I've been thinking about taking classes, probably karate or taekwondo. My intents are to supplement going to the gym to better get in shape, learn how to better defend myself should the absolute need arise, and to improve my self-discipline, hopefully affecting all areas of my life(diet, exercise, tv, bible, prayer, church, family). I knew there was a hint of other religions mixed in, but I thought I could exclude that well enough from my training. I did a quick glance around to see some basic christian thoughts on this and found one opinion that at the least opened my eyes a little to give it some more serious thought:
After thinking about it, I would find it hard to acknowledge the ranking systems, bowing down before others each class and calling them my master. Plus, though I originally thought of the different sequences performed as being a type of discipline, is it really ok to learn and mimic other religion's rituals? I know there's self-defense classes I can go to, to learn a few basic techniques, and I can just up my time at the gym, but I was really liking the idea of having a single discipline I could train at and improve on. What is everyone else's thoughts and suggestions on the topic?CHRISTIAN KARATE by L.D Jarrard
"Doug Jarrard was an 11-year member of the martial arts before Jesus Christ pulled him out of the world of karate. A former 2nd degree black belt, a U.S.K.A. nationally rated competitor, and 6 years teaching karate. This background qualifies him to be able to share with you the truth about karate.
John 8:32 "YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE."
Karate, compared to any other worldly activity, has both good and bad in it, depending on who is in charge and how it is being taught. But one has to make a distinction between the ways, pleasures and standards of the world; and the ways, pleasures and standards of God. Compare it to a Christian trying to run a tavern, the two don't go together... it's like trying to blend oil and water -they just don't mix. Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole WORLD, and lose his own soul?" We are in the world but not of the world. Paul writes in II Cor. 6:17, "Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord..."
With this in mind the author is exhorting Christians to choose between the ways of the world or the ways of God. People in the world can choose to live their lives anyway they want to, but when you meet Jesus Christ, are washed in His blood and stand in the presence of the Almighty God, it's a whole new ballgame.
Hosea 4:6 states, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." Most ministers are ignorant of the history and origin the martial arts. We have a tendency in America to think we can clean up or Americanize anything and God will accept it. It is impossible to clean up satan and his demon spirits. John 10:10 states, "The thief cometh not but for to steal, kill and destroy." Satan is the destroyer. Karate, judo and other fighting arts are still taught and practiced as religion in their own countries. Many Christians try to exclude meditation when they practice. But that's like breaking off one thorn from the whole bush and leaving the rest. It would be well to note that the meditation part in my 11-year karate history was less than 1/8 of 1 percent. So you can see it has a very small part in most American taught karate schools. It is the constant repetition of breaking, kicking, tearing, striking, punching and crippling techniques that develop the skill to maim or kill someone. The symbolic rituals, the passed down defensive moves, the uniform, the terminology, the kata forms (pre-arranged series of punches or kicks in a connected pattern), are all part of a system of religion on earth that pre-dates our Lord Jesus by about 3000 years.
Karate originated about 527 A.D. through a weaponless form of self-defense and had probably existed in China about 5,000 years ago. The Indian Buddhist and monk, Bodhidharma, who also was called, Taishe Daruma, and was the 28th in a line of succession from the Buddha or Siddhartha Gautama, traveled by foot over the Himalayas to the province of Honan in China. He was the founder of Zen Buddhism in China.
Daruma started teaching his methods of physical fitness in tune with mental fitness in tune with the harmony of nature. It was based on eighteen exercises called shih pa lo han sho. It was a kind of callisthenic in slow motion.
The monks became formidable fighters. Their kind of fighting, called ch'uan-fa or kempo (the fist way) is the ancestor of karate. Sometime around 1300 A.D., the exercises were consolidated and seventy-two body and fist forms were derived.
In his travels, Daruma had studied various animals. He incorporated the defenses of five animals into shih pa lo han sho-the crane, the leopard, the dragon, the snake and the tiger. He watched how the crane would bow with one leg and strike with the other. The leopard was stealthy. The dragon had crushing power. The snake was illusive, but had timing and knew when to strike. The tiger had slashing power.
The slow movements and movements from nature resulted in about 170 forms which spread over China. They were used around 1880 by monks to protect themselves from bandits who preyed upon travelers. By that time, they were known as karate.
A form of weaponless defense called tode or fist way had developed in Okinawa. Different areas named the particular style of fist way they used for the island on which it was used. Finally, all of the styles came to be called "kara te" or China hand. The Japanese changed the character for the "Kara" to another one meaning "empty", during this century, and that's what karate means now, "empty hand." Psalms 48:10 states, "THY RIGHT HAND IS FULL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS." The karateman's total body is a weapon ... head, elbows, arms, hands, legs and feet. Paul wrote in Eph. 6:15, " ... AND YOUR FEET SHOD WITH THE PREPARATION OF PEACE."
Christian karate makes about as much sense as Christian pornography, or Christian prostitution, or Christian drug abuse. The Word of God instructs us not to bring the unclean thing into our "home." It is an abomination. We can change a few words in describing karate, tone it down to make it desirable and acceptable in the public eye; but it still doesn't change the fact that it is a centuries old form of Eastern religion. Many of the hand and body movements are strikingly similar and often identical to the movements of pagan rituals and dances performed in Asian, Oriental, African and Polynesian temple worship today. Satan is so cunning and deceiving. He slips in under our ignorant noses and roots himself deeply in our culture and even in our churches; and after he has operated for so long a time, we accept his ways as God's ways.
