Can a Christian Participate in Yoga or Karate or Sex or Easter Egg Hunting?—How Should
Christians Live in a Fallen World?
By: Dr. Fred Herron
August 1st 2012
Once a person commits his or her life to following Jesus, a Christian is faced with a
thousand decisions about behavior and culture. How should a Christian live in a world full of
false religions, idolatry, and evil behavior? The purpose of this paper is to outline a biblical
approach to living in a fallen world.
Creation
In the creation account of Genesis 1-2, God is revealed as creator of all things, and
everything he creates is declared “good” by Creator God. This is an important place to begin our
thinking about how to live in God’s creation. It teaches us that, in the beginning, all things were
created good. It does not teach that some things were created evil and some things were created
good. There was not a created dualism between good and evil in the beginning.
The Fall
Genesis 3 introduces us to “the Fall.” This is the account of how sin entered the world or
how God’s good creation was tainted by evil. God placed a choice before Adam and Eve.
Would they freely worship and obey their Creator, the one true God? Of course they believed a
lie, rebelled against their Creator, and sin entered into the world. (For a study on the Serpent
and Satan, see the article entitled “Serpent” in the IVP [InterVarsity Press] Dictionary of the Old
Testament—Pentateuch; and “Demon, Devil, Satan” in the IVP Dictionary of Jesus and the
Gospels.) Notice that all of creation was affected by the resulting curse after the Fall (Gen 3:14-
2 24; Rom 8:18-25). Were the image of God in people and the goodness of creation obliterated by
the Fall? No. We could say that the image of God in people and the goodness of creation were
marred and distorted, but not eliminated. Notice that after the Fall, God still affirms that people
bear the image of God (Gen 9:6-7). Notice that after the Fall the Psalmist still declares that “The
earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps 24:1;
ESV). Notice that after the Fall the apostle Paul declares “For from him [God] and through him
and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom 11:36). So while all of
creation has suffered from the Fall, Satan has not become the owner of all things and he is not
the creator of anything. Satan is simply a deceiver. He tries to claim things and distort things
that are not his.
God’s Plan of Redemption
After the Fall, God began his great work of redemption and restoration. The Bible
unfolds God’s plan for redemption in all creation. God established his covenant relationship
with Abraham and Moses. God continued to reveal his plan of redemption through the Prophets,
who ultimately pointed to a New Covenant: to Jesus. The scriptures reveal that through Jesus,
God’s plan is to reconcile all things to himself through Jesus.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is
before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the
church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be
preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood
of his cross (Col 1:15-20; ESV).
God in Christ is on a mission to restore all of creation. As we follow Jesus and live in a fallen
world, we need to keep this in mind. We are to join with God as a body of Christ to restore
3 people and creation to their original purpose of loving God and glorifying God (2 Cor 5:16-21).
We are, in effect, living to reverse the affects of the Fall.
Evil Behavior
What makes a thing or an action evil? Since everything is created good, what makes
something evil or bad? The Bible teaches us that anything that disconnects from its created
purpose is sin. The Ten Commandments can basically be divided into two categories: sins
against God (first four) and sins against people created in the image of God (last six). In other
words, when we disconnect our heart from loving and worshipping Creator God or when we treat
people in ways that dishonor the image of God in them, then we act sinfully. This is why the
Great Commandment sums up the Old Covenant and applies to the New Covenant (Mat 22:3440). Love God. Love people. Jesus said that it is what comes out of the heart that is sin, not
something from outside the heart (Mk 7:14-23).
Idolatry
Idolatry is worshipping something other than Creator God—even something good that
God created. Paul said, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to
the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God
for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
Amen” (Rom 1:24-25; ESV). When we disconnect our heart from God and try to find purpose
and joy and life apart from God, we find ourselves enslaved to idols. We are worshipping
something created by God, but not Creator God. When creation is rightly connected to God, we
can celebrate and enjoy God’s good creation. However, any good gift (creation) from God can
be distorted and turned into an idol. Once creation becomes our idol, celebration turns to
4 bondage and enjoyment turns to obsession. Satan cannot create anything and he does not own
anything. He simply tries to get us to worship anything other than Creator God.
Culture
Culture is a product of people living in God’s creation. Culture consists of patterns of
behavior, symbols of achievement, and ideas and their attached values. Human groups of people
living in God’s creation create culture. Culture is expressed through language, arts,
technologies, religion, music, ideas, writings, recreation, laws, education, governments, and
institutions (not an exhaustive list). Because culture is created by the hearts of people, all
cultures have aspects of sin and evil and idolatry that are attached to them. Because culture
emerges in God’s creation through people created in the image of God, all cultures have aspects
of beauty and good and truth attached to them.
