photo by Gene Monterastelli |
As you may or may not know, since 1996 I have traveled the US and Canada speaking and performing as part of APeX Ministries. APeX is a Catholic Christian performance ministry that works with teens and because of this I am frequently asked about tapping from a Christian point of view.
Here are my thoughts on the topic. Please be warned that I am not speaking for Christians, Catholics, or any specific denomination. These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone. I would love your feedback in the comment section below.
Instead of tackling the topic all at once here are the four most common questions I am asked about the topic.
Is EFT evil and/or does it come from an evil place?
EFT is a mechanical process. If you follow the steps it will work. Much like an aspirin it will work even if you don’t believe in it. There have been over 50 peer reviewed studies for using EFT with stress, PTSD, and physical issues and it is probable that in the next 12 months EFT will be considered an evidence based technique (check out summaries of the studies).
Often the problem isn’t with EFT itself, but when it is combined with things that are not evidence based. Here is my favorite way to explain this concept:
We know that vitamin C is good for our health. Let’s pretend that because it is good for our health people decide to start using it for other things. They start adding it to their shampoo to deal with dandruff, they add it to lotion to improve their skin, they sprinkle it in the garden to help their crops grow, and they make earrings out of it to keep evil spirits away.
Just because people are doing wacky things with vitamin C it doesn’t stop it from keeping us healthy during cold and flu season, but it becomes much easier to dismiss its usefulness when it when it is surrounded by things that are less grounded.
I love the fact that EFT is something that is so easy to access and share, but it comes with the drawback that everyone who presents EFT becomes a spokesperson for EFT. Some people do this in a highly credible way, while others are less successful. I find it so frustrating when EFT websites have things like dragonflies and butterflies on them. Yes, they are cute, but they don’t present this powerful healing tool in a very professional light.
When working with EFT it is important that you work with people you trust and learn from sources that share your world view to ensure you are getting what you need and what is the best fit for you.
Can EFT be useful for my spiritual journey?
I have found EFT to be an extremely powerful tool in my personal growth. Many of the ways it has been helpful has been with my spiritual journey and spiritual life, which is easiest to illustrate through an example:
I believe that I have been created worthy of God’s unconditional love. It is not something that I have to earn in any way and it is always there. My problem isn’t in believing in God’s unconditional love, but the fact that I prevent myself from fully acknowledging and receiving it.
I will hear someone say “God loves you unconditionally” and the little voice in my head will pipe up, “That is true for others but not you,” or “It would be true if you didn’t do those horribly selfish things!” or “Maybe someday, but you are too much of a screw-up to be loved in that way right now.”
Even though it is true that I am loved unconditionally by God, I end up living as if that isn’t true.
EFT has been a powerful tool in my life in uprooting the beliefs around feeling unworthy of God’s love. As I remove these beliefs it makes it easier and easier for me to see myself as God sees me.
EFT is no replacement for spiritual practices, an active prayer life, or participating in a supportive loving community of fellow believers who encourage us and keep us accountable. It is one more tool that we can add to our regular practice to keep us healthy and facilitate our growth and healing in conjunction with many other tools.
What is the deal with “We are all energy”?
In my mind this a case of a little information being dangerous. The statement itself is accurate. Everything in the universe is energy. Einstein’s theory of relativity concerns this fact. E = m c ^2 says that an amount of matter (m) multiplied by a really big number (c ^ 2 is the speed of light squared) is equal to the amount of energy of which it is made.
In layman’s terms that means if we were able to turn the coffee cup on your desk into its pure energy form, it would be enough energy to blow the state of Kansas off the face of the earth. (Just because that is true, doesn’t mean it is easy. If it were easy we wouldn’t need oil to provide power, but that is another issue.)
The place that people start to go astray is how they apply what this means for us in an EFT sense. There are ramifications for this fact on a quantum level, but I am not smart enough to explain them (also at this point most of our quantum understanding is theoretical).
Most of the people who speak in this way are doing it terms of the “Law of Attraction” (LOA). If you would like my opinion specifically about LOA check out this conversation I had with Carol Look.
