Using a Sword in Japanese martial arts and being a Christian Samurai.

[faroukfarouk]

The sword is the sword, just like the gun is a gun or a hammer is a hammer. The spiritual sword, as found in Ephesians 6:17 is much more powerful than any of those three tools I listed above. I don't think that any weapon, regardless of how peacefully it is wielded, is something to compare to the word of God.

If I was a great Christian, I'd sell my guns and cut up my Concealed Weapons Permit. But I'm just the flesh body that surrounds the spiritual man inside, so I will continue my shooting and hope that the OP continues her iaido.

I guess for there to be a passage that is as effective as Ephesians 6, the comparisons are there from real life. I like an old book called 'The Christian in Complete Armour', by William Gurnall.

When we look at passages such as Ephesians 6, we maybe tend to some extent to draw on images of warfare from Western tradition. Interestingly, here the OP is drawing on a Japanese warrior tradition as containing a lot of symbolism that many people would readily identify with, as she prepares to go and serve the Lord in Japan, which she says is her aim.

 

[faroukfarouk]

the term samurai ..in essence merely means servant.so it remains important whose servant we are. and we must not become servant to the material object thereby idolizing it.

the reference to armour in ephesians is a direct spiritual reference.we know this because its also written the weapons or our warfare are not carnal(material physical).. and the depiction is of a person dressed in truth righteousness salvation faith ,wielding the words of God for the purpose of praying for all other believers.

absolutely nothing to do with physical weaponry .
but the question of the heart before God remains.. do we elevate the material object (sword in this case) to a place of importance in our life and in so doing devalue the lordship of Jesus in our life? do we "enshrine it " "on display in our homes and so idolize it? does thought and imagination and speech of it take precedence over the gospel?
in essence the philosophy (for thats what it is) is one of attempting to integrate inner life in obedience to the holy Spirit and outer allegiance to a material object .a merging of spiritual and carnal.one thing we are not to do.
it attempts to mingle Gods word with worldly philosophy ... mixing the waters.. leaves us with ..mixed waters.

ex-martial artist . i renounced it all when i could not follow Jesus...& bow entering a dojo

I guess there are parallels between the doulos and the Samurai servanthood tradition.

The Lord Jesus as the perfect servant is a good study.

What the OP seems to want to do is to draw on symbolism that is readily understood in Japan, as she seeks to go serve the Lord there.

 

[BryanW92]

I guess for there to be a passage that is as effective as Ephesians 6, the comparisons are there from real life. I like an old book called 'The Christian in Complete Armour', by William Gurnall.

When we look at passages such as Ephesians 8, we maybe tend to some extent to draw on images of warfare from Western tradition. Interestingly, here the OP is drawing on a Japanese warrior tradition as containing a lot of symbolism that many people would readily identify with, as she prepares to go and serve the Lord in Japan, which is her am.

The sword cannot defeat the enemy that the spiritual armor/shield/sword of Ephesians is built to fight. But, it applies equally in the east or west. True, the samurai class in feudal Japan did idolize their sword more than any other culture that I can think of, but the rest of Japan was forbidden to possess a sword.

It is interesting to note that the symbology of Ephesians 6 is that of a Roman soldier. The part that usually gets missed in the symbolism is that an individual Roman soldier was dead meat. He armor was heavy. His shield too large for effective single combat. His pilum was a single-use weapon. His gladius was too short to face a German with an axe or longsword. The power of a Roman soldier comes from the unit that he stands shoulder to shoulder with.

On the other hand, the Japanese Samurai is a single-combat guy, spinning and slashing in every direction. He is also dead if he faces a volley of arrows or javelins, or a Roman shield wall with a dozen spears poking out of the top half and a dozen gladii poking out at thigh level.

We are called as Christians to join the shield wall and not to fight as single warriors because sooner or later, you get tired or injured. The single combatant slows and dies when that happens. The soldier in the shield wall is pulled back to safety and replaced and the enemy never sees any let up in their fight.

 

[faroukfarouk]

The sword cannot defeat the enemy that the spiritual armor/shield/sword of Ephesians is built to fight. But, it applies equally in the east or west. True, the samurai class in feudal Japan did idolize their sword more than any other culture that I can think of, but the rest of Japan was forbidden to possess a sword.

It is interesting to note that the symbology of Ephesians 6 is that of a Roman soldier. The part that usually gets missed in the symbolism is that an individual Roman soldier was dead meat. He armor was heavy. His shield too large for effective single combat. His pilum was a single-use weapon. His gladius was too short to face a German with an axe or longsword. The power of a Roman soldier comes from the unit that he stands shoulder to shoulder with.

