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Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting
By Marc | February 3, 2009
A person at a church we used to go to sometimes made comment that her ex-husband was into martial arts. She also said martial arts (I think mainly Oriental) were deeply satanic.
I know…it sounds really silly.
Here’s my confession: I actually bought into it.
It was my first church as a new Christian, so I trusted the opinions of its leadership and members to guide me in this new life in Christ. I really like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and old Kung Fu movies, so I felt ashamed to admit I watched them.
Good friends of ours got their son involved in Hoshinjutsu, and I actually feared for what they were getting themselves into. But, if I voiced those concerns, I risked offending my friends.
We have since severed our ties with that church and have also come to the realization their beliefs and views differ from ours, some potentially dangerous.
But, the notion of martial arts being satanic still stuck in the back of my mind. I just couldn’t shake it. Why couldn’t I separate the ways that church differed from us in opinion with this one?
Then a few days ago, I was in the car with my family coming back from the grocery store. All of a sudden, it dawned on me: That was total garbage! That was dangerous superstition to tell us that stuff. Personally, I don’t know where she got it. But I also don’t know what all she went through in that marriage to make her come to that view.
Here are a few things I realized:
- One of those friends I spoke of took martial arts as a child. He says they helped him to get control of volatile emotions and find peace. He is one of the most easy-going people I know of, and I have never seen him angry.
- If a person consistently shows other ideas I find to be unsubstantiated and merely opinion, why should I fully believe this one?
- There are ministries that use martial arts as a way of Christian teaching and brotherhood.
- Chuck Norris. Are you going to say Chuck Norris is wrong? I’m not.
I’ve found places online that believe martial arts to be satanic, but I just don’t accept it. Just because forms like Kung Fu are based on the principles of other religions, and so don’t jive with the teachings of Christianity, it doesn’t necessarily spell “evil”.
My friends, I’m sorry for my crazy misled thoughts. I was wrong.
Topics: Life and Living | 2 Comments »
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Never fear your thoughts, right or wrong, any more or less than you fear difference. A thought you refuse to entertain may be the one you most need.
A lot of people equate different with evil. That is not a trap you fell into, and so it shows you to be a thoughtful and loving person.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Thanks, Ehren. You don’t know how much I really needed to hear (read) that.