PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- APRIL 28, 2008

Should a Christian be involved in emotional feeling therapy?

Q. I have been researching Emotional Feeling Therapy (EFT). EFT is a meridian energy therapy. Like acupuncture, it works directly on the meridian system in the body. But instead of needles, the major meridian points are stimulated by tapping on them or massaging them lightly. This technique is used to overcome fears, phobias, illnesses, diseases, stress, etc. There is more of an emotional aspect with EFT, because you focus on the problem you want freedom from as you massage or tap the meridian points. Do you think it's okay for a Christian to be involved in this kind of "technique"?

I guess I just feel nervous as a Christian when the word, "energy" is used. I tend to think "new age." I grew up in a church where those who took medicine were looked down upon and told they didn't have enough faith!

I was taught that acupuncture, eastern medicine, holistic medicine and magnetic therapy should be avoided because they were doors to the occult. I now believe that God is our healer, and he can heal us however he wants. He can heal miraculously, through doctors and medication, and he created our bodies to heal themselves. If there are "energy meridians" in our bodies, I believe God made them.

I read an article on the PTM website, and the writer mentioned how we don't think twice when we pop a Tylenol or two, so why do we feel so guilty that we have to ask forgiveness when we seek healing through other avenues, such as alternative medicine.

Do you believe our bodies are made from energy, containing energy points that can be in balance or out of balance?

A. I too grew up in a church which taught that doctors and medicine were frequented only by the spiritually weak who didn't have "enough faith" to trust in God. They also taught that most ailments and diseases (apart from accidents and broken bones) could be cured by some "natural" method. These natural methods were every bit as bizarre as some of the natural/holistic/spiritual methods I hear many people favoring today, but they were accepted in my religious culture because they were deemed to be trusting in God, while avoiding the twin evils of drugs and doctors.

With you I believe that God is our healer -- but we must recognize that our physical healing is not his priority. He wants to to be happy and filled with joy, but at the same time there is a one-for-one correspondence with birth and death. Sooner or later, God will not miraculously intervene and physically heal us -- sooner or later we will all die. At the same time, God does absolutely promise to heal us -- but the healing that he is most interested in is spiritual. He promises to heal our souls, he promises to heal us from the inside out, giving us new, eternal life, life that we will have forever, even though we will physically die.

To the specific issue of energy therapy. Like you, I was once convinced that virtually any alternative method of healing that did not involve some natural foods (or even external application of herbs to afflicted parts of the body) was new age, pagan and probably demonic witchcraft. Over the past 20 years, through a variety of experiences, I have come to see that there is much about life that I don't know (in fact, there is much that I don't know about a whole bunch of stuff!). Such a contrast to my worldview when I was steeped in religion and imprisoned by legalism -- then I thought I had an answer for every question!

I don't mean to dismiss witchcraft and paganism -- it exists -- but those who call every idea that doesn't fit their little religious world to be demonic are often living in their own world of captivity.

I don't know that much about the therapy you mention. Perhaps I will hear from readers who will assure me that I am misguided and gave you a completely wrong answer! For that reason, I again emphasize, I don't have any background about the specific therapy about which you inquire.

However, as a summary statement, as a Christian, I don't have a problem with many natural healing methodologies provided several caveats:

1) It must not become an all-consuming passion. When it does, then the methodology itself becomes a god before the one true God -- and we, by definition, are practicing idolatry.

2) It must not lead us away from God. If it has some kind of component that could lead to the injection/acceptance of non-Christian teaching, I believe that in order for a Christian to use such a treatment then a Christian must divorce the philosophical/religious idea from the physical therapy. In some cases, there are approaches where such a divorce or dichotomy may not be possible -- such practices are debatable and somewhat highly intense discussions among some Christians.

3) A physical method of healing is best, in my view of the revelation of the Bible, when it is viewed solely as a potential cure for physical problems. While physical methodologies and treatments can help retard or diminish spiritual/emotional pathologies, they offer only a short-term benefit. Physical therapies, as I understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, may help our physical bodies, for a little while. Therefore, given such an expectation and outlook (along with points # 1 and # 2), I don't see harm in pursuing them, within moderation, always maintaining Jesus as our center.

Again -- I share this from my understanding of the Bible -- and I STRESS, I am not an expert about such tonics, notions and applications -- I can only apply them to my understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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