Just know that you can use EFT for physical and emotional issues without having to concern yourself with this approach or these issues. If someone is speaking in LOA terms and it makes you uncomfortable, then steer clear of their resources. It means they are not the right fit for you. It doesn’t mean that EFT is bad.
What about when people talk about that we are co-creators?
Often times Christians have trouble with the term co-creator. It can feel like by making a statement like this we are putting ourselves on the same level as God. I don’t believe this is the case. I use this term in two ways.
First, I am a creature who has been given free will. My life does not unfold unless I am exercising my free will by making choices. I create my own experience, but I am not doing this on my own. My experience is also created by the choices that are made by those around me, in both positive and negative ways. Someone in my life can choose to give me a new job opportunity or someone can hit me with a car. In both instances their choices are impacting the life I am creating for myself and in that sense we are co-creating, i.e. creating together, my experience. We don’t have an equal sense of how much we are contributing to this reality, but both parts are creating it together.
Second, I believe part of my calling from God is to exercise my free will and to create a meaningful life. I can only do this because I have been given life, gifts, talents, and opportunities from God. Again, in that sense my experience is created in a combination of what God has given me and the choices I make, in other words a co-creation. This does not imply an equivalence between me and God, simply a working together.
Conclusion
I hope you find my reflections helpful. I am still on my own learning journey and don’t claim to have all (or any) of the answers. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please add your thoughts or questions below so others can benefit from them, or drop me a note to let me know what is on your mind on the contact page.
Well said! Thanks, Gene. It took me over 2 years of studying EFT to finally realize it is a natural process that’s been provided by our Maker. I now use EFT by itself and sometimes as part of my conversations with God. For me, EFT has truly been a God-send!!! My life is much more balanced now!
The Bible means so much more to me in light of what I learn through EFT. Not least, I never quite understood ‘Have no anxiety about anything’ – without EFT I really don’t see any way to simply decide to stop worrying.
I wrote a short post on this, back in March: http://newleafeft.com/eft-christianity-perfect-match/ and I’m totally with you and Amy, on this.
:-) x
Hi Gene: Good luck on wading into this thorny thicket :-) ! I think your exposition (mostly) makes sense, but I can predict with near certainty that you’ll piss off someone when you start trying to talk about God.
For instance . . . you said: “When working with EFT it is important that you that you work with people you trust and are learning from sources that share your world view . . .” I’m with you on the first one, but does that mean that I (an atheist) can’t learn from you? (I hope not, because I already have learned a lot . . . I’d hate to have to throw it all away and re-learn it all over again . . .)
Best of luck,
Dave
Oh Gene,
This is incredibly well-written. I am a strong, Bible-believing and practicing Christian and I started using EFT a little over 11 yrs ago. At that time I was undergoing extreme stress. EFT was recommended to me by company’s nurse through the EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Out of sheer desperation, I went and tried it. As an engineer, I was totally skeptical of this phoo phoo stuff, but because of the extreme stress and my inability to really functional too well in real life at this point, I tried it.
Stacy Vornbrock was actually my EFT practitioner and this is before she became more well-known in EFT circles. I’m very thankful that Stacy didn’t have her office filled with dragons, butterflies, cosmic rays, or anything like that. It looked like a professional therapist’s office, which she was.
She told me I didn’t have to believe that it would work, that all I had to do was do the exercise with her. It started out as normal counseling as she took down information (basically doing a “tree” of my issues on a specific problem). So, I went along with her.
She asked me to rate my SUDs about the problem on a scale of 1 to 10. I said it was a 20. We began the tapping process and I really felt silly. When I walked into her office, I was a myriad of raw and explosive emotions. As she did the “tree” of issues, I could barely contain myself. Thankfully Stacy was a very skilled therapist. Within 30 min., probably less, I went from a 20 down to about a 1 or 2.
I could COMPLETELY feel a HUGE shift. We talked about my issue and I was no longer emotional about it. Eleven years later, I’m still unemotional when those types of issues come up and I’m able to rationally resolve things.
