As one of the main centers of syncretism in the Episcopal Church, Grace Cathedral of San Francisco combines the Hindu rituals of yoga with the spirituality of the labyrinth. Instead of kneeling down in submission and praying to God as Jesus did, many think they can be in direct relationship with God by manipulating their bodies, controlling their breathing and clearing their minds. I think it would be hard for God to think he has our attention while participating in such practices.
In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus said that Mary had chosen what was better by listening to him while sitting at his feet while Martha was distracted by other tasks of being a host. Yoga is actually an activity of extreme self-focus: controlling the body, breath and mind as a pathway of self-worship to reach the so-called “divinity” within as opposed to reaching out to have a relationship with the person of God in Jesus Christ. Think about it. How easy would it be for you to have an intimate conversation with a close friend while they were doing the downward dog?
Spiritual, Yoga Worlds Collide At San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral
3 thoughts on “Spiritual, Yoga Worlds Collide At San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral”
San Francisco–it figures. Home of the apostasy of Bishop Pike, and center of so many new age havens and destructive practices glorified (drug use, e.g.). The delusional heresies infecting the Episcopal Church are so bad that they’ve deceived one 30-something acquainatnce of mine (a grandson of an Episcopal priest from the Bay area!) into thinking that “of course EVERYONE knows that Jesus wandered to India in his 20s to learn Hindu theology and just took that back with him to his people when his ministry went public.”
People take this kind of pap for truth never reading any original texts or the Bible to see the lack of doctrinal overlapping. I never even heard of this idiocy until I saw it marketed at the national Book Fair in 2006, and already it’s an “everybody knows…” item.
Clearly Martha and all others who dare to host people are idolators, right. Are you saying an activity that makes it hard to worship God simultaneously is automatically evil? Like washing the dishes and doing homework is evil? We get it you hate yoga because it’s different than what you grew up doing, but you honestly have zero understanding of it. No one practices yoga out of self worship anymore than you could accuse any exercise or diet of being self worship. God gave you your body to care for, not to abuse and neglect. Not to mention the undeniable fact that mantra yoga (the act of counting beads while repeating a prayer) is an Eastern practice acquired by the early church (which was present in India). But you know that Jesus didn’t waste his time on hatred. His thing was compassion and understanding and you have none of that. Plenty of Hindus are better Christians that you could ever hope to be, because they honor the tenants of Christ, not the dogma of the church. Your just singing to your tiny choir. Think about it, how easy would it be for you to have an intimate conversation with a close friend while they are ranting about how god hates you, your lifestyle, and their faith. You won’t find god in other people when you’re looking for satan everywhere.
My point is to contrast two spiritual disciplines. One involves worshiping God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Orthodox Christianity believes that God is a personal God and not an energy or force that we conjure up within ourselves. We have a personal relationship with God as a “personal” being in person of Jesus Christ. We have the relationship through faith in what Jesus did at the Cross, not by the manipulation of our bodies. Jesus wanted Martha to spend intimate time with Him. So my critique is by analogy regarding the difficulty being in relationship (having a conversation, praying) with another person when they are distracted by focusing on themselves by doing yoga disciplines. This is a very critical difference that I am trying to convey but most people, even many Christians, don’t seem to get it which is why they don’t see the inherent conflict with Christianity.
Also, I am very sure many Hindus are more caring and thoughtful and live out the tenants of Christ but that doesn’t make them Christians. The thief on the Cross believed in who Jesus proclaimed himself to be and was able enter in to heaven with the Lord on his final day of life. Christianity isn’t a religion for good people or spiritual people. Hopefully, Christians who growing in relationship with Jesus Christ will begin to show the fruits of that relationship in this life.