Okay, goat yoga is hilarious. And it’s kind of adorable. But seriously, so many of us crave a healthy way to care for our minds and bodies. With the promises of peace, stress reduction, physical fitness, and the ability to quiet your mind, it is no wonder that yoga has become so popular in the West. But is yoga an appropriate practice for Christians? How do we discuss this with our kids without being dismissive or judgmental?
In A Crash Course in Yoga, we discussed yoga’s spiritual roots and some of the symbolism found in the different aspects of the practice. The poses, the movements, the breathwork, and the meditation are all designed for attaining “enlightenment.” Enlightenment derives from Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. In yoga, enlightenment occurs as you gradually disconnect from your individual sense of self and “realize” that you and everyone else (and everything else) are one. But things get a bit tricky as yoga is appropriated into Western culture. Depending on the yoga instructor, your session could emphasize the spiritual aspects of yoga, but there’s also a good chance your class is just focused on health and fitness while using yoga poses for stretching and strengthening. Is it all evil? If not, is any of it evil? Is this just an area of Christian freedom and personal conscience? Can yoga be “taken back” for God? Can the exercise of Yoga poses be divorced from its spiritual roots? If my kid copies someone on TV doing “Warrior Pose” will she be attacked by demons?! Let’s ROAR.
Recognize the Message – What are the messages coming from pro-yoga Christians?
1. All that matters is your intent
“We know that yoga is a spiritual discipline much like fasting, meditation, and prayer that cannot be owned by one specific religion.” – Holy Yoga1https://holyyoga.net/what-we-believe/
Since yoga has been adapted as a practice by multiple Eastern worldviews, many people view it as something that can be adapted by any worldview. The idea is that yoga practice can be integrated with anyone’s personal beliefs about reality. Don’t intend to worship Hindu deities? Just think about YOUR God! Or don’t! Yoga is what you make of it.
2. This is an area of Christian freedom
“Where the Bible is silent (and, if you were wondering, it doesn’t say anything about our modern-day yoga practices), I use my freedom and wisdom from Christ to determine what is consistent with my faith — just like I’m gonna use Extended-Side-Angle to strengthen my core.” – Alli Patterson2 https://www.crossroads.net/media/articles/can-christians-do-yoga
Since the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemn yoga, the idea is that each Christian should come to his/her own conclusion. If–as a Christian–you are able to separate yoga from its spiritual roots in your own mind, then you should feel free to participate.
3. Christians have special spiritual protection
“Consequently, believers in the Bible have no reason to fear yoga. According to the Scriptures, God encircles, encompasses, covers, and shields those who make Him their refuge. His presence, the anointing, is a kind of force field of protection making you inaccessible to the enemy no matter what the circumstances.” – Tonyah Dee3https://yahlight.com/what-is-yoga-phobia/
No need to worry about yoga’s Hindu origins. Remember the first message “All that matters is your intent”? Well, if that’s true, and if you don’t even know that yoga is designed to worship ancient Hindu deities, then it would follow that you are safe from accidentally participating in idolatry. If your kid came home from school and showed you that she learned a “Lord of the Dance” move in gym class, are you going to panic that your child is now an idol worshiper? Plus, you have the Holy Spirit in you! He’ll make sure you’re always protected.
Offer Discernment – What truths can we affirm in yoga, and what lies do we need to expose?
TRUTH #1: Our mind, body, and spirit are connected.
There is no question that our mind and our body are connected. Just taking “the placebo effect” into account demonstrates this. According to an article published by Harvard Medical School, “How placebos work is still not quite understood, but it involves a complex neurobiological reaction that includes everything from increases in feel-good neurotransmitters (like endorphins and dopamine) to greater activity in certain brain regions linked to moods, emotional reactions, and self-awareness. All of it can have therapeutic benefit.”4 https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect Therefore, what we believe can actually have a physical effect on our bodies.
