A friend of mine recently pointed out to me the dramatic proof that there were cars in biblical times. It’s true! Enjoy these examples:

In Genesis, we learn that God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury.

In Kings and Chronicles, we find that David’s Triumph was heard throughout the land.

Even the New Testament offers us some proof - look at the book of Acts; it tells us that the apostles were all in one Accord.

Finally, in 2 Corinthians, verse 48 describes traveling in a Volkswagen Beetle - “We are pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement.”

I think you all burned off minutes in purgatory just by reading that …

A: You know, the funny thing is, you are basically asking for the “Catholic position on yoga.” Ouch that one was bad.

Anyway, your question has some curious timing for me. I’ve been struggling for a bit with my health - fatigue and muscle soreness from football injuries. The long and short of it is, not too long ago I went to my doctor and was given some stretches. I had been doing them for more than a month and was amazed at how these stretches helped. One of my buddies came to visit and he had been struggling with the same kinds of issues that I was. When I showed him the stretches, he told me they were “yoga stretches.” I checked it out, and sure enough, five of the eight stretches I was doing were yoga.

At the same time, I have received more than a few questions like this and I’ve spent some time hunting this down and hope that my answer is helpful.

When I looked, I found a flat-out dogfight on the Internet about all this and, as near as I can figure, the idea is this: Yoga stretches are OK, but yoga philosophy is a problem.

This Rock, a Catholic apologetics site, put it best:

Two factors are relevant here: First, it depends on whether the yoga is being presented in a manner that is free of religious elements - i.e., purely as a system of physical exercise. If it is coupled with elements of Hindu spirituality (e.g., talk about moving kundalini, or energy, around your body), it is not appropriate for Catholics to use it as part of their exercise routine. (www.catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0107qq.asp)

In summary, if you are doing stretches to help your body, then that is good, as your body is sacred and unique in creation, but with these stretches, a philosophy is often offered that is not good. Yoga stretches? Good. Yoga philosophy/religion? Not so good.

So, you may ask, “What is the problem with Hinduism?” Well, there are more than a few, but we will cover some of the bigger ones.

At this point, you gotta remember, the Catholic Church is a big believer in something we call “absolute truth.” I got this definition of absolute truth from, of all places, a website called absolutetruth.net:

[Absolute Truth is the belief that] there are absolute realities, or standards, that define what is real and what is not. Thus, actions can be deemed right or wrong based upon how they measure up against absolute standards.

As Catholics, we are big on this. But the key idea is that in every thought and action there is right and wrong. When we talk about God and how we relate to him, there are ideas that work and are right, and there are ideas that don’t work and are wrong. There are some practices that are “more right” than others and some that are “more wrong” than others. This is essential to the Catholic belief and worldview - and Hinduism teaches this is incorrect. In Hinduism, there are many paths to God; in Christianity, Jesus is “The way, the truth and the life.” (Jn 14:6)

Another problem with Hinduism is the belief in reincarnation: the belief that there is a pool of souls, and that we are reborn again and again in different forms and persons until we get it right. This idea is completely incompatible with Christianity. The book of Hebrews tells us that we “die once” and then the judgment follows. (Heb 9:27) Also, there is a problem here with focusing on the human ability to “get it right” without divine help. We need Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, not numerous chances to get to heaven.

This is just a glimpse of some of the problems with Hinduism, but I feel compelled to remind us that simply because we disagree with someone, we should never disrespect or mock them. If God calls us to speak the truth in love, then we do so, without condemnation or self-righteousness. We can disagree with someone and love him or her as Jesus did.

In fact, that is precisely what we are supposed to do.

Enjoy another day in God’s presence!