more and more closely with the life of God. . . . He will notice as he relaxes that even his breathing is altered, becoming slow, thin and light, as if to leave room for the Spirit of God within.40
Sanford emphasizes immanence so much so that she scarcely distinguishes the Creator from the created. She says,
Having quieted our nerves and minds by sitting in the most comfortable position and by relaxing, let us now open our spirits to receive the abundant life of God. How easy this becomes when we realize that God is not a far-away sovereign, but is actually the medium in which we live – the very breath of life! . . . For as we tune in our thought-vibrations to the thought-vibrations of God, we expose ourselves, as it were, to His eternal shining and so receive His image upon ourselves.41
This type of thinking takes away God’s sovereign right to declare the terms by which we must come to Him and makes Him a part of the universe to be tapped into by those who know the secret. It strikes me that many of these mystical techniques are like “conjuring up” God. God does not allow that!
Repeated Words and Phrases
As we saw in Kelsey’s description of the Jesus prayer, breathing techniques can be used in conjunction with a repeated phrase to enable the Christian mystic to empty the mind and find “the silence.” The repetition of a word or phrase, over and over, as part of meditation became popular in this country with the practice of Transcendental Meditation. TM uses the names of Hindu deities, repeating a particular one (given to the devotee) over and over in an attempt to silence the mind. Christian mystics who use similar techniques try to dismiss the similarities. They often argue that Christians lost their ability to enter the inner world of silence because of Western rationalism (all of the mystical writers I read blame the West and rationalism for the lack of Eastern practices in the church). Ruth Carter Stapleton writes:
The seldom-considered art of listening to God is learned as we bring ourselves to the place of attentive silence. Because as human beings we need silence, and because our noisy Christianity tends to ignore that need, into that void has rushed a variety of Eastern meditative disciplines, the most popular of which it Transcendental Meditation. There is no need to argue against such discipline. What we need is to discover the authentic native Christian expression of meditation which makes all other disciplines unnecessary and inferior.42
The problem is that the Bible teaches no “discipline” to shut down the mind in order to make contact with God. Stapleton goes on, “Silence intimidates when it should bless. It is looked upon as a void, when it could and should be considered a profound opportunity for communication with God.”43 The Bible never teaches that silence puts one in touch with God.
The techniques of Christian mystics differ little from those of Eastern mystics. An example is Ruth Carter Stapleton. Stapleton claims that there is a “sixth sense” by which we should be able to hear God’s voice: “In the same way we who have been unwilling, through ignorance, to live in the light of silence have lost the ability to exercise that divinely bestowed sixth sense which enables us to listen in meditation to the voiceless voice of God.”44 This is not a neglected Biblical practice; the writers of Scripture knew nothing of it. It is simply TM that uses a Christian phrase for the mantra. After introducing the seating and breathing exercises mentioned earlier, Stapleton gives the next step: “To achieve this concentration [earlier called “silence”] select a single meaningful phrase such as, ‘I am one with God,’ ‘God is love’ or just the word Jesus or God. With your eyes closed, quietly and slowly, begin to repeat this phrase or word over and over in your mind (not audibly). . . Make no effort to move beyond this repetition because when you are ready, you will automatically flow into the indescribable, indefinable state of mind we call meditation.”45
The repeated phrase is designed to silence the mind and put the practitioner into an altered state of consciousness. TM and “Christian” practices that mimic it only differ in minor details. It has been shown that as far as physiological responses go, the word or phrase used in this type of meditation makes no difference.46 The research of Dr. Herbert Benson shows that various techniques work: “These include repetitive prayers such as the rosary as in the Catholic tradition, centering prayers in Protestant religions and pre-davening prayers in Judaism. The specific method used usually reflects the beliefs of the person eliciting the relaxation response (Benson, 1984).”47
Do not be deceived. These methods are not taught in the Bible. They are borrowed from the East and brought into Christianity by people who are evidently not satisfied with the means of grace God has provided all Christians. We are not lacking mystical capabilities because Western rationalism robbed us of them; we lack them because God never gave them. They are illicit means of divination.