Biblically, we know that our spirit is affected by both our mind and our body. Sin affects the spirit, since “the wages of sin is death.” When original sin came into the world, we were born spiritually dead–a spiritual separation from God. When we sin, we further disconnect ourselves from God. We know that we can sin with both our bodies (through actions) and our minds (through thoughts and unrighteous emotions [Matthew 5:21-30]). Further, our words and actions come out of our spiritual condition. Our mind, body, and spirit are indeed connected.
TRUTH #2: Stretching and breathing are good.
As believers, our bodies are a temple for Christ. We each only get one body on this side of heaven (at least I think so but since we’re basically living in a sci-fi movie these days, who knows?). Exercising, stretching, and breathing deeply are good for the body.
In fact, there is good scientific evidence to suggest that daily deep breathing exercises can reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone), anxiety, and blood pressure.5https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9877284/ Stretching also has a number of benefits, including reducing your risk of injuries, improving your range of motion in your joints, and just overall better performance in daily activity.6 https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/stretching/art-20047931
TRUTH #3: We can do all things to the glory of Christ.
Whether we are doing ministry, changing diapers, or doing our self-care routine, we can (and should be) glorifying the Lord. As we perform our daily tasks with the joy of the Spirit, in humility, kindness, and love, we represent Christ to the world. Even as we take care of our mental health and our bodies, we model for others how we are stewarding God’s creation well. If you want to meditate on Scripture or pray while you stretch or exercise, you can certainly do this as a way to honor Christ. All of this glorifies God.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
LIE #1: The words and the poses don’t mean anything if you don’t want them to.
When performing yoga postures or stretches, you are putting your body into positions that were specifically designed to worship or pay homage to false gods.7See “A Crash Course in Yoga,” https://mamabearapologetics.com/a-crash-course-in-yoga/ You might not have any intention of worshiping these gods, but you are participating in the ritual nonetheless. Check out the YouTube thumbnail shown below and understand that this woman is supposedly committing her day to the Lord while doing a worship pose to the Hindu god Vīrabhadra.
When “holy yoga” uses the same flows and poses, whether or not you use the same names for them, your body is sending out a message. Just like words in a particular order mean something, poses in a particular order mean something.
LIE #2: I can be surrounded with an unbiblical worldview and not have it affect me.
We’re not saying that every person who goes to a yoga class is going to become entrenched in the New Age or devote their life to yoga and Hindu spiritualism, although, some will.8Read Ruth Burgess’s story: https://www.thetruelight.net/wp/ruth-burgess-story1/ But each of us needs to have a humble view of ourselves and realize that we are vulnerable to the influence of false ideas whether we like it or not. Remember how intentions don’t always matter? Just because you don’t intend to be influenced by an opposing worldview doesn’t mean you won’t be.
Further, if Christians have divine protection from deception or from demonic oppression, why does the Bible repeatedly warn us against being deceived? (See Timothy 4:1, Colossians 2:8, 2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Lie #3: Yoga is a black and white issue.
Let’s face it, it’s way easier to have a black-and-white answer. As worn-out Christian parents, we’re often tempted to just slap a “safe” or “dangerous” label on things and call it a day! Some people say “All yoga is safe if you refocus on God,” and others say “All yoga is dangerous no matter how it’s done!” But what we need to do is be wise without being legalistic. I think it’s safe to say that yoga in its purest form is not for the believer because it entails participation in the worship of self and of other gods. But neither does Satan own sitting on your knees and stretching your arms out (in yoga called “child’s pose”). Again, it’s not necessarily the poses and breathing; it’s the order in which they are done that conveys meaning.
Argue for a healthier approach
(this section written by Hillary Morgan Ferrer)
As a general rule, I’m going to say that it is unwise to participate in something if you don’t know what you are participating in. If I had someone randomly give me a German phrase to go up and say to a police officer, I wouldn’t do it until I knew what I was saying. Likewise, don’t get a cool-looking Japanese tattoo if you don’t know what it means. You can end up with weird things permanently on your body. Furthermore, I have a friend who speaks fluent French. Upon going over to a girlfriend’s house, she saw a throw pillow that read “chair de grandpère.” The friend thought it meant “Grandpa’s chair.” It actually meant “Grandpa’s flesh,” which is not something I’d want on my throw pillow.