It doesn't take much insight to see that when the karate craze (Mid-to-early 60's through 70's) swept our country it was coupled with other satanic assaults. There was a direct attack on the minds of the young people of America. Martial arts came with the rock and roll explosion, the drug revolution, the sexual freedom of choice movement and the rekindled interest in occult phenomena. While you were fighting sex, drugs, acid rock and roll and the occults from your pulpits; karate wedged its way into our society-unseen and unknown by all of the highly trained theological eyes.
I got involved in karate because I needed a boost for my ego. Like a lot of insecure people in the world, I wasn't a Christian then. I wanted the feeling of power that karate can command----that any martial arts commands, judo, karate, jujitsu, ken-do; it doesn't matter. Each one stems from the same basic thing. Each one "commands" an area of power and respect. Not as I would respect an elderly gentlemen or an artist or a great composer. It is not that kind of respect. It is the kind of respect you would have for a loaded 45. Or the kind of respect you would have for a cobra that was about three feet away from you. You respect it not because you know what it is, but because you are afraid of it.
In those days, nobody knew that much about tournament play. Our instructor had learned karate in Okinawa, and the Okinawans did not free style, for there was no sport karate in the Orient. At a match in Okinawa, the masters would form a ring maybe six feet in diameter. The opponents would stand inside that ring and punch and kick each other as hard as they could until one man fell. When he fell, the masters would drag him out of the ring. The man left standing would be the winner. This is the only free style fighting the Orientals knew. They did not know free style sparring.
Even this was a very mild version of what the martial arts were really designed for. The word "martial" comes from the word military or "fighting arts." A more accurate term would be "killing arts."
About 500 years ago the famous King Hashi succeeded in uniting the Ryukyu Islands into one kingdom. To insure rule by law, all weapons were seized from the people and it was made a crime against the state to possess any weapons. About 200 years later Okinawa became a part of the Satruma clan of Kyushu, and a second ban on weapons was declared. During these centuries that Okinawa was occupied by these Japanese War lords the art of empty-handed fighting, now known as karate, (kara-empty, te-hand) underwent its most advanced development to date. Through their many years of secret practice, the Okinawans became so proficient that they could attack and destroy the other soldiers with their "bare hands." Their weapons (hands, feet, fists, etc.) were as effective as any other weapon of that day, and in the 16th Century they attacked and over-threw the small Japanese occupational force.
A rose by any other name is a rose. You can change its color, but it is still a rose. Karate is a religious killing art. You can change its name, make it socially acceptable, even Americanize it; but it does not change what it is. Remember, it was started by the man who introduced Zen Buddhism to China. Auto racing, football, hockey, basketball and even boxing are competitive sports. Although people have been killed participating in them; death is not the purpose of the game. You cannot turn a killing art into a sport. Can a Christian really practice the art of killing and call it fun?
A tremendous change takes place in the spirit of man during the approximate 4 years it takes one to earn his black belt. Many hours of repetitious kicking, punching, blocking, striking, soon blends and welds the mind and body together as one. Your spirit man is pushed aside and a new egotistical soulish man (mind and body) takes over. Your reactions become the immediate acting out of your thoughts--- a swift, powerful, deadly killing machine. The ultimate purpose of many people in karate is to be able to maim, cripple or kill.
JESUS CHRIST SAID IN JOHN 10:10-THE THIEF (SATAN) COMETH NOT, BUT FOR TO STEAL, AND TO KILL AND TO DESTROY: I AM COME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE AND HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY!
The nature of man in his unsaved state is a dark, "Black" nature. He is cleansed by the blood of Jesus and made clean, pure, "White," a new born again creature in Christ. Many start in karate as a "WHITE" belt (innocent) and end up a "BLACK" belt and morally polluted because of their new found power, a reversal in God's Plan for mankind. Many students are in subjection to the higher belts to be lorded over and must bow down to them. EX. 23:24 THOU SHALL NOT BOW DOWN TO THEIR GODS. The highest belts 7th through 10th degree black belts are called master. MATT. 23:10 NEITHER BE YE CALLED MASTERS FOR ONE IS YOUR MASTER EVEN CHRIST. The skilled karateman is soon deceived into thinking that he is a superior type of human being, above the laws of the land and above the laws of God.
The symbol for many karate schools today is the snake or serpent. The worldwide universal symbol for karate is the dragon. A quick study in the 3rd chapter of Genesis tells us all about the serpent and his role of deceit in the Garden of Eden. And in Revelation 12:9, we read, AND THE GREAT "DRAGON" WAS CAST OUT. THAT OLD "SERPENT" THE "DEVIL" AND "SATAN," WHICH DECEIVETH THE WHOLE WORLD.
How can a Christian attach himself to anything that openly endorses the dragon symbol? The bible from Genesis to Revelation clearly instructs and commands us to abstain from all appearances of evil. 2 Corinthians 6:14 BE YE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS; FOR WHAT FELLOWSHIP HATH RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH THE UNRIGHTEOUS? AND WHAT COMMUNION HATH LIGHT WITH DARKNESS?
The church has to lay down its socially oriented platform and pick up the holiness of God to teach this truth. My heart would break as Pastor after Pastor would tell me how they would draw many young people, and even whole families into their churches through karate demonstrations. Many would mock and laugh as they told me how they even had karate classes taught in their churches.
As we see the present condition of our world it is not hard to understand that God is calling for the church to make herself ready. Eph. 5 tells that Jesus will wash and cleanse the church with the Word so He can present it to Himself - a glorious church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Karate as well as other martial arts are blemishes, unholy spots and wrinkles that have to be washed out by the church."
© 1979-2006 L.D. Jarrard
