What am I doing wrong this time?

[The BB of C]

That's an interesting idea as far as the tournaments and classes thing goes. As far as the writing part; my parents would hate my writing.

Why?

My parents are really into intelligent or spiritual books. I write adventure novels where the action can get pretty intense (depending on the story) and in some cases gory to a small level. Because of this; my works are not things that they would enjoy reading.

[Akaratechick]

There are some pretty cool Christian fiction books out there. Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti are both awesome authors. My entire family are computer geeks and martial artists. Go figure. We have five computers in our house, so we have to be careful, especially me cuz I like to be alone and I love computers, so they may feel like they can't reach you when you are on the computer, and may have a hard time understanding Martial Arts. My kids attend a Christian school and some of the moms don't understand why I love MA and think it's about violence when in fact it's about peace. We pray before and after each class. So I am glad you respect your parents, your life will be long, but can understand why you are frustrated as well. We only want the best for our kids, but communicating that to them is the hardest task.

[The BB of C]

I love Frank Peretti! I've got a few books of his in my closet right now. Also, did you say you pray before each martial arts class? Does that mean you're in some kind of Christian martial arts class? Because that would be awesome. I wish I could find something like that around here. My parents wouldn't care how much karate I did if I was in a Christian MA class. Plus I could meet some other people who are religious and martial artists (all of my friends are either one or the other).

Now that I think about it, that might be partly on what's throwing my mother off about my martial arts. Before we start every Kuk Sool Won class we bow to a bunch of people and she asks me repeatedly what we're bowing to.

[Akaratechick]

Yes, we are a Christian Martial Arts class, all of blackbelts are Christians, however we would accept any Blackbelt into our class or organization based on their character, not religion. We feel the spiritual aspect is of ultimate importance for a martial artist. I'm not sure about all of our students state of heart,but they seem very comfortable with praying at the start and close of class. I pray for them,and if the opportunity arises will share my beliefs, but I understand they are here to learn the martial arts. When I first started I didn't understand the bowing either, but it is a respect symbol, not saying that they are your master,because we have only one. But respect is paramount in our lives, and the Bible tells us to respect authority. Pretty Simple when you break it down. I know there are churches that teach martial arts, so you could look into that, or when looking at other dojos, just ask if the religious aspect of martial arts is taught and if so, what does that mean to them? As for the books, Frank Peretti is great, read some Ted Dekker, you will be pleasantly entertained. A good place to start is House, by both Ted and Frank.

[YoungMan]

Whe I was younger, my mom felt very similar to my practicing Tae Kwon Do as your mom does-she didn't know what it was, thought it was a bunch of people trying to beat each other up, and was concerned I would get hurt.

She never really understood it, but accepted it more because she began to see what kind of person it was making me. It gave me more self confidence, physical energy, and allowed me to vent off whatever frustrations I had in a positive way.

My advice is to be a positive embodiment of what martial arts can do. If what she sees is UFC, unfortunately I can't blame her for having a negative perception of martial arts. Explain to her what bowing is. Trust me-she would not be the only who misinterprets the action. We are not bowing to a strange god, only showing respect to each other the Oriental way, much like shaking hands.

And it is not necessary to join a Christian martial arts school. I personally think they are a waste of time. Any legitimate traditional school wil emphasize the same things they do-good mind, respect, morality. To say that you should join a Chritian school to learn these is a fallacy.

[The BB of C]

I'm not sure what the word 'fallacy' means but I pretty much knew it wouldn't be much different from certain things that any other good school would try to teach. Other than the fact that I'd be hanging out with people a lot like me because like I said earlier; all of my friends are either religious or martial artists and I've always wanted to be around people who are both. It might also work out better because most things with the word 'Christian' in front of it registers well with my parents and they probably wouldn't nag about me being so into it.

[jaymac]

If you enjoy the training atmosphere you are currently with, why would you want to leave to be in a school just because "Christian" is part of the title. I am not knocking Christian Martial Art classes at all. I have been to a few churches where members of the congregation taught MA. The only difference I saw was that the training atmosphere was in a church and they prayed at the end of the lesson. They did not teach bible study or try to preach during the lesson, and the prayer at the end was optional for those who wanted to participate. If you use God as your guidance in life, you can pray anytime you want - before, after, and even during your lesson if need be. Going to a Christian dojo, church, gathering etc... does not make you a Christian. Living His way does.

[YoungMan]

Fallacy: Something accepted as true by many people that is really not.

It is a fallacy that bowing in martial arts means you are worshipping a new god. You are exercising the Oriental equivalent of a handshake.

[The BB of C]

If you enjoy the training atmosphere you are currently with, why would you want to leave to be in a school just because "Christian" is part of the title. I am not knocking Christian Martial Art classes at all. I have been to a few churches where members of the congregation taught MA. The only difference I saw was that the training atmosphere was in a church and they prayed at the end of the lesson. They did not teach bible study or try to preach during the lesson, and the prayer at the end was optional for those who wanted to participate. If you use God as your guidance in life, you can pray anytime you want - before, after, and even during your lesson if need be. Going to a Christian dojo, church, gathering etc... does not make you a Christian. Living His way does.

To be frank I'm not entirely pleased with my training environment now. If I may reiterate: I don't expect anything to be different. I just know that my mother would be more at peace with it.

Fallacy: Something accepted as true by many people that is really not.

It is a fallacy that bowing in martial arts means you are worshipping a new god. You are exercising the Oriental equivalent of a handshake.

Thank you for saying that. For months I've been trying to find a short way to explain it to my mother (Notice I say my mother a lot. She doesn't study. My father studies and he understands the bowing, but doesn't like it.) for months. The next time she asks, I'll say "It's just like an asian handshake." and it will stick finally.

[Akaratechick]

Everyone has made some very valid points. Jaymac is right about it not being much different except for the prayer after class or before. You can find many martial artists who aren't Christians but they act more "Christian" than some I know. I know the Bible doesn't teach pacifism, it teaches to stand up for what is right, that is why there where so many wars spoken of. Being a mom of a 17yr old and a 12yr old both who are trained in MA, I wouldn't let them do it, if I thought it was dangerous. My daughter, Brie played Basketball, a non-contact sport this year and I saw more foot injures,knee injuries, head butts, braces injuries to the mouth, (no mouthpieces) than I've seen in a couple of years in the dojo!!! Yikes, and we're the violent ones my point is, first hats off to you, for trying to please your mother. She's lucky to have a son like you. Being a MA takes courage, she should be very proud, study where you are comfortable, He will lead you in the right direction. When I first started TKD, the instuctor wasn't a Christian, he has since converted but the material and his teaching has not changed a bit. He is still the same, I know because he's my husband. He is a little bit more compassionate than he was before. He moved the dojo to place with air conditioner, in the summer it got over 100 degrees where we were training, so it was nice to have AC. before he had the attitude of "it's only 100 degrees in here you don't need a drink of water, you've only been working out for an hour, you whimp" needless to say, we only had about six students, now we have about thirty.