Biblical Truth Is Confirmed By Scientific Truth - Medicine & The Bible Can Agree
Real truth will be confirmed to some degree by proper observation, insofar that we are in the area of physical properties that can be observed. For example, one is not able to observe the human spirit, so you can measure things in the body and to some degree the soul (i.e. physical chemistry of emotion). The Bible covers the physical, the mind, will and emotions, and it also discusses things spiritual. The latter are not observed clearly in physical properties. The Bible is not a technical manual of the human body in the sense that it is a detailed physiology book. We want to recognize and acknowledge that God works in many ways, including through professionals who understand the physiology and chemistry of the human body. We believe that attending to one's spiritual life is not mutually exclusive with working with your health practitioner. So our heart toward professionals is a cooperative one, where we focus on the Bible and feeding you the word of God, and encourage people not to neglect proper traditional care. For example, if you are seeing a doctor, we don't encourage you to come to the HEALING FOR TODAY curriculum instead of traditional care. You are not advised to change or stop medications, and we clearly tell you that we are not doctors, psychologists or medical practitioners and don't give advice or counsel in that area. If you are under licensed care, please continue under the direction of your practitioner.
We teach the Bible, and find that biblical knowledge and knowing how to get rid of things like inordinate fear and anger has a positive impact in our lives. The current fields of Medicine and Psychology would agree. Biblical teaching on life and health and blessing, and a believer's response to God's love can be helpful, and is not anti-doctor or anti-science. We encourage people who are seeking better health to not neglect proper care and common sense. There are faith ministries that have either miscommunicated or misadvised some of those receiving their teaching to neglect care, or even taught that medicine and the Bible are at odds. We believe that true science and the Bible are in agreement, and we do not teach against medicine and proper medical care. We do believe and have seen that what the Bible teaches about life and health can positively impact health. Spirituality can and does impact health.
The Bible will help you understand that things of the spirit very much effect things like emotions, and the physical world or even your own physical body. So when medical studies are done or scientific understanding is reached about the physical properties of matter, it often proves out what the word of God has been saying. Out of those true scientific studies comes much application. Some application is theoretical or "best guess" or comes from factors concurrently observed then assumed to
be causal. Some is repeatable. So we believe that the Bible and medicine that is based on accurate observation and known causal application are in agreement with each other.
There are also iatrogenic illnesses and side effects and some health issues which are subject to medical maintenance, so people seek alternatives to the high cost of not being healed or being told they can't be healed. People seek out alternative or energy medicine and even some inner healing modalities which they are told are Christian. This material below is provided for your consideration. People go to all sorts of "alternative" inner healing modalities, and told that they are Christian or scientific or both. Below is a series of books and articles which discusses some of these "alternatives" in light of the Bible. We are not in 100% agreement with all the points made, but we believe if you are provided with the history and points made in some of the books and resources below, that you will be better equipped and informed about concerns as to occult and alternative religious origins of some so called "Christian" or scientific modalities of health in the spirit or soul.
We believe there are problems with many, so called "Christian" approaches to healing, that are not really Christian, but are labeled that way. There are also methods thought to be scientific or effective that are actually another religion or the result of positive salesmanship or public relations, so it will help to explore the history and detail of some of these. Again, we are not in agreement with everything said in these resources, but we have found, especially the historical information, very helpful in bringing a balance and some perspective.
We teach the Bible, and find that biblical knowledge and knowing how to get rid of things like inordinate fear and anger has a positive impact in our lives. The current fields of Medicine and Psychology would agree. Biblical teaching on life and health and blessing, and a believer's response to God's love can be helpful, and is not anti-doctor or anti-science. We encourage people who are seeking better health to not neglect proper care and common sense. There are faith ministries that have either miscommunicated or misadvised some of those receiving their teaching to neglect care, or even taught that medicine and the Bible are at odds. We believe that true science and the Bible are in agreement, and we do not teach against medicine and proper medical care. We do believe and have seen that what the Bible teaches about life and health can positively impact health. Spirituality can and does impact health.
The Bible will help you understand that things of the spirit very much effect things like emotions, and the physical world or even your own physical body. So when medical studies are done or scientific understanding is reached about the physical properties of matter, it often proves out what the word of God has been saying. Out of those true scientific studies comes much application. Some application is theoretical or "best guess" or comes from factors concurrently observed then assumed to
be causal. Some is repeatable. So we believe that the Bible and medicine that is based on accurate observation and known causal application are in agreement with each other.
There are also iatrogenic illnesses and side effects and some health issues which are subject to medical maintenance, so people seek alternatives to the high cost of not being healed or being told they can't be healed. People seek out alternative or energy medicine and even some inner healing modalities which they are told are Christian. This material below is provided for your consideration. People go to all sorts of "alternative" inner healing modalities, and told that they are Christian or scientific or both. Below is a series of books and articles which discusses some of these "alternatives" in light of the Bible. We are not in 100% agreement with all the points made, but we believe if you are provided with the history and points made in some of the books and resources below, that you will be better equipped and informed about concerns as to occult and alternative religious origins of some so called "Christian" or scientific modalities of health in the spirit or soul.
We believe there are problems with many, so called "Christian" approaches to healing, that are not really Christian, but are labeled that way. There are also methods thought to be scientific or effective that are actually another religion or the result of positive salesmanship or public relations, so it will help to explore the history and detail of some of these. Again, we are not in agreement with everything said in these resources, but we have found, especially the historical information, very helpful in bringing a balance and some perspective.
Concerns About Some Inner Healing & Theophostic Modalities
We were first introduced to the work of Martin & Diedre Bobgan in the early 1990's. They've been writing books on topics such as Inner Healing, Theophostics, personality profiling and applied and personal psychology. The began as proponents of the biblical counseling movement and later saw some serious concerns. The e-book below is their 1978 book on a currently popular inner healing ministry called Theophostic Counseling. They have an open anti-psychology bias, and we wanted to let you know that so you read, knowing that is the case of the book's bias. We do not recommend the theophostic and some inner healing models because they use undue influence of inducing trance like states that leave you open to suggestion. The main concerns we have are we believe that the use of visualization and techniques that many would label hypnosis or guided suggestion leave a person open to contacting spirits whom they believe are Jesus Christ, but are not, and leave people vulnerable to suggestion, which is a form of undue influence. There are many guided imagery techniques known in the secular world that can have a powerful cathartic effect, and a "powerful experience" is often misinterpreted as God by many Christians who are not aware of how their emotions and thinking can be impacted by seemingly innocuous techniques, the same techniques used by shamans and occult practitioners. We are further concerned that these techniques direct people to re-experience real or experience imagined details of traumatic events or shaming, none of which is Biblical or proven effective. There is a place for processing what's happened in the past, and yet there are concerns about how that is done. Some people have been hurt enough without having a fellow believer direct them through traumatic events imagining Jesus in the room. Again, we do not share the Bobgan's views, but we do think they bring up valid points for discussion. If you note, we will often share resources or ministries or material of those who do not have the same views as we do. We trust that you and God, together, can take what is helpful, what builds you up in a healthy and positive way, and that you have the freedom to not agree with what does not fit for you. Below is the e-Book version of the Bobgan's book on THEOPHOSTIC COUNSELING. Some of their books have printed versions published prior to the .pdf versions. This e-book was published in 1999. Their books were in print prior to electronic publication, and many are still available.
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