So, if we are going to participate in something that has meaning, we must make sure we understand the meaning of it first. If you as a Christian feel like you need some yoga for exercise and wellbeing, here’s a few thoughts on how to achieve the same goals in a healthier way:
Stop using the terminology
As Christians, we need to remember that Jesus is, Himself, God’s Word. Words mean things. So if we aren’t trying to become yoked with the Brahman, stop using phrases that basically mean “A Christian yoking with the Brahman.” (Aka: Christian Yoga. It’s like Christian Satanism. No literally, it is like that.) Suggestion? Someone out there pleassssse create something called BÄS or something, which could stand for Breathing and Stretching. Pronounce it like “boss.” I’d totally go to a BÄS session! Even a hot BÄS session! And when doing poses, stop using the words that venerate Hindu warrior gods like Vīrabhadra (warrior pose). Don’t pay homage to Sita by doing tree pose. In BÄS, it can be stretching hurdler or flamingo pose. They are great for balance and inner thighs. No accidental worship required!
As we’ve said before, the devil doesn’t own words, but it is unwise to say certain words in certain orders because they mean something. If you don’t understand what the words or the poses mean, don’t use them. I’m not going to chant “Salue le grand serpant qui se déguise en ange de lumière le plus puissant! Viens en moi et donne-moi le pouvoir de tes démons pour accompli tes œuvres” and justify it with “I don’t speak French, but this sounds pretty.” Because what I’m literally saying here is “Hail the great serpent who disguises himself as the most powerful angel of light! Come into me and give me the power of your demons to do your works.” I’m not intending anything nefarious, but I probably shouldn’t say that no matter what language it’s in. And that doesn’t mean that I can’t use the words light, angel, come, or power, but saying those words in that order means something, whether I intend them to or not.
Stop using the order of poses
Just as with words, the order matters with what your body does. Don’t do a Kundalini flow if you’re not trying to awaken your 10 sacred bodies. Don’t do the order of the sun salutation unless you are wanting to worship the sun. Stretch and breath and pose–but for the love of all that is holy, just stop doing them in the flows that represent Hindu worship! If you don’t mean it, don’t say it – with your body or otherwise.
Meditation is about filling, not about emptying
Yes, interject God into your calming stretches. Use the time to breathe deeply and ponder on his love. Pray while you stretch your calves. It’s okay to quiet your mind without emptying it!
This is not a chew-and-spit situation
The chew-and-spit method is for discerning the good and bad within media and ideas. However, we don’t go practicing other religions to see which parts of it overlap with Christianity. Want to study it to see what they are saying? Sure. Nothing wrong with studying other world religions. Practicing other world religions? No. Not the same.
And as many practicing Hindus (especially those in the East) will tell you, yoga is not separable from Hinduism. Christian baptism is not synonymous with a bath. The Lord’s supper is not synonymous with “a snack.” Yoga isn’t synonymous with breathing and stretching, no matter what the western world is trying to say. Stop appropriating Hinduism. It’s straight-up rude to Hindus.
In the end, Mama bears, this is a wisdom issue, not necessarily a sin issue. Please do not take this article and use it to beat every Christian you know over the head as if they are sinning unless they give up yoga like yesterday. Yoga is unwise, but it is also hyperfundamentalist to heap laws upon laws within Christianity. Use this information to put a pebble in the shoe. Use this information to help people make good, informed decisions and to be more intentional in their Christian lives. Use this information to inform your own practice, but allow the Holy Spirit to convict.
Reinforce Through Discussion, Discipleship, and Prayer
- Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you think the enemy cares about your intentions? I recommend you watch our podcast episode where Amy Davison interviews Krista Bontrager, and they discuss ways in which we (or our kids) can unintentionally invite the enemy to oppress us.
