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Author: Religion Today
The martial arts aren't just physical exercise, they're Zen Buddhist meditation techniques, warns a minister who was involved with them for 20 years.
...Ed Hird practiced karate, sometimes three times a week, and was so enthusiastic that he recruited other Christians to join him, he said in an article in Anglicans for Renewal Magazine. He is rector of St. Simon's Anglican Church in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and chairman of Anglican Renewal Ministries of Canada.
...But he thought twice when his sons wanted to take taekwondo, a martial art similar to karate, as part of their Christian school gym class last spring. He began to research the history of taekwondo to discern its purposes, and agreed to present his findings to the principal and the school board.
...He read "dozens of pro-martial arts books," and for several weeks asked questions of a number of taekwondo and martial arts experts from North America and other parts of the world on Internet chat forums, he told Religion Today.
...What Hird found surprised the 45-year-old, who had been involved in martial arts from 1971 to 1992, and had dabbled with hypnosis and astral projection before becoming a Christian in 1972, he said. The research led him to believe that taekwondo and other martial arts are "far more than just physical gym exercises," but actually are seemingly innocuous doorways into non-Christian religions.
...Taekwondo and martial arts are "Zen Buddhist meditational techniques designed to bring a person into the experience of satori, or Buddhist enlightenment," Hird said. They can be traced to Bodhidharma, a 6th century Buddhist monk who taught his disciples sitting meditation and moving meditation, or the martial arts, to obtain spiritual enlightenment, he found in his research.
...The sitting meditation commonly done in taekwondo and most martial arts is an essential part of the training, done before and after class to clear the mind of all thought and relax completely, according to the book Official WTF Taekwondo, Hird said.
...Synchronized breathing is a key to both Buddhist and Hindu meditation, he said. "In contrast, biblical meditation is meditating on God's written Word the Bible, rather than meditating on the empty mind" by using breathing and visualization techniques.
...The ritualistic patterns of motion in the martial arts also concern Hird, he said. Many of the patterns are "rooted in semimystical Taoist philosophy and their deeper meaning is said to be far more important than the mere performance of a gymnastics series of exercises," Hird said, quoting taekwondo author and instructor Eddie Ferrie.
...Westerners can be naïve about the "very subtle" influences of martial arts, and lack the experience to notice their "hidden religious nature," Hird said. But there are some obvious clues, he said, including the Ying-Yang symbol that appears on "even many innocuous-looking taekwondo websites and brochures."
...Some Christians practice the martial arts for exercise, or even as a way of evangelizing, but don't really know what they are getting into, Hird said. "If it works they don't ask questions about what it means."
...Eastern religious techniques often are portrayed as neutral so anyone from any religion can use them, "but in fact there is a lot more than meets the eye," he said. Christians "sometimes are seduced," he said.
...Practitioners can try to ignore the spiritual dimension of the martial arts, but spirituality is their ultimate purpose historically, Hird said. He noted that The Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs considers the martial arts as "forms of spiritual education that function as means toward self-realization or self-enlightenment."
...Martial arts are "a Trojan Horse in the house of the Lord, eroding the spiritual barriers between Zen Buddhism and the Christian Gospel, and potentially leading vulnerable children and teens into the early stages of Eastern occultism," Hird said.
...Taekwondo has become popular since making its Olympic debut in 1988, Hird said. It is the official national sport of Korea, and is taught to Korean schoolchildren and members of the armed forces. The word means hand (Tae) and foot (kwon) way (do).
...It can be difficult emotionally for a person to give up the martial arts, because they may be so involved with them, Hird said. "It took me years to [give up the martial arts]. God is merciful. He had mercy on me. But He also wants us to wake up areas of compromise and confusion, to the issue of serving two masters.
..."The good news about religious syncretism is that it is never too late to repent and start afresh, serving one Master and one Master alone, Jesus Christ our Lord."
...As a result of Hird's research, "our Christian school board decided to no longer offer taekwondo or other martial arts," he said.
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