United Martial Artists for Christ

[Tames D]

Does anyone here have experience with this organization? If so, will you share? Thank you.
Karate, Martial Arts, Christian Karate - Christian Martial Arts - For Youth and Families

 

[elder999]

PSALM 144:1

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle
(oshitodear )

 

[Flying Crane]

I'm not a fan of this kind of approach. I guess to each his own. If religion and martial arts are both shared interests, then like-minded people will come together.

I would never be part of something like this.

 

[drop bear]

What is a Bible based ministry as opposed to any other kind?

 

[Tames D]

I'm not a fan of this kind of approach. I guess to each his own. If religion and martial arts are both shared interests, then like-minded people will come together.

I would never be part of something like this.

I tend to feel the same way. I'm just curious how this org works. Bob Mitchell is a reputable martial artist. I know he was a bad *** in his younger day.

 

[Tames D]

What is a Bible based ministry as opposed to any other kind?

Hey, I'm asking the questions here. Your job is to answer them.

 

[Ironbear24]

I don't the message of the Bible is to knock people out. Unless the nuns in catholic school forgot to mention that.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I don't like groups like this. It's not the religion part that gets me, it's the "overboard paranoid" assumptions that bother me. For example, straight from their website: Karate - Martial Arts - Christian Martial Artists - Martial Artists for Christ
2. Be wary of a class that emphasizes meditation and breathing exercises.
3. Avoid instructors who claim to be able to teach "spiritual" principles like chi or ki and "internal powers.
4. You don't have to take lessons from only Christian instructors if you feel comfortable that your teacher takes a purely, "secular" approach, but you might want to share your own faith with him.

There nothing wrong with meditation and breathing exercises. There are 1000 reasons why someone would meditate and do breathing exercises. If a person expects to have better control over their body then they will need some sort of meditation and breathing exercises. Just because there is meditation and breathing exercises doesn't mean that there's a religious connection to it, especially when it comes to any thing that requires demanding physical activity.

Avoid instructors who claim to be able to teach "spiritual" principles like chi or ki and "internal powers" Ok here are 3 different things that aren't related. Chi is not a spiritual principle. Learning to manipulate the energy in one's body is no different from people who have learn to increase or decrease their heart rate at will. Or how some people are able to control how their body copes with pain. Internal powers I can understand because there are people who make it seem as if they can fight off 20 people all at once with some magical force or supernatural power.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I don't the message of the Bible is to knock people out. Unless the nuns in catholic school forgot to mention that.

The nuns at my school practiced that.

 

[Ironbear24]

Catholic nuns taught the Filipinos Kali.

 

[Tames D]

The nuns at my school practiced that.

We had nun of that at my school.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

We had nun of that at my school.

Why can't I mark this "funny" and "don't like" at the same time?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Not my cup of tea, but to each his own

 

[Tired_Yeti]

I don't think the message of the Bible is to knock people out. Unless the nuns in catholic school forgot to mention that.

Why would you say that? Have you read any of the Old Testament Bible stories? It's full of warriors. King David was called "The Apple (pupil) of God's eye" and he was a mighty warrior who killed many men including a giant warrior who stood over 9 feet tall.
Sampson is reputed to have killed around a thousand men while his only weapon was an old jawbone that he found.

There are lots of stories about "men of God" who were mighty fighters who defeated and/or killed enemies.


"Re-stomp the groin"
Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk

 

[Juany118]

The nuns at my school practiced that.

The Sister's of St. Joseph, aka, "The Samurai Nuns". I remember still a chalk board pointer being broken over my head lol.

 

[Juany118]

I don't like groups like this. It's not the religion part that gets me, it's the "overboard paranoid" assumptions that bother me. For example, straight from their website: Karate - Martial Arts - Christian Martial Artists - Martial Artists for Christ
2. Be wary of a class that emphasizes meditation and breathing exercises.
3. Avoid instructors who claim to be able to teach "spiritual" principles like chi or ki and "internal powers.
4. You don't have to take lessons from only Christian instructors if you feel comfortable that your teacher takes a purely, "secular" approach, but you might want to share your own faith with him.

There nothing wrong with meditation and breathing exercises. There are 1000 reasons why someone would meditate and do breathing exercises. If a person expects to have better control over their body then they will need some sort of meditation and breathing exercises. Just because there is meditation and breathing exercises doesn't mean that there's a religious connection to it, especially when it comes to any thing that requires demanding physical activity.