- Can we really just impose our own meaning onto an ancient Hindu ritual? If so, where does that stop? At what point does practicing a ritual that is intended for worshiping other gods cease to have meaning? For those who know what these rituals mean, what do they see when they see you – a Christian – doing this ritual? What do others see when they observe you doing yoga? Do they see you worshiping the one true God? Or is their perception that you are worshiping other gods or attempting to connect with your “higher self”? What do your kids see? More important than that, when we are performing a highly choreographed ritual, what do the beings in the spiritual realm see?
- What does God mean when He tells His people to be “set apart”? Is He only talking about what’s going on in your own private mind? In Leviticus, God tells His people not to follow the practices of the surrounding nations by saying, “Do not do as they do” (Leviticus 18:1-2). In 2 Corinthians we are told not to be yoked with unbelievers. Remember, the word yoga literally means “yoke,” and the purpose is to be “yoked” to the oneness, or the “Supreme Reality.” Scripture says, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16). As our bodies are temples, should we be using them to form poses that at the very least pay homage to idols?
- Make “What you do with your body matters”9Hillary Ferrer and Amy Davison, Mama Bear Apologetics: Guide to Sexuality (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2021), 246. a household phrase and repeat it until your kids roll their eyes when they hear it. It’s a great mantra because it applies to many situations.
- Take turns with your kids making hand gestures (like a high five, thumbs up/down, praying hands, arms folded, etc.) and make up a brand new meaning for them. After the laughter dies down, discuss how it would work out for you out in the world when you decide to assign your own meaning to widely recognized hand gestures.
- Model humility by praying with your kids that the Lord will open your eyes to anything that does not bring honor and glory to Him. We should all regularly ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of areas in our life where we are unaware of disobedience to Him.
- Prepare your kids in case they are asked to participate in yoga in school (or elsewhere). Make a plan according to your family’s convictions. For example, whichever pose the class is doing, find a similar pose that will stretch the same muscle or focus on a similar balancing act. This is where “studying yoga” could actually be beneficial. Figure out which poses they are going to do and in what order, and come up with an alternate order with different stretches that stretch the same things. Also, this is a great time for Scripture memorization. When the yogi asks the kids to have an “intention” like in the breathing in and breathing out, pick a good verse and have your kids focus on that in the breaths.
- Have a discussion with your kids about friends and family who might be participating in lifestyles or practices that are off-limits for your family. Another phrase you can repeat is, “You don’t know what you don’t know,” and explain that not everyone is aware of the spiritual aspects of what they are doing. Talk about how patient and gracious the Lord is with ALL of us, and that we will likely learn about our own blind spots over time.
Alexa is a homeschool mom of two. She became obsessed with apologetics after a season of doubt that nearly stole her faith. Alexa has a background in film and video and will willingly fight anyone who doesn’t agree that Jesus Freak is the best Christian song that ever graced the earth.
Alexa,
I’m always good for a little enlightenment…
I rarely get it from my Evangelical Church unfortunately
it’s hard. So we start what we want to see. In age of access, there’s no reason we can’t meet others on same path and work together.
I don’t get a lot at my church, but I’m there to serve and then get deeper stuff elsewhere that’s slowly but surely being included. One day there will be more like minded. For now, It’s part of giving
I have two friends who dove into yoga, both Christians. Both eventually ditched their faith – one basically embraced Hindu philosophy to pursue yoga and its worldview further as a career. I don’t trust it for those two reasons alone.
Absolutely love your post. Thank you for taking the time to share your insight – as a Christian who was on the fence about how I felt about yoga, I am now very sure where I land and that this is an area I do not want to take any chances with.
My kids attend a daycare where they do yoga after lunch and I have no idea how to bring this up. He is only four and wonder how to have this conversation with him that is age-appropriate. Any suggestions? 🙂
Do you have any recommendations for stretching/slow movement bodyweight work that isn’t yoga? I appreciate this call to discernment and I’d like to find something non-yoga to practice that still is beneficial to my body (and not just stretching…my main attraction to yoga is the strength building aspect of it, holding poses etc.)
