SHOULD I NOT DO YOGA, ACUPUNCTURE, AND OTHER PRACTICES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS?

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 lead a brother to defile his conscience:

·       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)

Although we have this freedom along with the freedom to eat all foods, even if they happen to be offered to idols, we should not allow this freedom to lead our brethren into anything that might wound their conscience.

Later, Paul wrote that any objects could not defile us. Nothing that impacts us on the outside can tarnish 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 cannot defile in God’s sight. Why? Because all things come from the Lord! However, we use things wrongly if they are not used in love.

Jesus further explained that we are not made unholy by things that impact us from the outside or go into our stomachs:

·       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)

What does make us unholy are the sinful temptations that arise from our hearts and minds – those temptations that we embrace. They will then grow into words and actions.

Of course, this teaching is opposed to those found in the laws of Moses. These taught that contact with the dead, disease, or eating non-kosher foods would defile us. Why the opposition between Moses’ laws and the teachings of the New Testament? Paul explained that certain laws were merely “shadows” or representations, which had been fulfilled by Christ:

·       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)

As signs, shadows, or representations of Christ, they had been fulfilled at the Cross. What remains is the substance, the reality, what is of Christ. Thou shall not murder, steal, and commit adultery remain because they are the substance of Christ Himself, His righteous nature.

And so we are free to eat all foods as long as we conduct ourselves in love. We are also free to perform yoga stretches and even to submit to acupuncture. These are things that do not come from our heart and will not defile us.

Instead, there is a danger that these practices might serve as a gateway drug, like marijuana leading to heavier drug use. It is possible that these and similar practices might expose us to the temptations of Eastern philosophy, which might affect our beliefs. It is these that guard our heart and mind.

Similar questions arise regarding circumcision, since Paul seemed to teach that if we get circumcised, our life in Christ might be jeopardized:

·       Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4)

How is it that an external surgical procedure could put our relationship with Christ in jeopardy? It can’t! Instead, it is matter of what we believe about circumcision and not the physical act.

Paul had been concerned that believers might be lured into placing their faith in circumcision to become a Jew and, to some extent, believe that they needed to earn God’s “free” gift by following the law. Clearly, Paul wasn’t concerned about the physical act of circumcision. He even 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.

This is my problem with mystical practices to achieve an experience of God. While there is nothing the matter with closing our eyes and allowing our minds to drift to beautiful and relaxing scenes, it is another matter to imagine these relaxing scenes in faith that this practice will open for us a path to God.

Likewise, there is nothing the matter with jogging in order to relax our minds. However, if we believe that physical exertion will open for us a highway to the presence of God, then we are ignoring the priorities that God has clearly set forth for us – 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, He claims:

·       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)

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.

However, some “Christians” are attempting to bring bodily practices 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).

The same article reports that 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.”

If “pain and discomfort” can cause a “division between you and God,” we should live insulated lives. However, this isn’t the message of Scripture. Instead, we are assured that we overflowing with the riches in Christ:

·       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).

Love not the World

This essay is difficult to write. It is easier for me to take the world – the unbeliever – to task than to criticize my brethren. Besides, I want to lay bare a sin that is endemic to the church in the West – a sin that has taken control of nearly all of us. It is a sin that is so common and deeply entrenched that whoever reads this will want to attack me instead of engaging in any self-examination.

God had warned Israel against entanglements with the surrounding world:

• Make no treaty with them [the Canaanites], and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you (Deut. 7:2-4).

Anything that turns us away from following our God is of the greatest import. Israel’s entire welfare depended upon abiding in His Word. Consequently, their Redeemer trained them to keep His Word foremost:

• He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:2-3).

Israel’s neighbors would continue to seduce Israel away from abiding in God’s every Word. How? We are naturally social creatures, easily influenced by our friends and neighbors. We want to be liked and accepted and don’t want to antagonize anyone with our scandalous doctrines and judgments. We idolatrously equate our value with popularity, professional respectability and social recognition. However, as Jesus explained, the antagonism between the children of this world and the children born from above is inevitable:

• "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:18-20; 16:1-2; 7:7)

We wrongly and naively suppose that if we can just be loving enough and partake in the same things as our neighbors, we will be loved and accepted. If we act like them, they will want to be like us. If we love the things that they love, they will love the things we love. We hide our light and restrain our saltiness and become fit for nothing but to be trodden down by men (Mat. 5:13).

However, the Bible gives no encouragement for becoming a friend to the world. Nor can we retain friendship with our Savior if we pursue friendship with the world:

• You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? (James 4:4-5; 1 John 2:15)

When we allow the world to influence us, we become compromisers and adulterers! Well, what marriage vows do we violate? Our marriage to the Lord! When we are drawn away from a strict adherence to God’s Word, we cause Him to “envy intensely.” Why? He loves us intensely and wants to see nothing infringe upon His love for us!