Avoid instructors who claim to be able to teach "spiritual" principles like chi or ki and "internal powers" Ok here are 3 different things that aren't related. Chi is not a spiritual principle. Learning to manipulate the energy in one's body is no different from people who have learn to increase or decrease their heart rate at will. Or how some people are able to control how their body copes with pain. Internal powers I can understand because there are people who make it seem as if they can fight off 20 people all at once with some magical force or supernatural power.

Being a lapsed Catholic and someone who now, if forced to describe their practice, follows a path that combines Buddhist and Confucian principles, I can explain the problem. I once had a talk with a family friend who is a Priest and he explained the issue this way when I tried to argue that eastern and western practices were compatible. At the time I was still a practicing Catholic but had started meditation as a form of stress relief.

When one meditates, he said, in the Eastern method one is looking within for peace within ones self. However peace can only be found through God. One can not simply meditate in order to recognize ones true conditions, to "simply" allow negative emotion to wash away so that we can not only be better people ourselves but to then likewise treat others with more respect. No amount of meditation, he said, can melt away the Sin that separates us from each other, God and true peace.

The Bible, he said, even commands us to meditate but it commands us to mediate upon the Word of God and to reflect upon the Sins that seperate us from him.

Then, by extension, anything that is born of meditation is contrary to Biblical Teaching. We can not cultivate inner strength (Chi) alone, such strength is born from accepting God into your heart etc., etc, etc.

It gets even more touchy when you talk about finding enlightenment within. A standard retort is "if you could find enlightenment within Christ would not have been sent to us, the only path to enlightenment is through accepting Jesus Christ."

I agree with you, there should be a difference, bit Christian Theologians says otherwise.

 

[Juany118]

Does anyone here have experience with this organization? If so, will you share? Thank you.
Karate, Martial Arts, Christian Karate - Christian Martial Arts - For Youth and Families

The idea behind it is as I noted above. Eastern mediation; the idea of looking within for peace, cultivating inner strength by looking within ourselves, in some forms seeking enlightenment with the same method, is seen as counter to Biblical teaching where in peace can only be found by accepting our sinful nature, peace, inner strength and enlightenment only through God and Christ.

You can actually see this dichotomy somewhere else. In Eastern Philosophies the Problems plaguing mankind are not the result of Sin, they are a result of not accepting our true natures and understanding our place in the world. Solving these problems are part of most meditative traditions (Yoga, Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism etc). This is reflected in the difference between the way the ideas say we should function. The 10 Commandments say "though Shalt not..." where as The Principles of Buddhism in the 8 Fold Path are simply "Right understanding, right thoughts..." etc. Confuscianism central principle is WAY too wordily explained (read the Analects some day lol) but can be summed up by simple saying "the Brotherhood of Humanity". So Christianity is focused on Sin, "thou shalt not". Eastern Philosophies are focused on learning your place, hence "Right..."

PS sorry for all the Philosophical stuff if it annoys. My first line of education was in History and Philosophy. When you were taught in Catholic Schools for 12 years, you can't help but throw the above into the Philosophy basket lol

 

[Ironbear24]

Why would you say that? Have you read any of the Old Testament Bible stories? It's full of warriors. King David was called "The Apple (pupil) of God's eye" and he was a mighty warrior who killed many men including a giant warrior who stood over 9 feet tall.
Sampson is reputed to have killed around a thousand men while his only weapon was an old jawbone that he found.

There are lots of stories about "men of God" who were mighty fighters who defeated and/or killed enemies.


"Re-stomp the groin"
Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk

It was not so much that they were warriors. It was WHY they were. This feels like it focuses to much and the what and not so much as to the why.

 

[Juany118]

It was not so much that they were warriors. It was WHY they were. This feels like it focuses to much and the what and not so much as to the why.

This is pretty much it. Yes they were Warriors. Heck if you look at what happens once the Jews reach Canaan the Jews literally commit a Genocide. Why? Because God willed it. This, and the History of "Christian" Warriors in the Crusades or in putting down "Heretical" movements is also to often glossed over unless you actually study History vs get taught it in High School.

 

[Juany118]

Double post