Though I have been a “born again” Christian since I was a child, I had a lot of emotional issues, addictions, obsessions to things. You are right. It is a tool and there are some wacky EFT people out there that give EFT a weird stigma.
For me, since I am not a skilled therapist with any type of psychotherapy training, I really rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to me areas of my life that need healing from brokenness, hurt, trauma, etc. He’s the best therapist and I’ve learned to listen better over the years.
Addictions, obsessions like workaholism, exercise addiction, perfectionism, clean freak, money hoarding, other hoarding tendencies, fear of heights, self-esteem issues, identity issues, fear of man, fear of rodents, and a host of other issues have been resolved with the aid of EFT. My life is now free of the chains and bondage of these things and I’m free to live my life without these restrictions.
I also had a lot of unhealthy relationships with men, and have since been able to use EFT to break free from unhealthy bonds, as the aspects of these things were revealed through God, and from studying His Word. EFT has allowed me to have a closer relationship with God and is a tool, just like prayer, worship to God, thanksgiving & praise to Him.
Sometimes I don’t need EFT to break free from things and just praying spiritual warfare prayer has done it soley. But, sometimes God wants me to work through the aspects of an issue, like getting to the root of something and EFT has been fantastic for that.
I’ve learned so much in the past 11 yrs with EFT about myself and others. My life is forever changed. My children have known and do EFT also, just not as much. As my daughter enters into teenage years soon, I hope she’ll be able to use this if she has those hormonal fluctuations.
I’m grateful to Roger Callahan, Gary Craig, yourself, and those who work to develop new forefronts in this area. Most Christians I know still do not accept EFT, and see it as like voodoo. It isn’t. My life speaks for itself in the dramatic changes and I will continue to use EFT to knock down barriers that hold me back through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
God bless you, Gene, and your work in EFT!
~Doris
Gilbert, AZ
I appreciate your reply, Doris. EFT has been a part of my prayer life for some time now as well. Once I worked through the uninformed Christian warnings against using EFT, I found it to be a very useful tool in my Christian tool belt, one that sometimes only EFT could the job. I appreciate your acknowledgement that sometimes EFT isn’t necessary in every case. In some EFT circles, I have seen people think EFT is the only answer to every thing, where what may be needed is simply sitting in quietness and confidence with our Lord as we allow Him to resolve our issue and assure our heart and mind that “everything’s going to be all right”. Sometimes I have wondered if it is possible to “overuse” EFT and feel the need to tap on every issue and give EFT the place reserved for the Holy Spirit in our heart. As Christians there is a balance and a time for everything. EFT is a gift of God for us to use but not to replace Him. Most Christians who don’t understand how EFT can be useful, I think, fear it will take away from God, once that was resolved in my heart, I felt completely free to tap away with God.
Hi Gene,
Well put! I am a devout practicing member of a different religion, and though in theory people in my circles don’t take issue with it, at the same time they’re hardly open to it; it’s just so “silly” and “weird” and “different.”
But that’s neither here nor there – I share the same challenge when it comes to EFT when married to other practices/beliefs like LOA – the incredibly arrogant and clearly WRONG idea that WE are the SOLE CREATORS of our destinies. Like the universe created itself, and is just a big gumball machine – put in the right money, and out comes your prize! It’s like G-d doesn’t exist – or if S/He does, only as a puppet there to do our bidding. Like we could possibly know what’s for our best and highest good with our fantastically limited in time and space viewpoint! It’s kind of laughable, actually!!
Anyway, as always, I appreciate your bringing clarity to the issue, and for the wonderful information and resources you provide.
Hi, Gene. I enjoyed your article on tapping for Christians.
Did you know BSFF founder Larry Nims wrote an article on the subject? http://theamt.com/addressing_christian_concerns_about_eft_and_energy_psychology_therapies_by_dr_larry_nims.htm
Sue,
Thanks for sharing that link!
I have used TFT ( when I learned EFT it was called Thought Field Therapy). I have a BA in Biblical Stidies and an MA in Psychology. The education is good because it got me an “official” license to do psychotherapy ( which literally means psych= soul and therapy= to change). What is so great about tapping is that no one needs a great education or letters after your name to learn how and where to tap and so many people can get instant relief from so much pain in their / our lives and so quickly. There are many way to bring about wonderful outcomes for self or clients. Any Christians reading this who knows that just saying the name “Jesus” depending on the siituation / context can bring about change in a way that NO other name can do.
