Dean from My Jarrol Spot has raised an interesting issue today. he’s wondering about the relationship between christianity and martial arts.
Just wondering about initial views and opinions at the moment.
Something I’ve been reading about lately and pondering where it all fits in Biblically.
More to come…
It’s an interesting topic and I hope you’ll leave a few comments for Dean with your thoughts.
Is there a spirituality connected to martial arts that is incompatible with christian beliefs? Can christians be involved with martial arts? Is there a way of gaining the benefits that martial arts provide without adopting the spirituality?
My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and Vice President elect of the Baptist World Alliance. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.
A couple of weeks ago we tackled this issue and Ross had some interesting things to say about the matter. If you’d like to hear his point of view simply click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.
[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/SPI110909_1523.mp3]Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading The spirituality of martial arts? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.
Interesting topic Rodney. Several years ago I explored karate with my son for fitness and some father-son bonding time in a secularised karate club. We both really enjoyed it, but I have to say that, as a Christian, over the two weeks of our trial membership I felt very, very (very!) strongly that God was saying ‘no’. I’m a pastor, so I don’t know if it was just that being in leadership sometimes constrains us from doing things that are otherwise OK (I later found out some of my parishioners struggled with the pastor doing that), or whether it was the spiritual foundations of martial arts, or something else.
Like Ross, I don’t tell people they shouldn’t do it, but I am very cautious and his questions are very helpful.
Thanks for your thoughts, Alex.
I think I did about a term of Ju Jitsu for school sport in my high school years. It didn’t inspire me to continue. 🙂
Hmmm, yes very interesting.
Ask yourself why??
I am an ex-martial artist and have produced a document that I hope to one day be able to give out; it took me approx. 17 years to produce.
If you wish to view a copy please let me know
Regards
Ps. John Morine
The LifeHouse Centre
Interesting. There are certainly some benefits of karate but spirituality through christianity? Interesting thought I would say