The Cult of Crunch: Breaking DOwn the Good, The Bad, and the BIblical (or not) of Natural Living Conclusion
“If you still believe that God wants you to speak on this, then it would be disobedience to quit.”
This has been a long series that isn’t quite done, but my other work is now demanding my time and attention. But I will say, I’ve wanted to quit writing. I’ve questioned whether or not this is making any kind of impact. I’ve wondered if anyone is still reading these blogs. I’ve known that it could hurt the business speaking against some things that those in the crunchy community hold dear.
But I’ve wanted to be faithful.
I felt last summer that someone needed to address some of the dangerous practices promoted by the crunchy movement. As I saw no one speaking up, I prayed and was led to use my small platform to speak on how we Christians who care about natural living ought to live in a way that honors Christ and helps our bodies.
This series has been by no means exhaustive. I had other subjects I’ve thought of writing on such as cycle syncing/lunar cycles, light therapy, sound therapy, sacred numbers/geometry, and New Thought (this is the one that I do want to write in the future). Because there are so many more topics one could dive into, I wanted to share my resources so that you can dive deeper yourself.
· Alternative Medicine: The Christian Handbook by Donal O’Mathuna, PHD and Walt Larimore, MD I used this book a lot for the foundation of my studies. While I don’t agree with all of their takes on everything, I did find it informative and helpful. It is in three parts: Part 1 Evaluating Alternative Medicine, Part 2 Alternative Therapies, and Part 3 Herbal Remedies, Vitamin, and Dietary Supplements. Parts 2 and 3 are a breakdown of different practices, supplements, or remedies. It gives some background, evidence, and potential spiritual dangers. Overall, I found this book helpful even though I had different thoughts than the authors on different parts of the book.
· The Kingdom of the Occult by Walter Martin This was the second most helpful book in my research. When practices like yoga, reiki or energy healing seemed to get spiritually murky, he cut through the mud to call it what it is: sin. I hope to read through the whole book as I just read parts relevant to my studies.
· The Kingdom of the Cults Handbook by Walter Martin Another great one! I used it similarly to the Kingdom of the Occult. His clarity is refreshing.
· Wicca and Neo-Paganism: A Christian Guide to Fundamental Wiccan and Neo-Pagan Beliefs by Jeremy Jenknis I appreciated this book for helping me understand the beliefs behind those that practice a lot of the New Age practices that have seeped into the crunchy movement. It’s a small easy read!
· Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Herd Of Shaped Our Self Obsessed World by Melissa Dougherty This is an amazing book on New Thought. It will inform much of my future blog, but I highly recommend reading it!
· Cultish Podcast This podcast really helped me in understanding the issues with yoga, reiki, ayahuasca, and more. I highly recommend listening to them. They are wise Christians who have on the most interesting guests.
· Got Questions website I love Got Questions. They helped me often have the words to breakdown the biblical side of things. I love it for so much more than just crunchy topics. You gotta check them out!!
I did do a lot of googling and research to make sure I understood the argument of my opposing view. I didn’t want to may straw men out of the ideologies that I was writing against. I did my best to find original sourcing, but I am deeply sorry if I misrepresented any ideology or practice. It was not my intent.
I hope that this series did not add any more burden to people, but rather pointed them back to Christ who bore our sins and burdens. I pray that through all this you may know that while our bodies will forever be wasting away, we can have wholeness in eternity with Christ through faith in Him. I aimed to show that while we should care for our bodies, it should never be to the neglect of our souls. I hope that instead of enslaving you to the next practice that your favorite wellness influencer says you need to do, this series brought you freedom in God who is our Healer and Hope. I pray this reached who needed to hear it. I pray for you, crunchy Christian, that your identity will always be first in Christ, not in your food or soap or bio hacking routine.
Writing this series has been a responsibility that I haven’t taken lightly. Let us Christians be sure to keep our biblical worldview glasses on as we go about this life we were gifted.
Soli Deo Gloria
