July 16, 2025 • 48 mins
This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Lindsey Mendenwaldt about her article, “Crystals: Vibrations, Energy, and Healing Power?”. https://www.equip.org/articles/crystals-vibrations-energy-and-healing-power/
Note this article is the first in a new and to be ongoing Column by Lindsey Mendenwaldt entitled the Fringe Files.
Related articles and podcasts by this author:Episode 442: Consciously Dreaming: A Look at Lucid DreamsConsciously Dreaming: A Look at Lucid DreamsEpisode 409 When Physical Therapy Gets Spiritual: Should Christians Avoid Holistic and Alternative Medicine?When Physical Therapy Gets Spiritual: Should Christians Avoid Holistic and Alternative Medicine?Episode 390 Enhancing Your Energy the New Age Way: Understanding Auras, Chakras, and QiEnhancing Your Energy the New Age Way: Understanding Auras, Chakras, and Qi
Don’t miss an episode; please subscribe to the Postmodern Realities podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Please help spread the word about Postmodern Realities by giving us a rating and review when you subscribe to the podcast. The more ratings and reviews we have, the more new listeners can discover our content.
Note this article is the first in a new and to be ongoing Column by Lindsey Mendenwaldt entitled the Fringe Files.
Related articles and podcasts by this author:Episode 442: Consciously Dreaming: A Look at Lucid DreamsConsciously Dreaming: A Look at Lucid DreamsEpisode 409 When Physical Therapy Gets Spiritual: Should Christians Avoid Holistic and Alternative Medicine?When Physical Therapy Gets Spiritual: Should Christians Avoid Holistic and Alternative Medicine?Episode 390 Enhancing Your Energy the New Age Way: Understanding Auras, Chakras, and QiEnhancing Your Energy the New Age Way: Understanding Auras, Chakras, and Qi
Don’t miss an episode; please subscribe to the Postmodern Realities podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Please help spread the word about Postmodern Realities by giving us a rating and review when you subscribe to the podcast. The more ratings and reviews we have, the more new listeners can discover our content.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hi everyone, Thank you for tuning in to the Postmodern
Realities podcast, brought to you by the Christian Research Institute
and the Christian Research Journal. I'm Melanie Cogdill, Managing editor
of the Christian Research Journal. It's July twenty twenty five,
and you're listening to episode four hundred and fifty four,
(00:41):
which is a conversation about crystals. On this episode, I'm
joined by Lindsay Mennenwald, who is an assistant professor in
the Business and Economics department at Northwestern College in Iowa.
She is also the author of the twenty twenty four
book Bridge Building Apologetics. Lindsay holds a master's degree in
(01:03):
apologetics and ethics from Denver Seminary, a jd from Saint
Mary's School of Law, and a master's in Public administration
from Midwestern State University. Lindsay has written an exclusive online
feature article for the Christian Research Journal. Her article is
called Crystals, Vibrations, Energy and Healing Power. You can read
(01:26):
it for free at equipped dot org. That's e qu
ip dot RG. Lindsay, it's good to have you back
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Hey, Melanie, so glad to be here well.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
As I noted, today we're going to talk about crystals,
and a long time ago in the Christian Research Journal
decades ago, we did talk about crystals and healing, especially
people who you know, nurses and things like that use
at and these objects. But it's kind of made a resurgence.
It did seem like an interesting kind of artifact that
(02:02):
people who are into the New Age movement in the
sixties and seventies were into. But again, Lindsay has found
for us over the last several years that because of
social media and TikTok and YouTube and all these places,
there's really a resurgence in people having interest in crystals.
So that might sound vague to some people. They might
(02:23):
not know what that is. So let's start our conversation
by defining crystals. What exactly are crystals as you're talking
about them in this article.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Right, So I think we could start at the beginning.
Crystals are basically rocks, right, So this is the idea
of us going to a museum and looking at gems
and seeing the sparkly things. The word crystal itself is
from the ancient Greek words crystalos, which means ice and
rock crystal, and cross, which means icy, cold, or frost.