Visualization and Imagination
The most recently published book that promotes a form of Christian mysticism is written by Dr. Greg Boyd, the pastor of a large church in the St. Paul metropolitan area. Dr. Boyd has published eleven books and is a well known author. I know him to be a very kind and personable man who is passionate about what he believes. However, I think that the practice he is promoting in his latest book is dangerously in error. Therefore I have included a section in this article that critiques the book Seeing is Believing.
Seeing is Believing promotes “cataphatic prayer,”48 a version of mysticism that involves using mental images of the human imagination to supposedly help a person experience God more profoundly. The following is a definition of cataphatic prayer published in a Creighton University article:
Another form of prayer, called cataphatic, honors and reverences images and feelings and goes through them to God. This form of prayer also has an ancient and well-attested history in the world of religions. Any sort of prayer that highlights the mediation of creation can be called cataphatic. So, praying before icons or images of saints; the mediation of sacraments and sacramentals; prayer out in creation – all these are cataphatic forms of prayer.49
Boyd claims support for cataphatic prayer from a long list of people from church history including some contemporary proponents: “Such notable authors as Agnes Sanford, Morton Kelsey, David Seamands, and Richard Foster are among these modern advocates of cataphatic spirituality.”50
To prove the need for this type of practice Boyd cites this premise: “We become what we imaginatively see.”51 He argues, based on 2Corinthians 3:18, that only believers can imaginatively “see” an image of Jesus in their minds.52 He argues that this is something we have to learn to do. The problem is that Boyd is importing ideas into the text that Paul never discusses. There is nothing in 2Corinthians 3 and 4 that indicates that all believers (Boyd admits that it is about all believers) have literally seen a mental picture of the person of Jesus in their minds (or at least should have such a mental image). In the context Paul was discussing the fact that those who were not believing had hardened minds. There was a veil of unbelief keeping them from seeing the truth of the gospel (see 2Corinthians 3:14-16). What they were not “seeing” because of the “veil” was the truth of the gospel: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing” (2Corinthians 4:3).
Boyd has done a category shift and uses the resulting confusion to promote his visualization technique. “Seeing” in the context of the passage was to believe the gospel and be converted. It was not creating a mental image of Jesus in one’s mind hoping thereby to become like that mental image. Peter makes it clear that the issue in the New Testament is faith in the person and work of Christ: “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1Peter 1:8). In the same epistle from which Boyd claims to find justification for his practice, Paul wrote this: “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2Corinthians 5:7). Rather than “Seeing is Believing” (Boyd’s title), the reality is “believing is seeing.” This type of “seeing” has nothing to do with images, mental or otherwise. It has to do with the content of the gospel.
Where this goes in Greg Boyd’s book is that through a process he learned, he was able to go into a mental world that came alive. Jesus meets him in this world and re-interprets his memories for the purpose of bringing healing. Calling his technique, “resting in Christ,” Boyd cites Morton Kelsey and Richard Foster as proponents of imaginative meditation.53 He is right that Foster and Kelsey teach a version of this. He is wrong to suggest that “resting in Christ” as a Biblical concept has anything to do with having a mental image of Jesus that comes alive and talks to you. This practice is never taught in scripture and has nothing to do with any Biblical passage about resting in Christ. This is another category error. It confuses people who are unaware of the semantic slight of hand that is going on. Kelsey was transparent about where he got his ideas, mainly from Carl Jung and Eastern practices.
The actual practice of imaginative prayer is similar to what we discussed before, but different in one key way. The Christian versions of TM had as a goal the silencing of the mind to contact God and hear from God. The goal of cataphatic prayer is to use an inner, mental image to “see Jesus.” The process involves quietness, setting a mental scene, solitude, and a sitting position similar to those discussed earlier.54 Boyd calls this “finding one’s inner sanctuary.” The desire is to experience Jesus “with all five senses.”55
Richard Foster recommends using one’s imagination in a similar way. He makes a very bold claim: “Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you.”56 Boyd cites Foster approvingly on this point.57 Dear Reader: Please do not misunderstand. This is not about someone thinking about Jesus and perhaps imagining what He might look like (whether or not that is a good idea is worth discussing but it is not at issue here). This is about a technique that will put one in an altered state of consciousness (whether they call it that or not) in which an image of Jesus becomes the living Christ and the person experiences the reality of this Christ who speaks to them. They are gaining information from Christ (if it is really Him – a claim they cannot prove) beyond what is written in the Bible. This information cannot be gained through normal means of study or normal means of knowing. It is secret, spiritual information. Therefore, it is forbidden (Deuteronomy 29:29).