On the other hand, the Japanese Samurai is a single-combat guy, spinning and slashing in every direction. He is also dead if he faces a volley of arrows or javelins, or a Roman shield wall with a dozen spears poking out of the top half and a dozen gladii poking out at thigh level.

We are called as Christians to join the shield wall and not to fight as single warriors because sooner or later, you get tired or injured. The single combatant slows and dies when that happens. The soldier in the shield wall is pulled back to safety and replaced and the enemy never sees any let up in their fight.

I agree about the primacy of the spiritual, certainly.

Your comments about the relative strengths of Roman and Samurai warriors are interesting.

Also I'm not aware of women having been Roman soldiers, but there does seem to be quite a tradition of women Samurai warriors, going back to the Middle Ages.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

the term samurai ..in essence merely means servant.so it remains important whose servant we are. and we must not become servant to the material object thereby idolizing it.

the reference to armour in ephesians is a direct spiritual reference.we know this because its also written the weapons or our warfare are not carnal(material physical).. and the depiction is of a person dressed in truth righteousness salvation faith ,wielding the words of God for the purpose of praying for all other believers.

absolutely nothing to do with physical weaponry .
but the question of the heart before God remains.. do we elevate the material object (sword in this case) to a place of importance in our life and in so doing devalue the lordship of Jesus in our life? do we "enshrine it " "on display in our homes and so idolize it? does thought and imagination and speech of it take precedence over the gospel?
in essence the philosophy (for thats what it is) is one of attempting to integrate inner life in obedience to the holy Spirit and outer allegiance to a material object .a merging of spiritual and carnal.one thing we are not to do.
it attempts to mingle Gods word with worldly philosophy ... mixing the waters.. leaves us with ..mixed waters.

ex-martial artist . i renounced it all when i could not follow Jesus...& bow entering a dojo

I do not believe that the sword is worshipped in the same way I worship God. I choose to worship God while using a sword yes, but this is just another way for me to relay the Gospel to my people. Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's going to go with me when I physically die. However it is a means to reach my people in Japan and teach them in a way familiar to my culture. Yes I physically learn to fight, but that's not only physical but spiritual as well. I believe the sword is wielded by the heart so if the heart is after God then physically and spiritually both are ready. Fighting doesn't always mean it's wrong. It's not wrong to defend myself in a case of life or death. If you're trying to prove me wrong on being a Christian Samurai, I will accept your challenge only because it will make me stronger. Also, are you asking these questions with a heart of love? Or are you asking with the intent of trying to debunk the message I am bearing? If the latter is true, this means it's judgemental. I am not The Lord and neither are you, we both have no right. I am asking you if your intent in your heart, (which only YOU know and can say) are in love of learning or in attempt to prove me wrong.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

I do not believe that the sword is worshipped in the same way I worship God. I choose to worship God while using a sword yes, but this is just another way for me to relay the Gospel to my people. Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's not going to go with me when I physically die. However it is a means to reach my people in Japan and teach them in a way familiar to my culture. Yes I physically learn to fight, but that's not only physical but spiritual as well. I believe the sword is wielded by the heart so if the heart is after God then physically and spiritually both are ready. Fighting doesn't always mean it's wrong. It's not wrong to defend myself in a case of life or death. If you're trying to prove me wrong on being a Christian Samurai, I will accept your challenge only because it will make me stronger. Also, are you asking these questions with a heart of love? Or are you asking with the intent of trying to debunk the message I am bearing? If the latter is true, this means it's judgemental. I am not The Lord and neither are you, we both have no right. I am asking you if your intent in your heart, (which only YOU know and can say) are in love of learning or in attempt to prove me wrong.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's not going to go with me when I physically die. However it is a means to reach my people in Japan and teach them in a way familiar to my culture.

I'm sure most - even all - Japanese people have heard of the Samurai and know quite a bit about swords, right?

I guess for you it's a way of giving the Japanese people you witness to a handle on the message that you have, in the light of Ephesians 6.

So are there other Japanese people at the Bible college where you are studying?

 

[BryanW92]

Also I'm not aware of women having been Roman soldiers, but there does seem to be quite a tradition of women Samurai warriors, going back to the Middle Ages.

I've never heard of women being Roman soldiers. Have you done a lot of study into the tradition of female samurai?

 

[faroukfarouk]

I've never heard of women being Roman soldiers. Have you done a lot of study into the tradition of female samurai?

