The conspiracy by some Christians to demonize medicine.

I've seen the following on ATS increasingly:
The root word for pharmacy, pharmacist or pharmaceutical comes from the the Greek word "Pharmakeia", which in the New Testament also means witchcraft, enchantment and sorcerer. Apparently that is the true translation of Galatians 5:20 and verses in Revelations.
A whole sermon can be seen on: vodpod.com...

I recall that argument from the first failed crusade of the Christian Right in the early 1990s. However there it was only used to argue against illicit drug use amongst rock musicians. I'm surprised to find this selective (and rather abstract) interpretation again. Previously it clearly delineated this reading (I wish all words in the NT received similarly painstaking argument) between medical and illicit drugs. Now it appears to attack even medical drugs. It appears to selectively exclude trauma medicine, but this is very confusing, since trauma painkillers are closest to mind-altering street-drugs.

Are these people gonna live like sects without blood transfusions or chronic medications? Will they deny their kids medication? Most drugs can have mind-altering effects, but these are usually side-effects in some people. Where is the evidence that psychiatric drugs (and their proper use) cause violence?

I heard back in my Christian days that Luke was a doctor, and that we can at least use and work with every plant and seed-bearing herb (the source of most medicines). We should worry less about the body and more about what comes out of the heart, otherwise these fundamentalists must also apply dietary restrictions:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, and in which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed: to you it shall be as meat. (Genesis 1:29)

It is furthermore claimed that black magic and witchcraft are performed when high (I've found the complete opposite), and a forced claim that '___' enables sorcerers to see into another "demonic" dimension. It rather appears that many mystics regarded '___' as somewhat of a let-down.

Well, what is confusing is that the fundamentalists want to use medicine in some scenarios and not in others.
What should be borne in mind is that medicine is not perfect.
It has made mistakes and apologized many times.
That is more than one can say for the pushers of quack remedies and TV evangelists.
Here in SA they even claim to cure HIV - which I find highly dangerous, and we are proposing new laws that require proof or arrest for the pastor who falsely claims it.
So far they have no evidence of an HIV-positive person turning HIV-negative. They only claim to have tests showing marked improvements in CD4 counts, but ARV medicines do exactly the same, and these people are most likely on ARVs.
What is worrying is that people say they are sleeping with their wives without condoms because a preacher "cured" them.

Well, evolution is no longer the most relevant attack on science.
The bizarre fundamentalist Christian take on medicine is.
So anything that potentially makes you hallucinate is evil.
In that case religion is very evil.

reply to post by halfoldman

What should be banned as mind-altering meds?
Pain medication based on opioids?
Should the true Protestant grin and bear it?
That sounds faintly Catholic and Christian Science.
According to the fundamentalist arguments one pain pill can cause hallucination and hence demonic possession.
Of course one can naturally hallucinate from pain and fever - is that also demonic?

reply to post by halfoldman

What about caffeine (tea and coffee), alcohol (the first thing that Abram did after leaving his native Babylon was plant a vineyard)?
They had medicinal uses too, and alcohol can certainly cause hallucinations.

Sugar is mind-altering.
One of the oldest cult tricks was the "sugar trick".
People were starved 24-48 hours before they saw their families.
Just before they were given an ice-cream or other sugar-loaded food, and they became ecstatic.
Thus their families thought that they were very happy in the cult.

It appears like those who follow the "pharma is sorcery" dictate will live painfully deprived lives, eating nothing but bland gruel.
Or am I wrong?

Now while we all applaud plant cures, the following is an example of confusing double-speak on drug-store medications.
www.plantcures.com...

If meds cause demon-possession, then I don't understand why one can give aspirin (originally willow bark) to a child.

According to their own argument that's like saying you can worship idols, but only sometimes.