As far as I know (and I’ll need to defer to Lindsey and Alexa), but I don’t think that Pilates has the same kind of history.
Pilates is great for strength, muscle control and stability. It is not quite as good as yoga is for flexibility. Pilates was created by Joseph Pilates as a recovery program for injured ballet dancers. It imitates ballet movements while lying down (mostly).
Yes Pilates might be a good alternative for you if you’re looking for ways to use your own bodyweight for strength, balance, and it gives a nice stretch as well. It sounds like Joseph Pilates himself was influenced by eastern thought (like Buddhism) and incorporated the “mind, body, spirit” connection in developing his exercises but like we say in the article, we affirm that connection in and of itself even if we view the reason for that connection differently. The exercises were not, as far as I can tell, born out of Hindu philosophy or any kind of idol worship. Hope this helps!
There is a Christian alternative to Yoga called Praise Moves. Have you looked into that at all? That could be a good option for people who are convicted to stop Yoga and need something else.
I already like the direction. Tell us more!
The website is praisemoves.com, and it’s excellent stretching and body weight resistance exercise from a biblical worldview. I have a DVD of it and it’s great. She gives a lot of info about the dangers of yoga in the intro and also on her website, as she used to practice it before becoming a Christian.
This is a great article! I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with a name for a kids functional movement and stretching class that still sounds fun. Thanks for inspiring me to be steadfast in my omission of the word “yoga”. If anyone has any name ideas I’m open!
We do have an idea! Call it BAS!
And someone above has linked to something called “praise moves.”
Great article! Thanks for taking the time to pray, research, and write them.
I started chemotherapy last month, and I could feel in my body that I needed something to help me focus on relaxing and breathing. Those drugs really do a number on your nervous system! I found a private yoga instructor and I was amazed at how much better my body felt after just one session. My entire focus was my breathing, my muscles and my pain. I’m a child of the 70s and was brought up to see yoga as an exercise in strength and calm.
I do agree that we need to approach yoga with eyes open and be knowledgeable in it’s roots. Just as Paul addressed in Romans 14, I also need to care for my brothers and sisters in Christ that are offended by the practice of yoga. It’s not for me to convince them otherwise and make them stumble. And I shouldn’t think, oh, I am too strong in the Lord for this to stumble me. That would be foolish. I thank God for being able to have this yoga session to help me in a time of dire need, and I also pray that if this is not something I should be doing, He will make it known to me.
Leticia, thank you for commenting. I think that’s a really wise prayer. And I understand about the chemo and all the stuff the chemicals do to you. I had 7 months of chemo back in 2010-2011 and still have effects from it.
How about other pagan words and intentions grafted into our culture, like the names of the days of the week and the months of the year? Ordering our lives by those days could be construed as following a pagan sequence that has meaning. I’m not sure this argument holds up, because so much of our language and culture has religious roots outside of Christianity.
Another example would be the names of places and plants. Would this argument mean that we should rename anything with a name rooted in a false religion?
I once heard a recording of Druids performing a pagan ceremony for Queen Elizabeth, and the song they sang sounded exactly like a Christian hymn. I have heard that some of our hymns were set to old tunes that may have been druid or Celtic in origin. What then?
I’d just like to tease out where the line is, if intention is not a factor. I’m open to your argument, but not persuaded.