(02:58):
And so if you think about like a snowflake, for example,
that technically qualifies as a crystal, even though it's not
a rock because it's got certain dimensions that cause it
to be sparkly, which is not technically a scientific term,
but I think listeners will relate to that word. It's
any solid material that has atoms that are arranged in
(03:20):
a particular pattern, and their surface reflects their symmetry. So
if you think of a diamond, which a lot of
listeners probably have in their homes via you know, engagement rings,
or any sort of gemstone that might be in a
piece of jewelry, that's a crystal. Kids like I have kids,
(03:42):
they would describe crystals as pretty stones with cool designs,
and so that's kind of what a crystal is scientifically.
I'm not a scientist, but that is what science says
about crystals.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So in the one hands, they're like gemstones. But as
part of your research went to some stores that are
specifically crystal shops, that's probably for different reasons kind of
having more like beliefs attached to them, And what did
you find when you went to those particular stores.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, So I don't know about you or the listeners.
But as a kid, I collected rocks. I think this
is a pretty common hobby amongst kids. One of my
daughters used to bring home rocks a lot. And I
went to rock shops when I was a kid, and
they were stores that had a bunch of rocks in them,
and there wasn't anything spiritual about going to these rock shops.
(04:38):
They literally was just a store that sold rocks. But
that's not the kind of shop that I went to
when I was researching for this article. Rock shops really
don't exist all that much anymore. If you're driving around
looking for a rock shop, you're probably not going to
find it. And if you search on the internet for
rock shops, what will likely come up is actually New
(05:00):
Age shops, and so that's kind of what I visited
when I was researching for this article. One of them
was outside of Denver and it sold crystals, but it
also offered things like tarot cards, which we've talked about before, incense,
smudging items, and more. I want to define smudging for you, Melanie,
(05:24):
because we haven't really talked about that all that often.
But smudging is a Native American and Indigenous practice that
was used for cleansing the spirits or purifying physical spaces
from negative energies that might exist in the air. And
so smudging has become quite popular amongst new agers, and
(05:49):
there are usually just bundles of herbs and other things
tied together with string and then you burn them, and
that is supposed to clean the energies around you. I
also visited a new Age shop in the Mall in
Dallas at one point, and I found that they offered
(06:10):
very similar items. So I just started browsing the crystals
and one of the things that I noticed right away
were the descriptions. When you're in a natural history museum
and reading about gems and stones, you might find descriptions
that are about where you find those crystals, or about
(06:31):
their colors, or information about how rare they are, or
maybe like I went to Washington, d c. In seventh
or eighth grade, and we stopped at the Smithsonian Natural
History Museum and one of the gemstones that they highlight
there is the Hope diamond, and the description there included, hey,
(06:53):
this is more than forty five carrots and which is
massive for a diamond, and it's got this blue violet
tone that can only be found in a certain place,
and that's the kind of description you would expect when
you're reading about gemstones. But I found that the descriptions
in the shops were different because they focused on the
(07:16):
power that the crystals held.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That is very interesting because I think kids collecting rocks
don't normally think of those rocks having any kind of
supernatural powers. So, you know, you just talked that you
know that they might have specific powers or people believe
them to have powers. What do you mean by powers?
Because like again, you you know, you go to a
(07:42):
gem store, you go, you know, panning for those stones,
like you know, in your field trip in elementary school.
