Is Homeopathy Anti-Christian?-
Modern medicine has Greek pagan origins 400 years before Christ’s birth
Medicine in the 1800’s was barbaric.
Homeopathic medicine is firmly rooted in Biblical principles.
Hahnemann has been accused of not being a Christian. The evidence says otherwise.
Information against homeopathy is on the Internet, some of it inflammatory, some incorrect
Homeopathy has conducted double-blind studies which show its effectiveness.
Hahnemann is said to have been influenced by non-Christian individuals and ideals.
Hahnemann was ahead of his time.
Homeopathy follows scientific principles.
Can we judge a Christian by their fruit?
by Sherry Arrick, DIHom(Pract), CCD
Homeopathy has been attacked on many fronts, accused of being New Age, old-fashioned and its founder non-Christian. Why has allopathic medicine not been accused of the same?
Christian writers have attacked homeopathy as being New Age. Much of this may be due to its enthusiastic adoption by those projecting their own prejudice to see it as supernatural, occult or satanic (Crook, 2). With many other alternative therapies coming to the forefront, homeopathy has been lumped into this category, when in reality it is a system of medicine that stands on its own.
It is also easy to dismiss a system of medicine that appears to be outdated. Not only was Hahnemann ahead of his time; he also formalized principles upon which this medicine has continued to function reliably for over 200 years.
Independent of its founder, homeopathy emphasizes health rather than disease and is at odds with what many perceive as "modern" or allopathic medicine (Vithoulkas, xi). If a system is somehow tied to its roots, look at both Hahnemann’s and those of allopathic medicine.
One of the best books published on this subject is A Christian’s Guide to Homoeopathy, by Alan Crook, who is an English homeopath as well as a Methodist preacher. I recommend serious readers to this book, as complete coverage of the issue.
Similar ideas existed in the first century in the Gnostic belief system, which holds that man can attain salvation through knowledge. If he does not, he will have to "return to the sorrowful condition of earthly life," a kind of reincarnation theory. Jesus was viewed as savior, not because of his death and resurrection, but because of his teachings and miracles (http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/gnintro.htm). Similarly, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of the anthroposophical movement and Waldorf schools, claimed that Christ’s crucifixion was merely an "event" in history. His contention was that an individual needed to learn to transcend the body (i.e., actually leave it) in order to achieve spiritual knowledge (http://www.steinercollege.org/rs.html ).
The use of pendulums, dowsing and treatment machines (some types include orgone, radionics; see one website at http://www.radionicsmagic.com/ ) should be looked upon skeptically by anyone looking for a homeopath, since these are often substitutes for real training. They may even be classified as divination and witchcraft. Genuine homeopaths spend many years acquiring knowledge of this medical art.
Modern medicine has Greek pagan origins 400 years before Christ’s birth.
Hippocrates (460-377 BC), the father of modern medicine, was a Greek physician whose principles of medical science formed the basis for medical theory developed in the 1800’s (http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/hippoc.html). Named after him, the Hippocratic Oath, as it appears in the 1976 World Book Encyclopedia, was still being taken by graduating medical students. Although it has been somewhat modified since, some medical schools still require graduates to swear to its adherence.
The Hippocratic Oath
I swear by Apollo, the physician, and Asclepius and Health and All-Heal and all the gods and goddesses that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this oath and stipulation:
To reckon him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him and relieve his necessities if required; to regard his offspring as on the same footing with my own brothers, and to teach them this art if they should wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation, and that by precept, lecture and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons and to those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath, according to the law of medicine, but to none others.
I will follow that same method of treatment which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; furthermore, I will not give to a woman an instrument to produce abortion.
With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my art. I will not cut a person who is suffering from a stone, but will leave this to be done by practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter I will go into them for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and further from the seduction of females or males, bond or free.
Whatever, in connection with my professional practice, or not in connection, I may see or hear in the lives of men which ought not to be spoken abroad I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret.
While I continue to keep this oath unviolated may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men at all times but should I trespass and violate this oath, may the reverse be my lot.
Medicine in the 1800’s was barbaric.