In Boyd’s case, he gains healing from a painful childhood memory of a mean-spirited grandmother who had no present for him because he was a “bad boy.”58 Jesus comes to him in that little boy memory, tells him he is a “good boy” and gives him a present.59 Ultimately, to complete the healing, Jesus brings Boyd’s departed grandmother to him and the grandmother makes things right with Boyd, and then departs hand in hand with Jesus: “She and Jesus joined hands and I watched them walk off into the distance.”60 His memory was “reworked” and he found healing. Not to begrudge a person his emotional well being, this experience is problematic for several reasons. How do we know this was the real Jesus who is changing a person’s memories? The Bible forbids talking to the dead, how then would Jesus create a chance for a person to hear words from his departed grandmother? This is a means of gaining un-revealed information that is not accessible by ordinary means of knowing. This story fits the definition of divination.
Kelsey cites Carl Jung concerning the use of imagination in meditation: “‘In the same way,’ Jung went on, ‘when you concentrate on a mental picture, it begins to stir, the image becomes enriched by details, it moves and develops. Each time, naturally, you mistrust it and have the idea that you have just made it up, that it is merely your own invention.”61 Kelsey adds his own comments:
It is usually not too difficult for most people to start the process by concentrating on something graphic. The hard part comes in realizing that something could move unexpectedly inside us without our conscious direction. That is why it is so vital in developing imagination, meditation, or contemplation to realize that our ego is not the only force operating within us.62
I am not denying the reality of the experiences that Foster, Kelsey, Stapleton, Boyd and others. I am not denying that the practices that invoked the experiences “work” in the manner described by these authors. I am denying that the techniques that are used are valid means of coming to God. They are man-made ways that are not revealed in the Scriptures. There is no assurance that this “force operating within us” as Kelsey calls it, is God.
Dream Interpretation
One theme common with contemporary Christian mystics is that dreams are to be considered significant and that they are a way that the “Divine” as Kelsey says, is trying to speak to us. As I said before, going to sleep and waking up is one time all people enter the alpha brain wave level. It is in this level where dreams can be remembered. Interpreting dreams is a way to naturally gain information that comes to us in an altered state of consciousness without resorting to techniques to put one’s self in that state. We simply write down our dreams and seek their meaning.
Again, Morton Kelsey was a leader in exploring this means of gaining information from the spirit world. Kelsey relied on the research and teaching of Carl Jung. According to Kelsey, Jung believed that the unconscious mind thinks symbolically or metaphorically.63 Kelsey shares his understanding of Jung’s thinking: “The task of dream interpretation, according to Jung, is that of learning a strange language with many nuances, of learning to understand the symbolic communications of the unconscious – the language of art, literature, mythology, and folklore. He saw no attempt on the part of the unconscious to deceive or distort.”64 Jung believed that the unconscious is connected to a larger spiritual reality, a “collective unconscious.” Kelsey believed that the Hebrew prophets were tapping into the “collective unconscious”: “The images of Ezekiel, although little studied in recent years, are well known in song and literature. They are genuine productions of what depth psychology would call the collective unconscious, something from beyond the conscious mind and often beyond the limits of personal experience.”65
Kelsey followed Jung to the belief that the “Other” as he says, can be found in the unconscious which connects the individual to a spiritual reality. Kelsey said about Jung’s experiences and understanding of “depth psychology”: “From this fact came the certainty that reality, and frequently the best of reality, is found in these depths. This is also reality that demands a religious attitude from people, and it is found only when we allow ourselves to be led by the thinking of the unconscious, symbolic thinking that can be found in fantasy and dream and in myth and story.”66 So following the theories of Carl Jung who had a spirit guide named Philemon,67 contemporary mystics are looking for meaning from the world of the unconscious mind (a concept not found in the Bible). Dreams are considered a means of access to this world of symbol and myth.
