Virginia Candidate, Says Yoga May Result In Satanic Possessi

[doggie]

Love the stupidity in this one. Myself the biggest source of possession is Christianity so what we should eliminate??

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/0 ... 92386.html

E.W. Jackson, Virginia's GOP lieutenant governor candidate, is no stranger to controversy. A conservative pastor, Jackson has previously come under fire for comparing Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan, calling gay rights "ikky" and saying President Barack Obama has a "Muslim perspective."

This week, Jackson is being skewered yet again -- this time for saying that doing yoga may leave unsuspecting people vulnerable to satanic possession.

In a post for the National Review on Wednesday, Betsy Woodruff highlighted some quotes from Jackson's 2008 book Ten Commandments to an Extraordinary Life: Making Your Dreams Come True. Among them was one about the hazards of yoga.

"When one hears the word meditation, it conjures an image of Maharishi Yoga talking about finding a mantra and striving for nirvana," Jackson wrote in his book, according to Woodruff. "The purpose of such meditation is to empty oneself. [satan] is happy to invade the empty vacuum of your soul and possess it. Beware of systems of spirituality which tell you to empty yourself. You will end up filled with something you probably do not want."

"Behind the ice-cold eyes of Lululemon princesses burn the demonic flames of eternal hell," joked Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve this week in response to Jackson's comment.

Despite the criticism Jackson has endured for his many controversial statements, he has not apologized for them.

"I don't have anything to rephrase or to apologize for," he said in May. "I would just say, people should not paint me as one-dimensional. I have a whole lot of concerns."

[AVENues]

I do believe in unknown forces that are better not be messed with.

I do not believe in such thing as a "satanic" possession, that would require at least one satan to exist. But I do believe in forces that are located in another, non-physical realm and they are better left the fuck alone. There. What we are able to perceive of everything that really is around us, all the energy levels, frequencies, etc, is at about point five percent. BTW I love yoga and what this person says is bullshit. I bet he saw girls wear yoga pants and the cheeks caused him to jack off and defile the purity of his hands.

[Cran]

So much fail. Where to start?

It escapes my horizon how anybody deserves any attention if he is obviously uneducated about things he's talking about, namely:

- origin, purpose and practice of yoga and in which ways westerners usually incorporate it

- origins, purpose and practice of meditation. The medieval Christian monks want a word with you on their schedule.

His thinking strikes me as magical, not Christian. He gives things and bodily poses satanic (magical) power. This is so primitive, I shudder at the thought of subscribing to his believe system. And it is against the bible, too! Theoretically, a Christian could even eat meat that was sacrificed to heathen Gods - it has no power! They should only refrain from it because weaker brethren could take offence. Why on earth should yoga have more demonic powers than that?

[RachelB]

He's also ignoring the fact that meditation exists, and has for centuries, within Christian traditions. Lectio divina is meditation on scripture, for Pete's sake. Plainchant is meditative. I suppose he probably doesn't consider Catholicism and Greek/Eastern Orthodoxy to be parts of Christianity.

Honestly, the most plausible explanation for Revelation to me is that it was a long, hallucinatory vision John of Patmos had while sitting on the meditation cushion.

[greentree31]

Back in my fundie light days, I was told that since meditation/yoga would empty your mind as you meditated, evil spirits, Satan, ect would come in to fill the void and possess you.

Given the fact that the most empty minds out there belong to the fundies, does that mean they are possessed by satan himself? Should we FJers hold an exorcism?

[doggie]

Satan loves a closed up religious mind much more.

[Sobeknofret]

Hmmm. My gym is apparently filled with possessed people then, since the yoga classes are always full to overcrowding. I knew some of those folks weren't hitting on all cylinders, so maybe possession is a good explanation :dance:

[Mela99]

I'm confused.

[TinyDancer87]

Aren't humans in a complete blank state of mind right before they fall asleep? Like this perfect, peacefull empty mind, free of thought. Does this mean that every night right before I fall asleep, Satan has the ability to possess me? With this theory, perfect Christians must never fall asleep in fear of satanic possession!