Not really, but over the past few days I've read up about it. Apparently there were distinguished Samurai women warriors going back to the 13th century, or thereabouts. This continued more or less up to the 19th century and now with people such a ChristianSamurai88 the tradition in one form or another seems to be alive and well.

 

[Alithis]

I do not believe that the sword is worshipped in the same way I worship God. I choose to worship God while using a sword yes, but this is just another way for me to relay the Gospel to my people. Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's going to go with me when I physically die. However it is a means to reach my people in Japan and teach them in a way familiar to my culture. Yes I physically learn to fight, but that's not only physical but spiritual as well. I believe the sword is wielded by the heart so if the heart is after God then physically and spiritually both are ready. Fighting doesn't always mean it's wrong. It's not wrong to defend myself in a case of life or death. If you're trying to prove me wrong on being a Christian Samurai, I will accept your challenge only because it will make me stronger. Also, are you asking these questions with a heart of love? Or are you asking with the intent of trying to debunk the message I am bearing? If the latter is true, this means it's judgemental. I am not The Lord and neither are you, we both have no right. I am asking you if your intent in your heart, (which only YOU know and can say) are in love of learning or in attempt to prove me wrong.

most certainly a challenge in love..
wrong in a person wrong in their heart motive is only made manifest if there is wrong in their heart motive... a persons response speaks much of itself.
however i did say quite plainly that they were questions to ponder within not to answer out loud -so to speak.

i am always reminded of Davids response when nathan the prophet came and pointed out Davids error and his sin... its notable because here was a man who God referred to as one "after his own heart" .So what made David one God referred to in such a way?... it sure wasn't his adultery and murder.. nope- it was his unimpeded open honesty of heart... he never makes attempt to self justify ..his immediate response is.."I have sinned"..total honesty of heart.
there is a reason he writes "God desires truth in the innermost parts"
what is deep in our hearts ,what is truly important to us,is what we speak about..As is written "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"(communicates) ..
Do we defend things "we" class as important to justify their place in our life Or do we hold them with an esteem that considers them nothing more then dung?
being willing to suffer the loss of all things and consider them of no value in comparison with knowing Christ ?

i often ask myself..is a certain thing ,action, practice being idolized in my life.. test = how willing am i to cast it on the trash heap this very day should the lord ask that of me? if there is extreme resistance to doing so ,that is a measure in me of how greatly i have idolized that thing.

so my intent is not to prove anything at all ,but to know Christ Jesus Glorified in all people over and above All else.

by the way...re -"Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's going to go with me when I physically die.".... was that a typo?

 

[Azureknight 773]

Seems like martial arts terminology is bound up with many Japanese words and from other languages, also. The OP identifies specifically with the Samurai tradition.

Maybe you could find some Japanese classes there in the Philippines?

Yeah, I self learnt a handful BTW. I could formally learn a lot there.

 

[faroukfarouk]

most certainly a challenge in love..
wrong in a person wrong in their heart motive is only made manifest if there is wrong in their heart motive... a persons response speaks much of itself.
however i did say quite plainly that they were questions to ponder within not to answer out loud -so to speak.

i am always reminded of Davids response when nathan the prophet came and pointed out Davids error and his sin... its notable because here was a man who God referred to as one "after his own heart" .So what made David one God referred to in such a way?... it sure wasn't his adultery and murder.. nope- it was his unimpeded open honesty of heart... he never makes attempt to self justify ..his immediate response is.."I have sinned"..total honesty of heart.
there is a reason he writes "God desires truth in the innermost parts"
what is deep in our hearts ,what is truly important to us,is what we speak about..As is written "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"(communicates) ..
Do we defend things "we" class as important to justify their place in our life Or do we hold them with an esteem that considers them nothing more then dung?
being willing to suffer the loss of all things and consider them of no value in comparison with knowing Christ ?

i often ask myself..is a certain thing ,action, practice being idolized in my life.. test = how willing am i to cast it on the trash heap this very day should the lord ask that of me? if there is extreme resistance to doing so ,that is a measure in me of how greatly i have idolized that thing.

so my intent is not to prove anything at all ,but to know Christ Jesus Glorified in all people over and above All else.

Okay, so a loving question in the same spirit:

Do you think that ChristianSamurai88's desire to witness strongly to Japanese people using the example of swordsmanship/swordswomanship - very familiar to Japanese people - is worthy of respect?

It seems to blend well with the truths of the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6 and what the passage says about the sword of the Spirit, anyway.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yeah, I self learnt a handful BTW. I could formally learn a lot there.