It should be obvious that this Jungian understanding of dreams has nothing to do with how God spoke to the prophets in the Old Testament. That God has spoken in dreams as He has seen fit, does not prove that every dream is meaningful or ought to be taken seriously. Also, the Bible knows nothing of an art of dream interpretation that can be learned by serious students. God interprets dreams as He sees fit as Daniel and Joseph experienced.
Christian mystics have more in common with occultists and New Age followers than the Biblical authors. One contemporary “prophet” has a website where one can sign up for so much money per month to have his or her dreams interpreted.68 Richard Foster cites both Jung and Kelsey approvingly concerning the language of images.69 Greg Boyd says this: “The place where God usually interacts with his people is in their imagination. And whether he does this while we are awake or while we are asleep, it comes to the same thing.”70 Boyd, like all of these mystic authors, blames Western assumptions for the fact that most of us do not take our dreams seriously and recommends Kelsey’s book God, Dreams, and Revelations for further insights on dream interpretation.71
Putting God in a Box?
I have debated people about these techniques many times. They often say, “God can do anything and use anything, you are tying to put God in a box.” You probably have heard that argument. When I was doing my research on divination for the previous issue of CIC, I thought about the “putting God in a box” accusation. The Biblical record shows that it is God who purposely limits the ways we can come to Him. If there is a “box” God made it. I think a better analogy than a box, is a sheepfold. It is a Biblical analogy.
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). The true sheep enter the sheepfold through the door, Jesus Christ (John 10:7). He as the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He protects His sheep from the wolves, gives them pasture, and abundant life (John 10:10-15). Being in the sheepfold may seem restrictive compared to the adventures of exploring the bigger world out there unencumbered by the guidance of the Shepherd. However the restrictions are there to save our spiritual lives.
The restrictions God places on how and by what means we may legitimately come to Him and receive spiritual truth are for our own good. The spirit world that Christian mystics like Morton Kelsey want to explore is far more complex than even Jung and Kelsey give it credit for being. The dangers of deception are far more real. In fact, if we journey into the world of the spirits by means other that what God has ordained, we will be deceived, not may be deceived. The spirits who inhabit that world have been there for many thousands of years practicing the art of deception. They willingly give people whatever experience they would tend to think is from God. Jose Silva, who is Catholic, when he went into his alpha level to gain guides received Jesus and Mary.72 The spirits will give you what you would expect is from God in your own context. They will provide any experience that serves their deceptive purposes, including sending a spiritual “Jesus” (see 2Corinthians 11:4). The prohibitions on divination are there to protect us from these malicious entities.
So we are not putting God in a box, God is putting us in a sheepfold if we are willing to be there. The practices of “thinking outside the box” that are so popular today are fatal when it comes to spirituality. God has not left access to spiritual truth in the hands of innovative thinkers who like pioneers blaze new trails. God has given access to Himself, once for all, through Jesus Christ who is our heavenly High Priest. The truth is revealed once for all in the Scriptures.
Conclusion
Jeroboam was an innovator when it came to the worship of Yahweh. He saw no reason for the restrictions about how, when and where God would be worshipped. He had cultural reasons for making the changes he did. The people in the northern kingdom were very prosperous agriculturally. The indigenous people had fertility gods that were concrete and vivid representations of deity. There were also political issues in Jeroboam’s mind. Jerusalem was the headquarters of the Davidic kingdom and if the people went to the pilgrim feasts there and sacrificed through the Levitical priesthood, they may long to be reunited with the southern kingdom. So Jeroboam “thought outside of the box.” He became a spiritual pioneer who came up with culturally acceptable ways to worship Yahweh. He made worship convenient and relevant.
