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Post by venge on Jun 20, 2019 8:47:32 GMT -6
This is another one of those area's where people point to various items within a practice and claim it is evil and should be avoid -- because of someone else's opinion (without thinking it though for themselves).
Is YOGA decedent from Hinduism, Buddhism? Absolutely -- no argument there. The pointed to article (written way back in 2016 by the way) -- deals with the history of Yoga and how it developed and of course the meditation. Ok, forewarned -- great.
The Movements -- ARE NOT evil (or take one down a dark path) ... they are exercise movements that do a body good!
Meditation -- we are commanded in the bible to meditate on God's word {Psalm 1:2; Psalm 104:34; Psalm 119:97-99; Psalm 49:3; Philippians 4:8; Joshua 1:8} - [ this list could go on and on ]
We need to focus on delighting in and meditating on the Word of God. We focus on praising God and His works. His creation, His Love, His Power.
By All means -- DO NOT Meditate by emptying your mind -- but instead Meditate on God's glorious Power and Love......
Do the exercise (the movement) Do the meditation -- focusing on Jesus Christ and His might works.
I agree with cwood85 and I’ll say why. Yoga is an exercise and is not spiritual when used as such. God searches the hearts right? And he knows if you are exercising or meditating. With that said, I’ll refer to Paul: Paul said if one man esteemed something right and another wrong, don’t offend the other as one may be weak and another strong. So to each his own, it’s a matter of the heart. Now also with Paul I’ll say this to yoga in the Church: Christians didn’t want to emulate the Jews on their holidays nor the heathen that way they would be different. Example: they didn’t hold Church on the same day as the Jews. Does yoga in Church worship God or give him glory? No. Can yoga in church lead the unsaved to think “what in the world...”? Yes and so it can be a distraction and therefore not edifying. IMO, yoga is not harmful as an exercise being mindful to stay in control. Yoga can be harmful in a church.
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Post by cwood85 on Jun 21, 2019 12:53:43 GMT -6
This is one of those things where I relate Baleem as being the evil thing or cursed and God blesses the curse, not once but twice Paul says if you eat food from idols but are thankful to God and not the idols, it doesn’t matter that it was sacrificed for idols. Why? Because it’s food and God made the animals and plants it comes from, not the idol. Doing yoga to a make believe god or as in a form of worship to yourself is not good. Doing the stretching and not getting into all the chakras is just stretching. I meditate as well, I have to or I would be able to focus on reading and studying of any sort. I even meditate before I pray because my mind wanders in 50 directions all the time. But whenever I meditate I keep my eyes on Jesus. When doing yoga type stretching, thank God for being able to exercise and trying to be healthy. God isn’t going to punish someone for trying to take care of themselves. He is in the business of taking a curse and turning it into a blessing. ❤️☺️ Have you ever been to a class? It is way different than stretching on your own or looking at stretching videos. The instructor actually has you meditate on parts of your body. The chkaras mentioned are not of God. It is a deception and in my opinion, opens up the occult. I would not take such a strong stance if I never experienced this for myself. No I have not been to a yoga class, but have been in Karate and even therapy classes that did similar deep meditation on various part of the body such as starting to focus at the head, then the neck, shoulders, arms and all the way down to the toes. I have what the world like to call ADD and severely. Over the last couple of years I have learned to view it as very non linear thinking lol. Some days it's more like firecrackers are my thoughts, lit, BOOM, and then gone lol. So meditation of that sort puts out the fuses and allows my mind to SLOW down when I really need it to. It's not occult if you don't treat it like so, at least that is how I view it. To me this also works wonders with praying and clearing my mind for it when I really need to focus on something important. At one appointment, my therapist had me visualize being someplace that we wanted to be the most and to go through water to clear our thoughts and other stuff of that sort. I instead imagined myself following Jesus and him guiding me through the places being described to see and visit in my mind instead of doing these things entirely by myself.
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Post by fitz on Jun 21, 2019 15:32:44 GMT -6
Just my .02...no personal experience, but, the wife did go to a Yoga class...once!
I told her not to go because, to me, it's a spiritual thing that is not of God, but, she felt pressured by some of the ladies in town, so she went.
When she came home she said, "never again!". Lots of spiritual mumbo-jumbo that was very new age-ish...creepy.
Not for Christians, IMHO. Bottom line, it pushes a spirituality devoid of Christ.
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Post by findtruth on Jun 22, 2019 5:44:34 GMT -6
I do understand where everyone on this thread are coming from and why there are mixed feelings on this subject. The same is happening in our society and in the church . I have to stand on what I believe about the practice of yoga. In these last days, many different types of deception will take place. In Matthew 24:4-5, Jesus said" take heed that no man deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and shall deceive many". Satan is the father of lies. He knows his time is short. He is trying to do everything to draw people away from the one and only true God, our Lord, Jesus Christ. He can not take the spirit of God away from a true Christian, but he can try to pull a Christian away from a deeper relationship with our Lord.
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