More and more, Christians are turning to the practice of yoga. But is yoga, a practice of ancient and modern Hinduism, a proper form of exercise for Christians? Recently, Sannyasin Arumuga, managing editor of Hinduism Today, was quoted in the Orlando Sentinel proclaiming Hinduism as the soul of yoga. According to him, it is based "on Hindu scripture and developed by Hindu sages. Yoga opens up new and more refined states of mind, and to understand them one needs to believe and understand the Hindu way of looking at God... A Christian trying to adapt these practices will likely disrupt their own Christian beliefs."
Matthew 24:7-8 states, "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." Over the years, I have heard various reports from prophecy teachers of an increase in earthquake activity indicating the soon coming of Jesus Christ. However, I have also read rebutals to these claims from scienctific sources. A couple of the responses were 1) that the totals numbers were up simply because better equipment now detected lighter earthquakes, and 2) that periodic ups and downs being natural are not a long-term rise in earthquakes. Because I considered these responses to be valid, I have always discounted reports of increased earthquake activity. Also, I do not doctrinally believe we would have to see this activity (though we might) before the rapture.
Last month, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics announced that 5.64 million Jews now live in Israel. This means that for the first time since ancient days, there are more Jews in the land of Israel than in any other country. This reminds us of the parable of the fig tree, "When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh" (Matthew 24:32).
Later this year, a Malaysian astronaut is scheduled to go into space on a Russian spacecraft. Since three of the four candidates for the flight are Muslim, problems arise concerning the practice of Islam in space. How does a Muslim pray five times a day when the orbiting capsule creates a 90 minute day? How does a praying Muslim face Mecca in a spacecraft that is circling the globe at 28,000 miles an hour? Should the astronaut pray while strapped to his seat or should he float weightlessly with his knees bent? How does he perform the cleansing ritual (ablution) before each time of prayer when both he and the water are weightless? Conferences of Muslim scholars have settled some of the problems, but the they continue to disagree on others.
A recent study in Finland determined that cert ain kinds of TV viewing caused sleeping disturbances in children. Although all television viewing had some effect on sleeping, the following kinds of viewing disturbed sleep patterns the most in children: watching adult targeted programs, such as current affairs programs, police series, and movies; watching TV alone; watching TV at bedtime (especially caused sleep-wake transition disorders and daytime somnolence); and high levels of passive TV exposure when adult programs were airing. Children sleep better and are more rested when they view less television. Just another great reason to turn off the tube.