Jeroboam was not a pagan; he had many legitimate experiences with the true God. Yahweh’s prophets spoke to him. He was called by God to be king over Israel. He was healed, not by Baal, but by God. There is no evidence he really believed that the golden calves were God, he simply used them to represent God to the people (in rebellion against the 10 commandments). He saw the need for feasts and a priesthood; he just made up his own. He mingled the worship of Yahweh with the practices of the pagans. Here is the summary of Jeroboam’s life: “And He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin” (1Kings 14:16). God alone will determine the means by which people can come to Him.
Those today who are evangelical Christians, who know God through the gospel, yet dabble in the practices of the pagans, are spiritual “sons of Jeroboam.” They are, like Jeroboam, very creative in making Christianity relevant to the current culture. The problem is not Western rationalism as the contemporary mystics all claim. They are fighting an obsolete battle. The prevailing culture in America is very much “spiritual.” They claim the need for mystical experience to fight against modernity when they are in a post-modern culture that has embraced the East. The danger today is not that people think that the material realm is all there is, it is that they think they can contact the spiritual realm their own way. They are practicing divination.
Next month we shall discuss means of grace. God has given us legitimate means of coming to Him and communing with Him. None of these require an altered state of consciousness.
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End Notes
C. F. Keil, “I & II Kings” in Commentary on the Old Testament by C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch; Volume III (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1986) 198.
Ibid. 199.
Morton Kelsey, The Other Side of Silence, (Paulist Press: Maywah, New Jersey, 1995) 75.
For example, see Greg Boyd, Seeing is Believing; Experiencing Jesus through Imaginative Prayer; (Baker: Grand Rapids, 2004) 90 – 95 for a list of mystics throughout church history.
Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light; (Charisma Books: Watchung, NJ, 1972 edition) 3. That Charisma books republished Sanford’s 1947 book shows how mysticism was infiltrating the church.
Ibid.
for her understanding of God as “energy” and a “force” and laws that enable us to do miracles see ibid.; 1, 4, 15, and she says on page 17, “Knowing then that we are part of God, that His life within us is an active energy and that He works through the laws of our bodies, let us study to adjust and conform ourselves to those laws.”
Ruth Carter Stapleton, The Experience of Inner Healing, (Word: Waco, 1977), 165.
Kelsey, Silence; 11.
Video Tape; The Silva Mind Control Method; The John Ankerberg Show (Ankerberg Theological Research Institute: Chattanooga, 1986). This video features a debate between Silva and Dave Hunt. I highly recommend it. The issues they debate are even more pertinent today.
Whether “within” or “in your midst” is the preferable translation is often determined by one’s eschatological views. Many wish to teach that there never was or will be a visible manifestation of the Kingdom; but that it only exists inside of people. However, those who favor “within” are not considering the many other passages in Luke/Acts about the Kingdom. The Kingdom is something people enter by faith, not something that enters them (Luke 18:17); The Kingdom is something that has come near (Luke 10:9, 11); some there will see the Kingdom (Luke 9:27); People will eat bread in the Kingdom of God (Luke 13:29; 14:15); The Kingdom will be restored to Israel (Acts 1:6, 7) and many other similar issues. None of these passages makes sense if the kingdom is internal to humans. The Kingdom was present in the person of Christ, so “in your midst” is the translation which fits everything else we learn about the Kingdom in Luke/Acts.
Morton Kelsey, Christo-Psychology; (Crossroad: New York, 1982) He devoted this entire book to integrating Carl Jung’s ideas with Christianity. Jung taught the idea of a “collective unconscious” that could be assessed by techniques like those espoused by Kelsey. Jung himself saw that there were dangers involved with going there.
Kelsey Silence, 12, 13.
Ibid. 93.
Kelsey describes psychosis where “over zealous” souls lose contact with the outer world. Silence 94.
Ibid. 154.
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, (Harper and Row: San Francisco, 1978) 16
Morton Kelsey, Encounter With God, (Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis, 1972) 179.
Foster, Celebration 14.
For example see Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2002) 88, 89.
This website describes altered states and recommends them for all religious people, including Christians: http://www.plim.org/meditate.html ; altered states are described here: http://www.plim.org/alteredstate97.html
Foster, Celebration 17.
