Yoga = Hinduism

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NarrowRoadDisciple said:
The point is, you can't take something of another culture and belief and be a partaker in it if you belong to Him. If it isn't pleasing to Him, walk away from it. As King Saul learned the hard way, you can't take parts of a culture that is not pleasing to God and use it to worship Him or incorporate it in your life. It's essentially tolerating things not of God and saying it's ok, even when you rename it.
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Many of the rituals and holidays in the christian world actually are founded in pagan ritual. Such as Christmas and Easter. They are both christianized pagan celebrations.

So consider that the next time you feel like celebrating christmas like the rest of the world NarrowRoad.
 
I'm not entirely sure about yoga, as I haven't thought about it enough yet, but I guess it has health benefits, right? Isaiah 53:5 says that by His stripes we were healed. There are also some verses in Proverbs and Psalms (among other books) that talk about health and how the Word is healthy for you (I can't think of the verses right now D: ). Why don't you just trust God for your health? I don't say that to condemn or judge (I certainly don't trust God enough for my health, but I'm getting there) but if yoga really does have demonic ties, well, here's a health benefit for you that's infinitely better than yoga.
 
NarrowRoadDisciple said:
The point is, you can't take something of another culture and belief and be a partaker in it if you belong to Him. If it isn't pleasing to Him, walk away from it. As King Saul learned the hard way, you can't take parts of a culture that is not pleasing to God and use it to worship Him or incorporate it in your life. It's essentially tolerating things not of God and saying it's ok, even when you rename it.
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I guess that means you should abandon Christmas and Easter then since they are both ORIGINALLY pagan holidays that were Christianized, just like the "yoga" she is referring to. Christmas used to be the Norse holiday of Yule, involving decorating trees, putting gifts in drying socks near the hearths, and celebratory feasting (Christmas dinner).

Easter came from a festival celebrating fertility, hence the rabbits and eggs. Both of these Holidays were taken from another culture and belief... So do you abstain from celebrating on these holidays, or are you one of the hypocrites?
 
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This is interesting because I have a mandatory training coming up Sunday given by a clients sister that just got her master license to teach that is Yoga. My boss wants me to be there. These are ways to calm her sister. And were asked to not only learn them but apply them. I don't feel comfortable cause I know last time she came to visit she said she was going in the back to do something and hopefully her mentally challenged sister would feel all the angels. I believe in angels but we don't have to pray to them or do something special for them to come just ask Jesus and He will send them. I'm going to try getting out of this. I have a union to so hopefully I don't lose my job:) pray for me.
 
Pheonix said:
Many of the rituals and holidays in the christian world actually are founded in pagan ritual. Such as Christmas and Easter. They are both christianized pagan celebrations.

So consider that the next time you feel like celebrating christmas like the rest of the world NarrowRoad.
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I don't celebrate Christmas and Easter for those very reasons.
We worship Him in spirit and in truth.
 
I say if you want to know for real if something is okay with God or not, ask Him yourself. :)

I my personal opinion, I think it depends how you are focusing spiritually while you do the poses. Someone cannot tell me I am sinning by stretching a certain way if I am not mentally and spiritually focused in the practice of the religion that invented it.

I don't practice it myself, but I read about the health benefits lots of times.
 
Sorry folks, but there are MANY things we should not be participating in. Yoga, acupuncture, other practices that believe in similar things. If football is an obsession, than that, too should be avoided. there is a difference between watching a game of football on sunday vs. watching football all day on sunday and skipping church because of football. Not knowing the difference between the two is scary!
 
Relena7 said:
I say if you want to know for real if something is okay with God or not, ask Him yourself. :)

I my personal opinion, I think it depends how you are focusing spiritually while you do the poses. Someone cannot tell me I am sinning by stretching a certain way if I am not mentally and spiritually focused in the practice of the religion that invented it.

I don't practice it myself, but I read about the health benefits lots of times.
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i completely agree!!!
God is able to say if it displeases Him if we are truly His children.
 
I can only ever speak as I find.
Whilst serving, some years ago, with one of the Uk's Police Forces, I was regularly doubled-up with an officer (Mo) who was a devout Hindu.
This afforded me the treasured opportunity to dine, @ times, with his family & I was privileged to meet & eat with one of the most interesting, respectable & respected, genuine & generous group of people I have ever been fortunate enough to share time with.
J.
 
In college, I was involved in the Honor's program, where we took entirely seperate courses that had a variety of topics. One of the courses I took was called "The Wisdom of Yoga." At the time, I didn't know it was a religion, but it worked out fine for me, as I was still sorta in the period where I was exploring other religions and such.

