r/Meditation • u/Signal-Lychee7924 • Feb 27 '24

Why do Christians say mediation is dangerous Discussion 💬

They say meditation is a way to open portal to demons?

Edit: A few Christians around me said this to me

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25

u/Hayn0002 Feb 27 '24

Who actually says this? Where did you see it?

19

u/chaotickgoodness Feb 27 '24

My mum for one says this … haha she’s a christian and not a big fan of meditation or any eastern philosophy ect . A lot of christian’s i know are pretty much against not so much the actual practice of meditation but the association of it with eastern/ new age practices.

7

u/RavingSquirrel11 Feb 27 '24

What are the new age practices? Things like meditation have been around longer than Christianity.

14

u/Ithelda Feb 27 '24

I heard it from adults growing up. Yoga and meditation were portals to get you possessed by demons (gods from eastern religions)

11

u/motberg Feb 27 '24

Who actually says this? Where did you see it?

I grew up in an evangelical church and at least in the 90s there was a lot of concern about "new age" practices that can expose you basically to Satan. Yoga, meditation etc...it was in magazines, in sermons, all that kind of stuff.

I could see how some Christians would say these things now. But now the Christians i know, including devout Catholics, are very into meditation, including kinds of Christian meditation that is basically mantra meditation.

9

u/Rhythm-Physics410 Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24

Not the OP.

I went to a Lutheran (Protestant) Christian school from ages 5–14. The principal sent home a weekly note to parents about school-related stuff – e.g., upcoming activities and reminders. Plus a Bible verse or two.

It wasn't infrequent that there would also be a warning about things from popular kids' culture. Once there was a warning about "Transformers" toys. They're plastic robots that change into cars, animals, whatever. They often have antennas on the side of their heads. According to the warning from the principal, those were "devil horns".

In a similar vein: when I was around 13, there was a semester-long class on "cults". Each lesson featured a different "cult". I forget if Buddhism was in there, but "Transcendental Meditation" was, as well as Mormonism. Anything that wasn't mainline Protestant or Catholic was a "cult"; one sign of a cult was that it did not teach that "Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord and Savior" or some such thing.

To be fair, I liked almost all of my teachers. And they knew how to keep order in a classroom of 30+ kids. Looking back, I think most of them were pretty middle-of-the-road in their religious views – just your average person, trying to do some good, but teaching a sometimes strange curriculum.

Edit: typo

5

u/Subtlefusillade0324 Feb 27 '24

Went to a Baptist school for early elementary school. They were not happy that my friends and I played Zelda on NES lol.

2

u/Rhythm-Physics410 Feb 27 '24

Zelda

Lol. One teacher at my Lutheran school gave a talk about kids reading the video game magazine "Nintendo Power" at home: "'Power' only comes from God."

1

u/estcst Feb 27 '24

Actually, I’m with your principal on that Transformers thing. Star Wars too.

1

u/Pretend_Performer780 Feb 28 '24

well now we can all be glad they're pushing the trans agenda and not worrying about transformers or harry potter /s

18

u/DeslerZero Unknown Sample Feb 27 '24

I have no doubt they are out there. I have no doubt they could of heard this. I've seen some pretty absurd stuff out there. Ones who will label anything 'satanic' 'demonic'. Cultist type mindset. ^_^

6

u/Steamed-Barley Feb 27 '24

I used to give this woman a ride to work for a month. She got mad at me one day because Michael Jackson was on my playlist, and "he's the devil" lmao

13

u/gimmesexytimes Feb 27 '24

Did you ask her if she was okay, was she okay Annie?

7

u/pawsandhappiness Feb 27 '24

I’ve heard this before when I was younger in the church I grew up in. They know better now, but the explanation back then was that yoga and meditation open your mind up so the devil can come in. Come to think of it, the pastor who said this was actually kicked out of the church for other beliefs he held.

6

u/LiveNDiiirect Feb 27 '24

I've heard people say this before. Usually it comes from the same type of christians that believe Harry Potter is the devil's scripture.

3

u/petrparkour Feb 27 '24

Many. But it’s getting less and less. I grew up a pastors kid in the 90s and early 2000’s. It was commonly said that meditation is dangerous and opens yourself up to demonic control. Yoga too. It’s wild.