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(Some
brief comments on):
ALTERNATIVE
HEALING APPROACHES
While some Christians go to extremes and
throw out everything that is different, we believe that some of the
alternative medicines/therapies can possibly be of some help to some
people in some situations - but care and caution is needed.
Christians should neither blindly reject NOR blindly accept all
alternatives.
With most alternative therapies, however,
there are often alternative philosophies/religious concepts that are in
conflict with Christian and Biblical thinking.
Many approaches, including e.g. iridology,
are not medically/rationally proven/supported with hard evidence, some do
have occult elements in the actual approach, but often the practitioners
are involved in a range of other, and from a Christian perspective,
questionable and dubious practices and beliefs. There are also
differences between diagnostic approaches (trying to work out what is
wrong) and prescriptive or healing treatment processes (trying to
heal/overcome whatever is wrong) that need to be taken into account.
We would strongly recommend some books,
especially:
Alternative Medicine - Helpful or Harmful?
By Dr Robina Coker - Monarch
Publications. 1995.
In the forward to this helpful book Dr
Andrew Fergusson comments: ‘In recent years doctors have gained in the
science of medicine at the expense of losing the art…we should not just be
technicians of cure, but concerned for the real needs of whole persons.
Alternative medicine’s popularity presents us with a much needed challenge
to return to the art of healing. This at least has been helpful!’
However, Dr Coker rightly reminds us in the words of the Bible: ‘“Test
everything. Hold on to the good.” We dare not be uncritical.
Alternative medicine can certainly be harmful physically and
psychologically; I believe they can sometimes bring spiritual harm too.’
Both Drs Fergusson and Coker are members
of the British Christian Medical Fellowship.
As Dr Coker clearly states: ‘This book
is not an authoritative or exhaustive guide to all the forms of
alternative medicine being practised today…The field of alternative
medicine is expanding so rapidly that such a guide would be outdated
before publication.’
Dr Coker presents an overview of modern
medicine, what might be considered as ‘Alternative medicine,’ and an
historical perspective to the development of medical practice in various
countries and cultures. She notes: ‘Firstly, the distinction between
orthodox and alternative medicine is to some extent an artificial one,
although there may be excellent reasons for making that distinction.
Secondly, religion and medicine have always been associated…Thirdly,
throughout history the sick have had recourse to practitioners of orthodox
medicine as well as to spiritual leaders and “folk medicine”.’ She
went to to comment that there is a distinction between harmless folk
remedies and alternative practices which have a definite spiritual or
religious significance or connection. ‘Fourthly, modern medicine
owes much to contributions from non-medical scientists…Finally, orthodox
medicine is not always correct in its interpretation of established
scientific knowledge.’
The book goes on to examine the reason for
the increased interest and popularity of alternative medicine today.
Dr Coker lists a number of factors including: great hopes brought by
modern medical progress; great disappointments that many diseases are
still not easily cured, and that a lot of helpful medication (drugs) have
negative side-effects - one problem may be overcome at the cost of
developing some other problems; the changes in
the doctor-patient relationship, from the family doctor who was interested
in and knew of the whole family to a seemingly remote doctor controlled by
time and clinical procedures - and the subdivision of specialists
(seemingly even more remote) who are only interested in specific body
parts and have even less time to give to the whole person who happens to
be a patient. She also notes the greater awareness about disease in
the community and the shift in disease patterns. The social changes
to households and families, ethnic and cultural diversity, rejection of
traditional religions and religious values, and the increasing gap between
the rich and the poor are all regarded as significant factors. Dr
Coker also notes the positive aspects of much of alternative medicine such
as the patient receiving more time and personal attention, touch, and
trust (which also includes the placebo effect), the spiritual (and
wholeness) dimension, and that sometimes it really works.
These overview aspects provide the first
part of the book, helping to provide the groundwork for the rest of the
book.
