The Church is tempted by many new and old fads and
therapies, each claiming that it is the answer to our problems. We are
particularly susceptible, because we are undergoing all kinds of painful trials
(1 Peter 4:17; Psalm 34:19) and are tempted to think that we are missing out on
something. Consequently, they bringing yoga into the church, not only for
health reasons, but for spiritual reasons. Brooke Boon has claimed that yoga
brings “mind and body” together so that:
·
“we become more authentic people, able to hear
God and experience Him in previously impossible ways.” (Christian Research Journal, Vol.3, #4, 2008).
While doing yoga
stretches is one thing, trusting in
them to bring us closer to God is another thing entirely. On the other hand, we
enjoy an amazing degree of freedom in Christ. For example, Paul wrote that we
could even eat at a pagan temple, as long as it doesn’t encourage a brother to
violate his conscience:
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For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating
in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to
eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is
destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. (1 Corinthians 8:10-11)
Paul also wrote that objects (or yoga stretches) cannot
defile us. Nothing that impacts us from the outside can undermine our
relationship with our Lord (Titus 1:15):
·
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are
helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek
his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat
market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth
is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:23-26; 6:12; Luke
11:39-41)
Things themselves, like using a yoga mat, cannot tarnish us
in God’s sight. Jesus also explained that we are not corrupted by things that
impact us from the outside or even go into our stomachs:
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And he said, “Are you also still without
understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the
stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the
heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are
what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew
15:16-20)
However, if we believe that eating or not eating certain
foods will make us more spiritual, we are placing our trust in the wrong things
at the expense of trusting Christ alone (Psalm 62).
·
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating
and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans
14:17)
While eating or objects cannot contaminate us, placing our trust in them to make us
more spiritual can. If we place our trust in eating or not eating certain foods,
we are rejecting trust in Christ:
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Now the Spirit expressly says that in later
times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful
spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose
consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods
that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know
the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected
if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:1-4)
Of course, the freedom to eat all foods is opposed to the
laws of Moses, which forbid eating non-kosher foods. Why the opposition between
Moses’ laws and the teachings of the New Testament? Paul explained that certain
laws were merely “shadows,” symbols, or representations, which have been
fulfilled by Christ:
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Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in
questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to
Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)
Christ, the substance and reality, remains. Thou shall not
murder, steal, and commit adultery also remain because they are the substance
of Christ Himself, His righteous nature.
Let’s now apply this
back to yoga. We are also free to perform yoga stretches and even to submit
to acupuncture. However, we are not
free to allow such practices to influence our faith and trust in Christ.
There is also a danger that these practices might serve as a
“gateway drug,” opening us up to the influences of Eastern philosophy, which
might affect our beliefs.
However, mere physical procedures cannot jeopardize our
faith. While Paul did warn against circumcision, it wasn’t the physical act or
procedure that concerned him but the trusting
in circumcision to become a Jew to follow the law to please God (Galatians
5:2-4). Had Paul been concerned about circumcision merely as a procedure, he
would never have had Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3). However, Paul had him
circumcised, not to save him, but to enable him to minister among the Jews. Had
Timothy not been circumcised, the Jews would have rejected him.
There is a similar confusion about eating foods offered to
idols. As many verses indicate, we are free to eat any foods (Romans 14:14, 17),
whether they have been offered to idols or not (1 Cor. 10:25-26; 8:8). However,
it might seem that other verses contradict this freedom:
·
But I have a few things against you: you have
some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling
block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to
idols and practice sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:14, 20; 1 Cor. 10:21)
However, this is different from just casually eating food
that had been offered to idols. Instead, these false teachers were teaching the
church to proactively seek to eat these foods, presumably for spiritual benefit. This represents a form of spiritual adultery,
a compromise of the faith and hope we have invested in Christ.
On several occasions, I had eaten food offered to idols at a
Hare Krishna temple. I had no problem doing this. However, if they would have
required that I bow in the direction of their gods, I wouldn’t have been able
to do so. This would have sent the message that I respected their beliefs and
dishonored my own, something forbidden:
·
…what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and
not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot
drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the
table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to
jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)
Therefore, if your yoga class requires that you pay some
form of homage to their gods or beliefs, you will provoke the Lord. However,
merely doing stretches is little different from participating in a swimming
class. However, if the teacher insists that by doing exercises, you will be
more in-tune with God, they have gone beyond the revelation of Scripture. We
cannot put our trust in such things. While exercise might make you more
clear-headed, it will not make God more receptive to your prayers. Such a trust
also ignores what God has clearly prescribed – faith, obedience, confession,
Scripture meditation, and prayer. Instead, faith in physical manipulations
represents a lack of faith in the teachings of the Word of God. Rather, Paul
taught:
·
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.
Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some
value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present
life and also for the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:7-8)
I do back exercises and find them helpful. However, I would
be wrong to think that these exercises are improving my relationship with God. Misguided
Christians have also placed their faith in asceticism, various forms of
self-depravation, thinking that these would make them more spiritual, worthy,
or more able to hear the “voice of God.” However, Scripture warns against such
a hope:
·
These [“human precepts and teachings,” verse 22]
have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and
asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in
stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:23)
Paul, therefore, had warned against submitting to such “regulations”
(verse 21). It is a matter of placing our
hope in the wrong thing instead of in Christ. However, to trust in
depriving yourself of dessert in order to lose weight does not violate our
faith in Christ.
Another yoga promoter, Susan Bordenkircher claimed that:
·
“Ultimately…the pain and discomfort you may feel
in your skin can be the cause of division between you and God.” (CRJ)
If “pain and discomfort” can cause a “division between you
and God,” we should live insulated lives. We should also fear growing old with
its many infirmities. However, this isn’t the message of Scripture. Instead, we
are assured that we are overflowing with the riches in Christ even without yoga:
·
See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the
elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the
whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is
the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)
How can we guard against being taken captive by alien
philosophies? By praying and meditating on Scripture day and night (Psalm 1).
We also need the assurance that we already have all of the instructions we need to live a godly life:
·
All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good
work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
If the Scriptures are able to make us complete in our
relationship with our Savior, then we shouldn’t fear that we are missing out if
we fail to practice an unbiblical therapy.
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