It's all or nothing, I'm afraid.

reply to post by halfoldman

People being cured of AIDs by the power of God through Jesus Christ happens all the time I was eyewitness to one case back before they even had any of those drug cocktails. A dying man received prayer and was found to be completely AIDs free by a doctor.

reply to post by SevenThunders

Where's the proof for any of that?
Was he suddenly recovered from Aids, or was he free from HIV?
What proof was there he had Aids before that?
Was he gaunt and skeletal and suddenly gained weight before everybody's eyes?
Single dosage AZT was effective in staving off Aids (at least temporarily) before triple therapy.
These claims are made all the time. Yet there is no proof.
I'm sure qualified doctors would be very interested in a such a case.

Whatever people believe is their business, and all kinds of claims can be made for something that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
However, making such claims about an infectious virus is a public matter.
If an HIV-positive person goes and infects somebody else (usually their spouse) due to a mistaken belief that he was cured, that pastor bears some of the responsibility.

Prayer will not set a broken bone.
Prayer will not fix a dislocation.

I think that if you believe in God, then you should believe that God gave you a brain for a reason. Advances in medicine have been made.

I don't think that it goes against God to use current medical technology and/or medicines.

I do think that it goes against God to let someone suffer needlessly.

I suppose these are the same folks who would let their kids die a painful death because it is the "will of God."

God gave us brains for a reason. Use them.

reply to post by xiphias

I just wonder - when a disease is really infectious through casual contact and the air, these self-styled "healers" never go close to it.
I don't see them in the MDR/XDR TB camps telling people they are cured of TB.
I don't see them laying on hands on Ebola victims.
How about it preachers?

reply to post by halfoldman


I for one would urge all Xtians to boycott medicine and to just pray in terms of sickness. Hopefully the fundamentalists will have the courage of their convictions and die out. There is no antidote for braying stupidity. Not all Xtians are stupid but the fundies are a waste of space.

There are much better reasons to abhor the non medical use of mind altering substances than "because the bible says so".

As for medications and medical treatments, if someone wants to refuse them, who cares? Especially if it's based on religious devotions. A recipe for self elimination? Sweet!

Anyone who denies treatments or medications to another human being, even their own child, should be taken to court. If they can not provide a rational reason (IE - NOT "because the bible says so") they should be imprisoned for assault, abuse, attempted murder or murder, which ever is most fitting to the results of their actions.

No rational human cares what a magical, mystical, invisible, ghost creature allegedly said 2 thousand years ago, especially after it has been written and rewritten and edited over and over by humans with alterior motives.

reply to post by halfoldman

The root word for pharmacy, pharmacist or pharmaceutical comes from the the Greek word "Pharmakeia", which in the New Testament also means witchcraft, enchantment and sorcerer.

Actually that is not 100% true. The root word which you are looking is called "φάρμακο" which means "medicine". The root word which you posted is "φαρμακεία", is plural which translated as Shops which selling "medicine".
But if you meant the root word "φαρμάκι", that means "Poison". And in plural "φαρμάκια" means many poisons.Trust me on that, since i am Greek.

Just thought to come and correct that. But how can that word means "Witchcraft"??? But beside that still cannot understand, why someone should refuse medical treatment if needed??? It´s nonsense.

Peace

reply to post by Seed76

Interesting. In the romance languages the word for female poisoner was "venefica", which also came to mean "witch". Witches apparently had the knowledge to either heal or poison with herbs, and the two uses are bound, since the same substances that can heal can often also poison in different doses. When male dominated church-sanctioned medicine still consisted of prayer, bleeding and burning crosses into people's foreheads, witches already had the basis of such modern medicines like digitalis (purple foxglove) and ephedrine. (Erica Jong: Witches Granada, 1982, p.141).
I'm not sure which Christian theorist first came up with the "pharma" interpretation, and when it was first mentioned, but it was already mentioned as a sanction against drug abuse in Rodney Seale's Rock Music: The right to know Baruk, 1988: p.45.
It would be interesting to trace, and how it moved from referring to drug abuse to medicine.