Southern Baptist leader, "no yoga for Christians"

[punisher73]

Thought this was an interesting article. What are your thoughts?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39553520/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

Interesting point at the end of the article that the pastor makes. Someone asked about doing the poses/stretching but no the chanting/spiritual aspects of it. The pastor's view is that you aren't doing yoga then. So what are your thoughts on that aspect? If you remove all of the spiritual aspects that yoga was founded on, are you still doing yoga or are you just exercising and stretching?

 

[Xue Sheng]

If you remove all of the spiritual aspects that yoga was founded on, are you still doing yoga or are you just exercising and stretching?

You get Power Yoga.

Other than that all I have to say is how secure is someone in their own faith/spirituality if it can be threatened by a Yoga class

 

[Omar B]

If it's just the physical aspect of Yoga, then it's not Yoga. I've seen many gyms with yoga instructors who don't know crap about it's religious or historical underpinnings (or for that matter, the actual names for the moves they are doing). Neither can you say you have learned the whole system without spending any less than 10 years training under a guru. Non or that learned it in a fitness class or in college or by going to some other dude's Yoga class every day.

It looks like yoga, but is not.

 

[CoryKS]

Yoga: the flexibility exercise of SATAN!!!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yoga: the flexibility exercise of SATAN!!!

:lol:

You made me think what Church Lady might say


Yoga Well, isn't that special?”

Now who would want to teach yoga in church Now, who could it be? Could it be ... Satan?”

 

[clfsean]

Dude's an idiot... but a special idiot. He believes in what he says & has other that people that do as well. That's dangerous.

You put into a thing what you want. You take from a thing what you want.

I can read the Quran & it doesn't make me a Muslim. I can read the Talmud & I'm not an "add water & instant Jew". I went to Shaolin Temple, Potala Palace & Jokorum Monastary & came home NOT a Buddhist.

Dude is about as together as the schmuck in Florida.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Dude's an idiot... but a special idiot. He believes in what he says & has other that people that do as well. That's dangerous.

You put into a thing what you want. You take from a thing what you want.

I can read the Quran & it doesn't make me a Muslim. I can read the Talmud & I'm not an "add water & instant Jew". I went to Shaolin Temple, Potala Palace & Jokorum Monastary & came home NOT a Buddhist.

Dude is about as together as the schmuck in Florida.

You mean...I'm NOT a daoist just because I went to Bái Yún Gùan :uhyeah:

 

[Touch Of Death]

Dude's an idiot... but a special idiot. He believes in what he says & has other that people that do as well. That's dangerous.

You put into a thing what you want. You take from a thing what you want.

I can read the Quran & it doesn't make me a Muslim. I can read the Talmud & I'm not an "add water & instant Jew". I went to Shaolin Temple, Potala Palace & Jokorum Monastary & came home NOT a Buddhist.

Dude is about as together as the schmuck in Florida.

He believes what he says because Yoga is really rooted in a foreign religion... Hello.
Sean

 

[clfsean]

You mean...I'm NOT a daoist just because I went to Bái Yún Gùan :uhyeah:

Bummer but no dude...

 

[Touch Of Death]

You must first read, The Dao of Pooh.
Sean

 

[clfsean]

He believes what he says because Yoga is really rooted in a foreign religion... Hello.
Sean

And the Quran, Talmud & the monastaries of Tibet I visted aren't?

Just because you practice a piece of a thing, doesn't mean you practice all of a thing.

If that were the case, we'd all be chanting sutras before class, during class & after class along with detatching from the secular world to study Chinese martial arts. In Japanese martial arts, it'd be koans, calligraphy, tea & flower arranging as well. In Indonesian, animism & shamanism.

 

[Touch Of Death]

And the Quran, Talmud & the monastaries of Tibet I visted aren't?

Just because you practice a piece of a thing, doesn't mean you practice all of a thing.