Ibid.
Ibid. 18.
Kelsey Silence, 149.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid. 150.
Ibid. 150.
Ibid. 143.
Ibid. 155.
Ibid.
Boyd, Seeing, 103.
Stapleton Inner Healing 164.
Ibid. 165.
Foster, Discipline, 25.
Kelsey, Silence, 144, 145.
Here is a definition: “Hesychasts (hesychastes — quietist) were people, nearly all monks, who defended the theory that it is possible by an elaborate system of asceticism, detachment from earthly cares, submission to an approved master, prayer, especially perfect repose of body and will, to see a mystic light; which is none other than the uncreated light of God.” From the Catholic Encyclopedia online: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm
Kelsey, Silence 145.
Sanford, Healing, 21.
Ibid., 22.
Stapleton, Inner Healing, 163.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid. 165, 166.
See relaxation response therapy: http://www.mind-body-medicine.com/relax.htm
Ibid.
Boyd, Seeing, 90-95.
http://www.creighton.edu/~rocsj/liturgy/existentialism_part6.html; from “An Existential Approach to Liturgy”
Boyd, Seeing, 94.
Ibid.
Ibid. 88.
Ibid. 103.
Ibid. 108.
Ibid.
Foster, Celebration, 26.
Boyd, Seeing, 111.
Ibid. 117.
Ibid. 121, 122.
Ibid. 125.
Kelsey, Silence, 226, 227 citing C. G. Jung, Analytical Pscyhology.
Ibid. 227.
Morton Kelsey, God, Dreams, and Revelation; (Augsburg: Minneapolis, 1991) 172.
Ibid.
Ibid. 45.
Ibid. 173.
This website has Jung’s depiction of Philemon: http://www.crmspokane.org/Philemon.htm
The man is John Paul Jackson this is the website: http://www.streamsministries.com
Foster, Celebration, 22, 23.
Boyd, Seeing, 205.
Ibid. 205, 206.
Ankerberg, Silva; video tape.
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Critical Issues Commentary
Twin City Fellowship
P.O. Box 8068
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-874-7484
pastorbob@twincityfellowship.com
Todd Friel at KKMS on 980AM had a great interview with a Hindu yoga expert explaining the myth of “Christian Yoga” and why it is not possible to seperate the Hinduism from yoga for “just” fitness.
You can hear it at this link:
http://www.ttwministries.com/media/Swami%20Param.mp3
Participating in other religions does NOT make you a better Christian! “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” That’s a pretty succinct statement, and sums up what God thinks about other religions.
It is the Christian’s duty to share his faith with others. It is the Christian’s duty to not cause others to stumble where they are weak in faith. It is not the Christian’s responsibility to engage in other religions just to show them that we’ll take the time to see their side of it before showing them our side.
It’s all well and good for Christians to learn about other religions, especially the native religions of where they are living so that they can effectively counter them. But learning about other religions does not mandate participating in them. Actively participating in another religion is tantamount to reneging true faith in Jesus Christ!
A strict reading of the Bible is indeed the correct way of going about our lives. If God didn’t want us to read what He conveyed directly, He wouldn’t have put such clear passages in the scriptures. It is true that some sections of the Bible are not as clear as others, and so we line up multiple passages to use scripture to interpret scripture. There are parts of the Bible that can not be understood in any way other than as figurative language, but we always begin with the literal reading, and then only move to a symbolic understanding if a literal understanding is not possible. When Jesus told the assmebled multitudes that they needed to drink his blood and eat his flesh, the symbolism is apparent. However, when we are told to avoid even the appearance of evil, there is no ambiguity there. Where the Bible teaches that women are not to be pastors, there is no ambiguity.
Since Yoga is irreconcilably linked to Hinduism, it is not right for Christians to be participating in it.
I can see there was much debate over this and I may be a little late. I am struggling with determining what to do here. I have a dear friend of mine who loves the Lord (as I do) and yet she practices Yoga and encourages others to do so. While I detest legalism as it is used too often in the Church today, I can’t help but be convicted by two statements that ring in my ear louder than anything, “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev 11:44) And “He who is not with Me is against Me” (Luke 11:23.)
