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Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity  (Read 2407 times)

Started by Epic Winnery, October 08, 2010, 05:21:40 am
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Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#1  October 08, 2010, 05:21:40 am
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A Southern Baptist leader who is calling for Christians to avoid yoga and its spiritual attachments is getting plenty of pushback from enthusiasts who defend the ancient practice.

Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and meditative discipline derived from Eastern religions is not a Christian pathway to God.

Mohler said he objects to "the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching consciousness with the divine."
"That's just not Christianity," Mohler told The Associated Press.
Mohler said feedback has come through e-mail and comments on blogs and other websites since he wrote an essay to address questions about yoga he has heard for years.

"I'm really surprised by the depth of the commitment to yoga found on the part of many who identify as Christians," Mohler said.

Yoga fans say their numbers have been growing in the U.S. A 2008 study by the Yoga Journal put the number at 15.8 million, or nearly 7 percent of adults. About 6.7 percent of American adults are Southern Baptists, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Mohler argued in his online essay last month that Christians who practice yoga "must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga."
He said his view is "not an eccentric Christian position."

Other Christian leaders have said practicing yoga is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus. Pat Robertson has called the chanting and other spiritual components that go along with yoga "really spooky." California megachurch pastor John MacArthur called yoga a "false religion." Muslim clerics have banned Muslims from practicing yoga in Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia, citing similar concerns.

Yoga proponents say the wide-ranging discipline, which originated in India, offers physical and mental healing through stretching poses and concentration.

"Lots of people come to yoga because they are often in chronic pain. Others come because they think it's a nice workout," said Allison Terracio, who runs the Infinite Bliss studio in Louisville.

And some yoga studios have made the techniques more palatable for Christians by removing the chanting and associations to eastern religions, namely Hinduism and its multiple deities.

Stephanie Dillon, who has injected Christian themes into her studio in Louisville, said yoga brought her closer to her Christian faith, which had faded after college and service in the Army.

"What I found is that it opened my spirit, it renewed my spirituality," Dillon said. "That happened first and then I went back to church." Dillon attends Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and says many evangelical Christians from the church attend her yoga classes.

She said she prayed on the question of whether to mix yoga and Christianity before opening her studio, PM Yoga, where she discusses her relationship with Jesus during classes.

"My objection (to Mohler's view) personally is that I feel that yoga enhances a person's spirituality," Dillon said. "I don't like to look at religion from a law standpoint but a relationship standpoint, a relationship with Jesus Christ specifically."

Mohler wrote the essay after reading "The Subtle Body," where author Stefanie Syman traces the history of yoga in America. Syman noted the growing popularity of yoga in the U.S. by pointing out that first lady Michelle Obama has added it to the festivities at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the front lawn.
Mohler said many people have written him to say they're simply doing exercises and forgoing yoga's eastern mysticism and meditation.

"My response to that would be simple and straightforward: You're just not doing yoga," Mohler said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101007/ap_on_re/us_rel_southern_baptists_yoga#mwpphu-container
Yay for religious leader's bullshit!

EDIT: Reading the comments, Christians and non finally have something in common
Last Edit: October 08, 2010, 05:33:31 am by LostTruth64
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#2  October 08, 2010, 05:35:35 am
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Here comes the flood of "Christian er stoopid, eavil geneoses!" and the ignored refutation of theories that we are all out to destroy the world.

This individual pastor is a moron, he shut off his mind to what he likely sees as the "baby eating east who bombed er Purl Herber n tuk are jerbs!"

Meditation doesn't go against Christianity, neither is stretching, the combination of the two is not bad.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#3  October 08, 2010, 05:48:38 am
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yoga is evil, there is noway arms and legs can grow like that and throwing fireballs from one's mouth, without any involvement of some black magic from hell.

indians who spread it throughout the world are ambassadors of satan,

they should be put on stake and burned, it is quite easy to tell them apart, rather fat brown skinned, big nosed, that smell like curry, and to make sure try to offer them some beef jerky, if he/she rejects it, drag him/her into the van  :twisted:
Last Edit: October 08, 2010, 05:53:26 am by Kyojuu Tokusou Navetsea
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#4  October 08, 2010, 05:49:43 am
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Dammit you beat me to it
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#5  October 08, 2010, 06:55:03 am
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Hey, come on! Yoga's not evil. This spit-fire is not part of Yoga. You may only think that is from SF right? What do you know of Yoga? Have you seen the real Yoga in real life or from videogames? You just only know it from the Street Fighter series that feature Dhalsim's skills. I honestly don't think so, and I disagree on you, Kyojuu Tokusou Navetsea.
Titiln said:
focus more and stop thinking about things like the internet or titties