If that were the case, we'd all be chanting sutras before class, during class & after class along with detatching from the secular world to study Chinese martial arts. In Japanese martial arts, it'd be koans, calligraphy, tea & flower arranging as well. In Indonesian, animism & shamanism.

If you read the Koran, it is.
sean

 

[clfsean]

If you read the Koran, it is.
sean

Huh?

Because I read a theological text, doesn't make me a member of the sect.

Because I visit a place deemed "holy" or any other theological reference, doesn't make me a member of the sect.

Because I practice a martial art that's grounded in a theology, doesn't make me an adherent to it.

Because you practice yoga, doesn't make you a devotee of Hinduism, Buddhism or anything else.

This guy is pushing his thoughts & values out to everybody as "I know & you don't". Being raised in the South & around Southern baptists... I kinda got an idea a little.

 

[crushing]

Is he a hypocrite? I found a picture of what may be him practicing what appears to be some form of yoga.


http://silentespeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/head-up-***.jpg

 

[Touch Of Death]

Huh?

Because I read a theological text, doesn't make me a member of the sect.

Because I visit a place deemed "holy" or any other theological reference, doesn't make me a member of the sect.

Because I practice a martial art that's grounded in a theology, doesn't make me an adherent to it.

Because you practice yoga, doesn't make you a devotee of Hinduism, Buddhism or anything else.

This guy is pushing his thoughts & values out to everybody as "I know & you don't". Being raised in the South & around Southern baptists... I kinda got an idea a little.

From what I have read on this thread, he did say the streatches were OK. I do doubt that most Christian leaders would recomend that their students read the Koran; however, I doubt that most Christian leaders would recomend against "visiting" some historical landmark. I'm sure you aren't, personaly, going to start worshipping the sun, but I thinks its OK for this guy to bring what some of the stuff means to light.
Sean

 

[bluewaveschool]

When most Americans hear 'yoga' they only think of the poses and such. They have no idea of the spiritual side of it. Think of it as 2 branches, traditional yoga and western yoga.

Kind of like Tae Kwon Do, with the schools that are more traditional and schools that focus more on the sporting aspect. Some martial artists don't care about the traditions and learning all the history, they want the physical part of it. Some classes are geared towards that. Is a school NOT a TKD school if they don't teach about Gen. Choi and use Korean terms?

 

[punisher73]

If it's just the physical aspect of Yoga, then it's not Yoga. I've seen many gyms with yoga instructors who don't know crap about it's religious or historical underpinnings (or for that matter, the actual names for the moves they are doing). Neither can you say you have learned the whole system without spending any less than 10 years training under a guru. Non or that learned it in a fitness class or in college or by going to some other dude's Yoga class every day.

It looks like yoga, but is not.

that actually corresponds to what the pastor was saying. If all you do is stretching, it is NOT yoga. He is defining yoga as a spiritual practice of a religion.

I have seen two types of yoga classes. One is run by aerobics instructors and combines yoga and pilates and other exercises, and the second is run by new age people who took a cert class and combine it with their own spiritual beliefs. I have not come across a yoga class that is taught in a traditional manner (extension of hinduism).

From reading the article, I don't think the pastor has a problem with the first type of class, it is the second and third types he would.

 

[bluewaveschool]

so that stuff under the 'yoga' tab on my wii fit isn't really yoga since i'm not learning about hinduism and chanting at the same time?

 

[Omar B]

Check out your local Hindu Temple, they should have real Yoga classes ... and free lunch.

And no, I've never used a Wii but I'm pretty certain it's got nothing to do with real Yoga. Yoga is the physical aspect of the religion, it's a religion of body, heart and mind where all must be constantly worked on. You can think if it as Buddhist monks doing Kung Fu, same deal, an extension of their religion.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Christianity has borrowed many aspects of other non-christian beliefs over the centuries and adapted them as their own. It’s so sad that someone is upset about what 99.9% of people consider a form of exercise, as being contradictory to christianity.