I found the book to be quite unreliable, for multiple reasons. The most prominent reasons being that the whole book was about one person talking with god. Now how reliable was that? Compare this to the Bible, where you have God talking, communicating, and interacting with hundreds and thousands of people over quite a long time span, and the two just don't compare. Also, the Living Gita put forth some very odd messages, such as that we should strive for perfection and never show/express/have emotions, good or bad emotions.

The yoga stretches can be good exercises, and I don't have a problem with that. The problem is what the represent. Most of them, from my experience, represent worshiping or submitting yourself to the earth or sun or stars, etc. This is blatently a violation of the first and second commandments.
 
Yoga CAN be a spiritual practice, but it can be done as a stretching exercise as well, no different from tai chi or pilates.
 
Talk about bringing an old thread back :P
This is a very good video that explains exactly how dangerous yoga can be, even if we think we're doing it just for "health" benefits or exercise. The same actually goes for tai chi.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_yfxZmRokg[/video]
 
=Dude653; ]isnt yoga just a series of stretching exercises?? /QUOTE]

I wonder how God looks at some of our practices as we Christians live our life for Him! Yoga is truly just stretching to most of us. I wonder if that is the way God sees Yoga! God asks us first to “love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength”.

If we look at how the Hebrews lived, they had a hard time keeping their life centered on the one true God. Aren’t we in the same fix? We have Yoga, Sports, Muslims, Astrology, Numerology, and morals as the news media teaches for just a short list.

How many things do we have in our church or life that originated with pagans, that is not centered on God? The one practice that God emphasizes most is to keep our life centered on Him. It is the first, the most important commandment.

The Hebrews started early to want something they could look at to represent God so they used a Golden Calf. They felt they could worship God better if they had something they could see and touch to represent God. Now, no one would put a golden calf in our churches. We know how God looks at golden calves, but there are many times we have used instructions from other sources than God, made it Christianized, and used it as part of our worship and living. We even have traditions we use. Can’t they be compared to the golden calves? We explain them as part of worshipping God and living well. So did the Hebrews explain the golden calves.
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Simply put, we don't "Christianize" anything nor do we "claim" anything for God.
Examine what you are trying to use to worship God. If it is not pleasing to Him in origin (in this case the inseparable nature of Yoga from Hinduism) we do not do it. The hebrews had no patience and instead of waiting for Moses, they made their own god and idol. What are we doing in His eyes that is not pleasing to Him? He never said our walk would be easy. We are promised persecution and trials, but we rejoice in them nevertheless. When God prunes us, He cuts away parts of us so that we may know how to live a life more pleasing to Him. Why would we try to graft things displeasing to God back into us? Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. Be separate and holy as He is holy :)

Just because we "like" to do Yoga and feel we only do it for health benefits doesn't change the fact that He does not want us to participate in things that are used to worship pagan gods. In this case, yoga is tied inseparably to Hindu practices and rituals of worship. It seeks to help one recognize and actualize the inner god within them. Even the term "namaste" means the god in me bows to the god in you. Why would any Christian even think to have anything to do with this practice once they know the truth? "Come out of her My people" is the dynamic in the bible that has been there since the beginning. We should have no desire to yoke with the world in any way, shape, or form.
 
NarrowRoadDisciple said:
Talk about bringing an old thread back :P
This is a very good video that explains exactly how dangerous yoga can be, even if we think we're doing it just for "health" benefits or exercise. The same actually goes for tai chi.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_yfxZmRokg[/video]
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Thank you, this was very informative. Gods speed. and may Our road continue to narrow.
 
Yoga is to do with relaxing muscles and stretching. Easing joing pain and such. There's no worship to any diety involved. It's a form of exercise.
 
Mediate, have you not been reading this thread? There's a lot more to it than just stretching even when you unconsciously have no idea what you're doing. In all things, get understanding.
 
If you see it as stretching and nothing else, then it is stretching and nothing else. If you see it as some form of hindu ritual, then it is.

The yoga classes I see in the gym are promoted as a way to alleviate muscle stiffness and pain.

If we took the view that anything that has ever had ties to another religion is heresy then we wouldnt be allowed to do anything.

Giving and charity are part of every religion. Do we brand those heresy?

They are beneficial, as is yoga.

It's this to me; learning the art of stretching in certain positions to loosen joints and alleviate muscle stiffness. A form of relaxation.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Like meditation is a way of slowing heart rate, being conscious of my thoughts & desires and getting in touch with my own mind. Basically a way of looking inside myself.

The body is a temple and good action starts with good thought. There's nothing heretical in any of that.
 
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