The question of yoga and christianity came up recently. I once would have been of the opinion that anything can be ‘redeemed’ that if it is done with faith in Jesus then there is no reason that a Christian couldn’t participate. That if we just changed the words – what does it matter about the ‘poses.’ However – now that I have a greater appreciation for ‘physical worship’ and the sacraments, my views on this have definitely changed. Here below are where they are just now.

Questions?

Where does Yoga come from?

What does it do to you?

Why does it ‘work’?

Why is it relaxing? 

What is bringing you peace?

If it is Jesus that is bringing the peace – then what is the point of the stretches – the positions?

Is yoga ‘neutral’?

Some people would insist that yoga is – at it’s core – just stretching, that it is neutral. But this assumes a worldview where our bodies are not spiritual, that physical realities can’t ‘involve’ spiritual realities. It relies on a world where the physical is purely mechanical, and not linked in any way to the spiritual.

However this is not the bible’s view of reality. We could talk about human bodies that are body and soul, we could talk about sacraments – how spiritual life is given to us through physical means. Or we could even speak about Jesus himself in the incarnation – fully God and Fully man – no divide… (to deny the interaction of spirit and bodies would be to deny the resurrection)

More and more I think that there is nothing truly inherently spiritually ‘neutral’. The whole world is spiritual, it is filled with spirits and none of these spirits are neutral. They either serve King Jesus, or they are in rebellion against Him.

Things that can be ‘redeemed’ are things that God has made good and that the devil has used for evil. We could take for example Alcohol. In several places God speaks of the warmth and joy of wine, it is good! But we also know that anything good can be abused, and the world does abuse it. The worlds abuse of Gods good gift of alcohol under the influence of the devil, does not mean that we can no longer use it for good. We recognise it was ours first, we are using it as intended, and so we can continue.

But the more I look into and understand Yoga, the more the idea sticks in my head that it did not come from God – but that it came rebel spiritual beings.

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