Recent news over YOGA coming from the Malaysian Fatwa has attracted a lot of Christian attention. The Islamic authorities have issued a ruling, known as a fatwa, instructing the country's Muslims to avoid yoga because of its Hindu roots.
What does the Christian faith has to say on this?
To most people yoga is simply a sport - a stress-busting start for the day. However Malaysia's National Fatwa Council said it goes further than that and that elements of the Indian religion are inherent in yoga. The original yoga does practice chanting and some form of worshipping which are inappropriate and they could "destroy the faith of a Muslim".
Many Christians share the same views with the Muslims. But yet, an equally amount of Christian are puzzles, some totally agree with the Muslims and some somewhat disagree. But I have yet to come across one that totally agrees that YOGA is perfectly okay for Christians. Or am I wrong? Is there anyone out there who dares to come forward to say it is okay? (Be ready to be crucified by the religious teacher………but don’t worry, I am behind you.)
A. What Does The Bible Say About Exercise?
1Timothy 4:8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future.(Good News Bible –GBB)
Notice that the verse does not say that exercise has no value! It says that exercise is valuable, but it term of priorities, godliness is of greater value.
Paul also mentions physical training in his teaching. 2 Timothy 2:5 ,4:7 and 1Cor 9:25-27 If physical training is not acceptable and is taboo, why mention that it has value.
There is nothing wrong with a Christian exercising. In 1Corinthians 6:19-20 clearly explains that believers must take good care of their bodies. [Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who is given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself but to God; he bought you for a price. So use your body for God's glory…GNB]
Also we find in Eph 5:29-20 None of us ever hate our own body. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does for the church; for we are members of his body. The bible also explains that we are to avoid gluttony. [Pro 23:2 If you have a big appetite, restrain yourself…GNB]
What does the Bible say about health? Be healthy! How do we achieve that goal? By engaging in moderate exercise and eating reasonably. That is the Biblical pattern of health and exercise.
B. OK You Prove That Exercise Is Okay, But Can We Do Yoga?
This is a very good question indeed. But let do a bit of divergence to magnify this paranoia of Christians that God can be boxed into a box by posing similar questions for us to answer. By doing so, we can see a pattern of boxing our Mighty God inside a small box but yet we still call our God Mighty.
Can we visit a doctor? Should we stop attending the Olympic games? Can we visit Chinese temples? Or Hindu temples?
VISIT DOCTORS? OH NO!, That is sorcery cry out many churches. That is ASKLEPIOS (or Asclepius). Known as the god of medicine and reputed ancestor of the Asklepiades, the ancient Greek doctors' guild. Asklepios was depicted as a kind, bearded man holding a serpent-entwined staff. He is almost completely absent from ancient Greek vase painting, but statues of the god are quite common.
But hold your brakes……medicine existed before Askelpois. Luke is a Physician himself. But Jesus handpicks Luke to be his disciple. He did not destroy any physicians or chased off physicians like he chased off the traders, money changers and scolded the Pharisees.
VISIT THE OLYMPIC GAMES? OH NO! HERAKLES was the leader of the Daktyloi, five ancient daimones who founded the Olympic Games in the age of Kronos. They were probably associated specifically with the race in armour, one of the oldest of Olympic events, for like the Kouretes, they were pictured as armoured youths.
VISIT CHINESE TEMPLE S / HINDU TEMPLES? OH NO, those places are full of spirits that can harm you. God has given us a Spirit that is greater than evil spirits. God gave us the light to shine the darkness away. He did not give us the light to hide it under our bed. [2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Luk 8:16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the lig]
Our God is not weak. Can you imagine, when you enter a temple, God will stay outside and say to you………….Go in alone Michael, I can’t follow you. The Spirit in the temple is too strong for me. I will wait for you. This is obviously preposterous. Our God is bigger than the Temple. He is not small and without powers to protect you.
CONCLUSION: We can go on and on, but the fact is everything is given to us by God to enjoy. And everything that is given to us, is also abused by the Satan. Just because Satan abuses what is given to us by God, do we withdraw and stay away from the good things that God richly gave us to enjoy. [Ti 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded; nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; ] IF it is a true teaching and the way forward, than we should stop worshiping or singing praises as Lucifer is the worship leader. The heathens also worship and if they have tainted the holiness of worship, shouldn’t we stop worshiping. Shouldn’t we also stop eating, as foods are also used by the heathens to offer to their false god
The above diagram shows how we make our God small with our twisted perspective of God. God is smaller than issues we have on our hand. Why do we have this wrong perspective? I believe Satan and his cohorts have distorted our mind to believe our God is small. Smaller than the problems that we are facing.
Let us stop this wrong perspective of ours today. Believe that our Heavenly Father is bigger than our mind can conceive. No Yoga gods, No Olympic gods, Medical gods are acceptable to Christians, but these fake gods cannot stop us from enjoying exercise, sports or to bring babe Christians to see doctors........all these are given to us by God to enjoy. (Babe Christians are Christian that are not skill full with the word Righteousness. Babe Christians are Christian that believe righteousness is achieve by self effort. Generaly Righteousness from Christ is rejected by all Babe Christians.........Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskillfull in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. )
The more restriction we self imposed ourselves, the happier Satan is with us. Imagine, we set rules that are frame on the basis that Christ is smaller than Satan’s cohorts. We limit our moves like a chess game. We let Satan’s cohorts control the board. Every space is control by them. There is no chess piece that you can advance safely. Each piece that you move, gets clobber up by Satan’s cohorts. What a sad picture.