HM, I think that’s a really good question! Thank you for the pushback. I think the main difference would be if something is in regards to “reference to” verses being “in worship of.” As far as the songs go, if people had kept the words but changed the tune, that would be more in line with what we are arguing that yoga does here. I think that people innately know that yoga is spiritual worship because people keep trying to coopt it to worship something else. We don’t see debates over “Christian cycle class” or “Christian kickboxing” because those things never had the worship integrated to begin with. Yoga is the only exercise people instinctively try to affix something spiritual to, and that’s revealing I think. Your points are excellent though, and should give us pause. Keep giving pushback though. This is how we flesh ideas out! <3
I do hear you and I commend your critical thinking. Here’s how I think about it: 1. I would posit that the issue with yoga is not entirely about its origins, but about the fact that in large part the worldview that yoga was designed for is still infused in the practice. It’s not just that it originated as idol worship, it’s that worldwide the majority of yoga practice is STILL idol worship. In the West, in some places it has merely been marketed as exercise, but I don’t think that’s representing it accurately. 2. I wouldn’t say that intentions don’t matter at all, but that our intentions are not all that matter. 3. I think there is a drastic difference between some common object or day of the week being named after a pagan god versus actively participating in a ritual that worships pagan gods.
I would say that this is the difference between being in the world, but not of the world. Using classically recognised names of the week or month, or even adopting the word, “Easter”, as the name of the festival to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, is part of the former distinction. However, practicing yoga is being ‘of the world’. In his exegesis of the First Commandment within his Small Catechism, Luther states, “What does God forbid in the First Commandment? God forbids us to have other gods (idolatry). When do people have other gods? (D.) When they join in the worship of one who is not the triune God.” As the whole premise of yoga is that of worshipping pagan gods, the whole act is worship, and to take part in such is something deliberate.
A few weeks ago, our family were invited to attend a local lantern festival/parade, which we were told was community event. Our eldest and youngest child participated in the lantern-making, and the eldest came home to report that, although it was a community event, it was, in actuality, a festival to celebrate Imbolc (though St. Brigid and Candlemass had been tacked onto it as well). The organiser definitely understood that Imbolc was a pagan festival, but the minister of the local church had agreed to light the Imbolc fire, so somehow, that made it all right. Now, if it had simply been billed as a community event for Spring, or if it was a celebration of St. Brigid’s Day, or Candlemass, we would have participated. However, participating in an act deliberately celebrating a pagan festival would not have been right as we would have been joining in the worship of one who is not the triune God, no matter that our local minister said that as long as it was a community event, it was an absolutely fine thing to do.
Of course, eating meat offered to idols is ‘being in the world’, and does not affect us personally as Christians. Additionally, we should not be eating that ‘meat’ if we are aware that other believers (or non-believers who may one day become believers) might be adversely affected by our action. However, participating in yoga practices seems to me to not just be the ‘eating of that meat’, but ‘sacrificing that meat’ it as well.
Thanks for outlining the argument, I agree it’s important to know more about it before coming to a decision about yoga. I don’t regularly practice yoga, but I have taken the odd class of regular yoga and Christian yoga. While I found your points interesting, I think there’s one thing that was overlooked, which is the fact that the gods at the heart of yoga are false gods. Vishnu, Shiva, etc, aren’t real. In the same way that Paul could eat meat sacrificed to idols with a clear conscience because the idols themselves were false (1 Cor. 8), I can make a pose with my body that supposedly venerates a false god with a clear conscience because they’re not real. I know that I’m not worshipping anything other than the real and living God with my whole life, so I can do poses and stretches that benefit my body with thankfulness to God for the way he’s made me.
The issue then becomes whether participating in yoga would cause a brother or sister with a weaker conscience to sin. That’s far weightier, and it would be that consideration that would give me pause if I practised regularly, rather than any risk to personal faithfulness or obedience.
If you read a little further in 1 Corinthians Paul writes, “Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.” I encourage you to look at 1 Cor. 18-33. I definitely agree that looking out for our brother/sister in Christ is very important as both passages in 1 Cor, the one you shared and the one I shared, address this!
Thank you for the article. The world recognizes the connection between the body and spirit. In fact, when I worked as a bookseller in one of a large chain of bookshops, the largest section on our floor (which included sections such as cooking, art & music) was ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’, although there was not a single Christian book in the lot. Taking this into consideration, Alexa’s articles and Hilary’s input are really important for our consideration of yoga and other well-regarded, but spiritually significant, practices. Secular humanists would like us to dismiss the spiritual, and Satan would be delighted if we did so.