The medicine of the 1800’s utilized bloodletting, purging, blistering and the ingestion of noxious poisonous combinations such as mercury in the form of calomel. One physician advocated the taking of up to eight pounds of blood via leeches or lancet (Coulter, 69). As a tribute to this medical heritage, The Lancet, first published in 1823, is the title of Britain’s renowned and respected medical journal (Grun, 389). In contrast, Samuel Hahnemann’s homeopathic system was aimed at healing gently and quickly. All of Hahnemann’s single remedies were tested, in minute, safe doses, on healthy humans before use.
Paragraph 1 of Hahnemann’s Organon states: "The physician’s highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure, as it is called." Paragraph 2: "The highest ideal of cure is the rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of health: that is, the lifting and annihilation of the disease in its entire extent in the shortest, most reliable, and least disadvantageous way, according to clearly realizable [in-seeable] principles" (emphasis added).
Homeopathic medicine is firmly rooted in Biblical principles.
Christians have a prejudice against what they perceive as New Age medicine, but need not worry about homeopathy, if it is practiced properly. It is easy to confuse the energy of the body, which Hahnemann spoke of as spirit-like force, with the "spirit" New Agers claim is independent of God. Homeopathy is, however, not New Age. It is founded upon Christian Biblical principles.
Hahnemann had been to medical school and his graduate thesis accepted in 1779. He soon saw the barbaric methods being used by medical practitioners and the lack of science behind them. Disgusted with his inability to cure his patients and having resigned his profession as a physician, Hahnemann retired to his laboratory in 1784 to do research and translations to support his family (Bradford, 37). In reading ancient medical texts in many languages, he discovered where medicine had gone wrong and began to experiment upon himself (Bradford, 46). He was not the first to postulate the idea of trying drugs on the healthy. Anton Stoerck, Austrian physician to Empress Maria Theresa, Irish physician Crumpe and Danish surgeon Stahl all experimented with the idea (Bradford, 50). However, rather than operate through consensus and rules which could change, Hahnemann based everything upon direct observation and set up a system of rules to follow, his Organon of the Medical Art.
Hahnemann named this new system of medicine Heilkunst, German for "the art of making whole". Included in this holistic approach was diet and regimen. The idea of whole healing is Biblical, originating with Jesus himself, who talks about healing the whole man (John 7:23).
The therapeutics part, which dealt with medicines in small doses matched to the patient’s symptoms, he named homeopathy. With Hahnemann’s background in languages, Greek was no obstacle to his understanding, although the name homeopathy seems foreign to us today. The Bible speaks of Christ’s passion on the cross—not passion as romantics have perverted it, but the suffering he endured. Suffering, or pathos, is what the founder of homeopathy sought to treat with the use of similars or homoios. This is not homos, which means same, as in homosexuality. Strong’s Concordance, New Testament reference word homoiopathes, found in Acts 14:15 and James 5:17, translates to "like feeling," "like nature" or "similar suffering" (Marshall, 391, 681; Strong, 774, 51).
Hahnemann has been accused of not being a Christian. The evidence says otherwise.
In his second marriage, Hahnemann insisted his Catholic fiancee participate in a Lutheran ceremony, which points to a commitment on his part to his belief system. His writings consistently mention of a "higher power," a phrase used in his time, not to denote a god, but the God of the Christian faith. Ornate, almost poetic, language was the style of the day. Other phrases occur throughout his correspondence:
Hahnemann’s will stated: "Before I commend my immortal soul to the grace and mercy of God, in the steadfast belief that this most high and potent Guide of my destinies will allow it to participate in His heavenly glory…" (Bradford, 346).
"Those who will imitate me, as I act on the verge of the grave, will be able, like me, to await with calm confidence the moment of reposing their head in the bosom of the earth, to yield up their soul to a God whose omnipotence must make the wicked man tremble in his heart" (Bibliotheque Homoeopathique, 1835, Bradford, 356).
Hahnemann fully credited God for his discovery of homeopathy. "When behold! the Giver of all good permitted me, after unceasing meditation, indefatigable research, careful observation and the most accurate experiments to solve this sublime problem for the benefit of mankind" (unpublished translation of "Die Chronischen Krankheinten," Bradford, 176).
"And so the great Protector of all that is true and good will grant me as much more life upon this earth as seemeth good to His wisdom" (letter to fellow homeopath Boenninghausen, 1833, Bradford, 321).
Money was stolen from Hahnemann while a student in Leipsic, but "it is evident that he forgave, as he never disclosed the names of the guilty parties, and says that ‘repentance demands forgiveness’" (Bradford, 25). Jesus said we must forgive those who harm us (Matthew 6:14).
