Capoeira

[harth1026]

For those of you that don't know, capoeira is a Brazilian martial art with a very rich history. It combines music, singing, instruments, as well as fighting. It's very fun and I recommend it to anyone that's interested in learning a martial art.

Anyway, I discovered earlier this year something disturbing about the art. Part of the history includes slaves from Africa being sent to Brazil who were forced to convert to Christianity. Because these slaves were strong believers in their own gods, their conversion to Christianity was basically a disguise. In many of there songs, they would sing to God, Jesus, Mary, or random Catholic saints simply to appease their slave masters. But they would in fact mean a god of their own beliefs. For example, when they would sing of Jesus, they would instead be referring to Oxala, who is the supreme father and creator of the world according to the African religion. And this of course also became part of capoeira. Fortunately, none of the songs that my group sings includes any religious references... (at least not to my knowledge) I've spoken with my mestre about this and he says that this practice does still continue with some groups. And I'm sure it'll come up sooner or later where a song we sing would be praising Jesus, but instead it would be about praising Oxala.

So my question is... If you are a Christian who truly believes in only one God, is there any problem with singing a song about a different god?

[Furstentum Liechtenstein]

So my question is... If you are a Christian who truly believes in only one God, is there any problem with singing a song about a different god?

Interesting question!

My answer is simple: It depends on how mature your faith is and it depends on the context. In the context of learning a martial art, I would have no qualms about singing mumbo-jumbo songs (they may even be a pretext to speaking about Jesus afterward.) However, lets say that I am attending the wedding of a muslim acquaintance; I would not pray or sing songs to the false god named Allah. My faith is mature enough to allow me to do so but I would choose not to in order to preserve my testimony.

FL

[cslewislover]

I wouldn't sing to another god. But, if that song you are referring too, I mean if there's a song that is just talking about Jesus and people in general wouldn't know that it wasn't, I'd sing it. Because I'd sing it meaning the words that are written, not what someone secretly knows it means.

[Truthseeking]

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 So my answer to your post .......Yeah there would be a problem with it.

[Cross.eyed]

I couldn't sing to or about a god who doesn't exist no matter what the context.
To me, it would seem to betray THE GOD I worship.
Just my .02

[FFC]

There is only one true God. All other gods are false gods. I believe singing to a false god would be an insult to God as well as a sin.

[zoegirl]

the songs, however, do say God and Jesus....it's just the hidden meaning.

I probably still wouldn't, simply because of the history, and perhaps sing in your mind other songs that are more explicitly praining Jesus.

[harth1026]

Thanks everyone... I'll definitely keep all of your thoughts in mind and not sing what I believe is questionable. Fortunately, my mestre is a Christian who knows of the history of the questionable songs. And he tries to avoid them to in our class. This would most likely be an issue when we visit other groups who either don't know the history of these songs or just don't care. Considering that everything is in Portuguese, it'll be a little hard to spot at first. But I'll do my best.