Saturday, November 14, 2009

Is there conflict for a Christian to study martial arts?

I am a Christian, but also love the martial arts. At times the two seem to be in conflict with each other. I also understand that there is a Christian martial artist group or organization.|||No Martial Arts in not about Religion. Sure philosophy such as Zen.





I have never heard of a strict Christian group but i suppose it is possible.





We do not pray in class. Bowing is showing respect to your teacher and usually the Grandmaster or in and our of the class.





I have never seen any form of Religious things in my MA experience. All five schools I have ever trained with were never that way. My teacher is Jewish but non orthodox. I am Pagan and some are Catholic and Protestant and even Muslim. We train as one and are united in class as one.





So you could try and see if there is an all Christian School if that is what is important to you. Don%26#039;t think because some Buddhists Monks know MA makes all MA Buddhists lol.





If you do not find one then MOST I am sure will have NO conflict with your faith at all.|||No surprise here. She asks the question then picks her own answer. Wulf, your trollshido is too obvious. Get a life, a job, or something before that review comes, and it is coming. LOL Report Abuse
|||i go to a christian martial arts. Report Abuse
|||there is aChristian Karate School you can see it on line. Fire and Water Online


check it out and if you live close by come to class we don%26#039;t bow to karate teachers we tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ. Report Abuse
|||i don%26#039;t see how they conflict except for things like Taoism and Buddhism but those aren%26#039;t usually taught in martial art schools. while we as Christians should try to solve every situation peacefully, there are times when we must defend ourselves, i mean look at the Israelites God told them to defend them selves loads of times.|||Plenty of killing by the Biblical good guys. David was a warrior king and Jesus decended from him, so.....why not.





I only mention the killing because there is nothing more %26quot;martial%26quot; than war and killing itself.





Plus there is the whole sell your cloak and buy a sword thing, and as I recall Jesus didn%26#039;t ask the money lenders to leave the temple, he threw them out. I bet it was a wicked hip toss at that.





So I don%26#039;t know why there would be any sense of conflict. No where in the Bible did I read where it says to surrender you or your loved one%26#039;s lives or well being instead of fighting.





Turn the other cheek does not apply to all situations.





Want peace? Prepare for war.|||it depends what you focus on in martial arts. if your focus is on the art itself, and not some of the eastern religion stuff that comes with it, then there shouldn%26#039;t be a conflict.





martial arts are an excellent way to train the body God gave you. If your focus is on God, then martial arts can actually be a method of praise as you use the body and talents God gave you in a godly way.|||I don%26#039;t take martial arts, but I don%26#039;t see how this can be non-Christian, unless you go into some of the Eastern spiritual practices involved with them.





I hope it%26#039;s not a conflict for Christians, I want to take some kind of martial art for self-defense reasons as soon as I make enough money to do so.|||My students comes from many different faith including yours. We do talk about our %26quot;gods%26quot;. We all have a common ground in which we chose to co-exist regardless of our faith.|||While Christianity does preach about peace, remember that not all things can be solved peacefully. Martial arts usually share the idea of not fighting unless it is your last resort.|||No. This is not against God. You are not worshiping your chi.





I am a Christian and I have been practicing martial arts for 22 years.





Your Chi or Ki, is considered your internal energy.





Some extreme Christians might think that it is %26quot;casting spells%26quot; or %26quot;sorcery%26quot;, but in my opinion, those people are not doing God%26#039;s work.





The martial arts, when viewed as a whole, can be very confusing when it comes to spiritual matters. Most popular martial arts in America today originated in Asia and had deeply spiritual roots in Buddhism, or other non-Christian religions. It%26#039;s also true, however, (especially in the U.S) that martial arts can be considered more of a science, or sport, in which Eastern mysticism plays little or no role. There are even a number of Christian martial arts schools and associations!





It%26#039;s interesting to note that many of the foundational values of traditional martial arts (rooted in eastern religions) are not in conflict with the doctrine of Jesus Christ. For instance, the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do as taught in many Tae Kwon Do schools:





Courtesy - Consideration for others; respect, humbleness, and good manners. Phil 2:3-5





Integrity - Knowing right from wrong, and doing right; to be honest and good. Proverbs 10:9





Perseverance - To never give up in the pursuit of ones goals. Romans 5:3-4





Self-Control - To remain in control of your mind and body. Proverbs 16:32





Indomitable Spirit - The courage to stand by your principles, even against overwhelming odds. Genesis 32:24-30





Though this list is not found specifically in scripture, the tenets in it are certainly not un-Christ-like at all. The key then becomes how these martial art values are taught in the school. In a Christian martial arts school these values, though still true to the traditional art, would be taught and lived out through Christ%26#039;s example.





