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Apostolic Life in the 21st Century

Should Christians Practice Yoga or Martial Arts?

Apostolic Life in the 21st Century

David K. Bernard

Theology, Oneness Pentecostal, Religion & Spirituality, Apostolic Pentecostal, United Pentecostal Church International, Upci, Christianity, David K. Bernard

5870 Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. David K. Bernard addresses a question frequently raised by Christians navigating modern culture: Is it acceptable for believers to practice yoga or participate in martial arts? Yoga and many martial arts have historical roots in Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Yoga originates from Hindu spiritual practices, while martial arts like kung fu, Muay Thai, and aikido are deeply tied to various non-Christian philosophies. Dr. Bernard explores whether involvement in th...

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome back to Apostolic Life in the 21st century. We're glad you've tuned in today. Today we want to tackle a

0:12.0

question that we hear quite frequently. I actually want to tackle two questions, but because the

0:17.0

two questions are closely related, we thought we'd just ask both of them at the same time, Dr. Bernard.

0:23.2

That question has to do, or I should say these questions have to do with really two practices.

0:28.3

One is yoga and the other is martial arts.

0:31.7

While those are obviously two very different practices, people ask them the question, are those okay for a Christian for the same

0:40.0

reason? And that is yoga and many martial arts, as you know, have their roots in Eastern

0:46.4

religions. So as far as we know, yoga has roots in Hinduism and Buddhism, and various martial

0:52.4

arts have roots in various Eastern religions.

0:56.4

So the question that people ask then that we're presenting to you today is,

1:01.8

considering their connections to non-Christian religions, should Christians participate in

1:08.8

yoga or martial arts?

1:10.7

That's a good question. I was raised in Korea, so... should Christians participate in yoga or martial arts?

1:12.2

That's a good question.

1:18.4

I was raised in Korea, so I'm, it was, which was and still is a non-Christian nation.

1:24.1

And so I'm well aware of these connections, and I certainly would advise caution.

1:30.8

But as with so many things, a lot depends on how you define it. So yoga as a spiritual practice, as you said, would be associated with Hinduism and Buddhism. We should not participate.

1:36.7

Many martial arts have a component of meditation and honoring spirits, and we should not participate.

1:47.8

But yoga, that term is also used in Western culture to mean strictly certain forms of exercise. And of course, martial arts can be used

1:55.4

in a very secular context simply for self-defense. And so if you're talking about exercise or self-defense, I do not find those contrary to

2:05.9

scripture.

2:06.6

But if you're talking about spiritual meditation, for example, some yoga practice require

...

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