Yoga

 

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while might have picked up on my passion for physical fitness.  My physical fitness regimen consists primarily of a daily workout with Tony Horton and the crew of P90X.  It was through this workout system that I was first introduced to yoga.

I still do yoga, and I enjoy it very much.  Why?  Because it's a killer workout.

However, I have discover that yoga is a very controversial topic in the Christian community.  Is it just a series of harmless moves?  Is it a pagan philosophy that will corrupt its practitioners?  Should Christians even do yoga?

To answer the first two questions, it's both.  Yoga is an exercise system which often comes laden with tons of spiritual baggage.  I haven't studied (nor do I plan to) the religion of yoga, but I know it's bad karma.  No, I don't believe in karma.  Teehee...

To answer the third question, I believe that Christians may do yoga.  Obviously, because I'm a Christian, and I do yoga.

But why?

I do yoga simply for the workout.  Christians should be self-disciplined stewards of their body, whatever that looks like for each individual believer before God.  I see yoga as one application of this principle of good stewardship.

I see the spiritual aspects of yoga as falling under the category of the idols of 1 Corinthians 8.  In this passage, Paul talks about how believers may eat meat sacrificed to idols because the idols are nothing!  We know that there is only one God, and we are not somehow spiritually wounded because we ate meat that someone else sacrificed to an idol.

So it is, I believe, with yoga.  Are the moves in yoga sinful by themselves?  Of course not.  Take that hamstring stretch in the picture, for instance.

Do the moves become sinful when labeled as "yoga"?  I don't believe so.  Like with the meat offered to idols, I do yoga simply because it's a good workout.  I do it in faith and with thanksgiving to the True God of Scripture- not the mystical spiritism of yoga.

Then comes the argument "but what about the weaker brother?"  It is true that Paul brings up this very important consideration, and for a long time it was something that made me hesitate to publicize the fact that I do yoga.  Then, however, I realized that Paul did not hesitate to reason with believers about their superstition over meat sacrificed to idols.  Thusly, I desire to do the same over the issue of yoga.  

Needless to say, at our house, when we do yoga we separate the physical category from the spiritual.  We don't bother clearing our minds, meditating, chanting, or any of that other demonic stuff.  Sometimes we talk, sometimes we recite Scripture (yoga really is a great opportunity to meditate on God's Word), and- well, usually, I'm working too hard on properly performing the exercise to be concerned about much else.

So I am in no way arguing for the philosophy, spiritism, religion, or anything besides the physical exercise of yoga.  That's all garbage and anti-Christian.  I am arguing that we as Christians should be educated, knowledgeable, and Biblically-grounded in our views of things like this- things that can appear scary on their face.

We have not been given a spirit of fear.  We serve the God Who reigns sovereign over all the earth- both the physical and spiritual realms are subject to His Word.

There's no reason for us to be superstitious.

Disobeying Orders

Our culture trains us to always obey orders. Police officers- soldiers- whenever someone objects and tries to explain why you are not protecting justice, what is the response? "Just following orders."

But is there ever a time to disobey orders?

The second (and first, since the last one was really an introduction) episode of The Babylon Effect.



Also, more music from "Act Like Men." One of my biggest takeaways from this project is that melodies are crucial and distinctive- but rhythms can be very unique too. This piece is driven by a morse code distress call rhythm which is very unique. I want to continue finding unique and fitting rhythms- and not just falling back on my old standbys.

Here's the morse code- can you hear it in the piece?

CQD - "Act Like Men" by gabrielhudelson

Act Like Men

This is another film project I'm working on. With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic approaching very quickly, the question arises- what can we learn from what happened on that "Night to Remember"?

What have we gained? What have we lost?

"Women and children first."

This statement directly violates the evolutionary and egalitarian worldviews of today.

Evolution says that we have no inherent value, and that the death of the weak leads to the development of the species. If we are all simply products of evolution, matter-in-motion, and the strong survive and the weak die, then "women and children first" is nonsense. Rather, "strongest first." Women and children last. For the sake of the species, you know.

Egalitarianism denies any distinctions between men and women. Anything men can do women can do better. I have yet to hear, however, a feminist be truly consistent and say that the men on the Titanic were being chauvinists. After all, they apparently viewed women as weaker vessels. Why didn't they just let the women take care of themselves?

