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Should Christians Practice Yoga? Is It More Than Exercise?
I’m Starting to Feel Convicted About Yoga
For too many years, I lived with unbelievable amounts of stress that contributed to sickness and instability with my emotions.
During this phase of my life, I felt a nudge, a whisper in my spirit, that yoga would be good for me. I resisted this thought for a long time because, as a born-again Christian, I had heard other Christians teach and preach that yoga was a religious practice and that the poses were prayers to Hindu gods.
All Christians (and Jews) know that the One True God strictly forbids the worship of any other god or god-like form.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…(Exodus 20:4–5a, NIV)
Some Christians will say that everything is permissible because we live under grace. I understand that, yet if yoga poses are intended to worship other gods (little g), then grace or no grace, it doesn’t seem like a practice we should engage in.
Paul said that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. I’m sharing this verse in the Amplified Classic…
