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 Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:39 pm
I don't know if anyone is active here or not anymore, but I was wondering, is it ok to belly dance? Is it ok to do yoga? I'm a little confused. What about meditation? Is certain meditation forbiddin? I would like to know, thanks for the help.
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Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:54 pm
BlueBubbegum I don't know if anyone is active here or not anymore, but I was wondering, is it ok to belly dance? Is it ok to do yoga? I'm a little confused. What about meditation? Is certain meditation forbiddin? I would like to know, thanks for the help. Well, the Bible does tell us to meditate upon God's Word, but the traditional middle-eastern "contemplate your navel" routine is probably a no-no. We can and should meditate. Absolutely. The question then becomes what we should meditate on, and what sort of result we expect. Certain things are off-limits, of course, but certain things are encouraged. If you meditate upon sin and doing sinful things, that's sin. If you meditate upon God and pleasing Him, that's not sin. If you meditate upon God and try to pretend you're a part of Him, He's a part of you, we are all one in the greater cosmos ... that's SIN writ large in neon letters. ===== Yoga ... okay, this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but ... real yoga is (A) nearly impossible to find; and (B) right out. Real yoga -- that is, using postures and breath control to try to extend your mental and spiritual abilities -- verges on techniques of magic common to nearly all primitive religions, and modern so-called "wicca". I'd not touch it. That said, though ... that's real yoga. Modern yoga ain't nothin' but speed-stretching and balance exercises. My wife Meadow loves it -- I'm not sure why, but she does. And I doubt very much that the Lord objects to physical fitness. ===== Bellydancing? Contrary to popular belief, there's a world of difference between bellydance and stripperdance. Stripperdance is a way of acting on and stirring up lust -- and doesn't the Bible say that causing others to sin is even worse than actually sinning ourselves? Bellydance is an art form, and not necessarily one that causes lust. Well, it doesn't make me horny, anyway, and I know quite a few who'll agree with me on that. As a general rule, if it causes others to sin, or makes you wonder if you're sinning, then you need to re-examine it. I won't say yea-or-nay on bellydance, as I don't know your circumstances.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:31 am
I concur with Bait's advice (and yes this guild is active emotion_yatta ). If I could add a note on the belly dance though: from experience, more often than not, guys do respond sexually, especially non-Christian guys (that is, individuals interested in indulging the whims of their flesh rather than walking in the Spirit, instead of walking in a way that pleases God and which doesn't violate his law/instructions). At school, guys would ask for a demonstration if they found out a girl could belly dance, but they weren't asking to appreciate the art nor applaud the girls for pursuing health & wellness. They simply wanted to exercise the lust of their eyes. So, be very careful of whom you dance in front of. If they want to be sexually immoral that's their problem, but do not be an accomplice to their crime, do not enable them. Guys who walk in the Spirit and guys who are more mature in the faith probably don't have a problem like this (and probably won't ask you to dance for them in the first place). Most of our peers however are battling youthful lusts (if they're battling them at all; some just give their lusts free reign) so don't tempt them more if you can avoid it. The self-less/loving thing would be to avoid dancing in front of them. Second, assess the reasons why you want to belly dance in the first place. I had a spirit of seduction about me before coming to Christ (I'd flirt with guys just for the fun of it, not because I cared about them nor their well-being—did not care about their physical health nor their mental/emotional/spiritual health either. That is something all Christians need to repent of because [1] it's unloving (you don't actually care about the person, how this is affecting them) and [2] it's sexually immoral [I was not seeking lifetime faithfulness / seeking someone to covenant with for my whole life or even start a family if God was willing; I simply wanted to sexually excite others, which is whorish behavior, only worse [if you could call it that] because I was doing it for free]). So, again, assess the reasons why you're belly dancing: if you're pursuing this because it feels powerful to use your feminine wiles to manipulate a guy's emotions for the "fun" of it (so nothing for their benefit, just destroying their mental and physical state because you're getting something out of it), that's more like the Daughter of Herodias and like Delilah than it is following in the steps of Christ. The more Christ-like example in scripture would be Queen Vashti who refused to indulge the lusts of guests at the banquet/party. The verses I'm referring to: Quote: Esther 1:10-12 (NIV) 10 On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas— 11 to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger. Quote: Mark 6:22-29 (NIV) 22 When the daughter of[a] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” 24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. 25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Footnotes: a Mark 6:22 Some early manuscripts When his daughter Quote: Judges 16:4-5 (NIV) 4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.” Footnotes: a. Judges 16:5 That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms Of course, I'm only saying this as a warning: assuming seduction / flirtation is even a part of the reason why you're pursuing belly dance. As Bait was saying, take into account how this affects others.
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:11 pm
real eyes realize I concur with Bait's advice (and yes this guild is active emotion_yatta ). If I could add a note on the belly dance though: from experience, more often than not, guys do respond sexually, especially non-Christian guys (that is, individuals interested in indulging the whims of their flesh rather than walking in the Spirit, instead of walking in a way that pleases God and which doesn't violate his law/instructions). At school, guys would ask for a demonstration if they found out a girl could belly dance, but they weren't asking to appreciate the art nor applaud the girls for pursuing health & wellness. They simply wanted to exercise the lust of their eyes. So, be very careful of whom you dance in front of. If they want to be sexually immoral that's their problem, but do not be an accomplice to their crime, do not enable them. Guys who walk in the Spirit and guys who are more mature in the faith probably don't have a problem like this (and probably won't ask you to dance for them in the first place). Most of our peers however are battling youthful lusts (if they're battling them at all; some just give their lusts free reign) so don't tempt them more if you can avoid it. The self-less/loving thing would be to avoid dancing in front of them. At my former boyfriend's church (Greek) they recently had a belly dancer perform at cultural night -- this was a formal dress occasion. Hosting belly dancers is very common at Orthodox churches at dinners and the like. I don't recall my church (Bulgarian) doing the same, however. Traditionally belly-dancing was done by women as something to do with other women, not for men for their pleasure. I was taught as a child by a lady friend of the family just as one learns when you're growing up in that culture. I don't know what background everyone has, it appears that belly dancing means different things to different people. There is a big, big difference between something like belly dancing and yoga. Yoga's poses are literally sun worship ritual poses. This is not a matter of just meditating to get to nirvana or if you are doing something with intent to get healthy. When you spend an hour in the morning putting yourself in ritual poses to welcome the sun god -- whether you believe in it or not -- there is a real problem. This is of course my opinion, but I find the passing off of yoga as something harmless and exotic in our popular culture disturbing.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:24 am
Silvyee Yoga's poses are literally sun worship ritual poses. This is not a matter of just meditating to get to nirvana or if you are doing something with intent to get healthy. When you spend an hour in the morning putting yourself in ritual poses to welcome the sun god -- whether you believe in it or not -- there is a real problem. This is of course my opinion, but I find the passing off of yoga as something harmless and exotic in our popular culture disturbing. I wouldn't engage in yoga now as a believer and I should've clarified that position in my previous post (must've been too concentrated on the belly dance comment that it left my mind), because what you described is actually my conviction on the matter: I wouldn't do their ritual poses because of what this might convey to someone who believes I am Christian ("oh, so you incorporate rituals from other religions into your Christian way of life"; and I don't think that's a harmless image to convey). I wouldn't like to lead someone into accepting the "coexist" philosophy. I was more so agreeing with Bait in the sense that I don't participate in it. And yeah, I see the difference in the perception of bellydance depending on the audience and culture. It just so happens that the people around me were not Christian (and I wasn't either); that said, when it was just us girls, it didn't really matter but if a guy was in the mix the atmosphere definitely changed.
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