Historical Overview of Holistic Health

The scientific method which has dominated Western civilization for a very short time has consisted of observation, hypothesizing, experimentation, etc., has been the primary approach to health and disease. Our health care system consists of doctors and hospitals and drugs and surgery and technology which has brought mankind around the world solutions or cures for numerous ailments once considered incurable! However, as remarkable as the advances in medicine have been, the health care system in this country has come under a full-scale attack from a number of critics in the media, government, and the public at large. As New Age idea's were presented in this country at the turn of the century and then slowly became more and more acceptable in the sixties and seventies, so also the move toward new age medicine by people who believe that the present health care system has lost touch with the human soul and spirit. Hence people are calling for holistic healing methods which emphasize the whole person, integrated and balanced in all parts of his being, thus experiencing 'love and fulfillment in his daily existence.'
 
 

The Heart and Soul of New Age Medicine

This energy in which we all share, is referred to by many different names. For example, new agers speak of universal life energy, vital forces or energy, Ch'i, prana, bioplasma, para-electricity, Mana, Orenda, Animal magnetism, the innate, Orgone energy, Odic force, and, the Force. We are told that, regardless of its name, this energy pervades everything in the universe, unites each individual to the cosmos, and is the doorway to untapped human potential. Moreover, it is this energy or force which is at the root of all healing, all psychic abilities, and all 'miracles' biblical or otherwise.

Again, in order to understand the basic thesis of New Age medicine, it is incumbent to grasp the basic concept of universal energy as they understand it. If new age medicine was entirely void of its metaphysical roots and offered alternative treatment from a purely scientific basis, Christians would have no real argument. But new age medicine offers holistic therapies unscientific in nature, based squarely on an Eastern mystical worldview, and as such potentially dangerous when it comes to life-threating illness. A treatment that has no power to cure can be deadly in the wrong situations. Further, how can one tell if a treatment or cure is a result of one's mystical experience- occultic, or based on true medicine?

The fundamental message of holistic healers then, is that universal energy is essentially what religions call God and this energy or God, is the crucial link between science and religion. If one can see and understand their divine potentiality, one will be able to heighten or guide, through paranormal means, their physical and psychic evolutionary progress.
 
 

A Biblical View of Sickness and Healing

This raises the question of responsibility. Are we, as Christians, to have cavalier attitudes when it comes to health and environment? The answer is unequivably, no! Again, the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that we are to take personal responsibility for the 'up-keep' of our bodies (1 Cor. 6:15; 18-20). However, be that as it may, Christian's as with unbelievers get sick, suffer, and even die. What are we to do when illness afflicts us or a member of our family? Are we to first rush to the doctors and let conventional medicine work its wonder-working power on us? Do we go to alternative forms of medicine such as herbs or natural foods or vitamins? Where do we draw the line when it comes to such treatments such as homeopathy or hypnosis?

It seems quite clear that nowhere in Scripture does it clearly indicate that divine healing has ceased with the death of Christ and the Apostles. One need only read the Epistles of Paul (1 Corinthians 12 & 14; Romans 12: 6-8; Eph. 4: 11) which indicate an on-going healing ministry of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentation of believers in the Body of Christ. Moreover, the epistle of James gives explicit instructions for believers who wish to seek the Lord for healing through the praying and anointing of oil by the elders of the church (James 5:14-16).

The question is not can God heal, but will He heal? And if He doesn't after seeking Scriptural means of healing, should we pursue alternative means of healing such as doctors and/or natural means. These are questions only one can answer for him or herself.
 
 

Conclusion

1. How can one tell if a treatment is occultic or based on true medicine?
2. What is the relationship between the administrator and patient during treatment?
3. What about healthcare funding and the separation of church and state?
4. Where do we draw the line between what is truly helpful and that which is truly occultic and harmful?
5. Is everything supernatural divine?
6. Where does the physicians 'job' begin and end?

 

1. Beware of therapies which claim to manipulate 'invisible energy.'
2. Beware of those who seem to utilize psychic knowledge or power.
3. Beware of a practitioner who has a therapy with which no one else is familiar.
4. Beware of someone who claims that his or her particular therapy will cure anything.
5. Beware of someone whise explanations don't make sense.
6. Beware of therapies whose primary proof consists of the testimonies of satisfied customers.
7. Beware of therapies which rely heavily on altered states of consciousness.
8. Sincerity is no guarantee of legitimacy.

Corollary A: A therapist's expression of evangelical commitment is no guarantee of legitimacy.
Corollary B: The endorsement of a therapy by an evangelical pastor, speaker, author, or celebrity is no guarantee of legitimacy.
9. Let the seller beware: i.e., those who offer practices which are unsound or dangerous are ultimately accountable to their patients.

 Dan