"If you wish to become a physician in this nobler sense (that is a pure benefactor of men), standing on earth a representative of God, our highest benefactor, and to be a right good man, then will you be one of the few, a truly happy, joyful man. This I wish and hope for you. Only he who is good can be sure of the support of God, without whom we can accomplish nothing, from whom everything comes which contributes to the cure of his beloved family of man" (letter to Constantine Hering, 1824, Bradford, 168).
These are not the writings of a pagan.
Information against homeopathy is on the Internet, some of it inflammatory, some incorrect.
A few M.D.s are apparently threatened by homeopathy and have added it to the list of the alternative treatments they claim are quackery. Retired psychiatrist Stephen Barrett (1933- ) heads Quackwatch and has labeled homeopathy dangerous. He is listed as author or co-author of a considerable number of internet articles against homeopathy. Many of his claims show a misunderstanding of how homeopathy works and are aimed at discrediting its purveyors (search word: Quackwatch).
Hahnemann has been accused of being a Mason, which he more than likely was. The Masonic Order or Freemasons is a secret organization that has been exposed as non-Christian and morally dangerous. Most of the professional men of Hahnemann’s time were also members of this organization, which guaranteed employment to its "brothers." It was detrimental to one’s career not to belong. Hahnemann’s membership in this organization does not necessarily indicate his lack of Christian faith, although perhaps it does show a lack of knowledge of the Masonic inner workings, which may not have been then as they are today. The organization became secret, with hidden rituals, after it came to the U.S. in 1730. Both Benjamin Franklin and Amadeus Mozart were Masons, yet we still use electricity and listen to classical music.
Homeopathy has conducted double-blind studies which show its effectiveness.
In order to test homeopathy, it has been held to the randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled standards which are used for modern medicine. Double-blind studies assume that one can take a group of people with a diagnosis and give half a drug and the other half placebo (a sugar pill or unmedicated substance). On the whole, these methods do not fit homeopathy, because of its basic premise that each individual is unique. Homeopathy also does not diagnose by disease, but by the unique symptoms each individual presents in response to disease. However, enough studies have been conducted which show that homeopathy is truly effective in a clinical setting, despite these restrictions (http://www.homeopathic.org/controlled.htm).
Hahnemann is said to have been influenced by non-Christian individuals and ideals.
Hahnemann was widely read, with widely ranging interests. He was fluent in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Italian, French, English and German, enough so that in one single paper he referred to writings in these eight languages (Bradford, 94). Neither his writings nor his correspondence indicates any one person had much influence on him. He actually had a very dominant personality himself and often drove people away by his strong opinions (Bradford, 98).
One of the mentors Hahnemann is said to have had is Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a Swedish mystic whose followers formed the Church of the New Jerusalem. Swedenborg wrote a number of books containing heavenly doctrines which he claimed were revealed to him through direct communication with the spiritual world. Swedenborg taught his followers how to enter a state of consciousness that would put them in touch with spirit entities, obviously not a Christian teaching. This writer apparently has confused James Tyler Kent (1849-1916) with Samuel Hahnemann. Kent, an American homeopath who was born well after Hahnemann’s death in 1834, followed Swedenborg (http://solascriptura-tt.org/Seitas/NewAgeMedicineHomeopathy-Brown.htm). None of Hahnemann’s writings indicates a belief in anything similar.
Hahnemann was, however, fascinated by Eastern thoughts on medicine and the body, especially since Western medicine in that time was so wrong in its use of leeching, bloodletting and strong poisonous chemicals. The Orientals had discovered a force within the body which they called "qi," while medicine in Europe tended to be reductionist in nature, denying anything spiritual about the body. Hahnemann spoke of the "spirit-like force" which enlivened the body, contrary to the prevailing medical belief that the body was merely electrical.
Hahnemann was ahead of his time.
The doctors of the mid-eighteenth century were not any more receptive to change than those of today’s modern medical establishment. They persecuted Hahnemann, argued with him and yet could not refute his theories or results. In fact, several of those sent to investigate his ideas ended up converts, practicing the very system they had been sent to disprove (Bradford, 166; Crook, 34).