As a Jewish orthodox women with deep belief that nothing in this world is by chance and “even the leaf that falls near the worm to feed it” is G-d’s work, when I “stumbeled” upon EFT and Gary Craig 6 years ago I was in awe.
G-d sends new knowlege into the world when it needs it.
These turbulent times are like no other in the history of mankind and we need these tools to calm us and make us better people on G-d’s earth.
I feel that we are all in debt to Gary Craig who was the one as he always says “through me not by me” to be so kind to hand out, to share, with everyone so much material for free. I bought all of his material and I never saw anyone write “you can copy 100 times to give out to people’ not sell”
I notice that you, too, took an example and give out and share so much of your materials.
May we, all mankind, learn to love one another and give of ourself whatever G-d gifted us with to make this earth a better place.
2Co 10:4 The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;
EFT does exactly that. We are destroying strongholds (limiting believes) by means of tapping.
For me it’s a blessing from God.
So happy to find this article. Months ago I emailed Nick Ortner with the Tapping Solution to ask his thoughts on EFT and Christianity but never received a response. I was using his website as a resource prior to finding yours; you are a much better match for me. Thank you!
Wow, Gene I thoroughly enjoyed this post. The Holy Trinity is all powerful and I believe truly creates the miracles that astound us. The science of EFT is fascinating as it calms the feedback mechanisms in the brain. The science perfectly complements God’s way of doing things. We cannot ‘see or sense’ the biochemical / electrical change EFT brings, but we ‘know’ immediately it has worked. I think it is a small miracle and a blessing. GOD works and EFT works!
Hello Gene,
I am so glad to have found your post, it rings true in my spirit. At the moment I am twisted almost to a stop in so much bondage that I am really at a standstill – with my studies, family life, health and housework. I’ve been praying HARD from release and I came across EFT. I now feel safe to go ahead and try it, and I also feel excited to think that the Lord is answering my prayer by leading me to find a simple technique that can help me to understand and overcome what has such a hold over me at the moment.
I read a Christian women’s website a little while ago which was full of criticism for EFT, none of which had any spiritual or actual justificiation, it was basically just a bunch of women being nasty about something and saying it was “unbiblical”. Their attitude would seem to extend to visiting a hospital if one had broken one’s leg, or visiting a doctor with a sick child. I do believe that God has put systems of medical practice in place and I feel that EFT would fall into this category. I am so thankful. God bless you.
Wow and thank you! I know I was divinely led to Brad Yates on YouTube about two years ago and began my experience with tapping. I was having difficulty with anxiety, fear and worry. I decided to listen to a YouTube recording of flowing water to calm myself to sleep. In a dream, I saw myself walking in a stream and up ahead I saw a man who appeared to look like Jesus sitting on a rock. He stood and smiled so lovingly at me and handed me a backpack. He began putting books in it with various titles such as..Words of Affirmation, Visulization, Positive Thinking..I was told that there was nothing wrong with any of these things and that God loved me. He then pulled out a book and said..there is one more thing you can use to help you find your way.. I woke up before I saw the title on the book! The next morning I prayed and asked for the answer..I “stumbled” on Brad’s channel, locked myself in my bedroom so no one would see me tapping..for real..it looked crazy! But I felt peace and such relief from my worry!
Your article hit the nail right on the head! EFT is a powerful healing tool that can totally change a person’s life. I can feel God’s love for me more since clearing out all the “muck”, and this security has given me clarity for making decisions without fearful thinking getting in the way! Keep up the grand work!
Hi Christine! Your comment gives me a lot of comfort! Do you still keep visualizing and using the other techniques? I would like to know it since there is a lot of controversy within the Christian community, particularly with the visualization issue. I don’t know how you are using it, but so far I used it for healing and it seems to work! Could you give me more details?
Do you still think these techniques make you feel more God’s love?