Pilates is a good, non-spiritual alternative for those who need low-impact, low-intensity exercises. (It is also strongly promoted within the world of ballet!) I looked at the PraiseMoves website someone else recommended. Although the intense self-promotion puts me off, the exercises look good. However, something so explicitly Christian may put off friends who are undecided faith-wise, so if one is looking to come alongside a friend in an evangelistic context, Pilates may offer a more non-confrontational alternative.
‘Manda, Agreed. Which is why I want some entrepreneur Mama Bear to create a BAS program! I’m so all in!
Thank you for these articles! I have read and heard Christian cautions on this topic for years but have never been able to convince any other Christian that yoga is just not for us. That said…I rarely have the guts to outright say, “Oh, you’re doing yoga? Are you aware that is a Hindu worship practice and that as a Christian you shouldn’t be doing that?” But it is helpful to see you work through it so that if I ever do work up the nerve to say something, I will have some good background knowledge to work from.
Also I particularly appreciate your careful balance between legalism and license.
I’d like to ask a second question, because I think it’s an interesting topic and I respect Mama Bear’s creds in apologetics and philosophy. It is important to me because my understanding of how the spiritual realm works has as a foundational principle the “law” of human will; Satan can’t just do whatever he wants, he is bound by laws God put in place governing the spiritual, and one of them has to do with the will. Bob Hamp said it something like, “Things in the spirit are empowered by human agreement.”
In the post, the author says, “I’m not going to chant ‘Salue le grand serpant qui se déguise en ange de lumière le plus puissant! Viens en moi et donne-moi le pouvoir de tes démons pour accompli tes œuvres’ and justify it with ‘I don’t speak French, but this sounds pretty.’ Because what I’m literally saying here is ‘Hail the great serpent who disguises himself as the most powerful angel of light! Come into me and give me the power of your demons to do your works.'”
It seems that the argument put forth is that this phrase would never be okay to repeat, because the words mean something, regardless of intent. However, the phrase is written in the article in French and then repeated in English, so it seems the phrase IS acceptable to repeat, so long as the intent is to illustrate a point, not to enact the words being repeated. Is this not an example of the “intent” argument?
HM, thanks for your response! I love intriguing comments like this one! We also mention in the article that there is a difference between studying other religions vs. practicing other religions. I don’t think using something for illustrative purposes of what not to do is the same as “practicing” something. I do confess, I had the same misgivings even writing that phrase out, but I’m not going to be totally legalistic about it if it’s helping elucidate a point. If I were presenting this at a conference, I probably wouldn’t say the phrase. I’d have it up on the screen, just to be safe. A better analogy to the yoga issue would be if I said that phrase in French regularly and said to myself “When I say these words, I mean God and the Holy Spirit.” That would be the “intent” argument. Similarly, I would have no problem with someone doing a yoga flow once to show people what to look out for. Again, it’s the practice, not just the intent. Does that ansewr the question or introduce more? There’s only so much detail and nuance we can have in a blog post. But I like the way you think!!!!
Modern Western yoga has almost no similarities to religious practice in India. It was created by I Dian Nationalists from calisthenics and I Dian wrestling and brought to the Americas in the 1900s by travelers and mystics. It is ritual but not religious. Considering this, a typical yoga flow is not meaningful to any false gods and cannot be accidental worship
Thank you for a balanced and well-reasoned article. I’m happy to report that there are classes out there called “Body Balance” that are focused on good old breathing and stretching. On my favourite fitness app, there’s a mix of mobility and stretching workouts, and you quickly learn which of the coaches are all about the spiritual bit (and should be avoided) and which are just about “feel that stretch down the inner thigh”. I also refuse to put my hands in certain positions because they feel a bit too much like something spiritual (e.g., prayer hands over the chest).