'harry Potter And Yoga Are Evil', Says Catholic Church Exorcis

[Sarah147]

[quote]In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a "false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body". Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". "It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter".

forum [url="http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=624774"]Source[/url]

[url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html"]article source[/url]
[/quote]


I just got this from Catholic Answers forums.




I had heard that yoga was okay as long as you didn't practice the spiritual aspect of it. Any thoughts?

Edited December 14, 2011 by JoyfulLife

[i<3LSOP]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1323902517' post='2351359']


I just got this from Catholic Answers forums.




I had heard that yoga was okay as long as you didn't practice the spiritual aspect of it. Any thoughts?
[/quote]


I have done a little bit of yoga before starting to practice ballet and it does help to stretch. I don't think of it as a Religious thing and just use it to "loosen my limbs" for ballet. Harry Potter I don't care for because I have heard bad rumors about it and I have never been too interested in it.

[TheresaThoma]

Hmm that seems a bit extreme. I have heard of some people getting great physical relief from some yoga stretches but they don't venture into the spiritual side. To me that seems perfectly fine.

(And about the Harry Potter books, I think they are a good wholesome well written books, better than some other books out there today. Yes they have wizards and witches but the values (friendship, bravery, loyalty etc) that are in the books outweighs that. My priest actually used the second book in one of his homilies! I was surprised at how many Christian themes were in it.)

[Catholictothecore]

Note that it says former chief exorcist. I do not think him saying this counts as an official church statement.

[Sarah147]

Ouch. I'm against Potter for sure.

[fides' Jack]

Former or not, he's got a great deal of experience fighting with the devil. In that respect, there probably isn't a single soul more knowledgeable on the subject than he.

I've read a few books by him. It's staggering just to hear about how many exorcisms he has performed (I don't remember, but it came out to multiple per day). He's also seen it all - levitations, ancient languages, multiple voices, etc...

From his perspective, anything that dabbles into the spiritually evil side, such as Harry Potter, are to be avoided. He knows better than anyone what kind of harm it can do.

From my perspective, I don't think Yoga is actually Yoga unless it goes into the spiritual side. Otherwise it's just stretching. And the spiritual side of Yoga is definitely satanic.

[beatitude]

[quote name='fides' Jack' timestamp='1323905382' post='2351385']
From his perspective, anything that dabbles into the spiritually evil side, such as Harry Potter, are to be avoided. He knows better than anyone what kind of harm it can do.
[/quote]

Should we then ban [i]Cinderella[/i]? Pumpkins sprouting into carriages is sorcery. [i]Sleeping Beauty[/i]? It contains curses. Likewise the [i]Little Mermaid[/i]. I had to study the Arthurian legends as part of my medieval literature course, with a special focus on the epic poem 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. It's redolent with magic. Spiritually evil?

If we go too far down this route, we end up at the Index of Forbidden Books. Many voices in the Church were raised in support of that. Had you been alive at the time when people were being denounced to the Inquisition for reading texts that most of us would class as perfectly innocuous, would you have upheld the judgment of the people who had banned these books on the grounds that they must know more about evil than you?

[Catholictothecore]

I am not dissing his experience. I'm saying HE said it, not the Vatican. I could provide numerous quotes of priests in equally good standing with the Church that praise Harry Potter as a character of purity, moral strength, and most importantly, real, life changing love. They have about as much threat to your spiritual well being as a I do.

Harry Potter simply DOES NOT dabble in the spiritual side of anything, save the philosophy that says men and woman are capable of being both tremendously evil in their own right and tremendous selfless as well. Dumbledore, the only character with a real preachy tendency, says very clearly in the 6th book what Rowling's trying to say: " It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." The magic is a tool, a metaphor, for these real life things we seem forever hung up on; race, economic status, and religion. All things that we have shown we are very good at going to war over and causing as much suffering to ourselves and others as possible over, regardless of the actually nature of the race, status, or religion.

There is nothing in the books that claims to be good and isn't, and there is nothing in them that claims to be evil and isn't clearly labeled as such. And for those that say it supports witchcraft, I'm going to say it clearly doesn't, as the magic there in is only a mythical, imaginary sort. There is a tremendous amount of difference between the superstitions of man in the past - Harry Potter's witchcraft being only loosely based on these- and the real witchcraft practiced by Satanists in the real world

I say this to the world, and I do not mean to point out any particular Phatmassers, but It's fantasy, people, get over it.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Catholictothecore

[LaPetiteSoeur]

Maybe this should move to debate table, y'all? That way you could debate it fully, if you so desire.

Edited December 15, 2011 by LaPetiteSoeur

[Sarah147]

Yeah, it has turned into that...

[i<3LSOP]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1323910359' post='2351418']
Maybe this should move to debate table, y'all? That way you could debate it fully, if you so desire.
[/quote]


lol that's what I was thinking when I saw this and I was gonna try not to post too much because I knew it would turn into a debate!

[Catholictothecore]

I have no problem with that.

I apologize if my tone offends anyone. My biggest complaint is not that things get said, it's when people who have never read these books condemn them without ever having read them. It's...well, it stinks. Again, I say to a the world, it's not going to rip out your soul and feed it to devil if you read it. I assure you, if that happened, we'd have heard about it by now. It's a good story with some amazing characters. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? You might have fun enjoying a good book series you otherwise didn't think you would?

[Sarah147]

Ick.

Edited December 15, 2011 by JoyfulLife

[Catholictothecore]

Look, you are right, that last post was in bad taste, I'm just saying how can someone judge something they have absolutely no knowledge of?

[vee]

Ive read some of the Harry Potter books and I can see how they may lead people, especially kids who are the main audience, into possibly trying to cast spells etc themselves and THAT is where it gets dangerous. Reading John of the cross or Teresa of Avila pwns Potter any day and in every way.

As for Yoga, the poses are positions of worship of other gods whether people believe in them or not. The Sign of the Cross is a religious expression whether or not the person doing it believes. You want to stretch? Take from Pilates.

The greatest trick of the devil is to convince us he doesnt exist, however, as it says in the Bible Matthew 10:16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

[b] [i]shrewd[/i]/SHro͞od/[/b]
Adjective: [list]
[*]Having or showing sharp powers of judgment; astute.
[/list]