Christ vs Yoga

The Way

Jesus was a teacher of the ancient truth called The Way of Righteousness that John the Baptist also taught.  He added to the Way of Righteousness the Way of Salvation through His own sacrifice.  A false Way goes back many thousands of years before that; some believe it goes back to Mithra (the earlier date of c. 2000BC).  We have archaeological evidence of The false Way from Mohenjo-daro and Harappa and in some of the older Great Flood legends.  The false Way’s understanding of Mother Nature (Gaia) and God the Mother (Semiramis) linger in some ancient religious ideas.

We don’t know much about the history of The False Way,  but here are a few samples of information we have.    Lao Tzu was a teacher in the tradition and the teaching he recorded is called "The Way" (Tao Teh Ching) (600BCE).  Gautama Buddha was recognised as a teacher in that tradition (600 BCE), and so was Mani of Persia (2nd cent), many early Gnostic movements and most Essene movements aligned with The False Way.  The Bhagavad Gita and Wisdom traditions of the 1^st century and Yoga traditions of antiquity aligned with The False Way.  The Buddhist society has done their best to twist Jesus' Way of Righteousness so it can be incorporated in the False Way.  We see much of this in the particulars of the art of 1^st and 2^nd century Gandahara. 

To learn a little more about the time when Paul originally attacked Christ's Way of Righteousness (Matt. 21:32) but later defended The Way, see Acts of the Apostles in the Christian Bible: 9:2, 19:9, 19:23, and 24:22.

Jesus invites anyone, never mind how inexperienced s/he is, to come to him and he will be your Lord & master on The Way.

Jesus does not say, ‘… I will come to you’, but rather, ‘… come to me’.  The responsibility for getting to walk with Jesus lies with you.  You have to come to Him in prayer.  People often pray and ask the Savior to come to their rescue, to come to them.  God the Holy Spirit is with you, but you must ask, seek and knock as Jesus told us to.  It is when we are walking alone like a lost sheep and call, “Christ, are you there and care about me?” that you will find He is right there -- even within us.

Jesus knows The Way of Righteousness.  He walked it, exemplified it, and through his death and resurrection eventually reached the destination—bringing us to the God of the Universe.  He understands exactly where we are, the mistakes we make and how we run from one end to another, and how we call for help whenever things get hurtful, and how we easily forget The Way and get lost again.

Jesus does not say, ‘come to me …and you will fret more in guilt and worry more’.  Rather, He says, “come to me...take my yoke…and you will find rest for yourselves”. 

Why would we find rest in Jesus' yoke ?

Many of us act like young bulls and heifers running after every green spot, every good smelling fellow, fighting for ranking in the mating game and trying our level best to consume as much as possible.  Rushing up and down, to and fro, exhausting ourselves and not going anywhere significant—nowhere near The Way.  Most people act as if the purpose of their lives is to consume more than their neighbor, and to own things—which they believe will give them social standing.  As if things and social standing are of permanent value.

While most of us are quite happy to follow the herd, to think like the herd and value the herd’s cultural values, some of us come to realize that herd play is not truth; there must be a more meaningful purpose to life.  A better way to reach our destination and fulfill our purpose in life.  We may be looking at prevailing religions thinking they resemble feedlots for cattle.  We may be thinking that a better truth lies out there somewhere—perhaps on the other side of the wilderness.  We often hear that heaven is real, but that is a scary journey we don’t even know how to buy a ticket for it.  We may not know where, how and what—but we know we must find truth. 

If the Yoke of Jesus is the alternative you want, Jesus offers his help saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.”

What is this yoke that Jesus refers to?

We need to walk in obedience to God the Holy Spirit through whom we have fellowship with the true God of this world.  He draws us to true knowledge and wisdom of God's will and ways.  He leads us in paths good for our spirit, soul and body as we seek His welfare.  He authorizes us to command the angels of Satan.  He gives us His power of attorney to exercise divine gifts and miracles.  He transforms our hearts and minds as we walk in His truth.

Through eternity we all will be creatures of God, whether on earth, in heaven or in hell.  He will eternally be the sovereign.  He will always be the Father to those who receive His Son.  Our ultimate duty is to respond to God's love by loving God with all our hearts, souls and bodies.  He loves others so we love them, too.  Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27, Matthew 22:37