Martial Arts excellence for the glory of God.

Most martial art schools tell you they train the “mind, body and spirit”. The mind and body are obvious facets of a martial art, but what sort of “spirit” training are you getting yourself into? This is more important than the mind and body aspects of learning, but most schools avoid, hide, or are ashamed of the spiritual aspect of the martial arts. Why? Perhaps they are afraid of offending others, or maybe they don’t even know exactly what it is that they believe.

We are not afraid to tell you what we believe and are not ashamed of the truth. We do not force anyone to observe our beliefs to be a member of our Dojo, but we do offer “living water”, so to speak, for those who are thirsty.

We are sensitive and respectful of other’s beliefs to avoid arguments and being rude by shoving our ideas down anyone’s throat.

We desire our lives to be an open book because we feel there is power in sharing, especially if we share a lifesaving faith.

That said, there are many parents and other people who are Christians who have valid and serious concerns about studying Martial Arts because of many anti-Christian eastern philosophies and the mysticism associated with certain schools of thought.

In some schools (not ours), eastern philosophies and spiritual enlightenment are commonplace and you will also find occult-like practices that are rife with self empowerment, eastern meditation, and even worse, delving into acts that parallel the practice of witchcraft.

We believe these practices are severely dangerous, foundationally flawed, prideful and self-inflating, self-worshipping, and can eventually lead to physical and spiritual death and eternal separation of one’s soul from God. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

In order for anyone to be truly “enlightened”, he must have an encounter with the true living God. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

Self-empowerment is the counterfeit of God empowerment through the Holy Spirit. Self-empowerment hopelessly falls short of the destination that our Creator has set for us to achieve in this life.

Our loving Lord and King of the universe desires from us – His children – the incredibly humbling act of acknowledging Him as our source of love, life, breath, strength, hope, power, peace, safety, and in the end, eternal life in glory (Heaven). Jesus Himself said “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Without God directing and guiding our steps and learning process, any enlightenment, study, practice, training, or achievement is futile. Success without God is not only empty vanity, but offers no eternal rewards.

Moreover, apart from God, we waste our gifts toward selfish gain despite any good intentions one has for achieving them. Without God in one’s life giving direction and order, good achievements only gives an individual the empty, temporary rewards of filling the lust of the eyes (trophies), the lust of the flesh (physical pleasure), and the pride of life (I accomplished…). “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:16,17)

Achievements glorify God the most when we joyfully give the credit of our achievements to God. God will also often receive glory by using someone’s life to point others to Himself. We do not always get to see what God is up to, but we know that when we serve others as He sees fit, and when we use the gifts and talents that He has given to us in a God-wise manner, we can know that we are serving His purpose for our lives and we will surely be rewarded for it later. “Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:23)

Simply put, “It is not WHAT you are doing, it is about WHY you are doing it.” – Shihan Newman

Interested in digging deeper into issues of faith? More soon to come! Gotta have more now? Contact Us!