I don't think we normally associate powers with crystals.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Right, unless you're watching movies. So have you ever seen
The Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Melanie, I actually haven't seen it.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So that one came out in two thousand and eight,
and I just recently have been rewatching it, partially because
of this article and this discussion we're having. But in
that film, which not a lot of people loved, but
I'm an Indiana Jones fan, so I think it's great
the Crystal Skull that they were searching for was said
(08:24):
to contain psychic powers and would give whoever had it
telepathic powers. And although that's a movie, there are people
in real life who believe that. Right, the movie has
sort of gleaned information from reality. What do people think
(08:44):
about these things? Oh, they believe schools have crystal skulls
have certain powers. Well, crystals have powers according to certain
people like New Agers. As I was walking through these
crystal shops in Denver and Dallas, actually wrote down and
took some photos of the descriptions because some of them
(09:04):
are kind of confusing and I wanted to learn more
about what the claims were. So I'll tell you a
couple of the descriptions and then we can talk about
what they mean. But for the rose or Courts, which
is just a pink crystal, it said that it's a
master healer and stimulates the immune system, so if you're sick,
(09:26):
this is the one you want to carry around. It's
also helpful for love. Energies of the higher planes. So
higher planes, Melanie, are these places that are beyond the
physical existence, and they're usually associated with things like higher
consciousness or divine reality, which again, these are all New
(09:48):
Age phrases that we've talked about a lot on this podcast,
but I'm hoping that as we talk about them more today,
people will have a better understanding of them. The blue
ora courts that I see awe and it's just a
blue crystal. Apparently it's known for eliminating all of the
negativity in your mind. It's said that it contains a
(10:10):
high vibrational tone, and it's connected to the throat, third eye,
and crown chakras of your body. Okay, so that's a
lot to define. But the third eye. If you've seen
maybe Doctor Strange the film, you'd be familiar with the
third eye, but it is often described as this metaphorical
(10:32):
eye that is in the middle of somebody's forehead that
allows for inner vision or spiritual insight beyond what you're
beyond what your actual eyes can see. Chakras are the
energy systems within your body, and they're said to be
(10:52):
interconnected with your physical body, your emotional body, and also
your spiritual body. And then the other one that I
was interested in because it was pretty is the lapist lazuli,
which we will talk about a little bit more, but
it said that it could guard against psychic attacks So
(11:13):
that's similar then to what I talked about with Indiana Jones, right,
So it contains psychic powers. So this particular stone, the
claim is that it will protect you against psychic attacks. Melanie.
One of the things we were talking about before we
got onto recording this was this idea of vibrations. So
(11:33):
I would like to clarify a little bit about what
we mean when we say vibrations. When you hear a
New Ager say vibrations, they are talking about this energetic
state that is within a person or an object, or
even your thoughts. And the idea is that as you
become a healthier being, both physically and emotionally and also spiritually,
(11:58):
I suppose your vibrations get higher and that allows you
to get to that higher plane we just talked about,
this realm of divine reality, this higher consciousness. The reality
is that science tells us everything in the universe has
some sort of vibration. This is physics, right. This is
(12:20):
when you hear Nikola Tesla quotes about vibrations. He's not
talking about New Age ideas of vibrations. He's talking about
the fact that in physics, all matter is composed of
these particles that are constantly in motion, and that motion
(12:40):
is a vibration. And so Nikola Tesla is often used
by new agers or proponents of people who use crystals
for energy, healing or whatever, as this proponent of new
age ideas, and he wasn't as far as I can tell.
They're cherry picking certain quotes from him. But in my
(13:01):
research I stumbled upon this article, very short article on
the Christian Research Journal page which I do spend a
fair amount of time on, and I found a very
short article by the former editor in chief of the
Christian Research Journal, Elliott Miller, And in it he talks
about these electronic frequencies that exist in everything, and he says,
(13:27):
but occultists assume that those electronic frequencies must also be
good for transmitting psychic frequencies. So they've made this connection
that somehow the energy that exists in all of us
is good for harnessing healing and spiritual growth and protection,
(13:50):
and they use crystals to help them do that better.
