Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

[Maria de Luna]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

Barcodes are the mark of the beast, the symbol that shows allegiance to the anti-christ and you can't buy or sell without it. Other things people think the mark of the beast is: Credit cards, paper money, welfare, computer chips, usb dongles, and the irs, among many other things.

Can't blame people for thinking the IRS is the devil, only the devil could devise such tedious paperwork and take your money...

Yeah, doesn't surprise me. Things that can lead to satanic possession according to Christianist extremists:

Harry Potter
Dungeons and Dragons
Meditation
The Exorcist
Jesus Christ Superstar
Ouija
Tarot
reading the Satanic Bible
Led Zeppelin
bar codes (yes really, no joke)
black cats
and now, yoga

next:
tai chi
voting Democratic
voting moderate Republican

Yep there are afterschool specails about D&D causing your child to become possessed by the devil and make them crazy, my mother in law gets nervous every time we play :P

- - - Updated - - -

With regards to the crazy guy in the article, and oh yeah is he crazy, he equated planned parenthood to the KKK, he is a nutter

[SPhoenix]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

On the subject of planned parenthood, I understand where he's coming from. I can't say if I agree or not, but there's a little known demographic fact about planned parenthood, and some things about its founder that could make his view understandable. Young black women are targeted by them to push abortion on. They will target young white women for "you should give your baby up for adoption" and they will target young black women with "abortion is a good choice, you're too young to have a child." This is in part because they don't get kickbacks from adoption agencies for black, hispanic, or other babies. White babies sell for much more (under the euphemism of "fees"), and so the kickbacks are greater. On the other hand, abortion clinics will give them kickbacks for women who are sent there and have abortions there.

So it's not really direct racism the way that this man is pointing it out as, it's fiscal... financial. It's more about the kickbacks and the sad fact that black and hispanic babies don't sell for as much as asian babies--and not nearly as much as white babies. Wait, sorry, "the fees" for black, hispanic, and asian babies aren't as high as those for procuring white babies. You're not paying for the baby, of course, oh noes. Definitely not. You're paying "fees" for all that leg work and all those kickbacks that resulted in you getting to buy--er adopt--the baby of your color choice.

No, it's not the KKK, but it's understandable how he would see it as racism versus simple supply and demand... supply and demand that comes from racist choices when people are trying to adopt. There is racism in it, but the source is not what he claims, is my point.

Anywho... yep, he's nutty. But that doesn't make him completely wrong in everything. On the other hand, not surprised to see christians compare yoga to satanic possession. Satanic possession is their favorite patsy for anything they want to disapprove of. Have you seen some of those girls who do yoga??? So skinny, so sleek... men drool over them. IT HAS TO BE EVIL!

:B):

[Yrja]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

Yeah, doesn't surprise me. Things that can lead to satanic possession according to Christianist extremists:

Harry Potter
Dungeons and Dragons
Meditation
The Exorcist
Jesus Christ Superstar
Ouija
Tarot
reading the Satanic Bible
Led Zeppelin
bar codes (yes really, no joke)
black cats
and now, yoga

next:
tai chi
voting Democratic
voting moderate Republican

You forgot Charmed. Everyone who has ever watched Charmed is possessed.

[SPhoenix]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

You forgot Charmed. Everyone who has ever watched Charmed is possessed.

And Supernatural. Definitely. I mean, have you seen the amount of fanfiction Supernatural has generated? Has to be evil, has to be, I say!

[Dumuzi]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

Yoga is from the devil. No regular human being can bend like they do. Obviously, dark forces are inside them, making their body do all of that stuff!

Have you watched "The Exorcist"? Have you seen what she did with her neck?

[toxicyarnglare]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

This is one of the reasons I can't stand modern christianity: they're afraid of everything, so much that many things that could be pleasing in life would be debilitatingly stressful to do, unless you denounce it as being demonic. One of the main reasons I'm scarred by it to this day.

However, I don't think one necessarily needs to be a fundamentalist to believe that. Many many protestants who aren't share similar beliefs.

[thalassa]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

This is one of the reasons I can't stand modern christianity: they're afraid of everything, so much that many things that could be pleasing in life would be debilitatingly stressful to do, unless you denounce it as being demonic. One of the main reasons I'm scarred by it to this day.

However, I don't think one necessarily needs to be a fundamentalist to believe that. Many many protestants who aren't share similar beliefs.

And there are many many many that don't. This is one of the reasons that I can't stand blanket statements.

There are 38,000 denominations of Christianity. They do not all believe the same thing, they do not all practice the same way, they do not all follow the same rules. Making a blanket statement about 1/3 of the global population (2.18 billion people) is pretty impossible with any degree of accuracy. The church I was raised in, which has women pastors and marries gay couples, also offered qi gong and yoga classes, the latter of which was taught by the youth pastor.

I get it...you don't like Christians because you had a bad experience or a number of bad experiences. You aren't alone there. But your experience isn't the only one that exists. And, to be honest, Pagans don't have much room to be pointing fingers at examples of other groups for their intolerance of other ideas and views.