The thing is that many Christians today have forgotten that God was a demanding God. He is also immutable (unchanging). So that means He is a demanding God today. Jesus was not tolerant, loving yes, but not tolerate. He did not embrace the beliefs of others. He loved, yet told the truth in love.
Christ had strict requirements for His followers. You can’t just come to Him any way you want and do what ever you feel should be ok. His grace comes with repentance and carries you daily from there.
Also, Paul spoke continually about not doing anything that would cause your Christian brother to stumble.
We are supposed to be protecting the Church of Christ and not tearing it down. We are to put our fellow believers first, because Christ dwells within us. We must protect the Church and purify it.
How can this single issues cause so much division in the Church? There is only one author of such confusion and division- Satan.
Close-minded? Yes
In-tolerant? Yes
Defensive? Yes
Uncompromising? Yes
Loving? Yes
Truth? Yes
These do not negate each other.
I can not conclude absolutely that practicing the physical form of Yoga is wrong, but the thing is this: You give the enemy an inch, and he will take a yard. He has one purpose: “to kill, steal, and destroy” (John 10:10)
He isn’t playing with us. Why do we want to play with him?
Christ asks the question: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (18:8) While I cant pretend to know the mind of Christ, I do wonder what kind of faith was He talking about? I ask, will He find followers who will have faith, not in what they believe God should be, but in who He says He is?
You ask some good questions. I agree.
If there is any question, why not err on the side of caution?
I think when Hindus claim what Yoga is, Christians would be wise to listen to them and avoid it.
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Galatians,
Peace to you and all who read in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, the life, who died for our sins, according to the scriptures, who was buried, and who rose from the dead according to the scriptures. Indeed, Jesus is Lord. Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
I believe that many believers and non-believers seek “higher levels of consciousness” or spirituality is because of a general lack of direct experience of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As believers, we tell people that they can have a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” But really we give them sermons and Bible Study. We tell them that we have a “better covenant with better promises.” Yet if I had a choice between Bible Study and speaking face to face with God as Moses did, I would choose the latter. I am speaking from the point of view of one who is lacking “higher states of consciousness” or “spirituality.” True, even the direct experiences of the Israelites did not keep them from idols. At the same time, the desire for a direct connection to God and a direct likeness to God on this side of heaven is not only understandable, but biblical. Through faith in Christ, the very Spirit of God is literally in us and we are literally one with God in Spirit; our bodies indeed God’s very temples. Yet to experience this and not just state it theologically, I believe, would satisfy the desire for direct experience with God.
So, if you would address the truth that we can actually and experientially enter the very presence of God (the Holy of Hoiies) by the blood of Jesus, and how this truth is experienced, perhaps even the spiritual need or desire of yoga or other “spiritual experiences” will be seen as truly met in Christ in experience and not just theologically or as a christian cliche.
In Jesus,
Olatunde
PS
to give a brief illustration of what i am saying:
in many west african countries, west africans would become “christians” but still go to their witch doctors because the witch doctors had supernatural power. the africans would ask the missionaries why Jesus didn’t still do miracles and heal like He did in the bible, especially since the bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. the missionaries would respond that miracles stopped with the completion of the canon. so they went to the witch doctors.
this is only one side of the story, of course, because there are also many missionaries who do heal the sick and raise the dead in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God the Father, the Only True God. but i just wanted to make the point for illustration.
I also don’t think that yoga is a good decision for Christians.If they want to train something I recommend them to start practicins low impact water aerobics.
Yes Cara, there are plenty of stretching and breathing activities Christians and others can do without becoming involved in Hindu religous rituals.
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[...] available for the needy. The threat that this poses to traditional religion has not gone unnoticed “Yoga: A Religion for Sex Addicts” screams the headline of an article by the Landover [...]
Fascinating discussion (though I too seem to have come in a bit late in the thread).
