On Differences of Opinion

Grace and kindness, lest we become as strangers

I lay on the table and slowly open my eyes, looking up at the rafters with the exposed air ducts. Music is quietly streaming into the room. The room is calm, a neutral beige with low lighting, and a few side tables holding supplies. I take a deep inhale and exhale slowly. On cue, I hear as my practitioner coming down the hallway in the enviable clogs I adore. She knocks on the door and comes in.

“How are you doing?” she asks.

“What I want to know,” I say, “is what do you put in those needles that knock me out every time?”

She laughs. She’s a mother who is my age—post babyhood and meandering through menopausal adventures—and understands. She picks the needles out from me. “That’s just your nervous system telling you there aren’t any tigers to fight right now.”

Acupuncture, as odd as it may sound, is a therapy that has helped me crawl out from my relentless fatigue. It wasn’t so long ago that moving through my day felt like climbing water. Today, I am able to get up after a normative-INterrupted sleep (I’m a mother, what can I say), and I still have great energy for the entirety of my day. If I do feel a little weary mid afternoon (usually because I emptied a truck bed of farm manure or some such), a cat nap of 15-20 minutes sets me aright.

But like eating organic food and practicing herbalism, acupuncture is an approach I usually don’t advertise, because inevitably someone will tell me I am sinning by using an alternative healing modality that somehow, in some long and winding road, has its roots in idolatry or paganism or the new age. It reminds me of the perennial Christmas argument or using the term “Easter” to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. These are arguments I rarely take pleasure in pursuing, but I recently addressed if using herbs was akin to practicing witchcraft (the link to that is HERE). Usually, however, I say nothing in order to keep the peace.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the concern over varying health practices. I just find it exasperating that anything that is different from western thinking or conventional methods is somehow anathema. The latest issue of World magazine (May 4, 2024), for example, in its article of people coming out from witchcraft or new age, threw in “wellness culture” along with modern occultism in their list of warnings to Christians. Wellness culture? You mean the thought that we ought to honor God with our bodies (1 Cor 6:19-20), and be wise about what we are eating (Pro 19:3) is akin to witchcraft? Paul himself may have been accused of such, daring to suggest wine—a taboo even today for many in the faith—for a stomach ache (1 Tim 5:23).

Clearly God cares about our good health and well being, as He gave plenty of instruction for that very purpose thousands of years ago through Moses. He still gives us commands to obey, that we may prolong the years in our life (Ex 15:26, Pro 3:1-2), and we are supposed to care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). I’m not sure this means, however, that only pharmaceutical drugs from the corner drug store prescribed by a person who got a medical degree from an governmental approved and accredited school and then got permission from the state to practice with a license is somehow THE holiest option for a Christian seeking care. As Romans 14 plainly states, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, and follow after the things which make for peace.

And yet. I do understand that just become something “works” doesn’t mean it’s profitable for the Christ follower. And I do think we have a duty to share our concern with love and with gentleness, but it must be with a spirit of humility that recognizes the blinders of upbringing, country, modernity, and culture (not to mention relentless advertising and propaganda). In other words, a sister using an infusion of lemon balm to bring about a sense of calm isn’t sinning any more than you are when you take a deep cleansing breath outside in the sunshine. Hopefully no one would think you were worshipping the sun god.

So, is acupuncture a sin? Taking supplements? Homeopathy? Massage therapy? Muscle testing? Getting or giving blood? Yoga (is it a Hindu practice or just a hip opener)? How about going to a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor? Taking antibiotics? Eating raw meat? Getting an organ transplant? The list of possibilities are endless, as are the arguments on both sides of the equation from equally enthusiastic followers of the Lord.

Let’s remember we’re not trying to follow Rules in order to please God, and certainly no one cares about another person’s walk in the world more than Jesus Himself. We all shall give an account of ourselves before God, so we need to be cautious in not only what we participate in, but in judging the choices other believers make as well, lest we become as strangers to one another. Be curious. Ask questions. Honor the difference of opinions, especially where scripture is silent. Use your iron to sharpen their iron, and their iron to sharpen yours, and plow through the scriptures together as good Bereans. Listen to your conscience, refrain from strife, and live and eat and give God thanks.

I sleep well the night after my acupuncture session. Was it the needles? Or was it just the nice, quiet room where I got to take a deep nap? I actually believe that my practitioners have helped (and are helping) me to recover, but I also believe the day will come when none of this will matter any more. God Himself will give me a new glorified body, and only who I am in Christ will last.