I am constantly hearing about how there is something wrong with the "church" today. The emergent movement was in direct response to this very idea. I have also noticed the inclusion into the "church" of today the eastern mysticism ideas of Hinduism and Budhism (and even Satanism and witchcraft!), yet nobody seems to notice that this is a huge part of the problem with today's "church."

Yoga by definition is a Hindu practice with the goal of becoming one with god (notice the small "g"). To think that one could do this and be Christian is to lie to oneself. That is like being a Christian-Hindu - it is not possible. Yoga is not a health practice. It is a religious observance designed to let go of yourself and become god.

If you go to the website above, you can even see the Hindu influence in what they are doing. They are trying to combine that which cannot be combined. I realize that excercise and stretching and meditation are not evil in and of themselves; however, imitating the Hindu practice of yoga is not necessary to their stated goals.

Remember, the Bible warns us of doing these kinds of things. Here are just a few of the passages (paraphrases, not quotes, but you can look them up to verify me):

3 John 11 - do not imitate what is evil

Eph 5:11 - have nothing to do with evil, instead expose it

James 1:27 - don't be polluted by the world

I Thess 5:22 - avoid every kind of evil

Eph 5:3 - avoid even a hint of impurity

Deut 18:9 - do not imitate the detestable ways of the world

There are more, but these should be sufficient.

Stan.

well I don't know about that . . . Yoga just doesn't come off as big a threat as Billy Bank's punching and kicking combos with Jesus. Now that's just evil. Or is it? Stan you need to stretch a bit, warm up, work out some of that pharisaical chatter, and cool down the evil talk. I don't think folks are channeling Shiva the Destroyer as they stretch their muscles and breathe deeply during yoga.

I'm curious as to what else you think is evil out their Stan!

Hi Andy,

What I think is evil is irrelevant.

I quoted the God's words, not my own. I realize that the Bible was not written by a post-modern, but it is the only source of truth there is. If you would like a list of what is evil and what is not, you should try reading it. Of course, it might stretch you a bit to realize that the standards have already been set down by someone a whole lot wiser than any of us, and no amount of denying those standards will make them go away or change.

God gets to decide what is evil, not me, and frankly, He says idolatry is evil. Yoga is based upon idolatry, so it too is evil. If that is pharisaical, so be it. Nobody said following Jesus would be popular. In fact, I think He said it would be very unpopular and few would actually succeed - Matthew 7:13-14. (That's in the Bible, first book of the New Testament. If you can't find it or don't have a Bible, go to Biblegateway.com and type it into the search engine.)

Now I'm curious - do you think anything is evil?

The only thing that I'm going to take to task is one portion of a sentence. "Yoga by definition..."

I am all about going back to the orginal meaning of things. But I also believe that Jesus re-defined some things for us. I think it's our job to show the world that Jesus did that, and that there is a alternate definition of life and peace that Jesus offers us.

I think this is also a ChOG trait: to redefine for people. What is church, what is holiness, what is the Kingdom of God?

So because of Jesus, and ChOG experience I wouldn't be afraid to make yoga our own as Christians.
I'm not sold on yoga, I'm just saying I think that in Jesus name we can redefine things for His glory.

Hi Randy,

I understand that Jesus redefined certain things that were originally designed to be good but were being distorted and made evil; however, other than the cross, I don't see any instance where Jesus redefined as good that which had been originally defined as evil. I would be interested in your examples of Jesus doing this.

I don't think the Church of God has ever done that either.

Redefining evil as good is exactly what Isaiah warned about in Is 5:20.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

In other words judgement comes upon those who redefine evil and call it good. God will not allow it in His church, and Jesus never did either.

That is dangerous ground indeed.

Stan.

The redefinition I was thinking about was that Jesus expanded sin and made salvation acts of the heart and mind not just our outward actions. Not simply by your hands. (Murder, Adultery, Divorce, etc. Matthew 5)

the redefining in the Church of God, was for the people that heard our pioneers. It wasn't about membership, or denomination. It was following Jesus with everything you have. It was Kingdom, not Christendom. And perhaps it was more about getting away from something we [humanity, the church] had twisted. But what about some things that we observe in the church? What about Christmas? The timing of Christmas, and the use of evergreen trees. Those were both pagan practices. Yet that is not why I celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25th, and have a Christmas tree.

Back to the subject at hand: Which part of Yoga is evil specifically? to you is it the poses themselves that are evil? I know what part I think it is. I just want to know what you think it is. To me it's the "being one with god" or "becoming god" as you put it.

Hi Randy,

I am a bit confused, now. You seem to be supporting my position suddenly.

Let me know if I am misunderstanding here - You feel that Jesus expanded the definition of sin by adding to it the sins of the heart and mind while confirming the sins of the hands. This idea would seem to argue completely against the use of yoga by any definition because of its idolatrous sins of mind and body.

You also seem to confirm my statement that the CHOG did not redefine anything, but they simply returned it to its original goodness.

What I consider sinful about yoga is everything. The spiritual aspect of yoga is obviously idolatry and really needs no discussion as to its being evil.

The postures, however, are a bit more discreet. One might think that they would be ok, but one has to understand that the postures in yoga have specific purposes designed to open the body to the "oneness with the universe." The varied postures were developed to "open the energy chanels and psychic centers of the body." These postures are sinful and evil in and of themselves because they point to and represent idolatry.

You might scoff that a body posture could be considered wrong, but I ask you to consider the three following postures:

Extending the middle finger.

A man moving his fist up and down in front of his groin.

A woman slouching with her legs splayed wide open.

While one might be able to redefine these actions and postures as something other than what they come to be known, I doubt if anyone outside the secret circle of redefiners would understand it, so why redefine them at all? Leave them alone. We don't need those actions and postures, so why go to all the trouble? Leave evil to itself and seek righteousness.

My point is this. We don't need to redefine evil as if the church was missing something and needed to be propped up. Every time we do that, we weaken the church and make it less than what it should be. Instead of spending time redefining evil, why not simply proclaim righteousness?

ok, i know i'm more than a month late on this topic, but here's my comment/question...
right now our definition, almost throughout much the world, of what following Christ looks like is very western, individual, etc. that's not a bad thing, it's just a thing.
so, as Christianity grows around the world [and it seems to be growing in almost every place except america] and then begins to come back to the west; and it will be sooner than later -
here's the question: what are we going to do when Christianity has a whole lot of eastern look & feel to it?

because right now, the way that we tend to interpret this kind of question is through western eyes.

so when eastern missionaries for Christ come into america talking about a relationship with Christ that has been formed through a personal history of muslim or hindu how are we, the "churched" folks, going to respond?