So I think the biggest confusion to kind of clear
up here is just because something has a vibration or
is moving constantly, which physics tells us we all are
if we're made up of atoms. That doesn't mean that
(14:11):
the energy is helping you in some way or that
the crystals that you're using to harness that energy are
actually working.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
As you know, the Christian Research Journal is now a
free online publication, but there are some times that our
team feels that it warrants a full print issue when
we want to bring to you the fruit of in
depth research on a particular subject matter, and so something
like that is about to be published. It is a
(14:44):
one hundred page in depth issue only focusing on the
primary research that we have done on the Eastern Lightning cult,
which it's an complete expose of this cultic And even
back i'd say a decade ago, we noted there were
(15:05):
more than four million people worldwide following this group, and
our president, Hank Canigraph has done a very deep dive
with primary research, going to China a number of times
to research this group, to talk to people who are
impacted by this group. And what this group is is
a group that worships a woman who says that she
(15:30):
is the incarnation, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Now that
seems pretty incredible. You will not want to miss this
special issue to receive this very special, in depth, one
hundred page special print edition of the Christian Researchanel. Please
go to equip dot organ. If you scroll down, you
(15:51):
will see gifts for your donation and you will see
a cover there that says the Eastern Lightning Cult Christ
returns to Earth as a female. You will not want
to miss out on this exclusive issue that is one
hundred pages of exposing this oc cultic group that has
done much damage and has influenced worldwide.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So it's a special.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Prededition of the Christian Research Journal that you won't want
to miss. And now back to my conversation with Lindsey
Mettenwald about new age crystals. Well, there are different kinds
of people that use crystals, and we've mentioned a bunch
new agers and so first of all, let's de find
(16:36):
that term. When someone says someone is a new ager,
what are you referring to? And then how do new
agers use crystals?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well, new agers are there's a lot of different definitions
you could come up with for who a new ager is.
A new ager is somebody who has particular views about
the universe and reality. Their worldview is generally a compilation
of Eastern worldviews. So you see kind of a mix
(17:10):
of Hinduism and Buddhism and other religions that kind of
help new agers come up with their worldview, but it
draws from a variety of sources, including naturalism and astrology.
And even they won't probably like me saying this, but
(17:33):
science fiction, right, So a lot of New Age beliefs
are kind of aligned with what we see in science fiction,
and I don't think that's super surprising for anyone to hear.
But new Agers are a separate worldview from other religions.
It's sort of a I used to say, it's kind
of a choose your own religion, but I think it's
(17:53):
more nuanced than that the more that I research it.
I think there are some general ideas held by new
Agers where they find agreement and then they sort of
pick and choose from there. So not all new agers
are going to use crystals, for example, but they might
all believe that energy is coming up from the universe
and that we should be trying to achieve a higher consciousness.
(18:18):
The means of getting there might be different depending on
the particular new Ager as far as what they use
crystals for. If they choose to use crystals for anything,
The two things that I find most interesting that folks
might find most interesting are crystal healing and crystal manifestation.
(18:38):
I read a book called Crystals by somebody. Her name
is Jenny Harding, and she actually I ended up having
two books by her in my library by accident, not
realizing that she had written the other one. But in
the course of my research, I purchased a crystal set
from Barnes and Noble. It was, you know, Barns and
(19:00):
Noble carries more than books these days, and they had
a whole section on crystals, and I was intrigued, so
I purchased a book on crystals as well as like
a set of rocks, and it contained another book by her.
But anyway, she talks a lot about healing powers of crystals,
and she gives advice about how to get the most
(19:24):
power out of your crystals, and one of the things
is to wear the crystal close to your heart because
that's bridging the chakra between spirit and matter. And she
says that by wearing the crystal above your heart, you're
going to spread your energy throughout your oric field. It
sounds very food food, but basically what she's saying is
(19:47):
wear it closer to your heart, and you'll get healed
faster because the chakra by your heart is connected to
all of the other chakras in your body. There's no
scientific evidence to show that healing happens with crystals. I looked,
I looked at journals, I read articles. I tried to
find evidence that would support the claims. But in general
(20:12):
the claims are called pseudoscience, and that means that they're
not actual science. And yet people will ardently argue with
you and say no, the crystal led to my healing.
I saw. It was not an article. It was a
(20:33):
social media post by someone who claimed that she had
a burn on her hand and she read up on
the types of crystals that help you with healing, and
she held this crystal in her hand every day, and
in three months her hand was completely healed. And my
brain was thinking, well, in three months, that would make sense,
(20:59):
because your body has time to heal and recover. Was
it the crystal that was healing her or was it
just time? And you know care, general care and taking
care of your body, and so that's the kind of
stuff that you know. When you see claims like that,
you have to ask yourself, Okay, they're they're giving the
(21:19):
recognition to this crystal, but in reality, uh, it was
probably time that healed, not the crystal itself. One of
the things that I read about a lot with regard
to crystal healing was the placebo effect. Uh. There was
a researcher in the UK that ran this study where
(21:42):
he told half of the participants the crystals would work
and the other half that they wouldn't. And and it
turns out that most of them claimed that the crystals worked,
but in the end it was just the placebo effect.
