Paul spends an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians 10 talking about idolatry. Read for yourself, beginning in chapter 9, verse 24 and then on through chapter 10. Several key elements to point out here. The first is that Paul obviously did some exercise, but he also focused more on conforming to God than to self (1 Cor 9, 24-27). He warns about idolatry and covers what happened to those of the old testament who fell into idolatry after being led out of egypt (among other sins in 1 Cor 10, 5-10). And finally he calls idolatry what it is (the theme of demons again) in verses 19-22.
Then Paul gives maybe the best advice of all in these types of situations.
23 "Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. 24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. (1 Cor 10, 23-24) 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10, 31-33)
The yogis themselves decry the whole idea of "christian yoga" because it tries to make yoga something it's not. Yoga is a complete system of spirituality that also includes some exercise. You can't really just take the exercise by itself and still have yoga - you end up with aggressive stretching or something. And you can't replace the spiritual enlightenment bits of yoga and stick God in there. It's a little like what the crusaders did - lopping heads off in the name of Christ. The activity and purpose are still something that just shouldn't be done, and pasting a cross on the top of it doesn't make it ok.
Do we all need to get a lot more exercise? Probably. Is yoga a great exercise system for balancing the body? Absolutely. But there are other things out there besides yoga that can do the same thing without all of the idolatry strings attached. Instead of grabbing a pair of scissors and whacking away at the strings, just go with a suitable "other." There are gobs of good stretching programs out there and even Pilates (which is still a bit weird in my book) if you feel like rigorous posing and stretching is the thing for you. Having been a personal trainer, I know that stretching and flexibility are the most overlooked components in any fitness routine and that most people would be much better off if they just skipped the jogging and worked on flexibility more than endurance.
But that doesn't mean that yoga is the only way to get in good and well balanced shape. It may be the oldest, but there are others that are just as effective and don't come with all the mythical gods and self worship. In other words, there is no such thing as "christian yoga." There are Christians who practice yoga, even if they probably should reconsider this, and there is yoga as it is traditionally practiced. But in the end biblical Christianity and yoga are mutually exclusive belief systems and trying to get them together is like trying to get two bits of matter to occupy the same place at the same time. It just doesn't work and you end up with a mess.
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