HELP! Yoga: Good or Bad?

[Ricette]

There is nothing sinful or heretical about yoga. Its a very relaxing thing to do. The article is, to me, another thing designed to bash something they see as foreign and there fore super harmful to Christian faith based on their interpretation of it. Go for yoga, its a good and stress reliving thing. Last time i checked, stress relief doesn't come from confession. Comes from yoga or a squeeze toy.  

[Act of Random Kindness]

Yoga's fine. The religion stuff behind it isn't, but the practice of yoga itself is perfectly acceptable. All it's really doing is helping you relax, blow off steam, etc.

So yeah, go for it.  

[Fide et Amore]

Ricette

There is nothing sinful or heretical about yoga. Its a very relaxing thing to do. The article is, to me, another thing designed to bash something they see as foreign and there fore super harmful to Christian faith based on their interpretation of it. Go for yoga, its a good and stress reliving thing. Last time i checked, stress relief doesn't come from confession. Comes from yoga or a squeeze toy.

I totally agree. And I do yoga all the time. It's so relaxing!  

[divineseraph]

Act of Random Kindness

Yoga's fine. The religion stuff behind it isn't, but the practice of yoga itself is perfectly acceptable. All it's really doing is helping you relax, blow off steam, etc.

So yeah, go for it.

Almost all religion is fine.  

[Act of Random Kindness]

divineseraph

Act of Random Kindness

Yoga's fine. The religion stuff behind it isn't, but the practice of yoga itself is perfectly acceptable. All it's really doing is helping you relax, blow off steam, etc.

So yeah, go for it.

Almost all religion is fine.

Yeah, from an outside perspective. From within another religion though, no it isn't.  

[SloanSage]

Ricette

There is nothing sinful or heretical about yoga. Its a very relaxing thing to do. The article is, to me, another thing designed to bash something they see as foreign and there fore super harmful to Christian faith based on their interpretation of it. Go for yoga, its a good and stress reliving thing. Last time i checked, stress relief doesn't come from confession. Comes from yoga or a squeeze toy.

Is it an interpretation that Yoga comes from a Hindu belief and is five thousand years old? No. The interpretation that a certain move is a stretch towards the sun god in the Hinduism is actually based on that it IS a stretch towards and worshiping the sun god in Hinduism. To perform an act that was originally designed to worship a pagan god is, in a sense, against God.

There are alternatives to Yoga, and they are just as beneficial, but they do not have a five thousand year history in the background.  

[Ricette]

Dunno about you, but i personally would trust a 5000 year old ritual over some new fangled 50 year or younger one made to teach little children that any other way is the way of Satan.
5000 years of stretches and alignments is a better qualifier than 50 years of some watered down wussy alternative to a good stretching routine that in today's society is purely aerobic and nothing else.  

[Neferet -House of Night-]

SloanSage

Ricette

There is nothing sinful or heretical about yoga. Its a very relaxing thing to do. The article is, to me, another thing designed to bash something they see as foreign and there fore super harmful to Christian faith based on their interpretation of it. Go for yoga, its a good and stress reliving thing. Last time i checked, stress relief doesn't come from confession. Comes from yoga or a squeeze toy.

Is it an interpretation that Yoga comes from a Hindu belief and is five thousand years old? No. The interpretation that a certain move is a stretch towards the sun god in the Hinduism is actually based on that it IS a stretch towards and worshiping the sun god in Hinduism. To perform an act that was originally designed to worship a pagan god is, in a sense, against God.

There are alternatives to Yoga, and they are just as beneficial, but they do not have a five thousand year history in the background.

But what if all the pagan Gods and Goddesses are the same as your God? Wouldn't you feel stupid for saying that?  

[Neferet -House of Night-]

Act of Random Kindness

divineseraph

Act of Random Kindness

Yoga's fine. The religion stuff behind it isn't, but the practice of yoga itself is perfectly acceptable. All it's really doing is helping you relax, blow off steam, etc.

So yeah, go for it.

Almost all religion is fine.

Yeah, from an outside perspective. From within another religion though, no it isn't.

Actually if you use cultural relativism which is looking at another religion or culture from within then yes it is fine. Cultural Relativism < Ethnocentrism.  

[Fallpray]

Dark Angel Rai

But what if all the pagan Gods and Goddesses are the same as your God? Wouldn't you feel stupid for saying that?

A Christian is not allowed to see other 'gods' as the same as Jehovah God. Refer to Exodus 20 Verse 3 and 4.  

