|
Christianity & EFT
by Steve De Santo
Should Christians fear EFT? No. They should learn all about it and be able to speak with conviction from a position of knowledge rather than ignorance. Speaking from ignorance only makes a Christian look reactionary and clueless.
Is EFT a New Age Religion? Nope. It's only a healing method that brings emotional and physical relief. The fact that the relief often borders on the miraculous only makes people even more suspicious. But new things and processes that bear no resemblance to those with which we're familiar, are often castigated and dismissed. When Louis Pasteur developed his theory that germs made people sick, it took a long time before the general public accepted and acted on this new information. (Have you read about these guys?)
Are Christianity and EFT in Conflict? Some Christians think so, again, mostly because they just have no clue what EFT really is. In fact, you can find non-Christians on the internet skeptical of EFT merely because of what EFT practitioners claim it can achieve. These non-Christian skeptics dismiss it out of total ignorance and because they just can’t believe it would be possible.
As a Christian, myself, I certainly wouldn’t want to do something that violated my faith. But the fact is, while people who have not accepted Christ as Savior gravitate to new alternative healthcare practices like EFT, that doesn’t mean those practices are anti-Christian.
In it’s most basic form, EFT is simply tapping on your body while addressing a negative issue. That’s it, pure and simple. So, if you don’t have a problem with somebody saying, “I have a headache,” (addressing a negative issue) and then taking an aspirin, (ingesting something, which is far more likely to cause physical or mental harm than tapping gently on the body), why would you have a problem with EFT? Taking that aspirin is not exactly calling out to God for relief. It’s only doing what most Christians do for headache relief in our culture. It’s a habit that you don’t question. ( But maybe you should. Have you Googled side effects of aspirin?)
There is nothing about EFT that denies the deity of Jesus Christ or violates the tenets of the faith. However, if you do NOT go to doctors or counselors, if you don’t take medications or herbs, if you believe the only way to find healing and relief from your problems is through prayer, then EFT is not for you.
How can I put it more simply? God gave you legs for walking, but you don’t thank him for your legs and avoid driving a car. God gave you a brain and the ability to pray and ask for guidance. But you don’t avoid going to school or seeking guidance from other people. You don’t ask God to fill you and avoid food. EFT is just one more tool we can use to help ourselves and others in our daily walk with Christ.
Let me tell you about the first time I introduced a new friend to EFT. Max had a bad headache. During our conversation he had mentioned his headache 3 times, and that he wished it would go away. Finally, I overcame my fear of suggesting EFT because he might think it sounded silly and said, “I just learned a little relaxation technique that could possibly relieve your headache. Would you like to try it?” He said, "Sure." I told him it involved tapping on his face, hand, collarbone, and under his arm, spots corresponding to acupuncture energy meridians, while verbally addressing his problem. I showed him where I would tap, and said, "Repeat the words, 'this headache' each time I tap on a different spot."
One round of tapping relieved most of his headache. A second round using the revised phrase "this remaining headache" erased the rest. That was all. End of story. I must add that something that does concern me is when Christians who know EFT don’t teach it to friends when it would help that person find emotional or physical relief from an upsetting problem. Would you deny your friend a drink of water if he was thirsty?
An in depth article on the subject of EFT and Christianity by Larry Nims, an ordained minister and clinical psychologist, can be read on his web site here.
Research EFT here.
EFT History, here.
Back to my Homepage with more links to other pages
|
