Yoga and Christianity
Yoga and Christianity
The author of “Yes to Yoga”, Agnieszka Tennant, seems to argue that yoga can easily be stripped of its Hindu implications. He says that even though it was originally Hindu, he is entirely invulnerable of being contaminated by any god or goddess apart from Christ. He was wise to implement the scenarios in which yoga is exercised today: inside secular American gyms. Not only did he powerfully demonstrate that all forms of Hinduism are nearly extinct from the yoga which is commonly practised, he went as far as to say that any Hindu gods or beliefs should be of no concern to a Christian. By comparing yoga to spiritual meat which he puts into his body, he was able to apply several verses from the book of Corinthians to support his argument that simply because yoga was originally Hindu, we are not under any obligation to abstain from it or “not put it in our mouths”. In summary, he defended his position that he would never be snatched away from a God as great as God the Father, especially by non-existent entities. Worship, according to him, is a conscious state of mind, and he would never hand his mind over to anyone except the God of the Bible. In short, he made a powerful stand saying that yoga should be a perfectly fine practice for any Christian to engage in, especially since he believed it brought him closer to God, the same way Hindus used it to bring them closer to their gods. However, his argument tends to be very subjective, lacking a universal point of view.
In the article “The Subtle Body – Should Christians Practice Yoga?”, Dr. A. Mohler takes a very dogmatic stand against the idea of a Christian engaging in yoga. However, the majority of the article seems to focus on how Americans (and Christians) have gradually come to accept yoga and are beginning to believe that it can easily be stripped of its Hindu implications. He continuously contrasts today's society to older societies where yoga was a “heathen” practice and totally out of the
The author of “Yes to Yoga”, Agnieszka Tennant, seems to argue that yoga can easily be stripped of its Hindu implications. He says that even though it was originally Hindu, he is entirely invulnerable of being contaminated by any god or goddess apart from Christ. He was wise to implement the scenarios in which yoga is exercised today: inside secular American gyms. Not only did he powerfully demonstrate that all forms of Hinduism are nearly extinct from the yoga which is commonly practised, he went as far as to say that any Hindu gods or beliefs should be of no concern to a Christian. By comparing yoga to spiritual meat which he puts into his body, he was able to apply several verses from the book of Corinthians to support his argument that simply because yoga was originally Hindu, we are not under any obligation to abstain from it or “not put it in our mouths”. In summary, he defended his position that he would never be snatched away from a God as great as God the Father, especially by non-existent entities. Worship, according to him, is a conscious state of mind, and he would never hand his mind over to anyone except the God of the Bible. In short, he made a powerful stand saying that yoga should be a perfectly fine practice for any Christian to engage in, especially since he believed it brought him closer to God, the same way Hindus used it to bring them closer to their gods. However, his argument tends to be very subjective, lacking a universal point of view.
In the article “The Subtle Body – Should Christians Practice Yoga?”, Dr. A. Mohler takes a very dogmatic stand against the idea of a Christian engaging in yoga. However, the majority of the article seems to focus on how Americans (and Christians) have gradually come to accept yoga and are beginning to believe that it can easily be stripped of its Hindu implications. He continuously contrasts today's society to older societies where yoga was a “heathen” practice and totally out of the