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planted in the urban centres of the ancient world where they carried on as it seemed ordinary citizens they were to live such good lives among the pagans that their lives would be a commendation of jesus christ their gathering was a heavenly reality and while that was to be expressed by their regular gathering with local believers it meant also that they did not withdraw from gathering with and eating with pagans and other outsiders in addition the triumph of jesus christ means that false gods are exposed as a nullity col 2 15 it is no accident that the reformation movement led to what canadian philosopher charles taylor calls the great disenchantment that is a return to a biblical faith in the western church led to a commensurate loss of faith in the world as a place permeated by spiritual forces the gospel eradicates superstition where it is heard and promotes scientific thinking because it declares the sovereignty of god over creation and the victory of christ over the powers and principalities despite some facets of the charismatic movement returning to a medieval fascination with exorcisms and the demonic biblical christianity retains its focus on the word of the gospel as a declaration that the earth is the lord s and everything in it for everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected provided it is to be received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by god s word and by prayer 1 tim 4 4 5 we conclude then that a christian need not fear somehow an inadvertent taint by participating in the vast majority of what is labelled yoga yoga as it is practiced does not require involvement in false worship or acknowledgement of a spiritual reality aside from the gospel just as a christian can eat thai food in a restaurant which has a buddhist shrine set aside or can eat halal food prepared by a slaughterman who says prayers as he kills the animal with no suggestion that by somehow eating in this way he or she is sharing in buddhism or islam or risking demonic possession so a mature christian with a strong conscience can participate in yoga indeed i would argue that yoga is the least of our worries christians are right to consider carefully the apparently religious aspects of various activities but an overly tender conscience in this area may make us blind to our complicity in businesses activities and communities in which a really significant evil is being perpetuated a key passage for this discussion then is 1 corinthians 8 10 where the apostle paul is grappling with the very issues we have been describing namely how does the christian church express its singular holiness while living cheek by jowl with pagans especially in a multi cultural and cosmopolitan city such as ancient corinth paul s nuanced and subtle argument runs something like this food offer to idols is not thereby tainted since idols aren t anything anyway and if you treat it as just food then you are not committing an act of false worship but your conscience may lead you to think that this food is somehow still tainted by its connection to idols therefore do not eat it likewise use your freedom to make sure that other believers are not tempted to break with what their consciences are telling them even vegetarianism is preferable to wounding another s conscience and if that is so then something very grave is going on it is a very serious thing to think you are participating in the worship of false gods because idolatry provokes the lord to jealousy 9 above all paul s priority is what eating communicates by arguing that christians should do all to the glory of god he is urging that believers seek the good of the other so that they may be saved 10 33 believers should not naively compromise themselves by participating in the worship of idols but they should also develop a strong conscience by realizing that idols are nothing paul is not concerned with the taint that objects are said to carry he is concerned about what people think about such objects to which a particular sacredness is ascribed it is the subjective rather than the objective aspect that is his concern the question is whether the practice of yoga is analogous to eating food served to idols we certainly live in a multi cultural and cosmopolitan setting akin to first century corinth increasingly christians have to live in a world in which east and west overlap and cannot be easily separated on the one hand secular westerners dabble in quasi or pseudo eastern practices like postural yoga with no thought to the religious or spiritual aspect of it at the same time our cities are filled with people who come from cultural backgrounds where these things do have a specific religious and spiritual meaning what one communicates to the culture by participating in something like yoga may be very different depending on the background of the person the analogy is then possibly relevant because for some people in modern sydney yoga does mean participation in a particular alternative religious practice paul would be quick to say that a strong conscience would have no problem with the yoga as it is practiced here the knowledge that christ is lord and the powerful presence of the holy spirit in the christian body are simply the trump cards here the christian should keep her eyes and ears open for moments when her faith will be challenged or compromised of course but then that might be the case in any activity outside the church for the sake of the conscience of the other however a christian person or a christian organization may choose to forgo the practice of yoga this takes careful discernment of the kind that paul encourages us to pursue in 1 cor 8 10 and of which this paper is hopefully a model there is not a straightforward answer here what may be fine for an individual may because of a differing context be questionable for a church or school for example there is no objective problem it seems to me with an individual christian practicing yoga in any objective way he may choose however if friends of his understand his practice of yoga to be a participation in the worship of a false god to lay down his right to practice yoga this will take an individual s discernment of particular situations a school or a church will say more than an individual by their endorsement of yoga can a church rent out its hall to a yoga practitioner at one level the answer depends on the practitioner but i think there is nothing in principle against that possibility whereas i think there would definitely be a very obvious problem with renting the hall out to say a witches coven or a buddhist meditation class yoga doesn t necessarily fall into that class what may govern the decision of the church is the message that renting out the hall to a yoga class may send to the community especially given the multi cultural context is it suggesting that syncretism is ok or tacitly endorsing false worship a school is in an even more responsible situation since it