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I asked God into my heart, but I don't feel any different. Everybody I know talks about becoming a "new person," but I still feel bad about myself. I don't feel like a new person. I asked God into my heart again, thinking I would feel different this time, but I don't. Why don't I feel like a new person?

It's very possible to be a "brand new person" in Christ and still feel many or most of the same feelings you felt before becoming a Christian. When you commit your life to Jesus Christ, a miracle takes place in your soul. He enters your life, redeems you from your sin and gives you an eternal relationship with God. The Bible says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9-10).

Our faith is not primarily about feelings, but about facts—including the one from the Romans verse above. Consider these other facts from the Bible:

Fact one: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Fact two: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Fact three: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

If you accept these verses as true and you have asked Jesus into your life, then you are a new person. Jesus did for you exactly what these verses claimed he would. Feelings aren't very reliable. They change as often as the weather and are influenced by a number of factors. That's why it's so important to base our relationship with God on the fact of his Word and the faith that it is true.

My aunt practices Yoga. I don't know much about it, so I've looked at some Christian Web sites to see what they say. I haven't found much. What should a Christian's perspective be about Yoga?

I can't say there's an official "Christian perspective" on this issue. Some Christians have no objections to the practice of Yoga. In fact, there are even churches that offer Yoga as a part of their exercise programs. But I have a few concerns about Christians involving themselves with this activity.

While Yoga produces notable health benefits, for some it's more than an exercise program, it's a way of life. Yoga actually means "yoke" or "union." Followers of the Yoga way of life would say it's a union between the personal aspects of ourselves and the "divine presence."

Some Christians have told me that Yoga makes them feel closer to Jesus, in addition to making their body and mind feel better. I think what they're saying is possible, but they aren't practicing true Yoga. True Yoga, from a spiritual level, has its roots in other religions besides Christianity. Most practitioners of Yoga regard the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as the most important handbook on the subject. The other text on Yoga is the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Therefore, an alignment with the "divine presence" is not an encounter with Jesus. A look into these texts will reveal the "divine" as an impersonal, formless energy that somehow guides the universe.

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