Quote
Whatever happened to sex, drugs, and Rock. Nowadays, it's whores, AIDS, and Hip-Hop.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#6  October 08, 2010, 07:08:02 am
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uguu
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#7  October 08, 2010, 07:09:14 am
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he says YOGA fire, YOGA flame, of course it is YOGA.
it has been out for 20 years, and if it doesn't say the truth, yoga committee would have pressed capcom to remove the name, but they don't
because it is the truth! 
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#8  October 08, 2010, 07:10:42 am
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I think this is gonna be a discussion about Dhalsim instead

uguu
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#9  October 08, 2010, 07:15:40 am
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see he looks completely evil, motherfucker even has collection of baby's skulls, how uber evil is that!
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#10  October 08, 2010, 07:34:40 am
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Are you off-topic? Do you think Yoga means flame to you? I don't think so. Tell me, where does this say Yoga fire in the article? If you don't know anything about Yoga then check this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
Titiln said:
focus more and stop thinking about things like the internet or titties

Quote
Whatever happened to sex, drugs, and Rock. Nowadays, it's whores, AIDS, and Hip-Hop.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#11  October 08, 2010, 07:42:31 am
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Obviously Navetsea is joking. Did you realize this is a fighting game forum? :P
you can't mixup a blind man, and you can't out think a brick ~skisonic
Street fighting is all about analysis, prediction, and reaction. That's it.

Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#12  October 08, 2010, 07:44:07 am
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Religion is always serious business, unfornately. Or in this case, Yoga and Dhalsim.

uguu
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#13  October 08, 2010, 07:52:23 am
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Are you off-topic? Do you think Yoga means flame to you? I don't think so. Tell me, where does this say Yoga fire in the article? If you don't know anything about Yoga then check this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

go with your bitch...fucking dhalsim motherfucker.

jokes aside Yoga just means discipline, and this types of yoga is just one type of yoga, the others being through good deeds(Karma yoga), devotion(Bhakti yoga), and knowledge (jnana yoga)

AKA this guy is completely retarded.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#14  October 08, 2010, 07:53:04 am
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"Christian er stoopid, eavil geneoses!"

pretty much this ^
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#15  October 08, 2010, 08:06:41 am
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Obviously Navetsea is joking. Did you realize this is a fighting game forum? :P
What the fuck!!! LOL Are you sure he's fucking serious? :D Yeah.. I've been in IMT often but never swear until I post this.
Titiln said:
focus more and stop thinking about things like the internet or titties

Quote
Whatever happened to sex, drugs, and Rock. Nowadays, it's whores, AIDS, and Hip-Hop.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#16  October 08, 2010, 08:46:49 am
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The hell?
you can't mixup a blind man, and you can't out think a brick ~skisonic
Street fighting is all about analysis, prediction, and reaction. That's it.

Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#17  October 08, 2010, 10:04:37 am
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I don't see this as "christians are stupid" for once simply because there are christians defending yoga. This is one priest is a moron. He does not understand yoga and what it's for.

In addition, how is the chanting in yoga more spooky than mass? Or people talking in tongues? Or any number of things that come under one brand or another of christianity. Priest is a dipshit and not worth anyone's time.


In M.U.G.E.N there is no magic button

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#18  October 08, 2010, 10:32:04 am
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^Um, there are Christian's saying that the minority retard groups suck in pretty much every (anti)religious thread here, so why is it just "for once" ?
you can't mixup a blind man, and you can't out think a brick ~skisonic
Street fighting is all about analysis, prediction, and reaction. That's it.

Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#19  October 08, 2010, 11:43:08 am
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    • network.mugenguild.com/cyanide/
I missed a comma.

Quote
I don't see this as "christians are stupid" for once, simply because there are christians defending yoga


In M.U.G.E.N there is no magic button

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.
Re: Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity
#20  October 08, 2010, 06:46:37 pm
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Is there no sane Christian in your country anymore?