Guilty Expression :: Rants and raves inspired by a passionate, frustrated love for God.

Re: What is Jesus view on martial arts? (Score: 1)
by ~wave~ on Aug 23, 2006 - 01:07 PM
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I like this article. My thoughts in no particular order.

I like watching martial arts and don't see any real issue with them as long as they are a sport.

However the line becomes grey when you take anything so seriously that it starts to shape the way you live.

As regards being violent in and Christianity:
There seems no hard and fast rule with regards to sport, almost like the rules of the game temporarily supersede that of life e.g. Rugby does not promote soft tackles but ones that really take out the opponent. This is obviously unacceptable in society but inside a game is ok!
Christianity barely mentions sport in the bible and I believe it says it can be of some merit. Combining Christianity and anything is always tricky e.g. Christianity and politics. Violence and Christianity really don't mix. I always get confused because of the whole soldier aspect. Jesus never says to Roman soldier "Well done for a great faith, now leave your evil soldier job and go and become a missionary."

Christian Maleness
As for maleness - on the whole I think Andy hit the target smack on. Christian Males are often wimpy. This last statement is rubbish for many reasons (and I don't want to qualify it) but there is a general feeling that being violent is so obviously wrong that we shouldn't do it. This means that there is no outlet. Yet I challenge any male if they at some stage didn't want to just let off steam with a few punches.
The bible has a lot of fighting in it. The old testament seems to have no end of it and it is good, suddenly the new testament has lots of fighting and it's all bad.
Worth a thought?

Sorry for not being clear on my thoughts - I'm writing on my lunch break and I haven't had time to really think about what I'm writing but I love this topic.
~

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Re: What is Jesus view on martial arts? by Anonymous on Aug 29, 2006 - 12:11 AM

Re: What is Jesus view on martial arts? by ~wave~ on Oct 27, 2006 - 07:39 PM

Re: What is Jesus view on martial arts? by Anonymous on Nov 15, 2006 - 03:50 PM

Re: What is Jesus view on martial arts? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Aug 29, 2006 - 02:03 AM

Hi Andy,

I had the same concerns about the spiritual side of the arts when I picked up an Aikido essentials book. As I read on I later came to realise the mutually beneficial spiritual knowledge in Aikido similar to those found in the New Testament regarding the harmony of relating to one another. Interesting.

It must have been interesting for you to find those other parts of yourself, even if violent which make you. I am not really sure about what defines "maleness" but as we are speaking on the subject of violence I will take a cue from some nasties in Eastenders as a typical image of this definition. AKA the "Alpha geezer male". But if what you say about Christian men trying to out their maleness is the case, it comes across to me as doing abstract Christian living; whereby we kind of have an ideal of what a Christian should be outside of what we know of ourselves.

It is a bit disheartening to hear about Christian men feeling impotent, frustrated, and all, as this was anything but what Apostle Paul envisioned when he spoke of how we should be. But on the bright side if these men need a fraternal boost do we have the next Tyler Drurden to dash the soap, and some enlightened 'Fight Club' tips to them?

Lk

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