If these worldviews are allowed enough time to eat into the marrow of our culture, we will gradually, eventually, see their ramifications played out before our eyes. We're seeing it now.

There have been plenty of people, from Hitler to Leopold and Loeb, who have tried to play out the evolutionary worldview, but they are despised for their consistency. We tell them that the strong survive and the weak die- that there is no God, no Judge, no standard- and then we punish them when they live like we told them to.

Recently, our military has finally been given permission to put women in the front lines of combat. Egalitarianism marches on. Let it march on long enough and maybe I won't have to wait on the women and children before I get my chance to get off the sinking ocean-liner. Maybe I can feel good about myself as I listen to the screams of the women and children who go down with the ship. She didn't want me to hold the door for her- why should I hold the seat on the lifeboat for her? Can't they take care of themselves?

No. I can't feel good about it. No matter how boldly these poisonous worldviews march forward, I am a Christian, and as such I see it as my duty as a man to lay down my life for women and children. Whether it's taking a bullet or not taking a life vest or carrying an overburdened purse, I rejoice in the calling that is mine as a man- to not struggle for supremacy in a chaotic melee of natural selection, but rather to use the strength that God has given me for the benefit of those who are weaker than I.

Why?

Primarily, because that's what Scripture says (John 15:13, Neh. 4:14, Eph. 5:25) and models (Jas. 1:27, Ps. 82:3).

Another reason is encapsulated in this quote from the Mysterious Islands documentary: "Evolution is survival of the fittest. In Christianity, the most fit of all, Jesus Christ, died for the unfit. That's you and me. That's the way God thinks- that's the way the Creator thinks."

There it is. Why would I, being bigger and stronger, give up the place that I could secure by right of force on the lifeboat to a smaller and weaker person?

Because that's what Jesus did for me.

Here's a taste of the score for "Act Like Men." Watch the trailer and keep up with the film's progress on the website.

R.M.S. Titanic - "Act Like Men" by gabrielhudelson

7 Lessons from the 2012 SAICFF

I just got back from the 2012 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Academy and Festival. Here are a few of the most prominent lessons that I learned from the teaching, talking, and traveling that I experienced last week.

The most important of which, I might add, are not directly film-related.

1. Honor my father and cherish my relationship with him. Be accountable to him, as well. "If you think you might need to confess it- you do."
2. Use my time living in my father's household wisely. Invest in my siblings and parents. Use these years in such a way that I won't look back after I'm married and say "I sure wish I would've..."
   
3. The more I study theology, the better I will become as an artist.
4. YouTube appeals to the masses- Vimeo appeals to the artistic community. I need both.
5. Brand = Trust. Make a promise and then keep it.
6. Directors should be directors- not speech instructors. As a general rule, say "I need your character to feel this way"- not "say it like this."
7. I love my family. To pieces. It was heartbreaking to leave San Antonio after such an awesome week of great fellowship and networking. But when I got home I realized- wow. It's good to be back. My family is such a blessing and treasure.
   

This was an amazing week from many angles. It was great for me occupationally and spiritually. It was so good, in fact, that I've already registered for the 2013 academy and festival. God continues to provide, and in this case He used a gift from a family member. (By the way, if The LORD is leading you to attend the next one, now's the time to register. The first 150 registrants get a $200 discount.)

To all the wonderful people that I met this year- stay in touch! Hopefully, I'll see you again, in person, next year.

Until then, I'm grateful for the internet. :-)

The Babylon Effect

As a family we're working on some different projects known in conglomerate as The Babylon Effect.

This is the intro for a web series we're working on.

So what is The Babylon Effect?

Well, you'll just have to find out, now, won't you.

Stay tuned!

Brothers Arise!

I've had so many blog post ideas running around in my head, but none of them have come to fruition yet.

In the meantime, here's the trailer to a film I've been working on which will premiere next week at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.



Would love to see you there!

Christ Shall Have Dominion / Music: Critical Mass

Dominion. Not only is it an awesome word, but it's a word with a freight-train size load of theological connotations that are- to be simplistic- rather controversial.

And rather awesome.

So let's start at the beginning.