And this is pretty common we hear about, you know,
medical research done and people who who get the fake
drug so claimed that they were healed or that they
(22:04):
feel better. This is, you know, they didn't actually get
the active ingredient, but they feel better. How does that work. Well,
it's their brains or their minds telling them that it
actually worked. But the thing is they're not actually being
healed even though they feel better, and that's the placebo effect.
The other thing was this idea of manifestation. One of
(22:26):
my favorite things that came out of the Christian Research
Journal in the last couple of years was this article
by Anne Kennedy about manifesting and I think that one
needs to be like the most popular article on the
website because it is so critical people understand about manifestation.
Manifestation is this idea that through the power of your
(22:48):
own belief, you can think something into becoming reality. And
people who subscribe to using crystals will say adding crystals
will make this happen more quickly. So new ager that
I found online said she believes that the different qualities
of crystals can help her support her goals and actually
(23:09):
gives her an energetic kick in the right direction. Okay,
but how do you argue with that in her mind,
this crystal is working well? In science, there's no evidence
to show that that works, either manifesting or using crystals
to help manifest Instead, how are you achieving your goals? Well,
probably through hard work and dedication and perseverance. And it
(23:34):
just happens to coincide with you putting a crystal in
your pocket. And so I'm trying not to minimize too
much what some of these people definitely believe, because I
think it's important that we acknowledge that these are truly
held beliefs by people, but they're being misled. And there
are people on social media and the Internet who are
(23:57):
telling them know what you feel is real and there's
just no real evidence to support their claims at all.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Well, that's really interesting because when we think of this
type of belief about crystals, we only, or at least
I only think about new agers. So are there other
kinds of people in addition to new agers who use crystals.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, So one of the things we talked about was
how new age has sort of drawn itself from various directions, Right,
So various sources. You've got Eastern Mysticism and Buddhism and
Hinduism and all sorts of isms, astrology, occultism. But it's
very common in Hinduism and Buddhism to use crystals, and
(24:41):
usually it's in respect to enhancing their spiritual practice. So
they're using crystals to enhance their meditation, or they're putting
crystals on statues and altars, and they're wearing crystals as
part of their spiritual practices because they believe that their
(25:02):
crystals will promote positive energy and that it will help
them have better meditation sessions and it will deepen their
spiritual experiences. And there are a lot of people who meditate,
and there are many who will incorporate crystals into that practice.
(25:24):
I found that people were using crystals in yoga practices
and really just incorporating the use of crystals in all
sorts of things. And what our listeners really need to
understand is that the origin of those practices really is
from this mysticism idea. It's Eastern mysticism, and it's firmly
(25:48):
held beliefs, but it's not grounded in reality.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
What about Christians. Do Christians hold to using crystals in
any kind of creative way besides collecting gems? And if
they do, why would they use crystals.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
One of the more surprising things when I was going
to seminary was I had theology professor who was talking
about some family members and he referred to them as
the crystal people, and I couldn't understand what he was
talking about, and eventually he clarified, but he has Christian
(26:28):
relatives who use crystals to achieve goals and to do
other things. And I thought, well, that's got to be
the minority. There can't be that many Christians who are
using crystals. But then I started doing more research on
this because these things are things that I really find
interesting and I discovered that there was a Pew Research
(26:51):
poll that came out in twenty eighteen that found that
thirty seven percent of the Christian respondents said that they
believe physical objects like crystals possess spiritual energy. I said, okay,
well that's interesting. That's thirty seven percent of Christians. And
you know, it's physical objects like crystals, so it doesn't
(27:13):
have to only be crystals. It can be other things.