Wake up! Christ is bigger than Satan. Satan is already defeated. Don’t bring him back to play with him again. By pass him and head towards Christ bodly.
What does the Christian faith has to say on this?
To most people yoga is simply a sport - a stress-busting start for the day. However Malaysia's National Fatwa Council said it goes further than that and that elements of the Indian religion are inherent in yoga. The original yoga does practice chanting and some form of worshipping which are inappropriate and they could "destroy the faith of a Muslim".
Many Christians share the same views with the Muslims. But yet, an equally amount of Christian are puzzles, some totally agree with the Muslims and some somewhat disagree. But I have yet to come across one that totally agrees that YOGA is perfectly okay for Christians. Or am I wrong? Is there anyone out there who dares to come forward to say it is okay? (Be ready to be crucified by the religious teacher………but don’t worry, I am behind you.)
A. What Does The Bible Say About Exercise?
1Timothy 4:8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future.(Good News Bible –GBB)
Notice that the verse does not say that exercise has no value! It says that exercise is valuable, but it term of priorities, godliness is of greater value.
Paul also mentions physical training in his teaching. 2 Timothy 2:5 ,4:7 and 1Cor 9:25-27 If physical training is not acceptable and is taboo, why mention that it has value.
There is nothing wrong with a Christian exercising. In 1Corinthians 6:19-20 clearly explains that believers must take good care of their bodies. [Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who is given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself but to God; he bought you for a price. So use your body for God's glory…GNB]
Also we find in Eph 5:29-20 None of us ever hate our own body. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does for the church; for we are members of his body. The bible also explains that we are to avoid gluttony. [Pro 23:2 If you have a big appetite, restrain yourself…GNB]
What does the Bible say about health? Be healthy! How do we achieve that goal? By engaging in moderate exercise and eating reasonably. That is the Biblical pattern of health and exercise.
B. OK You Prove That Exercise Is Okay, But Can We Do Yoga?
This is a very good question indeed. But let do a bit of divergence to magnify this paranoia of Christians that God can be boxed into a box by posing similar questions for us to answer. By doing so, we can see a pattern of boxing our Mighty God inside a small box but yet we still call our God Mighty.
Can we visit a doctor? Should we stop attending the Olympic games? Can we visit Chinese temples? Or Hindu temples?
VISIT DOCTORS? OH NO!, That is sorcery cry out many churches. That is ASKLEPIOS (or Asclepius). Known as the god of medicine and reputed ancestor of the Asklepiades, the ancient Greek doctors' guild. Asklepios was depicted as a kind, bearded man holding a serpent-entwined staff. He is almost completely absent from ancient Greek vase painting, but statues of the god are quite common.
But hold your brakes……medicine existed before Askelpois. Luke is a Physician himself. But Jesus handpicks Luke to be his disciple. He did not destroy any physicians or chased off physicians like he chased off the traders, money changers and scolded the Pharisees.
VISIT THE OLYMPIC GAMES? OH NO! HERAKLES was the leader of the Daktyloi, five ancient daimones who founded the Olympic Games in the age of Kronos. They were probably associated specifically with the race in armour, one of the oldest of Olympic events, for like the Kouretes, they were pictured as armoured youths.
VISIT CHINESE TEMPLE S / HINDU TEMPLES? OH NO, those places are full of spirits that can harm you. God has given us a Spirit that is greater than evil spirits. God gave us the light to shine the darkness away. He did not give us the light to hide it under our bed. [2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Luk 8:16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the lig]
Our God is not weak. Can you imagine, when you enter a temple, God will stay outside and say to you………….Go in alone Michael, I can’t follow you. The Spirit in the temple is too strong for me. I will wait for you. This is obviously preposterous. Our God is bigger than the Temple. He is not small and without powers to protect you.
CONCLUSION: We can go on and on, but the fact is everything is given to us by God to enjoy. And everything that is given to us, is also abused by the Satan. Just because Satan abuses what is given to us by God, do we withdraw and stay away from the good things that God richly gave us to enjoy. [Ti 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded; nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; ] IF it is a true teaching and the way forward, than we should stop worshiping or singing praises as Lucifer is the worship leader. The heathens also worship and if they have tainted the holiness of worship, shouldn’t we stop worshiping. Shouldn’t we also stop eating, as foods are also used by the heathens to offer to their false god
The above diagram shows how we make our God small with our twisted perspective of God. God is smaller than issues we have on our hand. Why do we have this wrong perspective? I believe Satan and his cohorts have distorted our mind to believe our God is small. Smaller than the problems that we are facing.
Let us stop this wrong perspective of ours today. Believe that our Heavenly Father is bigger than our mind can conceive. No Yoga gods, No Olympic gods, Medical gods are acceptable to Christians, but these fake gods cannot stop us from enjoying exercise, sports or to bring babe Christians to see doctors........all these are given to us by God to enjoy. (Babe Christians are Christian that are not skill full with the word Righteousness. Babe Christians are Christian that believe righteousness is achieve by self effort. Generaly Righteousness from Christ is rejected by all Babe Christians.........Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskillfull in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. )
The more restriction we self imposed ourselves, the happier Satan is with us. Imagine, we set rules that are frame on the basis that Christ is smaller than Satan’s cohorts. We limit our moves like a chess game. We let Satan’s cohorts control the board. Every space is control by them. There is no chess piece that you can advance safely. Each piece that you move, gets clobber up by Satan’s cohorts. What a sad picture.
Wake up! Christ is bigger than Satan. Satan is already defeated. Don’t bring him back to play with him again. By pass him and head towards Christ bodly.
