The shallowness of Mage's attempts to dissuade people from finding Christ are becoming more and more apparent. Let's take his latest response in this thread one piece at a time...
"It's obviously my mistake to assume that in age of internet most people wold have researched what Yoga is. I thought most of you guys are active internet users and can see past local sterotypes, but apparently it's not that simple."
This is an effeminate shaming tactic that in no way addresses the points that have been made. "You have an opinion I disagree with, therefore you must be ignorant." Not an argument.
"A lot of you only hearing Christian fear-monger sermons about the evils of occultism and Yoga."
More shaming tactics in lieu of actual points made. You call them "fear-monger sermons" and then - again - in no way, shape, or form even attempt to address what's been said. I have called out the evils of these things clearly and articulately, as have many others throughout time. You use the phrase "fear-monger" to minimize and slander, but those are also not arguments.
"Another lot of you only thinking Yoga is what vain thots do in fitness centers."
Objectively speaking, this is often true.
"Both of these opinions are misinformed. They are like forming opinion about Christianity form some Prosperity gospel preaching Megachurch with a charismatic leader who uses donation money and tax free status to buy private yets."
Why? You say it's "misinformed" and then make no attempt at all to correct our "misinformed" perspective. You simply say it's "misinformed," then try to shift the frame into being about charlatans who pose as pastors. What does that have to do with the topic at hand?
"All spirituality is corrupted and infiltrated today, both western and eastern. It's so sad when you can see infiltrated influences in your tradition but think these infiltrated influences are the norm for another tradition."
Here you continue to move the frame of the conversation further away from the points that I made and closer towards a blanket statement attacking religion and spirituality in general. This is also not remotely relevant to the topic at hand. Let's say you're right and that every form of spirituality is corrupted, an opinion for which you've provided no evidence. But let's say you did, instead of generalizing. Even if you had provided evidence of that opinion, what does that have to do with what's been said about yoga and the occult? Are they so hard to defend that you just attack other traditions instead? And if so, shouldn't that make you think twice about believing in them?
"All spiritual traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam should work together against secular evils like abortion, divorce, usury and other. But the problem is that monotheistic traditions are intolerant, claim every other tradition is evil and demonic and spend as much time infighting between themselves as fighting secularism."
For someone claiming that others have used the internet poorly in forming their opinions about these topics, this seems like an especially shallow comment. Hinduism is not a monotheistic religion. Buddhism isn't a theistic religion at all. I agree that it would be nice for everyone to get together and fight against abortion, divorce, and usury. Members of each of these religions, if they're following the tenets of said religions, will do exactly that. But what does any of that have to do with yoga and the occult being fundamentally demonic and keeping people from being conformed to the image and likeness of God? That's the entire purpose of Christianity, and neither yoga nor the occult aids in that path in any way. At best yoga can be harmless stretching, at worst it throws open doors to malicious spiritual entities that take up residence in your mind, heart, and soul. The occult does that as well to varying degrees, depending on where you are on the scale from the more watered-down New Age stuff like the "Law of Attraction" all the way to the left-hand path groups like the Temple of Set or the ONA. If you are as deep into the occult as your name and avatar suggest, then you are already perfectly aware of these things and, if that's the case, are deliberately and consciously lying to the people on this board by claiming there's nothing wrong with such traditions. If you've spent any real time studying the occult then you already know Yoga is practiced in some form or another by almost every occult group. And what does "fighting secularism" have to do with any of this? Are you just throwing out frame-shifts and distractions to keep people from understanding what these concepts actually teach and turn people into?
"Another problem is that these monotheistic traditions are very dogmatic and prescriptive and contain a limited amount of spirituality."
Again, a full half of the religions you mentioned are not monotheistic. A simple browsing through Wikipedia would have demonstrated this to you, as would asking any member of these religions. Further, who are you to decide what has a "limited amount of spirituality?" What does that even mean? This is exactly like what Satan said to Eve in the garden, as I've already mentioned. "Obedience to God is limiting your spirituality, follow me instead and I'll make you as powerful as He is." Repeating millennia-old lies is both silly and boring. Imagine believing that being conformed to Christ, the blueprint and pattern of a perfect man, is somehow "limited."
