Is Acupuncture Voodoo, Witchcraft, Cult?
Hi,
I was sent to your web site by a minister. I've had a lot of
neck-aches and headaches... no diagnosis for 3 years. No doctor
can pinpoint the problem but them say it's a nerve in the stem
of the brain, says no way to really fix it. So now this morning,
the doctors from a faith center asked me to think about letting
them do acupuncture to the upper neck.
I'm really scared of this because I've never read much on this.
Can you tell me if it's safe or if it's dealing with voodoo, witchcraft,
cults...? I'm really worried over this.
-Rose
Rose,
I understand your concern... it's a common misconception amongst
Christians. Would you believe there are Christians who don't do
their homework, but instead just repeat other people's uneducated
ideas, and thereby feed other people's fears?
Acupuncture is one treatment modality in a system of medicine
that came from China. It did grow up alongside taoism, but in
the 1950's, the communists who were atheists, stripped the medicine
of its spiritual overtones. We found out that the medicine it
can stand on its own.
In the United States, some of the first to adopt acupuncture
were the new-agers. They wanted to hear about any and all old
spiritual associations. And, they have even made up some new ones
and gotten a number of things wrong. For example, so-called "chakric
acupuncture" that associates acupuncture with buddhist beliefs...
this is a totally new invention- not classical chinese medicine.
Christians who go to find out about acupuncture have read what
the new-agers wrote, and gotten the wrong idea.
Bringing Chinese Medicine to the U.S.
Also, the process of translating chinese medicine into English
has been quite slow, fraught with translation dilemmas and debates,
and so we are still trying to get the whole picture. And Chinese
Medicine is not homogenous. Built on top of the basics are a number
of very different viewpoints and emphases. There are even national
variations- Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese...
Finding an Acupuncturist
The best thing to do is to find an acupuncturist who is not into
the new-age movement; tell them you are a Christian, it's new
to you, and you just want acupuncture, and nothing else. Chinese
herbs are good too... they may also heat up the points by burning
moxa (mugwort) near it, or cup them (use a flame to create a vaccum
inside a glass cup and place it on the skin to help move the blood
and qi). For more info about the theories of blood, qi, yin, and
yang, and questions that relate them to Christianity, read
this.
For help finding an acupuncturist click here.
I don't have an exclusively Christian resource yet, so ask them
if they are Christian, or at least neutral. Also, see my thoughts
about your doctor's philosophy, and religion, and working with
non-Christian doctors here.
Acupuncture and the Brain
Sounds like you've seen MD's about your problem and ruled out
anything more serious...
Acupuncture can affect on the nerves, the brain, etc. There have
been studies of both the blood and visual studies of the brain
on the effects of acupuncture. For more on Acupuncture research,
see my new Research
Brief for Physicians (pdf). (You'll need Adobe's free Acrobat
Reader, which comes on most new computers, but if you don't have
it, get it here.)
How Long Treatment Takes to Work
Some problems are easy, others are more difficult and may require
a more experienced acupuncturist. For your problem, scalp acupuncture
might be quite effective.
It may take time to work (months), and even then, sometimes if
it doesn't help it is more about the acupuncturist than acupuncture...
don't give up, especially if this is your last resort. If you've
had a disease for years, it's unrealistic to expect it to go away
with a few treatments. It may take longer than that.
Faith Healing & Counseling
The faith healing didn't work? If neither that nor acupuncture
work, you may consider counseling to see if anything in your mind,
attitude, and/or past is keeping the problem from healing.
Of course, that sometimes is NOT the case, and people end up
beating themselves up for not growing or working through it...
when there is nothing to work through in the first place!
I wish you the best, and blessings in Jesus' name,
Brian Benjamin Carter
|
|
