According to the National Center for Health Statistics, yoga practice is on the rise among Americans. In 2012, 9.5 percent of Americans practiced yoga. The figure grew to 14.3 percent in 2017. Meditation is also on the rise. In 2012, only 4.1 percent of Americans were involved in meditation, but by 2017, the number rose to 14.2 percent.
Most people view yoga simply as exercise and stress relief. However, yoga does have roots in Hindu philosophy, and it’s those roots that have caused some Christian leaders to denounce yoga for Christians. Pastor John Lindell of James River Church in Ozark, MO believes that yoga opens Christians to influence from demonic powers. Pastor John Piper, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, has also denounced yoga as antithetical to Christianity.
The data on how many Christians practice yoga is limited. However, we know that Pastor Lindell’s words did have an effect in his community; The St. Louis Fox affiliate station reported that the day after Pastor Lindell spoke out against yoga, one local studio lost over 10 members.
Holidays With Pagan Traditions
Pastor Lindell says that the positions in yoga were designed with pagan intent to open you up to demonic power. The physical movements signify praise in and of themselves. Essentially: Avoid a Sun Salutation, lest you accidentally worship the Hindu god Surya!
You may be thinking-- what about Christmas or Halloween, which have pagan origins? Pastor Lindell draws the distinction that yoga is different from those holidays because the mantra associated with yoga is worship, which violates the first commandment, “thou shalt not have any gods before the Lord.”
You may need some yoga just to do all those mental gymnastics.
Let’s be honest. Halloween comes from the Samhain, a Celtic celebration in which the ghosts of the dead came back to earth. Bonfires were built to appease the spirits. Vegetables, such as turnips, were carved into talismans to ward off bad spirits. Halloween is universally associated with the occult in many cultures. Just by dressing up in costume is a remembrance and celebration of the pagan roots of Halloween.
Christmas is celebrated over the winter solstice. It, too, has roots in pagan traditions. The Druids would decorate with greenery to remember the sun god during the darkest season of the year. The Christians took the Saturnalia celebration and created it as Jesus’ birthday to encourage celebration, not because it is the day of Christ’s birth. The caroling tradition began out of drunken tomfoolery. People would drink hot mulled cider, either spiked with alcohol or fermented, and go from house to house singing and wishing neighbors “good health.”
Easter, one of the most sacred Christian holidays, has many pagan traditions. Eggs and rabbits, two symbols that represent spring and Easter, are associated with fertility. Eggs were decorated to honor the goddess of fertility and ask for blessings on the crops. Doesn’t sound very Christian, yet we haven't heard any Christian leaders denounce the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
How Do Christians Choose Which Traditions Are Harmful and Which Aren’t?
It could be argued that church buildings aren’t necessarily Christian, either. The early church wasn’t formalized like it’s known today. But should Christians even worry about how they worship God if their heart and motivations are pure? The church of today looks nothing like the early church. Should one take a dogmatic approach to a religion that has evolved over the past 2,000 years, or can Christians take the positive aspects of yoga and use it constructively to reduce stress and meditate without becoming engulfed in Hindu philosophies?
It’s almost as if some Christian leaders don’t trust their congregation to follow God without strict rules and requirements. Is the Christian life about rigidly following directives, dos and don’ts? After all, Christians have reinterpreted Christmas trees to make them acceptable within the church. What makes yoga, of all things, so different?
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