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Gen. 1:28, KJV)

Here we see the initial command given to man. Rule the earth. Man tends the earth and brings it into obedience to God.

This is, of course, much harder after the fall- in fact, it can only be accomplished apart from God's Grace.

But that doesn't mean that we should not still strive towards it- and pray for the Grace that it necessitates.

Some will say that we are no longer "under" this initial mandate, since we are now under the New Covenant. To these, my reply is threefold:

1. This is our initial created purpose. It doesn't just go away- it's what we were made to do.
2. Both our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul refer back to creation order. ("From the beginning, it was not so.") Why do we retain the model for things like one-man-one-woman marriage yet reject the Dominion Mandate?
3. This objection arises from what I believe to be a dangerous misunderstanding of the New Covenant. The New Covenant was the fulfillment of The Law in Christ. The ceremonial and sacrificial laws are done away with in Him. The New Covenant is not a "liberation" from the moral laws of God, nor is it a repudiation- an abolishing- of all the things contained in the Old Testament. This includes the Dominion Mandate.
   

So what does this dominion-taking look like, practically? In a nutshell, it looks like applying all of God's Word to all of life.

Instead of seeing this world as a lost cause, "going to hell in a hand-basket," we should see this world as God's. He owns it. We are His ambassadors come to claim His domain back from those who have usurped Him.

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Matt. 28:18)

Scripture paints a picture, not of a monastic separation from the world, nor of an antinomian revelry in sin, but of an aggressive expansion, an in-this-world-but-not-of-it march forward which calls every area of life- politics, art, culture, education, all of it- to submit to Christ.

Which leads to discussing eschatology- what we think about the end-times. The dominion worldview can seem inherently postmillenial. Postmillenialists believe that there will be no tribulation- the church will obey God more and more and His Kingdom gradually will advance and fill the earth. "All the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD."

But for someone who believes that the earth will get worse and worse until Jesus comes back, it might seem like dominion is a silly and irrelevant idea.

It's not.

Though it does kinda make better sense from a post-mil standpoint.

My point with this post, however, isn't to start a debate on eschatology. I'd rather leave that for another time. My point here is that this world is God's. His Kingdom will reign. Perhaps that reign will be inaugurated by Divine fiat, where the world gets worse and worse and then BAM. Christ returns and brings justice. Perhaps it will indeed be by the faithfulness of the remnant.

Either way, His Kingdom is inevitable.

Either way, it is for us to obey. To live as if all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ. Because it has.

Christianity isn't another part of our life. It is our life. It's not the thing we put in the "religion" box on Facebook. It's the foundation, the worldview, the root of everything that we do. It must be so.

And it gets bigger. The dominion-minded believer desires to see things like politics and the arts conquered for Christ. This does NOT mean using physical force to overthrow governments, but it does mean striving for the conformation of the institutions of this world to The Word of God.

Yes, I firmly believe that our national legal system should be built on The moral Law of God. What other option do we have as believers?

The retort may come back, "you're advocating saving the nation through politics!"

Not at all. Nations are lost or won one soul at a time. Politics cannot save. But, as has been said- if Christians are faithful, and God is willing, politics will be saved.

So the dominion-minded believer isn't just "waiting at the bus stop" for Jesus' return. He is actively striving to expand the real-life Kingdom of God on this earth.

"Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." (Matt. 6:10)

That's what I see Scripture exhorting us to. This earth belongs to Christ. Let's act like it.

I hope that this woefully short epistle attempting to define dominion proves helpful and edifying to some. I might have inspired more questions than I answered, but that might be a good thing. Please ask the questions below, though I can't guarantee that I'll be able to answer them. Oftentimes, my answers aren't even necessary- others will pitch in and answer the questions for me, and sometimes better than I could've. I enjoy learning from you all, so thanks again for the discussions.

Speaking of dominion, here's one of my latest dominion-taking endeavors in the area of music. I think it's fitting to the topic at hand, both in title and in genre. Because God's Kingdom, one way or another, will reach Critical Mass.

Critical Mass by gabrielhudelson

"Christ shall have dominion, over land and sea,
Earth’s remotest regions shall His empire be;
They that wilds inhabit shall their worship bring,
Kings shall render tribute, nations serve our King."