At Adam Piggot's blog there is an interesting and important post about the question of first things first, and our motivations for doing things.
For me, this is one of the matters that has come to a point recently - in other words, the gray areas have disappeared, and all activities are ruled by the consequences of a stark black-or-white choice between two sides: the mainstream of global totalitarian leftist materialism, or Christianity.
This means that no activity is intrinsically good, but only good insofar as it is motivated by, and rooted in, having made the choice of God, divine creation and Jesus Christ. Without that motivation, any activity you can think of will be turned towards evil by the overwhelming wickedness of The World.
The particular activity under discussion was lifting weights specifically, and in general training in regimes designed to encourage toughness and fortitude. The primary debate was whether such activities would intrinsically tend to make a man more masculine, or more effeminate.
This (slightly edited) is the comment I left at Adam's blog, where I try to widen the discussion to any and all activities - but to understand its context, do go and read the original post.
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For me - the temptations were (at various times) literature, classical music, medicine, academic scholarship and science - I had the idea that doing these, learning and practicing them - would be 'good for you' - make you a better person, make you deeper, nobler... whatever.
But I found that greater knowledge and experience was totally disillusioning.
For example, meeting and conversing with musicians in the best orchestras, people whose lives had been dedicated to their high craft and whose days were spent playing the greatest music under the greatest conductors... was usually a stunningly disappointing experience! The best doctors and scientists I met were usually shallow and trivial. I got to know plenty of more-or-less famous authors - one or two were interesting and independent-minded; but most were unbelievably superficial, unthinking and naïve doctrinaire leftists! And so on.
The past two years have extended this even further and into the churches.
All religions and All Christian denominations have overwhelmingly (with but few noble individual exceptions scattered across the churches) apostatized, supported globalist totalitarian agendas - and eagerly ceased their supposedly-core spiritual activities.
What is stunning is that this happened across the board - from Roman Catholicism that is rooted in the Mass and rigorous philosophy, through evangelical Protestants who base everything in the Bible's inerrancy, through Mormons who built a parallel society and focused on good works and clean living, through Eastern Orthodox who claimed that tradition would be a sure safeguard against fashion and temporary pressures - to Anglicans who claimed that a combination/ synthesis of these would be the best defense of the faith.
All these and others very rapidly capitulated to closures and ceasing of core activities, without time limit; and with their leaderships fully endorsing this shutting-up-shop, spouting leftist globalist lies (about the birdemic, climate, racism, trans etc) and their members overwhelmingly compliant.
I interpret this as telling me that no Christian 'activity' or theoretical basis, or philosophy or any-thing - is decisive in keeping someone a real Christian, when a genuinely strong (courage-inducing) and individual motivation is lacking in its members.
And when that motivation goes above and beyond the church considered institutionally.
In other words, the dominant motivations need to be transcendental, spiritual and not-of-this world. With such motivations, many activities and beliefs may be spiritually-helpful (even including 'lifting!); but without it, none are helpful - and all become snares.
It probably was not always thus - probably at one time in a different context, there were intrinsically-good practices.
But as of 2022, motivation is almost-everything. More exactly, the situation is asymmetrical: Some activities are certainly bad for you; but none are intrinsically good - unless also well-motivated.
