should christians | ……
Go ahead and search. Top results include:
Should Christians celebrate Halloween?
Should Christians fight in war?
Should Christians play the lottery?
Should Christians be on Facebook?
Should Christians save for retirement?
Should Christians be Socialists?
Should Christians do magic?
Should Christians wear makeup?
And – the ever popular: Should Christians practice yoga?
For this last one I’ve read more than I care to admit and talked with all kinds of people ad nauseam. As a Christian fitness magazine publisher I cover all kinds of fitness programming and in the yoga/meditation category there is practically a new flavor everyday.
So, SHOULD Christians do yoga? Go ahead do that search – good luck with that!
As of this article date one of the most recent popular headlines is, Megachurch Pastor Issues Urgent Warning To Christians Who Do Yoga. It’s all about Pastor John Lindell of James River Church in Missouri taking a strong stance against yoga. By the numbers he’s in good company. You’ll find quite a few Christian leaders with an identical or similar message. I’m not sure the extent to which those in this priesthood interact with and understand those who do yoga (Christian or not) but I think if they dare venture like Jesus they’ll find people are truly looking for God more than they realize. The opportunity is there to be a presence for God.
Instead, this type of preaching calls for Christians to surrender certain practices (like meditation, focus and becoming spiritually one) to other religions. The instruction is that to achieve a pure heart for God one must abstain from certain lifestyle activities and human interactions regardless if such activities can yield divine value when given to and used by God.
Top-down church leadership can foster social paranoia and self-protection. It can result in Christians in the church having an indoctrinated faith where determined self will to be holy is encouraged over the deeper pursuit of God and a dogged willingness to be used.
Full disclosure – as the founder of Faith & Fitness Magazine, I and this Christian ministry do not promote any one Christian fitness program over another and I have no compelling reason to personally or professionally advocate for any kind of Christian yoga, alternative or anything else yoga related.
What I do have extreme passion about is what I believe every Christian should aggressively be searching and daily practice being:
CHRISTIANS SHOULD |……
Fill in the blank.
Christians should pray and seek God.
Christians should read the Bible.
Christians should know, understand and be able to communicate their faith.
Christians should be compassionate and graceful like Christ.
Christians should be the life of Christ to others.
These are just a few of the ‘should’ that you should boldly pursue instead of being so uncertain about and encumbered by how you may not be good enough or fall from grace.
People around you want to know (they need to know) what Christians are FOR, rather than what Christians have publicly been characterized to be against.
They don’t really care what you think or what any Christian experts think. You shouldn’t either. You really only need to KNOW God and let Him be known so they too can know God.
That’s not a difficult thing to do but it does take some sincere effort and quite honestly human nature often causes us to never get around to that. By the time we do all the Google searches and listen to preachers and experts our brains have come to conclusions and our capacity to persist in prayer and know God has waned.
I think a lot of Christians – in fact a lot of people want to go deeper. I’m excited to tell you that there’s a God inviting you, “Come on! Stretch — I Am.”
