Hooray for Doug Pagitt, sticking up for Yoga

From time to time, I feel my comment on another person's blog is worth recollecting on my own. So here's a link to Locust and Honey, or you can just watch the video he posted right here, followed by my comment. Actually, I'll point you to the youtube site so you can lament with me that all the comments are supportive of John MacArthur. It's this kind of thing that makes me sad for Christianity.


Here's my comment:

Word up Dan. John McArthur said something like this in the interview: "Christianity is filling your mind with Biblical truths." It is this kind of perspective that is damaging to the faith. The Shema (which Jesus kind of liked) said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength." (The New Testament adds mind). But, needless to say, Christianity isn't a "brain game" it isn't just about saluting doctrines and bowing down to almighty "truths." What are the "truths" that MacArthur is filling his mind with? Doug Pagitt did a good job of commanding the debate, too bad they ended on MacArthur's nonsense. If yoga is the way people are getting their bodies into worship, then hooray yoga. If you think Christianity hasn't borrowed from other religions from the start (Acts 17:28), then you need to look a little more closely. I practiced yoga for awhile and it is great exercise. I felt rejuvenated after doing it. There is no "worshipping Hindu gods," or whatever. I’m sure you could find a yoga practice that offers that, but most in this country don't. Also, with the stupid reference to the dictionary definition of yoga, that is because yoga is the Hindu word for discipline, or pathway. It is a term that refers to the many paths to God within Hinduism. Adherents of Bhakti Yoga (the largest segment of Hinduism) find God through the expression of devotion to a god as a "face of Brahman." Brahman (nominative brahma ब्रह्म) is the concept of the supreme spirit found in Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this universe. Sound familiar? Did you read that Acts passage? You also have Jnana Yoga (the discipline of intellectual worship), karma yoga is the discipline of action, raja yoga is the discipline of meditation, and hatha yoga is the discipline of body and breath, which we commonly call yoga. The broadcaster, being ignorant of eastern religions, looked up the wrong word to find the definition of what he was talking about. John MacArthur was speaking about something he proudly stated he had never participated in. Why do people buy into such drivel? The paths of yoga are profound and worth looking into. Maybe, as Christians, we'll learn something.