Theology of Yoda
John 1:14 And the Word BECAME Flesh and lived among us.
The Theology of Yoda has infected Christianity in a myriad of ways, which must be confronted and fought against immediately. To help out those who may not be Star Wars fans, the character of Yoda was a Jedi Master who, while instructing the hero Luke Skywalker, famously told him “Luminous beings are we. Not this crude matter.” In the mythos of the Star Wars universe, there is a mystical Force which has a good/light side and a bad/dark side to it, and the Force is what creates and binds the universe. The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, borrowed heavily from multiple religious and philosophical fountains to create his universe.
It’s very clear that much of these beliefs are forms of Eastern religions and New Age beliefs, with a healthy dash of Gnosticism thrown into the mix. Eastern religions generally have a prevailing belief in pantheism (the universe as God) and an ephemeral spirit/force that controls everything. From this we see the Theology of Yoda form, but sadly this belief that we humans are only spirit, and not body as well, has infected much of Christianity.
In Christianity, we recognize that mankind is created in the image of God and that man is BOTH body AND soul. Additionally the Christian faith teaches that these are not competing natures of mankind, but that both body and soul form the one nature of man. What we do, we do IN THE BODY. When we commit acts of charity or acts of sin, these are done with and in our bodies. Our body acts out the acts of charity and acts of sin.
Many Christians erroneously believe that when humans die and if they go to Heaven, they become angels. This is incorrect. Angels are an entirely different creation and species, separate from mankind. Angels are pure spirit while man is the union of spirit and body. Angels never become human and humans never become angels. All human souls will be reunited to their bodies at the Second Coming of Christ at the Last Judgment.
Many modern “Christians” have incorporated these beliefs into their theology and doctrines. Ironically what they have done is resurrect an ancient heresy that plagued Christianity in the first five centuries called Gnosticism. In Gnosticism, matter is considered evil and the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament. The Apostles even had to fight against this heresy in multiple verses of the New Testament such as 1 Timothy and Colossians.
1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge (gnosis); 21 by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith.
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him the whole fullness of Deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In Him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Ultimately Gnosticism is a denial of the Incarnation, which leads to a denial that Christ is divine and that He actually became a human. They denied that the Word became Flesh. From here, the heresy of Gnosticism really goes off the rails because if Christ never became man, then Christ did not actually die on the Cross, because He was not actually human. This also means that since there was no sacrifice on the Cross, there was also no true Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ was also never the Paschal Lamb of God and we are not saved by the New Covenant. That’s why the Gnostics believed they were saved by the special knowledge (gnosis) that they alone were privy to receive and keep control over.
In 1 Timothy and Colossians, St. Paul directly attacks multiple beliefs of the Gnostics. He is clear that there is no special knowledge that is hidden from the faithful. He re-affirms that Christ is divine and the Incarnation is true and real. He is adamant that we come into communion with God through baptism (being born again) rather than gaining specific knowledge.
Protestantism has a variation of this belief, which originated in the doctrine of Total Depravity, which is part of the five points of TULIP in Calvinism. The definition of Total Depravity changes depending on which Protestant you are speaking with, but in general it means that mankind is completely corrupted by sin and cannot do anything that can affect our salvation even with God’s grace. (The Catholic belief instead is that man cooperates with God’s grace towards his salvation.) From this doctrine of Total Depravity and twisting several verses in Scripture such as Romans 8, many Protestants have incorporated the theology of Yoda to believe that our bodies are evil and that humans are only spiritual beings instead of the fusion of body and soul. They believe that our body and soul are always in conflict and competition.
Romans 8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Many Protestants (and sadly more and more Catholics) no longer believe that we are both spirit AND body. They are instead falling for the Gnostic heresy that our bodies are evil and a burden to our souls, rather than the means by which we can be incorporated into the Body of Christ through baptism, and become temples of God through which we can perform the holy works of charity of God.
1 Corinthians 6:18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Romans 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 No longer present your members (of your body) to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members (of your body) to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Do you happen to see how one error, even one heresy, starts to unravel the entire Christian faith?
This is why there is NO such thing as secondary doctrines or minor doctrines. ALL doctrines given by the Catholic Church are necessary for salvation, since a denial of even one of them begins to tear apart the entire New Covenant and Christianity itself. This is WHY the errors of Protestantism keep expounding further and further. The errors of Luther, Henry VIII, Calvin, Zwingli and Smyth have ended up resurrecting all the ancient heresies of Christendom. Even the tiniest of heresies begins to unravel the entire fabric of the covenant with God.
Ironically, the reason we have a Bible and a canonized list of books which are divinely inspired, is because the Catholic Church was fighting against the Gnostics in the early years of Christianity. The Gnostics claimed to have special knowledge (gnosis) and had books of Scripture which Catholics did not. It was because of this that Catholic bishops met over several councils in the late 4th century (Rome-382AD, Hippo-393AD & Carthage-397AD) to determine what books could and what books could not be read in Mass. They declared a list of 73 books which were allowed to be read in Mass and this list was sent to the Bishop of Rome for ratification.
Be very careful of what content and entertainment you ingest. Be very careful that you keep it in its place and do not let it infect your mind and soul. Do not let the false theologies of our fallen world to infect the purity of the Catholic faith given to us by Christ Himself. Entertainment has its place and it must be kept in moderation. Always keep Christ first and foremost and everything else must be kept in secondary relation to that.
Always remember that God created our universe and declared it to be good. Even while in a fallen state from our sin, God still has imprinted on us, body and soul, His own image and likeness. He created us to be with Him and did not offer Himself up on the Cross because He thinks we are not salvageable. He created both Heaven and earth for us to dwell with Him for eternity. It is only at his judgment and damnation of a man that God will completely remove His grace from us. While we are yet on this earth, we can respond to His grace to redeem not only our souls but also our bodies.
Genesis 1:26 And He said: Let Us make man to Our image and likeness…27 And God created man to His own image: to the image of God He created him: male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply…31 And God saw all the things that He had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.
Another keeper! Thank you 🙏