Can a Christian be a Yogi?

Spirituality Religion
#161

Hinduism is not an organized religion with a clergy. So if an individual Hindu guru/swami does something unbecoming, those actions only reflect the individiaul guru/swami. It is not the same in Christianity, because it has a clergy and thus their actions are representative. If this includes the highest places in the Church this is an indictment on Christianity.

So if a police officer commits a crime, that is an idictment against law enforcement?

No, you are quite wrong. Christians can and do fail. Sometimes those who should know better fail the worst. That’s not an indictment against the system, but evidence of the weakness of man.

Swamis can and do poach thier female followers and you can’t divorce yourself from those creeps anymore than I can divorce myself from priests who have similarly failed, and in neither case is it fair to point to them as if they are the fruits of their religion, when in fact they are the result of men who chose to go against their religion and commit horrible sins.

#162

Immaculate conception for skepticism whether Jesus even existed

You are once again demonstrating your ignorance about Catholicism, and don’t know what “immaculate conception” means.

#163

hahahaha Thomas I am shocked completely and utterly shocked!.. your Profile picture…THE POPE, and THE EMPEROR
well I say well, oow ay tut n hahahahahh

carry on

#164

This is historically reflected in the sexual revolution in Europe, as soon as the Church’s influence waned on the life of individuals in Europe in victorian times, what followed was an explosion of repressed sexuality.

They were free to choose to sin, just like you are free to choose to fornicate, and excuse it by calling it “regulation” instead of what it really is.

#165

Surya says
The history of modern civilisation is a history of the rejection of Christianity. In premodern times we were all expected to blindly obey and accept everything the Church said. Its views on cosmology, psychology, sociology, physics, medicine, theology etc. But the Church lost its influence with the rise of science. As soon as people were freed from the shackles of religion and allowed to think freely, people began to increasingly reject the Church.

Kareng says
Its materialism combined with Science…This will happen in India in time…India is materialistically rising, day by day, wait till it takes off in total and you will see the masses rejecting Hinduism for materialism, if it isn’t already happening…thats what happened to Christianity. remember what ive said and watch it taken apart in your lifetime.

In England around me, Pakistan Muslims, the young are ducking and diving from their parents and grandparents so they can date English girls, go for a drinks, hang out in nightclubs and have full western materialistic fun…in just 2 or 3 generations to come they wont be worshiping Allah here. The very same thing will happen to the young in India, Hindus etc when they get the full impact of materialism.
…dont for a second think it wont!
[B]
Religions thrive while ever there is suffering, when you take suffering away, religions suffer and the numbers of followers drop[/B]

Thomas says…No, you are quite wrong. Christians can and do fail. Sometimes those who should know better fail the worst. That’s not an indictment against the system, but evidence of the weakness of man.

Kareng says…I agree

#166

[QUOTE=kareng;41046]Can you outline what it says Oak333[/QUOTE]

Yes. Look in the thread “yoga and Christianity.”

#167

Cheers Oak I have bookmarked it…xx

#168

The Catholic Church has never reversed doctrine. The Catholic Church is the same today as it was when founded by Jesus. The only difference is development of Doctrine. There are no reinterpretations of doctrine.

Nonsense. The Catholic church of today and the church that was set up after the death of Jesus by Paul are not the same and do not teach the same things.

Regarding the child molestation issues in the Church. The record on this has already been made to clear to you.

Yes, it is an indictement on your religion when members of your Church engage in immoral and illegal practices, because your religion has a clergy which makes decisions for the rest of the religion. If they themselves cannot maintain what your doctrine teaches, then the average joe cannot either.

The modern world has rejected Christianity for a very good reason. We will not return to it ever again.

#169

There are a billion Catholics, so that’s not a rejection.

A bad apple in the clergy does not mean they are all bad, just like a bad policeman does not mean they are all bad or that the laws are bad.

Anyway, please enlighten me further about your comment about the “immaculate conception.”

#170

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;41713]Comparing the primitive ten commandments with the enlightened 8-fold path of Buddhism or the yama and niyamas of Yoga is like comparing stone wheel carts with maglev trains

The ten commandments are absolute laws we must abide by or else face death. The 8-fold path and the yamas and niyamas are general guidelines humans should follow to live a life of well being.

Humans cannot follow dictates. They can follow guidelines, provided those guidelines are sensible.

KARENG SAYS…
The part of the ten commandments you are choosing to debate is… Thou shalt not…and what lies around that.
I am referring to the [B]content[/B] which would fall into the eightfold path.
In that Thomas and I are on the same page.

Buddhism does not discount other peoples faiths, SD does, therefore Hinduism does.

The current Dalai Lama thinks it is wonderful that there are many other faiths. Just as one food taste is liked by one person and not, by another.

#171

“immaculate conception.” this is Suryas view on Hinduism Thomas…I’m right yes Surya ? :smiley:

#172

The 8-fold path says nothing like this:

Do not have any other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

Anything can be taken out of context and twisted to mean anything. If we just look at this simplistically then yeah the ten commandments are a moral code like the 8-fold path. If we look at this critically, then moral code of the ten commandments is very different to the moral code of the 8-fold path.

Buddhism discounts faith. The Buddha himself says do not believe in a word of what he says, but rather to allow ones own experience validate what he says.

#173

I do not believe in half the stories you hear about Krishna in the Puranas. So I am sure as hell not going to believe Jesus was conceived from a virgin :smiley:

#174

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;41822]I do not believe in half the stories you hear about Krishna in the Puranas. So I am sure as hell not going to believe Jesus was conceived from a virgin :D[/QUOTE]

That is not the “immaculate conception.”

#175

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is, according to Catholic doctrine, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain ("immacula" in Latin) of Original Sin.[1] It is one of the four dogmas in Roman Catholic Mariology. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One), particularly in artistic contexts.[2]

The doctrine states that, from the first moment of her existence, Mary was preserved by God from the Original Sin and filled with sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. Catholics believe Mary "was free from any personal or hereditary sin".[3][4]

#176

Yes I was looking at the parallels, not the ones that arnt Surya, so in that sense, yes simplistically.

#177

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;41829]The Immaculate Conception of Mary is, according to Catholic doctrine, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain (“immacula” in Latin) of Original Sin.[1] It is one of the four dogmas in Roman Catholic Mariology. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One), particularly in artistic contexts.[2]

The doctrine states that, from the first moment of her existence, Mary was preserved by God from the Original Sin and filled with sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. Catholics believe Mary “was free from any personal or hereditary sin”.[3][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception[/QUOTE]

Very good on the google search to cover your butt.

But that’s not what you thought it meant when you posted it.

#178

I knew what it meant :smiley:

I do not accept the Virgin Mary was anymore pure than I accept Jesus was. I accept both as humans who ate, drank, slept and went to the toilet like every other human.
I accept Jesus as being born from sexual intercourse between his mother and his father just as as every other human.

You feel the need to believe this because you want to believe Jesus is special. Therefore he must have special parents, special friends, special powers, special status.

To me Jesus is a dime a dozen.

#179

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;41822]I do not believe in half the stories you hear about Krishna in the Puranas. So I am sure as hell not going to believe Jesus was conceived from a virgin :D[/QUOTE]

This is what you meant.

You thought the “immaculate conception” meant Jesus was born of a virgin.

This is a common mistake. Even some Catholics make it.

You Google searched it when I pressed you on it. You would not have needed a Google search if you had known the answer. You would have responded in your own words.

#180

No wait, catholics DO in fact believe Mary was a virgin. Hence why she is called the Virgin Mary :wink: