By John Bolt
In this second reflection I want to explore the background to the Confession, in particular the circumstances in which it was written. The documents I will consider are all available on the CRCNA website and include the General Introduction from the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America (http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar_introduction.cfm); the Accompanying Letter by the Moderamen of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa [URCSA] (http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar_letter.cfm); the brief statement “Why Consider” (http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar_why.cfm ); and the history of the Belhar’s development (http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar_history.cfm ). For study purposes all these documents are important. My reason for considering them before looking at the actual text of the Belhar, beginning in the next installment, is that taking the Confession’s positive statements about unity, reconciliation and justice on their own, as abstract statements of general truth, would be to misunderstand them and perhaps even falsify them. We must know by whom, for whom, to whom and about what the Belhar was written before we can speak with confidence about its claims.
The Belhar was penned in what was perceived a time of crisis for the gospel in South Africa. The CRC/RCA Introduction speaks of “ . . . another critical issue that threatened the very core of the gospel message. The church and the society in which it ministered were torn by internal conflict, injustice, racism, poverty, and subjugation of the disenfranchised. From this crucible of suffering emerged the Belhar Confession, a biblically based doctrinal standard of justice, reconciliation, and unity.” The Moderamen’s Accompanying Letters speaks in no less stark terms:
We are deeply conscious that moments of such seriousness can arise in the life of the Church that it may feel the need to confess its faith anew in the light of a specific situation. We are aware that such an act of confession is not lightly undertaken, but only if it is considered that the heart of the gospel is so threatened as to be at stake. In our judgment, the present church and political situation in our country and particularly within the Dutch Reformed church family calls for such a decision
First question: When in the life of the church does a situation become so sinful that the very gospel itself is threatened? False teaching? (If so, all false teaching or only teaching on the cardinal points of the Christian faith. Hint: We disagree with the doctrine of Baptists on the important sacrament of baptism, but do we think that Baptists are “heretics” whose teaching threatens the gospel itself?) What about situations of suffering and persecution?
Here a look at the Belgic Confession’s statement about what the “false church” does (article 29) may be instructive.
The language used in promotion of the Belhar was status confessionis; a church is said to be in statu confessionis “when the truth of the gospel and Christian freedom are at stake.” While it was the political ideology of the South African government that led the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1982 to declare that “Apartheid was a Heresy” and that a status confessionis existed in the country, the Reformed tradition does not use this language and the cited definition in the previous sentence is actually taken from the Lutheran Formula of Concord (Epitome, art. X, 6). This is itself rather interesting and reflects important differences between the two traditions when it comes to so-called “matters of indifference” (adiaphora). For the Reformed matters of worship and church order are of such importance that they must be governed by the Word of God. For Lutherans, they are generally a matter of adiaphora except in times of suffering and persecution.
We believe, teach, and confess that in a time of persecution, when an unequivocal confession of the faith is demanded of us, we dare not yield to the opponents in such indifferent matters. . . . For in such a situation it is no longer indifferent matters that are at stake. The truth of the gospel and Christian freedom are at stake. The confirmation of open idolatry, as well as the protection of the weak in faith from offense, is at stake. In such matters we can make no concessions but must offer an unequivocal confession and suffer whatever God sends and permits the enemies of His Word to inflict on us. [Formula of Concord-Epitome, Article X,6].
Before considering the next question, let us pause to consider what is at stake here. The declaration that one is in statu confessionis is a confessional protest against a church that has become false, heterodox, in violation of Scripture and the church’s Confessions. It is a public declaration that one feels obligated to separate oneself from that false church. It is an accusation that is serious and solemn. Those who declare themselves to be in statu confessionis are obligated to spell out clearly where the body against which they level the charge of heterodoxy has departed from Scripture and the church’s confessions; the declaration arises from a common subscription to the church’s Confessions and the ordination vows of its office bearers.
Second question: Do the introductory materials and the text of the Belhar itself exlicitly and clearly reference the confessional doctrines that are denied by the Reformed Churches of South Africa?
In this connection, what do we make of the statement in the Accompanying Letter that “This confession is not aimed at specific people or groups of people or a church or churches. We proclaim it against a false doctrine, against an ideological distortion which threatens the gospel itself in our church and our country. Our heartfelt longing is that no one will identify himself with this objectionable doctrine and that all who have been wholly or partially blinded by it will turn themselves away from it.” Is this not curious? Does the Belhar then combat a “doctrine” that possibly no one believes? How does this threaten the gospel itself?
At this point, it is helpful to consider the actual “rejection of errors” in the Belhar itself (They are found at the conclusion of points 2, 3, and 4). Spend some time with them; ask yourself whether they articulate beliefs that you in fact hold and, if so, whether repentance on your part is called for.
In conclusion, a reminder from my first reflection of the purpose of our studying the Belhar: Simply look at the text and ask whether it speaks for you. After reading and reflecting, can you say, with joy and confidence, “This is what I believe!”? (And, of course, what doctrines I reject.)
I’m giving John Bolt my space until we get him set up here as a WordPress contributor. MVT
By John Bolt
June 17, 2009. Remember that date; it may go up there with 1857, 1876, and 1924 as one of the formative events in the history of the Christian Reformed Church: the day the synod of the Christian Reformed Church overwhelmingly voted to propose adopting the Belhar Confession as a fourth doctrinal standard.
Admittedly, that is a dramatic opening but the occasion deserves it. The Christian Reformed Church has held to the Three Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Canons of Dort) as its confessional foundation from the beginning of its history and not added a new doctrinal standard, not even The Contemporary Testimony, “Our World Belongs to God.” Therefore, adopting the Belhar Confession is a big deal; a major event.
The synod’s decision sets up a three-year study time for CRC congregations to study the Belhar and review it carefully before the 2012 synod decides whether or not to adopt as a permanent standard. I intend, Lord willing, over the next year and a half period, to provide a dozen or so reflections with questions that can be used as study guides for those so inclined. Let me make my own position clear. I do not favor making the Belhar a new standard of unity along with our current three. I believe that the Belhar should be considered as we now do “Our World Belongs to God,” a testimony of faith that address important matters of faith and ethics. However, in these reflections, it is my goal to lead readers to the Belhar itself and to ask it the important questions, many of which were also raised on the floor of synod. Unlike other study guides that seem to me to have as their goal convincing others to embrace the Belhar, my stance in these reflections will be questioning and raising issues rather than trying to push a particular agenda. It is not out of the realm of possibility that a reader may follow these reflections, think of good answers to certain questions and be directed to affirming the Belhar. My intention here is educational and not ecclesiastical-political.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The first thing to do is read the entire Belhar Confession (available online at the CRCNA website: http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar.cfm) including the Accompanying Letter of 1986 issued by the Moderamen of the Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa (available online at the CRCNA website: http://www.crcna.org/pages/belhar_letter.cfm). For those who are just beginning their study of the Belhar, I strongly recommend not reading any introductory material, such as the RCA’s Unity, Reconciliation and Justice (Faith Alive, 2006), but starting with the text of the Belhar itself. After a careful reading, letting the overall message and tone sink in, here are a few questions for further reflection:
1. Is there a dominant theme or subject to the Belhar confession as a whole? What is it? Or, are there several themes that complement each other? Is this theme (or themes) transparent and so clear that it cannot be missed or does one have to hunt for it?
2. After this it might be a useful exercise to ask whether you can identify a single or dominant theme for the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, or Canons of Dordt. (This will be most challenging for the Belgic Confession; hint: read the introduction.)
3. Compare the themes in the four confessions being considered: How do you rate them in terms of importance for Christian faith? Do any of the themes seem to you to be more perennial (of permanent importance to the faith for every generation) than others? Do any strike you as being very much directed to one time and set of circumstances and perhaps of less significance to other times?
4. In the themes of each of the four confessions try to identify elements that are characteristic of the REFORMED Christian faith. In other words, matters that are important to Reformed people but that would make Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, or whomever, a tad uncomfortable. Or, is this sort of approach to the Reformed faith less important today? Why or why not?
5. Take each of the four confessions and ask this question of each:
If the major theme of (a, b, c, or d) is _________________, is this concern or theme still important for Reformed Christians today? Be able to give reasons for your answers.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
This first exercise of reflection on the Belhar is intended to get us right into the confession itself and let its words speak to us. Before we examine its background, who its authors were, why it became the confession of the Uniting Church in South Africa, etc., it is important to ask simply look at the text and ask whether it speaks for us. After reading and reflecting, can you say, with joy and confidence, “This is what I believe!”? For an initial pass through the Belhar, it is worth pausing and asking yourself that very question because that is something you need to be able to say if you are a member of the CRC and the 2012 synod of the CRC adopts it as our fourth doctrinal standard.
In the next reflection we will take a closer look at the first section of the Belhar.
I’m written here several times about my and my husband’s cats. While I believe that a biblically Reformed worldview encompasses all of life — including the antics and quirks of that wondrous creature of God, the cat — I want to get back to more serious revelry here.
So I started another blog where I will wax on (eloquently or not is for you to decide) about things feline: www.confessionsofacataholic.wordpress.com. That blog is appearing in connection with my second book, which is also just appearing, and for which the official release date is Oct. 31 (Reformation Day, of course). The book, as the blog, is called Confessions of a Cataholic. I invite you to go there and take a look. And if you are a cat lover, I invite you (even implore, perhaps) to buy the book; and if you aren’t, to buy it for someone who is! (See www.wordpowerpublishing.com)
So that allows us to get back to our more serious revelry, as I call it. And the first piece of such revelry is by a friend of mine, Dr. John Bolt, to whom I am happy to relinquish this space for a bit. John is a theology professor at Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich. He’s a interesting and insightful guy, so it’s no surprise that he is also an interesting and insightful writer (and professor).
He’s got important things to say about the Belhar Confession, a new confession adopted this past summer by the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). John has qualms about the CRC adopting this statement and giving it the status of a confession, on par with the historic teachings of the Reformed churches. So do I. But I’m not giving him this space just because I essentially agree with him. He raises points about this “confession” that anyone with even remote connections to the CRC should think about carefully. John’s thoughts about the Belhar will appear as a multi-part series of posts.
The Reveler (aka Marian Van Til)
I can hardly believe that I haven’t posted anything here in more than two months. So much for daily — much less weekly, or even monthly — blogging.
I decided some time ago that anybody who actually blogs everyday needs to get a life (outside of staring at a computer screen). That probably sounds self-righteous. Or excuses my own negligence, my ignoring of this space for most of the summer. I spend many hours a week (heck, many hours a day) at my computer, too, as every-day bloggers obviously do. But I’m working most of that time. And I find I just don’t have that much to say that I think the world (or even my small part of the world) would be intersted in reading.
What I do hope people will be interested in reading (it’s my living!) is my new book, which will be out officially on Oct. 31 (Reformation Day — significant, though the book has nothing to do with the Reformation). It may be out a bit earlier unofficially.
It’s called Confessions of a Cataholic; subtitle: My Life with the 10 Cats Who Caused My Addiction (hardcover, 136 pp., retail price $21.95US). I’ve gotten very good responses to it from cat lovers who have read the manuscript. I hope that continues — big time! — when the book is for sale.
When one has lived with cats for many years it’s hard not to tell stories to one’s friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc., about feline antics one observes (and sorrows that also inevitably come with cat ownership) . I’ve been told numerous times after telling such a story, “You should write that down! You should write a book!” So I have. (And obviously on a very different topic than my first book, my biography of Handel.)
I’ll be starting a new blog that will be related to the book; and am in the process of putting up an entirely revamped website for WordPower Publishing (no, don’t look yet; for now it’s still the same old thing).
So that’s what’s been taking up most of my time. That and my other job, my church music directorship; and making tasty home-made, unadulterated food that complies with the Specific Carbohydrate diet I’m still on (“still” will likely be a long LONG time). And tending to my husband; and the cats. (Hedwig the new feline girl is doing well, becoming less timid, and is showing she loves food as much as Caspian and Keeley do.)
That’s it for now.
RR
You may have seen the comment from a friend of mine and Ed’s, a fellow cat (and dog) lover, asking me to post a picture of Cassie, the 13-year-old cat we lost a few weeks ago, and of Hedwig, the new girl. So here they are.
Cassie was a beautiful tortoiseshell with all the colors I love in a cat: many shades of brown, rust, tan, and black too. Throughout 10 of the 12 years we had her she was a whiner, and somewhat pushy, which made her less beautiful in our eyes. But two years ago when she developed hyperthyroidism her personality began to change, and in those last two years she became a little trooper. She developed patience in adversity, even silently going through blindness and deafness for a time, then regaining those senses. That was not only a very welcome change, but it now gives us pleasant memories of her. That patience in suffering is what we’ll think of when we think of Cassie.
Cassie, sun bathing
Hedwig has now been with us a week. We think that when she settles in with the other four cats (three males, age 14, 14 and 6, and a female, 3-1/2) and becomes thoroughly comfortable here she’ll be a very fine cat. She shows positive signs of that now: she loves to be petted and is very friendly with Ed and me. But she’s still somewhat fearful and treads lightly in the midst of the other cats. The good news is there’s no fighting or even hissing, though Hedwig growls occasionally if she feels cornered by one
or several of the others.
Though she was used to a pile of cats in her foster home (a dozen of them) she needed a slightly less frenetic environment. She’ll have that here. She has lots of windows and doors to look out of, many places to sleep, and she’s hearing hours of classical music guaranteed to soothe her feline soul. We’ve also got her on a diet, as I said previously. Rather than eating whenever the spirit moved her she eats twice a day as our other cats do. She refused to eat except for a couple of nibbles the first few days, forcing me to go out and buy a bag of the food she was used to. She’s coming around in that regard, too, getting used to a mix of her old food and the new, some of which is canned, some dry. While cats are the ultimate creatures of habit they can also be quite adaptable, particularly when treated well and given encouragement. She knows we love her, so she’s going to be just fine.
My camera batteries are depleted at the moment and I have no fresh ones. So the photo of Hedwig is one we were given by her foster carer. Hedwig had a litter of kitten while in that home, oddly having two on one day and two several days later; only two survived.
It’s a lovely day today. The sun is shining, there’s a pleasant breeze that is making the temperature just right. That’s a fine gift from God to begin another week. Oh, I know: Sunday actually begins the week, and yesterday was an equally fine day, in more ways than one. We had a good, rejuvenating service at the Lutheran church at which I’m the music director. That’s the way church always should be, of course, but “should” and “is” are too often vastly different things when it comes to the church. (How can anybody doubt that we’re all sinners in need of redemption, and then of constant sanctification?)
The Gospel lesson was the Apostle John’s account of the Jesus’s Feeding of the 5,000. It never struck me until yesterday what all those people really had was a picnic; and what a picnic! They sat on the grass; the sun was surely shining, the air warm; and they had been listening to the most compelling teacher imaginable. And after the lessons that Teacher did something wholly unexpected (though it shouldn’t have been unexpected): he provided — as he always provides, for us too — far more than anyone expected, and in an entirely unlikely way. Not even Philip, one of the 12, had any inkling of what Jesus would — could — do, and he, and the rest of the 12, surely should have had a clue by then.
If there’s one thing Scripture demonstrates over and over it’s that God is lavish with his gifts to his people because he loves them (us). But we so often aren’t open to his generosity. He wants us to ask him for what we need, and he delights in being generous and gracious. (“You don’t have because you don’t ask,” Jesus told his disciples on another occasion. Wow.)
But when we do ask we frequently ask for the wrong stuff, stuff we happen to want, not what we need. There’s nothing wrong with wanting good things, but if we pray for such things and God grants them we must also be prepared to use them wisely and to share them generously. Stuffing our houses, garages and faces, allowing us to “store up treasures on earth” is not the point of God’s graciousness to us.
I’ve started to look for an additional part-time job (besides my church job and my freelance writing/editing); some extra income would be very helpful to Ed and me. I think my health has improved to the point that I believe I can handle more work now. I’m praying I’ll find something that suits me, something that further allows me to use the talents God has given me. (I’d be most grateful to any fellow Christians who want to join me in that prayer.)
But I feel that I have to be careful about my motives in wanting more income. I know myself well enough that I know I could easily fall into the trap of loving my material goods too much, of wanting ever better and nicer stuff. Coveting (in terms of one’s house, cars, etc.) is probably my “besetting sin.” If I (and my husband) had substantially more income, or even somewhat or a little more, I’d need to pray with every payday (as I need to now) that I would use that money wisely, and that the tithe I set aside would always come first because it’s God’s (as is all the rest of it, of course; but God’s in a special way). I usually do that, but sometimes — more often than I like to admit, actually — setting aside that 10% feels like a burden. Being a cheerful giver (God loves cheerful givers, says St. Paul) should never be a burden. A line from a Psalm comes to mind: “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?” It’s really a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious: EVERYTHING. All I have, starting with my heart. And when I do that I shouldn’t be surprised at what unlikely and amazing things God does in my life simply because he is lavishly gracious and generous God and delights in giving good things to his children.
R.R., back to reveling
I seem to have a devil of a time keeping up with this blog. BLOG. That word sounds like I sometimes feel about this thing. Though I guess it’s a potentially good way to communicate. If anybody reads it. I do wish more readers would comment. Even if they don’t like what they read. I can take it.
A Sad Farewell to Cassie
Our cat Cassie died on Friday, May 10. She deteriorated rapidly in that week. And in fact, on the day we had determined that we would take her on her last trip to the vet she “crashed,” to use the technical term, soon after getting there, when the tech was inserting the catheter for the anesthetic syringe in a front-paw vein. So she was unconscious by the time we saw her. Fortunately I had been talking to her and petting her during the 20-minute car ride there, but the experience was still unsettling, and I wish she hadn’t had to be with strangers when that happened. Clearly she was under stress. I suspect that she would have died at home later that day, had we not jumped the gun slightly. When I went to look for her to leave for the vet, I couldn’t find her. Finally I found her on the other side of our bed, facing the bed, and about to head under it. I’m pretty sure it was where she was going to go to die. Cats know these things; they know how to number their days. As do dogs and a lot of other mammals.
Our other four cats held their own wake for her. Really. When we brought Cassie’s body back and set the basket down so they could see (they shouldn’t have to miss her and hunt all over for her, wondering what happened to her), they all sniffed and looked and sat by her side, and sniffed and looked again, for a full five minutes. Then gradually, they left one by one. We were amazed. When they had all moved away, we took her outside and buried her under our apple tree next to Dancer.
Hello to Hedwig
It’s now July 23 and we have a new cat. Four seemed exponentially less than six. It just seemed we needed another. This one is already at least two years old. She is pretty but porky, so we’ve got her on a diet. No more all-day grazing for you, Sister. Two moderate meals a day. She took exception to that for the first four days, and it initiated a battle of wills between her and me, one she couldn’t win. I don’t allow cats to be either constant or fussy eaters. I did concede one point: I bought some of the (dry) food she was used to so that it could be mixed with the food our other cats eat.It’s not fair to suddenly foist new food on a cat, out of nowhere, cats being such creatures of habit that they are.
She has bright owl-like eyes, so we named her Hedwig, after Harry Potter’s owl — though she’s not white, as a snowy owl is, but has a blue-cream sort of coat, a smoky blue-gray with bits of tan, and mostly tan feet. We got her from Save-a-Pet, an organization that puts cats in foster homes until they find permanent homes. We got Cassie from the same group.
She’s affectionate and friendly (to us, if not exactly outgoing to the other cats at this point, but they are adjusting well to each other; no fights, anyway, just a hiss or two between Hedwig and Caspian, the oldest male). We had expected to get a young cat, so I’m still mentally adjusting to having an adult cat and not exactly a new playmate for Roo and Keeley. But many people simply won’t adopt adult cats, and that’s a sad state of affairs for all those cats, who through no fault of their own, grow up (unless they meet the executioner or starvation first).
On Another Front
I’m getting more and more annoyed with the state of politics in this country, but I can’t write about it right now. Annoyed is not the word. Angry. It would be nice if there were more Senators and Congresspersons than, say, a number countable on one, or possibly both, hands, who had integrity, honesty and who were not out for their own interests and re-election first of all. I’ve begun to think there aren’t more than a handful or two. Certainly the leaders of that supposedly august body don’t quality. Nor am I happy with the President. What is it about bankrupt he doesn’t understand?
More of this — perhaps — another time. I’m not sure I want to get political here. It takes too much energy, and sound and careful thinking, and I don’t have the time to devote to that right now. Nor do I particularly want to be partisan.
The Reveler, not reveling these days
On my next book
It’s been much too long since I’ve written here. I’ve been finishing the initial manuscript of my second book which is a whimsical look at living with cats: Confessions of a Cataholic. It will be out later this year — in time to be a Christmas present for some of you, I trust. I won’t call what I’ve written so far a “draft” because I don’t really write drafts. I edit and polish as I go — which doesn’t mean that a manuscript won’t need further editing once I’ve come to the end of it, of course. But “draft” doesn’t seem like quite the right word.
On another terminally ill cat
We now have another cat with kidney disease: Cassie. That problem is greatly exacerbated by the fact that she has also had hyperthyroidism for the last few years. She was, because of that, both blind and deaf for while. Quite amazingly (miraculously, I think — I did pray for her to be healted) she regained both of those senses, much to the surprise and delight of our vet. But now, Cassie’s days are numbered. She’s clearly not feeling well and for the last few days has been eating little. Tonight we’ll give her a subcutaneous injection to see if that helps her. But we’ve decided that we won’t go through with her what we went through with Dancer. We just can’t. Dancer died less than two months ago.
Cassie in in a different situation and is a different cat. If a few subcutaneous injections don’t get her eating again, we have determined to say good bye to her sooner rather than later. She’s 14; we’ve had her since she was about a year old — a long time. She was, for most of those years, a whiny cat, one sometimes difficult to love. But since her adversity she has become much more agreeable, and grateful to us, it seems. (There’s a lesson there for us human beings about facing adversity, I think.) Of course no decent person wants to see one of their pets, or any animal, suffer. I admit that she has not occupied the kind of space in my heart that Dancer did. Nevertheless, we will miss her of course when her days are gone. And so will her feline family members. As animals will, they already seem to be withdrawing from her. That disturbs me, but it’s the way animals seem to prepare themselves for loss.
On Michael Jackson
I’ve been thinking surprisingly often about Michael Jackson since he died. I say “surprisingly” because I was no Jackson fan. I inhabit an entirely different musical universe. (I grew up in the town next door to Gary, Indiana, where Jackson grew up and so was aware of the Michael and his brothers from the time he and they came on the pop musical scene as the Jackson Five.) The recent incessant talk about him having been a genius is vastly overblown. But when someone younger than you yourself are has immense riches and fame and, ok, talent — with which he could have done so much for good in the world — and essentially destroys himself and fritters away his fortune on self-obsessive stuff, that’s an utter waste of the life and extraordinary resources God has given a person.
I’ve found myself wondering more than once about what kind of conversation, if conversation is the word, Michael Jackson had with God on that night when God required a reckoning of him. I would not have wanted to be Jackson then. Nor at any time in his strange and sad life. I admit I also wonder about the lives and priorities of the apparently millions of people who are “devastated” by Jackson’s death. He was not someone they knew personally, not even close. Yet many of them are grieving hysterically; and many hundreds have hopped on planes from far-flung places in the world to go to Los Angeles where shrines have already cropped up. If someone can explain the psychology of that to me, I’m listening.
If you have an AN AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE or love someone who does, PLEASE read this. It can change lives. It did mine.
In my last column in Christian Courier, the Canadian biweekly I regularly write and edit for, I wrote about the exilarating healing I began to experience in February after nearly 30 years of suffering with Crohn’s disease, an all too common auto-immune inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). I’ve tried many of the Crohn’s drug, mostly unsuccessfuly because I am extremely drug senstive. I’ve had two surgeries in which past of my small intestine was removed each time. Throughout all that I was told by most physicians that what I ate really didn’t matter much. That seemed counterintuitive — after all, as in many areas of life, “garbage in, garbage out” would be the logical response — and indeed, it is. More of that below.
As is often the case with gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, they affect bodily systems besides the obvious ones. They really affect the whole body, including the brain and the emotions; and thus, also the spirit. I also have long had allergies and asthma, and, far more seriously, mitochondrial dysfunction: in my case, the cells’ mitochondria — the “engines” or powerhouses of every bodily cell – do not produce enough oxygen, adding intensely to the fatigue already caused by Crohn’s, and in addition causing muscle aches, weakness and muscle “humming” because lactic acid builds up in the muscles even when they are not being used.
I’m not telling you these woes to elicit sympathy. I’m describing this so that you can see how ill I have been and what a marvelous tandem solution the diet and the drug about which I’ll tell you has been. And so that if you or someone you love suffers from similar afflictions (or also from serious neaurological diseases such as MS, ALS, neuropathy, post-polio syndrome) you — or they — will know that there is hope if you (or they) thought all avenues of help had been exhausted.
‘Wait on the LORD and he will renew your strength like the eagle’s’
Last fall, in the midst of a long bout of despressing and debilitating fatigue (not to mention constant ache/pain in my right side at the place where the Crohn’s is active in my gut) I initiated a renewed search via the Internet for a good alternative treatment to Crohn’s. I sensed that all my ailments were related, since my immune system seemed to be the underlying culprit. I prayed daily, as I had for many years, that God would at last bring healing. He certainly had in various ways during those three decades. But I admit I was looking for something more. I wanted to be able to function like a normal — or relatively normal — human being, to have the energy to do my work (writing, editing, being a church music director, being a wife, tend-er of our pet cats, gardener and run-ner of a household).
God led me in a way that made me have to rely on him every step, that forced me to develop patience, that required me to learn to “wait on the LORD.” But then he, at last, granted me my heart’s desire: health; in barely four month, better health than I’ve had in essentially my entire life since early adolescence.
In my Internet search I was first led to what was basically a gluten-free diet. It eliminated wheat, oats, barley, corn and all other grains except rice and rice-based breads and pastries. It did not eliminate refined sugars, nor starches such as potatoes. Along with some new nutritional supplements I launched into that diet with great hope on New Years Day. I began to feel some difference and began to lose a little weight. But three weeks in nothing much had really happened. The slight initial improvement may have been a placebo effect. The pain in my side — always an indicator of the state of my Crohn’s — was as bad after a month as it had been in some time. In another week I dejectedly concluded it wasn’t working.
The DIET
Meanwhile, I had started another Internet search and was continuing to pray that God, Creator of our marvelous bodies, Author of every biological system and function within those bodies, would lead me to an answer that would be in tune with the way he created us. I believe he gave me that answer. Very quickly I started seeing references to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). I came across people on the diet and accounts of the ongoing healing they experience because of it. At first I dismissed it because it seemed pretty drastic. And that from someone who had alrady eliminated wheat, oats and corn (oh, corn on the cob!) from her diet.
But the gluten-free diet, in itself, clearly was not working. I began to read more about the diet, discovering that it was devised some years ago by a Canadian moleculor biologist named Elaine Gottschall for her own daughter who had severe ulcerative colitis when only a young child. Gottschall has died but her theory is alive and well. Put simply, it says that people with IBDs (and the less serious iritable bowel syndrome [IBS]) cannot digest well most sugars and starches (two- and three- or multi-molecule sugars called di- and polysaccharides), and especially refined forms of these. When a person eats those things, the undigested food remains in the gut too long and is feasted on my unbeneficial bacteria. It ferments; it exacerbates the disease.
The solution, therefore, is twofold: avoid such sugars and starches so that those “bad bacteria” have little or nothing to feed on; and introduce “good bacteria” (probiotics) such as the acidophilus in yogurt (or acidophilus by capsule) to help get a better balance of bacterial “flora” in the gut. How does one do that?
The good news first: by eating only meat, (most) vegetables and (unsweetened) fruit, and by making one’s own yogurt (incubated for a full 24 hours so that all the lactose (milk sugar) in its milk or 1/2 and 1/2 contains gets eaten up. That leaves a huge variety of good food for one to eat (and there are inventive SCD cookbooks and other recipes to help one). But it does take an adjustment period for most people, not surprisingly, and of course the will to do it. But it’s so effective that the will to do it becomes second-nature for most people on the SCD. The alternative is continued pain and diarrhea, fatigue and other complications. Which would you rather have?
And now the bad news. What that means is the elmination of foods you probably thought you couldn’t (or didn’t want to) live without:
Bread (and other grains, including rice and soy, which are essententially starch; you’ll get the nutrients they do contain from other sources); eliminate potatos and sweet potatoes (hard to digest starch).
Sugar: refined or partially refined sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, molasses) or sugar added in manufacturing (to practically everything canned or bottled: ketchup, salad dressings, steak sauce, soda pop, sweetened juices, hot dogs, sausages and bacon — all with added sugar or sugar-cured). Also eliminated are certain kinds of fermented foods, particularly soy sauce.
Many people with IBDs know themselves to have a lactose intolerance: they can’t drink milk, eat ice cream, use coffee cream, sour or whipped cream, soft cheeses (especially mozzarella), etc., without it causing gas, bloating or diarrhea. That’s because lactose is a milk sugar that not well digestible for many of us. The good news with the SCD is that not all milk products are verboten. If you love butter, as I do, use it! It’s virtually lactose-free fat. And I already mentioned the mainstay of daily eating: home-made yogurt which is fermented a full 24 hours, removing essentially all its lactose while introducing good bacteria into the gut (as well as needed protein, calcium and fat).
Gottschall set down her ideas and developed the diet in her book Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet. (The book also contains some initial recipes, which is a help.Complementary to this diet are several other books that I highly recommend: the first is Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life by Wolfgang Lutz and Christian B. Allen; the second is Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control and Disease by Gary Taubes.
As the subtile of Taubes’s book indicates, and as you surely know, a low-carbohydrate diet (which automatically boosts the amount of fats one eats) is not part of the conventional medical wisdom of our time, though it was for most of the 19th century. Taubes explains how the unfortunate state of affairs came about which has most physicians still swearing by the “health” of a high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet, despite the massive obesity epidemic which we’re in the middle of. And he and Lutz and Allan explain the human biological processes and the research studies which demonstrate why they take exception to that conventional wisdom.
If one only wanted to lose weight (rather than help heal an IBD), the SCD would be the diet to do it. Since February I lost 30 pounds — down to my optimal weight — without trying to or thinking about it. You stop eating sugars, the weight falls off, and without being hungry if you’re eating enough meat, veggies and fruit (fruit has natural sugar in it, but of a kind different than refined sugar, and more easily digestible for most people).
The DRUG
About the same time that I discovered the SCD I discovered the off-label use of a generic drug which is also doing wonders for people with IBDs, for other imme system disorders, for serious neurological disorders such a MS, and for certain cancers.
The drug is referred to as low-dose naltrexone or LDN. That is to distinguish it from its regular high-dose use in treating drug and alchohol addiction. In the 1980s a New York physician, Bernard Behari, discovered that low doses of naltrexone (up to only 4.5 mg) would regulate the immune system. This ocurred by taking it before bed. The drug would block the body’s opioid receptors for several hours, and as a reaction, when it wore off, the body would produce endorphins, which are now known to be crucial to how the immune system functions — and which every person with an auto-immune disease does not produce enough of. (You can read much more about this, and about Elain Gottschall’s work with the SCD at the links below.)
LDN at that dose has no bad side effects — except it can at first, and for a while, cause wakefulness in some people. That happened to me. I would wake up and be awake for two or three hours during the night, at first, when my body started producing endorphins. Gradually that improved and now happens seldom. In the meantime, though, when one is asleep the sleep is very deep and restful (and many people remark that it is often accompanied by vivid dreams, though my dreams have always been vivid). The first few nights I felt as if I were glued to the bed when I first noticed the effects of the LDN, my limbs feeling very heavy. Including the few hours awake, I was in bed for 12 hours a night for the first two nights. That “heaviness” sensation is rare, apparently, and was of no real consequence.
Within five days I felt a huge surge in energy level and that continued to improve. The lactic-acid problem in my muscles cleared up. I am now also using my asthma inhaler half as much as I did, and have fewer allergy problems. It is also helping — along with the diet — for my Crohn’s. (An initial Penn State study showed its efficacy for Crohn’s, and that study is currently being followed up on.) My gastroenterologist, though he had never heard of this off-label use of the drug, was open to allowing me to try it, and my personal physician was equally open to it and the diet (and asked for information he could pass on to another of his patients with Crohn’s). That is not always the reaction from doctors. Many don’t want to hear about it since it’s new to them or because it’s being used off-label (though many drugs are).
Both the SCD and LDN have been a God-send for me. Many thousands of other people worldwide have also experienced renwed health from the diet, the drug or both. I’m on internet discussion lists with groups of people on the diet and taking the drug. They all testify to the diet being amazing and the drug amazing in additional ways. If you haven’t heard of LDN it is probably because it’s a generic drug and the pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to conduct studies on it that won’t profit them. Independent studies are being conducted, however, and are revealing more and more the astonishing properties that this drug in low doses is invested with.
Links
Specific Carbohydrate Diet: http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.org/ http://www.healingcrow.com/dietsmain/scd/scd.html
Low-dose naltrexone (LDN): http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org