One of the more confusing issues for Christians in the martial arts seems to be the use of the term master. While the term has several definitions, in the martial arts sense, it is not in any way used to mean someone having control over others, or in a religious sense. The title is simply intended to denote an expert - someone who has reached a high level of achievement. The martial arts master is somebody who is highly skilled, and qualified to teach apprentices. Therefore, Master Instructor is someone who has reached the highest level as an instructor, similar in usage to a Master Chess player, or Master Craftsman.





Personally, I can%26#039;t imagine practicing martial arts without feeling the spiritual/philosophical side of it. It would seem empty. I don%26#039;t find it at all in conflict with my Christianity.





James|||hecks naw...... i find things that inspire me in martial arts in the bible.. well i guess it depends on wich martial art..... but im gunna say NO





hey look heres one of many christian martial artist right here and his opinion on the matter (i havent seen the video but im still gunna recommend it)|||I understand your question and have had to learn not only MA, but had to light incence and bow down to multiple gods of war. This was in respect of them for creating/perfecting styles and apperantly to help me become great like them. I done it to learn the Art and taught it to students so they could learn the Art. God/Jesus knows your heart and if you take the religion of the Art like a grain of salt just to gain the skills of the style, you are still a Christian. I am definately no God/Jesus and I think when you meet them, you%26#039;ll only really know. These are just my thoughts on the matter.|||It is important to realize that in order to have a healthy coexistance alongside other faiths and cultures, we need to have an understanding of these foreign cultures. Just because a person may study the ways of others doesn%26#039;t mean that they have to subscribe to them entirely, but at least there is an understanding. The same goes for martial arts. Just because one may not subscribe to the cultures of others does not mean that one needs to reject it all together.





Complete avoidance of other cultures just because they are different will only breed ignorance. If a martial arts school teaches aspects of Buddhism, Taoism, or any other philosophy does not mean you are becoming a Buddhist, Taoist, or whatever. It is important not to ignore it altogether either. If a Buddhist tells you to love and respect your parents and elders, how different is it, if it comes from a Christian? Truth is truth regardless from which source it comes from. The trick is, do you know what truth is?|||Well apparently god created martial arts. Along with everything else, according to your people, so why not?|||Never. Christians are peaceful, and people who practices martial arts are peaceful too. The philosophy of martial arts is the mental and physical discipline. Even box is a sport though this sport is not as recommendable like martial arts.|||It depends. Study it for the sake of exercise and self-defence. It is a fun sport. However, you should avoid the aspects of any martial art that teaches anything akin to what went on in ancient temples or buddhism or anything like that.|||Jesus had a blackbelt in Krav Maga.|||This is a good question. I understand what you mean. I had this same question as a child wanting to learn martial arts. I decided to give it a try and I found no reason why I couldn%26#039;t be a Christian and a martial artist.





At one time I confused the bowing with worship.Later I learned of it was a cultural thing. It is also a sign of respect. It has nothing to do with worship.|||I believe in Christ as my LORD and SAVIOUR. So does my Praying Mantis teacher in China. Our lineage is full of Born Again Christians, we do not practice things that are non Scriptural...Self defense and fitness can be life savors...If needed Iw ould have to protect my daughters and wife, like David and Sampson protected their people.|||I too had a problem with this for a while. Many years ago someone explained to me that Christians are not supposed to be defenseless. We are however not to use self-defense except for defense. Sounds reasonable to me. I%26#039;ve been training since 1967.


Once many years ago I went to visit my father at his workplace. A woman at the front desk was very abusive when she found out who I was. She told me that I should stop studying the martial arts because they were. %26quot;Evil and Christians should not do them%26quot;. I carried my bible everywhere I went so I handed her my bible and told her that if she could show me the chapter and verse, I%26#039;d quit training. She could not. Over the years I%26#039;ve read much in the bible, but nothing that tells me it is wrong to train. Only that I should not harm others unless necessary to for protection.


Hope this helps!|||Would it help you to know that Buddha came from the Middle east? Check the history channel website on Buddhism and it%26#039;s origin. As for the martial arts that is just a form of combat and discipline that you can learn from another culture.


And if you want to learn self defence have at it.|||Just don%26#039;t combined the two. The idea of %26quot;holy warriors%26quot; is just bad all around. Thats how things like 9/11 happen.

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