How does God in Christ relate to culture? He wants to redeem and reconcile those
aspects of culture that have been distorted by sin and evil and idolatry to himself. (For an
interesting discussion on this topic, see Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture; and D. A. Carson,
Christ and Culture Revisited.) As followers of Jesus we are called to join with this mission of
God in the world: To reclaim and restore and reconcile culture with God.
Take Back What Satan has Stolen
One of the challenges we face as followers of Jesus is to live in a world that is fallen.
Scripture says, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Rom 3:23). How do we
repent of our own sin and idolatry and at the same time live in a fallen world? One approach that
has been attempted throughout church history is to withdraw from mainstream culture and try to
build our own Christian communities. The problem with this is that we take our own sinful
5 hearts with us, and we abandon the mission of reconciling people and culture to God. The
biblical approach is to live humbly before God and join him in his mission of reconciling the
world.
Discerning Evil and Good
One approach that believers have taken to discerning evil grants too much ground to
Satan, which I am sure delights him greatly. This approach involves abandoning any behavior or
activity or cultural item that has been used by people in the worship of idols—in effect, granting
Satan permanent ownership. However, this is not God’s plan.
We can learn a lot about God’s plan for creation by studying the cultures in which God
revealed himself to Abraham and Moses and the Prophets and his self-revelation in Jesus. The
people of God did not emerge in a cultural vacuum. Abraham came from ancient Mesopotamia
(Ur). Through the Bible and archeological discoveries we can study the history of the ancient
Near East. It’s interesting that hundreds of years before Abraham, ancient cultures existed like
the Sumerians and Egyptians and Akkadians (not exhaustive). These cultures emerged in the
context of worshipping multiple gods. All of the religions of the ancient Near East were
polytheistic. Every ancient culture erected pagan temples to worship a plurality of pagan gods.
We have learned how the ancient temples functioned in the worship of pagan gods. Suffice it to
say that many of the behaviors that were practiced in the worship of pagan gods sound very
familiar to us: circumcision, prayer, prophecy, music, dance, sacrifices, sex, law codes, tattoos,
covenants, and meditation. These practices emerged culturally in connection to pagan religions.
(See John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament; Context of
Scripture edited by William Hallo; IVP’s series of dictionaries on the Pentateuch, Historical
6 Books, and Prophets; and the Anchor Bible Dictionary.) It’s also interesting to note that when
God revealed himself to Abraham and Moses and the Prophets, he established some of these
same practices as the ways in which to worship the one true Creator God. God reclaimed these
behaviors for his glory and taught his people to connect them appropriately to the worship of the
one true Creator God. God is consistent in his desire to reconcile all things.
Yoga and Music and Sex and Easter Eggs
Let’s start with sex! Sex has been used in the worship of false gods and in every
religious system of which I am aware. Sex has been used to dishonor people made in God’s
image through adultery, rape, child abuse, prostitution, and pornography. Should Christians
abandon sex? Do we give sex to Satan? No. It’s a good gift from God. We reclaim it and
restore it to its God-honoring role in marriage. We enter into God’s intended design for it.
(Aren’t you glad?!)
Let’s ponder music. Music has been used to worship Satan and false gods. It has been
used to glorify sinful, idolatrous behavior. In the 1980’s I attended a youth seminar that taught
that syncopated rhythms originated in African tribal religions for the worship of false gods.
Therefore, Christians should not worship to rock beats. He taught us that any Christian that
listens to Christian rock music is being subtly deceived by Satan. We were really worshipping
Satan even when we were singing to Jesus! I rejected this teaching as unbiblical. It gives
something created by God (rhythms and music and poetry) to Satan. This is not God’s plan. The
Psalms call us to engage in rhythm, music, and singing. (Do a study on poetry in scripture.)
Let’s think about Easter and Christmas and Halloween. When the Catholic Church
spread its reach through all of Europe, they encountered pagan religions. The placement of
7 Christian holidays next to pagan holidays was an attempt to provide a Christian alternative. (See
Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World). Christmas trees were originally part of
a pagan ritual, so were Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. All Saints Day was placed on November
1 following Halloween. For many Christians, these holiday practices have been disconnected
from their pagan roots. Some Christians have incorporated Christmas trees and Easter bunnies
into their celebration of Jesus’ birth and resurrection. Some Christians, while avoiding the
glorification of devils or witches, have dressed their kids up as bible characters (or super heroes!)
and taken them trick-or-treating. On the other hand, some Christians have abstained from these
practices because of their pagan connections. Regardless, I have yet to meet a Christian who fell
into paganism because of Christmas Trees or Easter Bunnies or even Halloween candy.