In part 2 of the book Dr Coker addresses
various forms of alternative treatments and then discusses some of the
real and serious physical hazards involved in some alternative medicine
and compares these with the risks involved in orthodox medicine. She
also looks at some of the non-physical risks involved in some alternative
practices.
She goes on to examine the role and
importance of thorough testing and evaluation of all medical claims and
practices, and makes it clear that alternative medicine cannot be exempted
from such testing and evaluation. Dr Coker provides a chapter on a
Christian response to the whole area which calls for an examining of
claims and facts, motives and worldview, and Biblical concepts.
Section 3 of Dr Coker’s book is
informative and very helpful in practical ways. She gives a brief
A-Z guide of some of the more common and popular alternative therapies.
This is followed with a very practical 5-point evaluation approach that
can be applied to any therapy, and illustrates it by applying it to three
alternative therapies: acupuncture, homoeopathy, and Transcendental
Meditation.
She suggests that the following 5
questions be asked/applied to any therapy:
1)
Do the claims for this
therapy fit the facts?
2)
Is there a rational
scientific basis for the therapy?
3)
Is the methodology or
the principle the effective element?
4)
What is the therapist’s
worldview?
5)
Does the therapy
involve the occult?
This book is balanced, informative,
practical, and very helpful in considering the whole area of alternative
medicine and therapies today. It is also very readable - and well
worth having.
A more recent and very thorough,
excellent reference volume dealing with the whole spectrum of alternative
healing is:
Alternative Medicine - The Christian Handbook, (2001) by: Donal O'Mathuna, Walt Larimore
M.D., Publisher: Zondervan
(We believe this is probably an essential
tool for anyone considering this whole important area from a Christian
perspective.)
Publisher’s synopsis:
‘An in-depth guide for
Christians seeking to understand and evaluate the medical and spiritual
implications of
alternative practices, herbal therapies, and self-treatments available
today.
Description: The Definitive
Resource on Alternative Medicine for Christians
Herbal remedies, supplements,
and alternative therapies
- Their specific uses
- Which ones really work (and which ones don’t)
- What to watch out for
Christian versus non-Christian approaches to holistic health
Clinically proven treatments versus unproven or quack treatments
Truths and fallacies about supernatural healing
Ancient medical lore: the historical, cultural, and scientific facts
And much, much more
In today’s
health-conscious culture, options for the care and healing of the body are
proliferating like never before. But which ones can you trust? Some are
effective, some are useless, some are harmful. Some involve forms of
spirituality that the Bible expressly forbids. Others that are truly
helpful have been avoided by some Christians who draw inaccurate
conclusions about them.
Alternative Medicine is the
first comprehensive guidebook to non-traditional medicine written from a
distinctively Christian perspective. Here at last is the detailed and
balanced coverage of alternative medicine that you’ve been looking for.
Professor and researcher Dónal O’Mathúna, Ph.D., and national medical
authority Walt Larimore, M.D., draw on their extensive knowledge of the
Bible and their medical and pharmaceutical expertise to answer the
questions about alternative medicine that you most want answered—and
others you wouldn’t have thought to ask.
This massively informative
resource includes:
Two alphabetical reference sections:
- Alternative therapies
- Herbal remedies
Entries include an analysis
of claims, results of actual studies, cautions, recommendations, and
further resources.
A handy cross-reference that
links specific health problems with various alternative therapies and
herbal remedies reviewed in this book.
Five categories of
alternative medicine defined and then applied to every therapy and remedy
evaluated in this book.’
Other informative books include:
Can You Trust Your Doctor? - by John Ankerberg and John Weldon
(1991) Wolegmuth & Hyatt Publishers; New Age Medicine - A Christian
Perspective on Holistic Health - by Paul C. Reisser, Teri K.
Reisser, John Weldon (1987);
The Hidden Agenda - A Critical View of
Alternative Medical Therapies - by Drs David and Sharon Sneed (1991) Thomas
Nelson Publishers.
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