The discovery by Danish physician Nicolaus Steno that the heart was a muscle had occurred less than one hundred years earlier in 1663 and the knowledge of physical medicine was still lacking. Chloroform was invented in 1831, but surgery with ether as an anesthetic did not occur until 1842, two years before Hahnemann’s death. The connection between hand washing and women dying of infection after childbirth was not made until 1847. Hahnemann had preached sanitation as a preventive to disease for years prior, published a book on sanitation in 1784, and was the first physician to treat insane patients humanely (Bradford, 32, 54).
Hahnemann’s research and knowledge of chemistry were unparalleled (Bradford, 31, 56). He published many articles that were well respected and he was known for his chemical compounds and discoveries. The scientific knowledge of his day was still evolving. The periodic table was not established until 1869 by Mendeleyev. Only 31 elements were known in 1790. The science of biology had been named in 1802 and was in its infancy. The molecular composition of gases was hypothesized by Avogadro in 1811, the year after Hahnemann published the first edition of the Organon of Therapeutics.
"It was long after Avogadro that the idea of a mole was introduced. Since a molecular weight in grams (mole) of any substance contains the same number of molecules, then according to Avogadro's Principle, the molar volumes of all gases should be the same. The number of molecules in one mole is now called Avogadro's number. It must be emphasised that Avogadro, of course, had no knowledge of moles, or of the number that was to bear his name. Thus the number was never actually determined by Avogadro himself. As we all know today, Avogadro's number is very large, the presently accepted value being 6.0221367 x 1023" (http://www.bulldog.u-net.com/avogadro/avoga.html).
The argument today is that one cannot dilute a substance past Avogadro’s number and have any of the original substance left. The significance of Avogadro’s work was apparently ignored by Hahnemann, since he continued his work on ultramolecular dilutions and went far beyond Avogadro’s number, producing dilutions that still effected cure. Some of today’s physicists claim Hahnemann as a visionary in quantum mechanics.
Homeopathy follows scientific principles.
The Law of Similars, the minimum dose and the single remedy are all attributable to Hahnemann’s research work, though some of the concepts were posited centuries earlier. Similia similibus curentur means "like cures like" and is based on the observation that a medicine given to a healthy person will evoke symptoms. Those same symptoms will then be cured if that substance is given to a sick person.
The minimum dose proves the Arndt-Schulz law (also termed hormesis), which says that small doses stimulate, moderate doses inhibit and large doses kill (http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_l_04zPzhtm#12479453). Hahnemann found that the smallest dose given actually had a better effect in healing.
The single remedy was Hahnemann’s biggest hurdle, since pharmacists and doctors of his day worked together to keep secret the formulas and combinations they gave their patients. Of course, this was to benefit them financially. Hahnemann maintained that each physician should make his own medicines to assure purity. Only by testing individual remedies on healthy humans could one be sure that the results would be the same each time. He called this testing prufung, or proving, and claimed, "The day of the true knowledge of remedies and a true system of therapeutics will dawn when physicians shall abandon the ridiculous method of mixing together large portions of medicinal substances whose remedial virtues are only known speculatively or by vague praises, which is in fact, not to know them at all" (Bradford, 99).
Another principle homeopathy follows is Hering’s Law of Cure. This states that healing occurs in a predictable pattern: from the top down, within out, major organs to minor organs, and in reverse order of occurrence. Suppressive measures cause a reversal of these orders. For example, when a skin rash disappears upon application of a skin cream (such as cortisone) and asthma results, suppression has occurred. To be curative, a medication should cause the asthma to disappear and the rash to reappear (Crook, 7).
Can we judge a Christian by their fruit?
Homeopathy is not incompatible with Christianity. Nowhere have I found Hahnemann’s personal statement of belief in Jesus Christ, although he does reiterate his belief in God frequently. Therefore, one question remains: Can we see his fruit? (Matt 7:16: "By their fruit you will recognize them.") Hahnemann followed Biblical principles in establishing homeopathy as a humane form of treatment. His entire life was dedicated to finding a way to help people heal. As a researcher, he established homeopathy as a medical science. Opposed as it is to modern medical ideas, its methods have never been successfully refuted and Hahnemann’s discoveries still stand, as does this gentle method of healing.
Can allopathic medicine say the same?
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Coulter, Harris L. Divided Legacy: Science and Ethics in American Medicine 1800-1914. N. Atlantic Books, Richmond, CA. 1982.
Crook, Alan. A Christian’s Guide to Homoeopathy. Winter Press, London. 1996.
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