"They are like a trap - when a person starts to develop interest on spirituality they are the first to catch most people with what appears to be a very well thought and clear answers with easy to understand scriptures and priesthood class to explain all things, and this calms most people down from seeking higher truths. But if you try to dig deeper you start to see limitations of these monotheistic practices, they conjure an image of a jealous God for whom his worship is more important then being a good person, thus they breed zealotry and never ending conflict and ignorance."
This is a lot of word-wizardry all in one paragraph, weaving generalizations and misinformation and outright lies in a neat little package. It's the same way Jordan Peterson speaks, which Vox Day accurately labeled "bafflegarble." All of this nonsense is meant to dazzle the stupid with a flash of what sounds (on the surface) like deep and powerful insight, but in reality is meaningless if you just pick the statement apart and examine it with any real depth. Anyone who's read a book on NLP can do stuff like this, making dumb people think they're smart because of the authoritative tone and superficial "truths" that appears to be communicated. What such speakers will almost never do - because they generally can't - is stop speaking in weasel and actually define their terms and ideas concretely. They just turn into slippery jellyfish when you try to nail down what they're actually saying or what they actually believe, expanding or contracting as necessary in order to not have to put their ideas into discrete clear forms.
And again - even if your entire paragraph of bafflegarble were true - what would any of that have to do with what's been said about yoga and the occult? If you want to tell me why I'm wrong, then tell me. Calling me ignorant and ranting about the evils of other religions are not relevant responses.
(As a side note to everyone reading along, what Mage is doing here is nothing new. Read St. Irenaeus's "Against Heresies" or St. Augustine's disputations against Faustus or Fortunatus and you will see that gnostics always use the same tactics in trying to spread their lies. There are no new forms of gnosticism and no new arguments they make, it's all just rehashed and reiterated nonsense that's been around for thousands of years. The reason is that the spirits trying to cast their nets through the ancient gnostics are still acting through the modern ones, and demons are not creative or inventive. They rely entirely on people not knowing that all of their "arguments" have already been soundly refuted and overthrown. When you practice yoga the religious way or play around with the occult, you're inviting the same old spirits into your soul that the ancient pagans did. Hence why they have nothing new to say.)
"It's obviously my mistake to assume that in age of internet most people wold have researched what Yoga is. I thought most of you guys are active internet users and can see past local sterotypes, but apparently it's not that simple."
This is an effeminate shaming tactic that in no way addresses the points that have been made. "You have an opinion I disagree with, therefore you must be ignorant." Not an argument.
"A lot of you only hearing Christian fear-monger sermons about the evils of occultism and Yoga."
More shaming tactics in lieu of actual points made. You call them "fear-monger sermons" and then - again - in no way, shape, or form even attempt to address what's been said. I have called out the evils of these things clearly and articulately, as have many others throughout time. You use the phrase "fear-monger" to minimize and slander, but those are also not arguments.
"Another lot of you only thinking Yoga is what vain thots do in fitness centers."
Objectively speaking, this is often true.
"Both of these opinions are misinformed. They are like forming opinion about Christianity form some Prosperity gospel preaching Megachurch with a charismatic leader who uses donation money and tax free status to buy private yets."
Why? You say it's "misinformed" and then make no attempt at all to correct our "misinformed" perspective. You simply say it's "misinformed," then try to shift the frame into being about charlatans who pose as pastors. What does that have to do with the topic at hand?
"All spirituality is corrupted and infiltrated today, both western and eastern. It's so sad when you can see infiltrated influences in your tradition but think these infiltrated influences are the norm for another tradition."
Here you continue to move the frame of the conversation further away from the points that I made and closer towards a blanket statement attacking religion and spirituality in general. This is also not remotely relevant to the topic at hand. Let's say you're right and that every form of spirituality is corrupted, an opinion for which you've provided no evidence. But let's say you did, instead of generalizing. Even if you had provided evidence of that opinion, what does that have to do with what's been said about yoga and the occult? Are they so hard to defend that you just attack other traditions instead? And if so, shouldn't that make you think twice about believing in them?
"All spiritual traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam should work together against secular evils like abortion, divorce, usury and other. But the problem is that monotheistic traditions are intolerant, claim every other tradition is evil and demonic and spend as much time infighting between themselves as fighting secularism."
