Getting Rid Of The Inner Quack

Today I popped into a Lyme site which I don't frequent but every tenth full moon or so, (please understand my friekish need to measure time by the full moon), and now I remember why. The skepticism of this group towards "alternative" medicine leaves me wondering how these people can truly heal if their brains have been washed by the Pharmafia and the minds of traditional medicine. Has our society been so conditioned to believe that, unless a remedy and its results can be measured, quantified and substantiated by a blood, urine, sweat or other bodily fluid test, then that remedy is useless? What about the rest of the world, which relies heavily upon therapies whose results cannot be quantified except by the testimonials of their patients, but which in the United States are labeled as "alternative" as though they should be a back-up to the trusty pharmaceuticals we've come to rely upon here?

Granted, I am sure some of these Lyme folks have been wounded by outside-the-box therapies that did not deliver what they promised, and nobody wants to give up a comfy old pair of shoes, but I wonder why some folks are quick to close their minds to a protocol, just because the way it works cannot be thoroughly explained or quantified by one of the oh-so-limited tests that western medicine provides. What if the interworkings of an effective remedy cannot be explained by what we know in science? What if we have simply been given the What of something without the How or the Why? Should we conclude that the treatment doesn't work?

It's as if we expect every remedy that ever existed to fit within the parameters of our limited and bias testing devices, when sometimes, the only proof that a therapy works is found in the health of a previously ailing human being.

Personally, I've learned that just because I can't understand a protocol, doesn't mean it isn't worthy. Just because it isn't well-known. Just because it seems about as plausible as purple cows sprinting over the moon. Just because it relies upon undefined science. If others have been healed by it, if my god tells me this is the way, if in my viscerals I believe it could work, then why shouldn't I try it?

Doing so doesn't necessarily require more faith than taking a tested-and-only-sometimes-true pharmaceutical antibiotic. After all, these have failed to treat many Lyme patients (just as "alternative" methods have). It's just that, alternative methods tend to suffer a heavier societal beating when they don't deliver what they promise.

Sometimes, we are given paths to healing without being shown how or why the path works. Sometimes, it means becoming the black sheep and taking a leap into yonder, away from the safe pastures that others know, because your gut or your god or your healed neighbor are telling you to go.

The other day, God seemed to be telling me that He would heal me of the heaviness and breathing problem in my chest, if I would spend more time in intercessory prayer, that is, in praying for others.
My first reaction was, "What does one have to do with the other?" And then I realized again, God is mysterious and healing happens in unconventional ways. Even the skeptics have to admit that.

To those who are afraid of finding Dr. Quack behind every alternative therapy, I encourage you to throw the old comfy shoes away, to dare to be the black sheep, to take the untrodden road, and if you believe in God, to turn to the Great Physician and ask Him for discernment. Health is often found in unexpected places.