How do we become a friend to the world? When we become inextricably entangled with the world:

• Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?...What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2 Cor. 6:14-17). 

Blessing requires us to remove ourselves from those things that will contaminate us. Therefore, we cannot become dependent upon the world. We cannot form any relationship with unbelievers from which we cannot easily unyoke ourselves.

Today, this teaching has become distasteful to believer and unbeliever alike. We think it arrogant, judgmental and chauvinistic to believe that there should be such a sharp distinction between the two groups. An entire body of the church has simply rejected this teaching. It’s just too divisive. It separates us from our colleagues, friends and family. It isolates us from the rest of humanity.

Brian McLaren, a key writer of the Emergent Church, charges that:

• Christians have been taught to see in "us vs. them" terms for centuries, and it will take time to reorient faithful people in a new direction -- "us with them," working for the common good (Huffington Post Religion Blog, 2/19/03).

In support of his indictment, McLaren cites two like-minded students:

• “People don't want to have to side with the church and against their friends who are Buddhist or Muslim or Jewish or agnostic." 

• “We can't find a church that doesn't load a bunch of extra baggage on us. We tried, but they all had this long list of people we had to be against. It's just not worth it.”

Of course, these indictments are misrepresentations. We are not “against” the world; it’s just that we cannot allow ourselves to be so closely associated with the world. To quote the old saying, “We can be in the world but not of it.”  We can even have non-Christian friends as long as we know clearly what our boundaries are.

Scripture is clear that there is a radical distinction between the two. We should love our neighbor, but we cannot get entangled in such a way that it compromises any aspect of our heavenly marriage. And we are married to Him: 

• If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:19)

• They [Jesus’ children] are not of the world, even as I am not of it. (John 17:16)

Consequently, we are warned about the dangers of associating with the world:

• Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." (1 Cor. 15:33-34; 5:9)

While the church sends out missionaries into the world, many of us are unprepared for such up-close involvement. Knowing this full well, John warns a certain woman:

• Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work (2 John 1:9-11) 

While it is true that our Lord will keep those who are His, we mustn’t put Him to the test by attempting to navigate interpersonal waters that are too deep for us. If we truly trust Him, we will obey these warnings.

Some will say, “Well, I just trust Jesus with my involvement in secular society.” However, according to John, trusting Jesus is also a matter of avoiding negative influences if we are unprepared. Sometimes, in our arrogance, we think that we are prepared when we are not. And we are not prepared. We haven’t meditated deeply and regularly on His Word (Psalm 1). We allow ourselves to compromise Scripture in order to accommodate our new relationships or careers. 

Christian professionals with advanced degrees have done this. Theistic evolutionists have adopted an entirely unbiblical distinction to enable them to have both Darwin and Jesus. They divide the world into the physical and the spiritual, foolishly claiming that evolution is only concerned about the physical, while the Bible is only concerned about the spiritual. With this distinction, they hope to silence any contradiction between Darwin and Jesus.

However, they kill their faith in the process. The physical can no more be separated from the spiritual than the theology of the cross (spiritual) can be separated from the death of Jesus on the cross (physical). The physical and the spiritual are inseparable! To separate them is to lobotomize the mind from heart. Thus they shipwreck their faith.

When we marry ourselves to the surrounding culture, we violate our ultimate marriage. This takes many forms - material, sexual, and spiritual. We have become consumers, just like our neighbors. We encourage each other to spend lavishly on ourselves, ignoring the fact that many thousands of Christians are being made refugees and even martyrs at alarming rates. However, John warns:

• If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (1 John 3:17)

We tolerate multiple forms of sin, claiming, “I can’t judge others,” conveniently forgetting that we are our brothers’ keepers. When a brother or sister sins, if we care about them and their eternal welfare, we will speak the truth in love.  We will not be silent or look the other way. Evangelical leader Albert Mohler described the church’s permissiveness this way:

• “Evangelicals allowed culture to trump Scripture…the church largely followed the lead of its members and accepted what might be called the ‘privatization’ of divorce.’ Churches simply allowed a secular culture to determine that divorce is no big deal, and that it is a purely private matter.” 

Pastors are often so afraid of losing members that they don’t feed the flock with nourishing food.  Instead, Scripturally weak teachings and ideas abound.  Tolerance has become the supreme virtue. However, the Spirit warned the churches against this:

• Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Rev. 2:20, 14). 

What’s the answer? The Church of Sardis had achieved “a reputation” by the standards of this world. However, the Spirit warned:

• Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you (Rev. 3:2-3).

The Spirit instructs us to “remember,” “obey” and “repent” from our compromises and worldly standards. Our Savior alone must be exalted above everything else:

• But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) 

His Word alone must predominate, and when it does, He will take care of us far better than we can.

(Evidence of the depth of our compromise with the world: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/authors-on-the-line/porn-pride-and-praise-an-interview-with-heath-lambert-22-minutes)