I am a committed Christian and have recently begun to practice yoga as a form of exercise. Having read many of the replies to your initial posting, I’m rather surprised at some of the responses on both sides. As a teenager, I dabbled for some time in the occult and was consequently delivered from that by the Grace of God, but subsequently am sensitive to the dark things of the Enemy.
In my initial introduction to ashtanga yoga, I immediately picked up on the heavy Hindu emphasis: TM, chakras, mantras, and the like. I also picked up on the fact that, like most “Eastern” practice it is rooted in an ancient wisdom of the natural world and the body that we’ve long since lost touch with. (Just to clarify, I’m not talking about anything that has to do with the occult.) Just as with chiropractic practices, there’s a reason that this stuff works. In fact, for some time I was going to a Christian chiropractor who recommended faith-based yoga as a exemplary form of exercise. He, like many yoga practitioners, recognise the link between breathing and the sympathetic nervous system, and the calming effect that correct breathing has on the mind. In addition to that, he also stresses the importance of proper body alignment and assigns exercises that strengthen the key muscles of the body in order for that to happen. It just so happens that yoga manages to accomplish all of these things.
I have also studied Hinduism, I was amazed to learn that of all the world religions, it is probably the closest to Christianity. However, it is still a religion based on the self (like all the other religions). In other words, it’s just missing a key element that would transform the minds of its followers, which is why so many Hindus (especially the so-called “Untouchables”) are coming to Christ in droves. They are so close and yet still sadly deceived!
With that in mind, I felt led to replace the meditation and mantras with the Word of God instead, mentally chanting Scripture and key verses. There are so many verses quoted from the Hindu scriptures that sound vaguely like verses from Scripture (which is exactly what the Enemy does… there’s always just enough truth mixed in with the lie to make it sound convincing).
For example, one passage quoted goes like this: “Whoever knows me without delusion as the supreme spirit of man knows all there is.” Several verses leap to mind right away. John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Or 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Or Ephesians 3, which tells us that the love of Christ “surpasses all knowledge.”
Yoga teaches focus and concentration. As a book I’m reading right now says, “Thoughts will continuously arise, but by concentrating on a fixed point or object, such as your breathing, you will gain the ability to observe your thoughts without becoming involved in them.” How about Philippians 4:7-8, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Or Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Just as in Paul’s day, Christians then were worried about eating food sacrificed to idols, and he was very clear about that. Rather, Paul warned the church to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). And he told us that “though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). If we start with the understanding that we are not the centre of the universe, and that everything is to be subject to the will of God and to his glory, then even the pagan origins of yoga cannot stand up to that!
As the Reverend Rowland Hill, pastor of Surrey Chapel in London, said in a sermon in 1844, “The devil should not have all the best tunes.” Now, as several other people have commented here, I fully agree that this is not license to bring Hindu teachings into the church, or for Christians to allow this teaching to infiltrate their lives. Rather, as Scripture teaches us, we ought to “test every spirit to see whether [it is] from God.”
What do you think of the Landover Baptist Church?
http://www.landoverbaptist.org
The main question you have to ask is: what will struggling Christians think if they saw you? What if they are coming out of the religious activities and then saw you partaking? What is the message you send by your actions?
Landover is a website that has sometimes funny spoofs and sometimes blasphemous content. Mostly though, they are responsible for creating untrue stories that become urban legends that critics of Christianity use for amunition to attack.
tr
oh..what is one such story?
MacArthur vs an Emergent on the topic of yoga:
http://www.sfpulpit.com/2007/09/13/john-macarthur-doug-pagitt-and-yoga/
There’s a link to the video on YouTube, too.
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The Empty Promise of Meditation
Should Christians practice meditation? An increasing number of Christians are trying or using Eastern meditation techniques in an effort to direct their spiritual lives. It is no longer shocking to see churches offering yoga and meditation classes, nor to hear some Christians talking about their walks in a labyrinth, time spent in meditation, or experiments with the latest borrowing from the East. However, as Dr. Albert Mohler writes in a new blog post today, biblical meditation is dramatically different from these trends.
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2782
[...] Galatians Chapter 4 Verse 16 speaks about Yoga [...]