East Meets West
As we become a global community through information technologies and immigration,
the world has shrunk. All of the world religions are represented in our city. The primary eastern
religions are Hinduism, Buddism, Confusianism, and Taoism. Without trying to define these
religions (listen to my teaching series entitled “Jesus and World Relgions” which I taught in
2011), suffice it to say that they are founded on Eastern worldviews. For Hinduism this is a
mixture of pantheism, panentheism, and polytheism. For Buddism, it is almost an agnostic void.
Many religious practices from the east are entering our American culture. This would include
things like yoga, karate, reflexology, acupuncture, alternative forms of medicine, herbal
remedies, homeopathic treatments, massage, breathing techniques, vegetarian diets, and posture
alignment (not a technical or exhaustive list). The fact that these practices have been used in
connection with the worship of false gods would not be enough grounds to dismiss them as
innately evil. Remember, God revealed himself to Abraham and Moses in the context of the
8 ancient Near East. God revealed to Moses how to reclaim worship practices that pagans used
and properly use them to worship the one true God. (See G. Herbert Livingston, The Pentateuch
In Its Cultural Environment.) So we should consider if some of these eastern practices
contribute to health and healing (see “The Latest Yoga Research” at www.ideafit.com for an
example). If so, then let’s reclaim them for God’s glory. Satan didn’t create anything. Let’s
reclaim all that is good and right and true for God’s glory.
Can You Learn Something True or Good from a Non-Christian?
All truth is God’s. If a non-Christian scientist discovers a cure for cancer, should
Christians use it? Should a Christian attend a public school or a secular university and learn
from Athiests, Agnostics, Hindus, or Buddhists? If you learn something good from a Hindu does
that make it bad? Every good gift comes from above (James 1:17). God can work through nonChristians to bring about his purposes. One of my favorite books I’ve read on this issue is
Richard Mouw’s He Shines in All That’s Fair—Culture and Common Grace. It gives an
excellent biblical view of how God works through common grace (grace that all people
experience), not just salvific grace (grace that results in salvation).
Living in the Tension
Paul wrestled with a similar problem in the church of Corinth. Should a Christian eat
meats offered to idols and sold in the market place (1 Cor 8-10)? Paul always called upon
Christians to repent of idolatry, but he clearly stated that meats were not evil. Only the practice
of using meat to worship a false god is evil. He separated the good gift of God from its use. He
allowed Christians freedom at this point. If it bothers you don’t do it, but there is freedom for
9 Christians to decide what to do. (See my teaching series entitled “Living in Creative Tension”
which I did in 2009.)
At Vineyard Church we have classes (like Oaks of Righteousness) that provide a list of
activities or behaviors that a Christian can use to take a moral inventory. Some behaviors are
always tied to sin because they dishonor people (like adultery). Adultery is a certain way of
using sex to dishonor God and the marriage covenant. Sex can become an idol. Therefore, we
encourage some people to repent of certain sexual behavior, and we encourage married couples
to enjoy sex for God’s glory! Food can become an idol. Why would we serve food at church
events and teach people to repent of food addictions? Wine can become an idol. But food and
sex and drink are also gifts of God. They can be used to celebrate and glorify God. I had a
friend who felt like baseball had become an idol in his life. Money can become an idol. TV can
become an idol. We always want people (and we teach people) to repent of any idolatry in their
life. Realize that an idol for one person may not be an idol for another person. One person may
seek to reclaim the health benefits of yoga and use it as a means to worship the one true Creator
God and even reach people for Christ through it. Another person may need to repent of yoga
because they have used it to worship a false god in the worldview of Hinduism. In the context of
ancient Corinth, one person may feel free to eat meats offered to idols that are sold in the market
place. Another person may need to repent of the practice of offering meats to pagan gods.
At Vineyard Church we want people to repent of idols in their lives and worship the one
true Creator God. We also want people to embrace the tension of living in a fallen world, while
at the same time joining with God in his mission in the world. Let’s join in reclaiming the
sciences, the arts, technologies, exercise, and recreation so that all creation will glorify God.
10 Let’s join God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and reclaim all that is good and
right and true in our culture so that all things might be reconciled to God in Christ!