I would love to learn Japanese also; it's a very absorbing culture.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

most certainly a challenge in love..
wrong in a person wrong in their heart motive is only made manifest if there is wrong in their heart motive... a persons response speaks much of itself.
however i did say quite plainly that they were questions to ponder within not to answer out loud -so to speak.

i am always reminded of Davids response when nathan the prophet came and pointed out Davids error and his sin... its notable because here was a man who God referred to as one "after his own heart" .So what made David one God referred to in such a way?... it sure wasn't his adultery and murder.. nope- it was his unimpeded open honesty of heart... he never makes attempt to self justify ..his immediate response is.."I have sinned"..total honesty of heart.
there is a reason he writes "God desires truth in the innermost parts"
what is deep in our hearts ,what is truly important to us,is what we speak about..As is written "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"(communicates) ..
Do we defend things "we" class as important to justify their place in our life Or do we hold them with an esteem that considers them nothing more then dung?
being willing to suffer the loss of all things and consider them of no value in comparison with knowing Christ ?

i often ask myself..is a certain thing ,action, practice being idolized in my life.. test = how willing am i to cast it on the trash heap this very day should the lord ask that of me? if there is extreme resistance to doing so ,that is a measure in me of how greatly i have idolized that thing.

so my intent is not to prove anything at all ,but to know Christ Jesus Glorified in all people over and above All else.

by the way...re -"Yes the sword is a physical thing, yes it's going to go with me when I physically die.".... was that a typo?

Yes that was a typo I meant to say It won't be going with me when I die. I'm typing on my iphone and it seems to autocorrect when I don't want it to

 

[BryanW92]

Okay, so a loving question in the same spirit:

Do you think that ChristianSamurai88's desire to witness strongly to Japanese people using the example of swordsmanship/swordswomanship - very familiar to Japanese people - is worthy of respect?

It seems to blend well with the truths of the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6 and what the passage says about the sword of the Spirit, anyway.

The swordsmanship is worthy of respect in its own right. But the only way that it is a witness FOR God would be to put the sword away and witness how even something that important paled beside God.

 

[Alithis]

we must not trust in things as a means to maintain self esteem.
but rather realize we are already so highly esteemed by God that he became one of us and laid down all glory and life... for us...

 

[faroukfarouk]

I like both, but I practice Iaido more than I practice Korean martial arts. I do have a steel blade for my ancestor, who was of the samurai class, it is folded and hammered 1000 times. It's a family heirloom. The name of my katana is Cerulean Courage. It's been passed down from 7 generations of my family. There are Japanese English parallel bibles in the niv and nkjv versions. As for Korean, the common fear of learning the language lies in the Hangul characters. It means that from a western view, they are not roman letters so korean will be hard to learn. But actually, Korean is the easiest language in Asia to pick up. Also about my dojo; my cousin is also my sensei or teacher, and teaches on Christian values, as well as learning to "wield the sword with the heart." In actuality, we have more females in our dojo than males, and the females are of higher rankings than some of the male students. We believe skill doesn't come from gender, race, or age, but by using the sword by the heart.

Looking at what you said before, I have seen Online versions of New Testament passages with both the English and the Japanese in parallel; some of the word order is obviously different, but it must be a very good way to learn Japanese (or Korean, for that matter).

I remember coming to the conclusion years ago that Korean Hankul characters are actually very straightforward; just the politeness inflections in Korean seem so complex.

It's rather significant that women outnumber men in your dojo. The fact that there is a longstanding tradition of women Samurai puts this in context, I guess, right?

 

[faroukfarouk]

It won't be going with me when I die.

ChristianSamurai88:

I think you said that one of your family's swords is an heirloom that has been passed down a few generations, right?

 

[Alithis]

i note: the OP ends with,

"All things I do, I do in love after God's heart. " which speaks that it is the lord Jesus she promotes and his ways she desires to speak of and "him" she desires to glorify,praise and honor. teaching others about him by drawing on analogies of the use of weaponry.
it is not the use or the weaponry she desires to promote or discuss ..but the lord Jesus..
That is commendable.

 

[faroukfarouk]

i note: the OP ends with,

"All things I do, I do in love after God's heart. " which speaks that it is the lord Jesus she promotes and his ways she desires to speak of and "him" she desires to glorify,praise and honor. teaching others about him by drawing on analogies of the use of weaponry.
it is not the use or the weaponry she desires to promote or discuss ..but the lord Jesus..
That is commendable.

Yes, I appreciate the OP's desire to serve the Lord and witness to Japanese people.