[anunitu]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

One thing I have noticed with "Many" religions is the effect of implanting deep guilt into the minds of their flock. I have seen personally someone close to me feel guilty for feeling happy. Pleasure becomes a stress because in their minds feeling happy is a sin is some way. There was a school of thought in early religious beliefs that man is required to suffer in life in order to gain entrance into (fill in your dream destination)

[toxicyarnglare]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

And there are many many many that don't. This is one of the reasons that I can't stand blanket statements.

There are 38,000 denominations of Christianity. They do not all believe the same thing, they do not all practice the same way, they do not all follow the same rules. Making a blanket statement about 1/3 of the global population (2.18 billion people) is pretty impossible with any degree of accuracy. The church I was raised in, which has women pastors and marries gay couples, also offered qi gong and yoga classes, the latter of which was taught by the youth pastor.

I get it...you don't like Christians because you had a bad experience or a number of bad experiences. You aren't alone there. But your experience isn't the only one that exists. And, to be honest, Pagans don't have much room to be pointing fingers at examples of other groups for their intolerance of other ideas and views.

I don't dislike christians, i still have many christian friends, but i dislike christianity. If I had to narrow down that blanket statement a bit I would say to christian denominations that generally fit under the "tea party" political label, because that label is pretty much a religion in itself. again, this may be a bit of a blanket statement, but i left with such horrible anxiety because of christianity (I grew up with the Assembly of God, a not so extreme charismatic evangelical church) that i'm still struggling to overcome it.

[Malflick]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

I don't dislike christians, i still have many christian friends, but i dislike christianity. If I had to narrow down that blanket statement a bit I would say to christian denominations that generally fit under the "tea party" political label, because that label is pretty much a religion in itself. again, this may be a bit of a blanket statement, but i left with such horrible anxiety because of christianity (I grew up with the Assembly of God, a not so extreme charismatic evangelical church) that i'm still struggling to overcome it.

Its understandable that you're making such a judgement off of bad experiences-- and there are plenty of seriously messed up Christians out there, trust me, I know. I've been told I'm going to hell many times for my beliefs, which are Christian, by other Christians. But that's to be expected when there are so many of us, who believe so many utterly different things. Christianity has made me a better person, taught me to love and respect other people's differences, and to (do my best, though I falter, to) not judge other people. And worshiping Yahweh is something I am glad to do and proud of.

But I'm not proud of a lot of Christians. I love Christianity, but I am ashamed of many Christians, who twist what we're supposed to be doing to hate, hurt, oppress, shame, disenfranchise, and more. And I am truly and honestly sorry that people from my faith acted so wrong to you and around you that you dislike our faith. And I can't and don't blame you for that-- its obvious, there are some effing mean Christians out there. I've met them. And frankly your response is justified. We've messed up.

But that isn't what the faith that says "God is Love," and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." is supposed to be about. But it is, not cause the faith itself supports that cruelty, but cause people are jerks.

And of the 38,000 denominations of Christianity, there are some that suck, but there are some that are pretty wonderful, and they're just as (if not heavily more so) legitimate as representatives of our faith.

So really, I'm sorry, and I hope that you get a better impression of us in the future. Also, I wish you luck discovering where you fit. I hope you find a path that brings you a lot of meaning and solace ^_^.
-Malflick

PS: Oh, and of the OP: that's just utterly ridiculous. I mean, come on. I'm sure relaxing body movements offend Yahweh *rolls eyes*....

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

Oh, and of the OP: that's just utterly ridiculous. I mean, come on. I'm sure relaxing body movements offend Yahweh *rolls eyes*....

The OP is fully aware of this...

[Malflick]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

The OP is fully aware of this...

I know, I just wanted to add in my own 0.02 of bewilderment.

[Denarius]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

But that isn't what the faith that says "God is Love," and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." is supposed to be about. But it is, not cause the faith itself supports that cruelty, but cause people are jerks.

This is also the faith that says "I, the LORD your GOD, am a jealous God," and has Deuteronomy, which is an entire book dedicated to who you should kill, why, and how.

The bible says a lot of things, sometimes even contradictory things. Who but God has the authority to really say whether you are right or they are wrong?

That sounds a lot like judging to me, then again 1 Corinthians says you should cast those you judge to be wicked from your church.

[SPhoenix]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

This is also the faith that says "I, the LORD your GOD, am a jealous God," and has Deuteronomy, which is an entire book dedicated to who you should kill, why, and how.

The bible says a lot of things, sometimes even contradictory things. Who but God has the authority to really say whether you are right or they are wrong?

That sounds a lot like judging to me, then again 1 Corinthians says you should cast those you judge to be wicked from your church.

Maybe his denomination doesn't take the bible to be true or to be literal. In which case, your accusation is moot.

On this forum, you can't base christianity on the bible, you have to find out what denomination he is and what that denomination believes about the bible before you can say anything about his "faith".

Or at least, that's the way it has been shown to be so far. You're allowed to speak only of denominations and can't base anything on the bible itself except to the degree that said denomination does.

[Denarius]

Re: Beware! Yoga is the door to Satanic possession!

Hey, he quoted scripture first. So I'm in the clear on that front.