{"content":[{"text":"Yoga and Christianity: What are the Differences?","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.05513,"width":0.53519,"height":0.017959000000000003}},{"text":"Many people today (including some Christians) are taking up yoga practice. We’ll later consider \n whether yoga philosophy can truly be separated from yoga practice, but we must first establish that \n there are crucial doctrinal differences between yoga and Christianity. Let’s briefly look at just a few \n of these.","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.090044,"width":0.8466629999999999,"height":0.06722299999999999}},{"text":"First, yoga and Christianity have very different concepts of God. As previously stated, the goal of \n yoga is to experience union with “God.” But what do yogis mean when they speak of “God,” or \n Brahman? Exactly what are we being encouraged to “unite” with? Most yogis conceive of “God” as \n an impersonal, spiritual substance, coextensive with all of reality. This doctrine is called pantheism, \n the view that everything is “God.” It differs markedly from the theism of biblical Christianity. In the \n Bible, God reveals Himself as the personal Creator of the universe. God is the Creator; the universe, \n His creation. The Bible maintains a careful distinction between the two.{9}","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.174029,"width":0.848184,"height":0.11923700000000004}},{"text":"A second difference between yoga and Christianity concerns their views of man. Since yoga \n philosophy teaches that everything is “God,” it necessarily follows that man, too, is “God.” \n Christianity, however, makes a clear distinction between God and man. God is the Creator; man is \n one of His creatures. Of course man is certainly unique, for unlike the animals he was created in the \n image of God.{10} Nevertheless, Christianity clearly differs from yoga in its unqualified insistence \n that God and man are distinct.","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.310028,"width":0.849543,"height":0.10189900000000002}},{"text":"Finally, let’s briefly consider how yoga and Christianity differently conceive man’s fundamental \n problem, as well as its solution. Yoga conceives man’s problem primarily in terms of ignorance; man \n simply doesn’t realize that he is “God.” The solution is enlightenment, an experience of union with \n “God.” This solution (which is the goal of yoga) can only be reached through much personal striving \n and effort. Christianity, however, sees man’s primary problem as sin, a failure to conform to both the \n character and standards of a morally perfect God. Man is thus alienated from God and in need of \n reconciliation. The solution is Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the \n world.”{11} Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God reconciled the world to Himself.{12} He now \n calls men to freely receive all the benefits of His salvation through faith in Christ alone. Unlike yoga, \n Christianity views salvation as a free gift. It can only be received; it can never be earned.","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.428689,"width":0.855512,"height":0.17125}},{"text":"Clearly, Christianity and yoga are mutually exclusive viewpoints. But is every kind of yoga the same? \n Isn’t there at least one that’s exclusively concerned with physical health and exercise? Next, we’ll \n take a closer look at hatha yoga, the one most often believed to be purely physical in nature.","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.616701,"width":0.853299,"height":0.04988499999999996}},{"text":"What Is Hatha Yoga?","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.683545,"width":0.22911499999999996,"height":0.017958999999999947}},{"text":"Here we’ve learned that yoga is an ancient spiritual discipline rooted in a belief system that is \n utterly incompatible with Christianity. But is this true of all yoga? Isn’t hatha yoga simply concerned \n with physical development and good health?","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.718459,"width":0.8510300000000001,"height":0.04988500000000007}},{"text":"Hatha yoga is primarily concerned with two things: asana (physical postures) and pranayama \n (breathing exercises). But it’s important to realize that both asana and pranayama also play a \n significant role in Patanjali’s raja (or “royal”) yoga. In the traditional eight “limbs” of Patanjali’s \n system, asana and pranayama are limbs three and four. What then is the relationship of hatha to raja \n yoga?","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.785107,"width":0.855732,"height":0.08456000000000008}},{"text":"Former yoga practitioner Dave Fetcho states that yoga postures “evolved as an integral part of Raja \n . . . Yoga.”{13} He points out that the author of the famous handbook, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, \n “presents Hatha . . . solely and exclusively for the attainment of Raja Yoga.”{14} He also cites a","bbox":{"left":0.071429,"top":0.88643,"width":0.847102,"height":0.04988499999999996}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}