For someone claiming that others have used the internet poorly in forming their opinions about these topics, this seems like an especially shallow comment. Hinduism is not a monotheistic religion. Buddhism isn't a theistic religion at all. I agree that it would be nice for everyone to get together and fight against abortion, divorce, and usury. Members of each of these religions, if they're following the tenets of said religions, will do exactly that. But what does any of that have to do with yoga and the occult being fundamentally demonic and keeping people from being conformed to the image and likeness of God? That's the entire purpose of Christianity, and neither yoga nor the occult aids in that path in any way. At best yoga can be harmless stretching, at worst it throws open doors to malicious spiritual entities that take up residence in your mind, heart, and soul. The occult does that as well to varying degrees, depending on where you are on the scale from the more watered-down New Age stuff like the "Law of Attraction" all the way to the left-hand path groups like the Temple of Set or the ONA. If you are as deep into the occult as your name and avatar suggest, then you are already perfectly aware of these things and, if that's the case, are deliberately and consciously lying to the people on this board by claiming there's nothing wrong with such traditions. If you've spent any real time studying the occult then you already know Yoga is practiced in some form or another by almost every occult group. And what does "fighting secularism" have to do with any of this? Are you just throwing out frame-shifts and distractions to keep people from understanding what these concepts actually teach and turn people into?
"Another problem is that these monotheistic traditions are very dogmatic and prescriptive and contain a limited amount of spirituality."
Again, a full half of the religions you mentioned are not monotheistic. A simple browsing through Wikipedia would have demonstrated this to you, as would asking any member of these religions. Further, who are you to decide what has a "limited amount of spirituality?" What does that even mean? This is exactly like what Satan said to Eve in the garden, as I've already mentioned. "Obedience to God is limiting your spirituality, follow me instead and I'll make you as powerful as He is." Repeating millennia-old lies is both silly and boring. Imagine believing that being conformed to Christ, the blueprint and pattern of a perfect man, is somehow "limited."
"They are like a trap - when a person starts to develop interest on spirituality they are the first to catch most people with what appears to be a very well thought and clear answers with easy to understand scriptures and priesthood class to explain all things, and this calms most people down from seeking higher truths. But if you try to dig deeper you start to see limitations of these monotheistic practices, they conjure an image of a jealous God for whom his worship is more important then being a good person, thus they breed zealotry and never ending conflict and ignorance."
This is a lot of word-wizardry all in one paragraph, weaving generalizations and misinformation and outright lies in a neat little package. It's the same way Jordan Peterson speaks, which Vox Day accurately labeled "bafflegarble." All of this nonsense is meant to dazzle the stupid with a flash of what sounds (on the surface) like deep and powerful insight, but in reality is meaningless if you just pick the statement apart and examine it with any real depth. Anyone who's read a book on NLP can do stuff like this, making dumb people think they're smart because of the authoritative tone and superficial "truths" that appears to be communicated. What such speakers will almost never do - because they generally can't - is stop speaking in weasel and actually define their terms and ideas concretely. They just turn into slippery jellyfish when you try to nail down what they're actually saying or what they actually believe, expanding or contracting as necessary in order to not have to put their ideas into discrete clear forms.
And again - even if your entire paragraph of bafflegarble were true - what would any of that have to do with what's been said about yoga and the occult? If you want to tell me why I'm wrong, then tell me. Calling me ignorant and ranting about the evils of other religions are not relevant responses.
(As a side note to everyone reading along, what Mage is doing here is nothing new. Read St. Irenaeus's "Against Heresies" or St. Augustine's disputations against Faustus or Fortunatus and you will see that gnostics always use the same tactics in trying to spread their lies. There are no new forms of gnosticism and no new arguments they make, it's all just rehashed and reiterated nonsense that's been around for thousands of years. The reason is that the spirits trying to cast their nets through the ancient gnostics are still acting through the modern ones, and demons are not creative or inventive. They rely entirely on people not knowing that all of their "arguments" have already been soundly refuted and overthrown. When you practice yoga the religious way or play around with the occult, you're inviting the same old spirits into your soul that the ancient pagans did. Hence why they have nothing new to say.)
