Friday, June 01, 2012

A Paradigmatic Example of New Age Medicine and How to Expose and Analyze it, part 5



The following is a continuation of part 4.

All methods of testing demonstrate that Chiropractor Jay Fox’s methods are harmful and should be avoided.  1.) His practice fails the Biblical test, for the Word of God commands that occultism should be avoided, and his muscle testing, homeopathy, and chiropractic practice are rooted in the occult and the New Age.  2.) His practice fails the (Biblically based) scientific method test, for his muscle testing, homeopathy, and chiropractic practice all have no physical mechanism that connects their methodology with their alleged results.  Their methods cannot possibly work on the basis they affirm.  Furthermore, science indicates that some of his procedures are actually harmful, and can contribute to death by cancer, strokes, or other physical dangers, as well as causing harm by preventing one from seeking rational methods of treatment.  3.) His practice fails the practical test employed immediately above, since it produced results affirming that toxic mineral spirits, toxic silica gel, toxic rat poison, and other poisons were good for human consumption, and that certain of these substances should be consumed by me daily.

Since Chiropractor Fox’s practice fails sound criteria for the legitimacy of its practice, why has he been recommended by one person to another, commended by word of mouth, and had his practice make thousands of dollars from $55 sessions, plus sales of expensive supplement products from his office, with people whom we know?  I fear that my household has contributed to this situation by not employing Biblical, rational methods, as commanded in many verses cited above, of evaluating allegations of health benefits from particular methods.  Rather than requiring that a method actually works on the basis of its stated principles, and requiring evidence from properly conducted studies, we have accepted personal testimonies of feeling better after engaging in sessions as proof that Chiropractor Fox’s methods work, although many alternative explanations for improvement in feeling exist, from the God-given ability of the body to heal, to answered prayer for physical health, to the placebo effect, to the comforting feelings one gets from being in a pleasant looking office with someone who offers one much sympathy and says what one wishes to hear.  Since there are many reasons, other than cause-effect, that one can feel differently subsequent to the employment of a particular treatment, personal testimony is not accepted as evidence for effectiveness in medical journals—but my household has employed it as a method of determining scientific fact.  While, as saints, we have a justifiable tendency to accept the testimony of others, especially other believers, and those whom we love, trust, and are close to, and this is, in many areas of life, a good thing, it does not make testimonial a valid method of determining medical facts.  Also, simply accepting personal testimony about a particular unconventional method has saved us time in our busy schedules, for we have simply assumed that the testimonies are proof, and we have then spent time on other things that seemed more pressing or things that we were actually more interested in.  Unfortunately, since God’s command for us is to “Prove/test all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), by not spending the time to evaluate methods of improving our health Biblically and logically, Judy and I have allowed ourselves to get involved in things that are impossible on their stated mechanisms, opened ourselves up to occult influences, and participated in things that are actually harmful to our health (like full spinal X-rays), not to mention wasted a lot of money.[1]  Our ability to be healthy and serve the Lord with our lives is very important, and Judy and I have not done well by taking the easy road that does not employ 1 Thessalonians 5:21, and thus allowed ourselves to come to invalid conclusions. In the case of Chiropractor Fox, Judy and I have spent large sums of money going to him, and Judy has received “treatments” that are actually dangerous, because we have accepted testimonials about how great someone is who cannot tell the difference between rat poison and healthful diet products.  I fear that I have been a bad steward by wasting sizable sums of money, contributed to the spread of false information about the cause and nature of disease and therefore had diseases prolonged, unintentionally born false witness about invalid treatments, and even exposed my family to threats from the devil and his angels—and thus grieved the Holy Spirit—through the acceptance and promotion of occult-based practices.  I would not want my brethren in Christ to do the same—thus, this analysis.  Accepting methods that do not work by not thinking Biblically, can, for example, lead someone with cancer to reject God’s gift of surgery (Matthew 5:30; Mark 9:43, 45) to remove tumors to adopt an occult or unproven technique that simply does not cure the disease, and either by delaying adopting treatment that actually works while the cancer spreads, or by not adopting it at all, die for no good reason.  As for me, in light of how my household has been deceived by Chiropractor Fox, it seems like it would be wise to make sure that, from now on, I am evaluating information in the medical realm in valid ways.  May we all consider such topics as prescribed in Scripture: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and “keep sound wisdom and discretion” (Proverbs 3:21), and consider what is “true . . . honest . . .[and] just” (Philippians 4:8), and “reason” (Isaiah 1:18; 1 Samuel 12:7; cf. Acts 17:2; 24:25; etc.), “see, and know, and consider, and understand” (Isaiah 41:20), and “produce [a] cause . . . [and] bring forth . . . strong reasons” (Isaiah 41:21), and “gird up the loins of [our] mind . . . as obedient children” (2 Peter 1:13-14) and have a “sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7), and “be not children in understanding . . . but in understanding be men” (1 Corinthians 14:20), and “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” by “the renewing of [our] mind” (Romans 12:1-2) and based on reasoning from the scientific method (Genesis 1:28) be “persuaded” (Acts 18:4).



Postscriptum to John Doe’s study by TDR:

Based on the information from John Doe, it was noteworthy, in both a positive and negative way, to find out what the reactions were to his study and his evaluation of Mr. Fox by Judy and he.  John found out that Judy was convinced, and her thinking was changed for the better, to conform more closely to that of Scripture in this area.  Unfortunately, when the study was shared with others, some of those who had assisted Judy in following her earlier way of thinking that left her open to New Age and quack influence, had a sadly different reaction.  In one particular group of people who were going to Chiropractor Fox—Baptist fundamentalists, at that—there was not the least expression of gratitude or word of thanks for the study.  The facts about Mr. Fox’s New Age practices were set aside.  There was anger, not at Chiropractor Fox for the lies he promoted and the money he swindled people out of, but at John Doe for conducting the experiment that showed that his muscle testing was poppycock.  John Doe’s experiment was wrong.  He should not have done it.  John Doe had neglected the Conspiracy by the evil drug companies and the government to make people sick, you see.  John was bad, and Fox was good.  Fox had “helped” a lot of people;  they felt better after going to him.  They were going to continue to go to Mr. Fox, and to recommend him to others.  John simply did not understand.

So, dear reader, learn from John Doe’s example.  Evaluate everything Scripturally, including medical claims.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Expose and warn about New Age and quack “medicine.”  Some people will listen—Judy did.  Some people will not, but will get angry with you.  Some of those people will die young, and lead other people to die young.  Many more will be worse stewards of what God has given them than they would have been otherwise because they will waste many thousands or ten thousands of dollars in their lifetimes on New Age therapies. In either case, if they are believers, they will give an account at the judgment seat of Christ for their poor stewardship of their own lives and finances and the lives and finances of others of God’s image-bearers who unnecessarily go to an early grave. But do not have blood on your hands.  Tell the truth.

-TDR
at

No comments:

Post a Comment