is charged with the nurture of young souls is there a way of having the benefits that yoga offers relaxation physical suppleness an awareness of one s health and so on without the suggestion that an eastern spirituality has been endorsed i believe compromises are possible here but also that the principle of conscience as outlined in 1 cor 8 10 should be the guiding one it is worth adding that for many secular people a christian rejection of yoga may be provide in itself a stumbling block that is and this is certainly true at an anecdotal level at least perceived christian fussiness over yoga can cause a bewilderment and anger that obscures the gospel it appears as if the christian is overly fearful of what to the secular mind is nothing at all that contradicts what christians want to declare about the clear victory of christ over the spiritual realm the attraction of yoga for the community raises questions about the philosophy of the self that it promotes and whether and how this opens up the possibility for gospel conversations to focus on yoga as a practice contrary to the gospel which i don t believe it is rather misses an opportunity to ask why it is that yoga has become so attractive there are points of contact between yoga and the gospel and points of clear dissonance a good doctrine of creation and the resurrection body allows us to see that we are never whole as persons unless we include our bodies the secular technological world treats human beings either as machines or as disembodied brains we live in a world with an inability to find relaxation or peacefulness there is no rest the natural rhythms of day and night the seven day week and the round of the seasons simply do not exist for the inhabitants of the urban landscape yoga offers a moment of escape from that world of disembodiment a discipline for those who are yo yoing between hyper work and hedonism it also offers a moment of acceptance in a world in which people are being constantly evaluated and judged the christian gospel does teach us of a kind of rest but it also teaches us of a restlessness too the peace of god which passes all understanding comes from the merciful gracious sovereignty of god expressed in the gospel of christ we are offered an unsurpassable security but a christian ought also to feel the true burden of the present age that she is scared by sin herself and that the world is a world in open rebellion against the creator the christian liturgy invites us to confess our sins as we approach god and find in him no condemnation not because we are fine as we are but because what we are has been transformed we do not find a point of self acceptance but are introduced to a moment of god acceptance the church is not the provider of all a human being needs it is not a separate political world or a separate economy it does not exist to run exercise classes or open hospitals it may do these things and many churches have where they are lacking but it exists for the human being as a redeemed creature that is finding that christians are getting something out of yoga does not necessarily mean that churches should start stretch classes nevertheless it is worth asking why the holistic and physical aspects of yoga don t find their equivalents in the version of christian spirituality being offered in our churches today are we really practicing and preaching the peace of god is our christian faith disembodied like so much of western life or even opposed to the body in some way how do we help people who are in the throes of stress or burdened by chronic illness doesn t the christian gospel and the practice of christian faith offer us help in these moments of crisis further discussion of these questions is beyond the scope of this paper 5 recommendations to summarize the findings of this paper individual christians are free to participate in yoga according to their consciences they should make an informed decision about the spiritual content of each class and if they feel that their consciences are telling them that there is an element of false worship involved remove themselves but yoga as it is practiced in modern sydney is not necessarily problematic for believing christians churches and other institutions such as schools should be more cautious this paper recommends that churches examine carefully the context that they are in and judge accordingly and certainly ask questions of the leader of any proposed yoga class the personal view of the author of the this paper is that he would not hire out his church hall to a yoga practitioner just as he would not put a statue of buddha in his garden not because these have any power but because others think that they do anglican schools should investigate alternatives to yoga such as pilates or should strongly consider renaming yoga classes in a suitable way an option that one anglican school has exercised this keeps in mind the possible fall out from an outright rejection of yoga but also focuses on the physical and health benefits of the exercise ensuring that there is no spiritual confusion the question of the missional significance of the widespread uptake of yoga in the white anglo saxon community should be investigated with a view to asking what this is saying about their spiritual openness or not 1 http www relevantmagazine com life whole life features 23243 is it okay for christians to do yoga 7ps46yr3s2fuicr8 99 2 http www albertmohler com 2010 09 20 the subtle body should christians practice yoga 3 see andrea r jain selling yoga from counterculture to pop culture oxford oxford university press 2014 4 http www albertmohler com 2010 09 20 the meaning of yoga a conversation with stephanie syman and dough groothius 5 yoga brief history of an idea princeton university press 2011 6 bikram yoga is a 1970s synthesis of hatha yoga techniques 7 indeed the hebrew word nephesh often translated soul is like this 8 a greeting meaning i bow to the divine in you accompanied by a bow with the hands in a prayer like gesture 9 see rosner and ciampa posted by michael jensen at 10 16 am 9 comments older posts home subscribe to posts atom preview of martyrdom and identity preview about me michael jensen i completed my doctorate on martyrdom and its meaning for the self in 2008 and now i live in sydney i am the rector of st mark s darling point view my complete profile i am also blogging at defence against the dark arts him an introduction moore college faculty mindset of the spirit blog read better preach better con campbell space sharks 2024 theological theology mark thompson what would we lose if we stopped teaching complementarianism moore students papermind the unquantification of all things dead flies and perfume psalm 1 moments now and then romans 5 8 the glorious gospel standing and waiting don t know much about the middle ages embracing earth dear christian artist seeing in a mirror dimly buy my book you an introduction you in australia you in the uk you in the us 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