[Neferet -House of Night-]

xDeathWindx

Dark Angel Rai

But what if all the pagan Gods and Goddesses are the same as your God? Wouldn't you feel stupid for saying that?

A Christian is not allowed to see other 'gods' as the same as Jehovah God. Refer to Exodus 20 Verse 3 and 4.

But then if the different Gods actually were God wouldn't Exodus 20:3-4 be going against God?

And yeah. I'm not a Christian. I just like debating religion and getting people to critically think.  

[SloanSage]

Yet, sometimes you just try to incite emotions.

For Believer's we are told that there is only One God, not multiple. The first commandment says "Have no other god before me," so there would be no real reason for us to think that there are other gods or goddesses.

Also, an interpretation is not necessarily a watered down version. You can stretch the same muscles and align your body in similar, healthy ways that are not in line with the Hindi beliefs. Just because they are new, does not mean they are bad. Personally, if I went to a doctor who had not gone to conferences and changed his methods of practice and increased their knowledge of new medicine in fifty years, I would be very worried.

I know from doing Yoga a few times that females should not do Yoga at certain times. Believe me, it is true. I hurt so bad after doing it once. I tried an alternative stretching exercise and I was able to decrease the hurting. I toned my body and was quiet healthy. I am even thinking of beginning it again (I was in an accident and I have recently been cleared for a stronger exercise). This alternative did not ask me to meditate on proverbs, but gave me a chance to meditate on my own ideals. I was also able to do this even when I was not supposed to with Yoga. Overall, this alternative stretched the same muscles in the same sequence, just in a different manner that was good for me. Each person can find their own alternative that fits their life and their body.

So, really, alternatives are not bad, just different. And really, if something has been around for 50 years, it has more value than one that has been around for 5. 50 years is longer than most of us here have been alive, so, like I trust my mom, dad, and grandparents because they have been here longer than I, I would still seriously look at it.  

[Romantica]

I think yoga can definitely be a spiritual exercise, depending on which context you use it in.

When I do yoga stretches, I do it for personal physical relaxation. If there are any implicit spiritual notions, I just simply dedicate my exercise to God. He is the center of my spiritual and physical focus, and I trust that he turns any negative situation into something that can be used for his glory.  

[divineseraph]

SloanSage

Yet, sometimes you just try to incite emotions.

For Believer's we are told that there is only One God, not multiple. The first commandment says "Have no other god before me," so there would be no real reason for us to think that there are other gods or goddesses.

Also, an interpretation is not necessarily a watered down version. You can stretch the same muscles and align your body in similar, healthy ways that are not in line with the Hindi beliefs. Just because they are new, does not mean they are bad. Personally, if I went to a doctor who had not gone to conferences and changed his methods of practice and increased their knowledge of new medicine in fifty years, I would be very worried.

I know from doing Yoga a few times that females should not do Yoga at certain times. Believe me, it is true. I hurt so bad after doing it once. I tried an alternative stretching exercise and I was able to decrease the hurting. I toned my body and was quiet healthy. I am even thinking of beginning it again (I was in an accident and I have recently been cleared for a stronger exercise). This alternative did not ask me to meditate on proverbs, but gave me a chance to meditate on my own ideals. I was also able to do this even when I was not supposed to with Yoga. Overall, this alternative stretched the same muscles in the same sequence, just in a different manner that was good for me. Each person can find their own alternative that fits their life and their body.

So, really, alternatives are not bad, just different. And really, if something has been around for 50 years, it has more value than one that has been around for 5. 50 years is longer than most of us here have been alive, so, like I trust my mom, dad, and grandparents because they have been here longer than I, I would still seriously look at it.

Well, technically, there MAY have been other Gods in competition with YHWH at the time the commandments were written, but YHWH was taken as the only god that mattered. Hence the "Have no other Gods before me" rather than "There are no other gods"

I believe that the gods were interpretations of God, but with different emotions or actions. Such as the Trinity in christianity or the Sephirah in hebrew teaching.  

[Fallpray]

Oh, I have an interesting thing to share. This was told to me by a fellow church member a while ago. In one of her cell group meetings, one of the members for no reason showed the symptom of being possessed by a serpent during a prayer session. She was hissing and acting like a snake. The rest of the church members present immediately prayed for her to rebuke the unclean spirit out of her. It was later known that she has been a practitioner of yoga for many years.