And I said, well, maybe that'll go down as you know,
time goes on, people will realize, Okay, this is not
maybe this is just a fad. But then a poll
came out in twenty twenty two, and this one was
done by the Springtide Research Institute and it was specifically
of thirteen to twenty five year olds, So young people,
(27:34):
these are the people that are heavily influenced by social media.
These are the people who are on TikTok, who are
looking at Instagram, who are following reels on YouTube. And
it turns out that among people of faith. So I'll
clarify that in a second. But people who claimed Christian orthodoxy,
seventy three percent of the respondents said that they used
(27:57):
crystals and herbs as part of their religious practices. Latter
day Saints what we commonly refer to as Mormons, sixty
four percent of them, and again these are thirteen to
twenty five year olds. And then about forty percent of
the Protestants who responded said that they use crystals and herbs.
And then another thirty six percent who identified as just Christian,
(28:20):
whatever that means, thirty six percent of them said that
they use crystals and herbs. So a few of those
numbers might seem small to you, like the thirty seven
percent or the forty percent, but to put it in perspective,
when you're sitting in church and you've got one hundred
people there, then that's forty percent of the one hundred.
(28:42):
Would be how many forty forty people who are in
that church building with you might use crystals as part
of whatever their spiritual practices are. That's a lot of
people when you've put it that way. And I also,
you know, found a lot of people online, a lot
of Christians online who talk about using crystals as part
(29:05):
of their prayer life. One lady, she said, and it's
not only women. I just happen to find a lot
of women. There are men who also practice this. But
one lady said that she's been using crystals at her
prayer altar with her statue of Christ and picture of
the divine mercy. So she kind of goes two ways here.
She uses them symbolically for prayer intentions, right, But then
(29:31):
then she says that she arranges them in a sequence
rose quarts for love and peace, amethyst for calmness, and
clear courts for clear and pure thoughts. So on the
one hand, she says that she's got the courts there
and she's got the other crystals there as symbols to
help her focus during her prayer time. But on the
(29:52):
other she is assigning particular powers to these crystals. Right,
She's saying that rose quarts is going to help with love.
But this is where she's gone wrong. There's no evidence
to show at all that these stones carry any special powers.
Rose quartz isn't going to bring her love, and clear
quarts isn't going to give you clarity of mind. Right,
(30:14):
There's no evidence for that. And what's more important, I
think for Christians is that the Bible isn't telling us
that these crystals carry power either.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
That is just so interesting that Christians use crystals now
where are they getting this from. Are they claiming that
the Bible is allowing them to use crystals or what
does the Bible say about crystals if at all?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Right, So let's talk about what the Bible says, and
then I'll tell you some of the things that I
read online from certain Christians who are supporting the use
of crystals. So from the outset, Melanie, crystals are part
of God's creation, right, Like we can acknowledge that we
know that God create the world, crystals are a part
of it and their rocks and lots of crystals are
(31:06):
actually mentioned in scripture. So in Proverbs eight eleven for example,
And maybe a lot of listeners will already know this one,
but it says wisdom is better than rubies, right, And
I try to use that one a lot because I
want to promote wisdom. But wisdom is better than rubies.
Lamentations for talks about sapphires, we read about topaz and
(31:29):
job Maybe most commonly known would be when we're reading
about the levitical high priest in Exodus and we learn
about the high priest's breastplate, which has a ton of
crystals on it. It's got I'm not going to read
you all of them, but it's got things like turquoise
(31:51):
and amethysts and toepaths and jasper, and these crystals were
mounted in gold filigree settings. Right, and God instructed the
priests in Exodus to keep two special stones in their pockets,
called the Urim and the Thummim, which means light and perfection.
We don't know what those stones are, for the Bible
(32:13):
doesn't really tell us much information about them at all,
other than they were placed in the priest pockets. But
people have added sort of superstition to those stones and said, well,
they were definitely used for divination or to communicate with
God directly, but the Bible doesn't say that, and that's
reading more into scripture that is there. The other thing
(32:35):
we need to keep in mind is that the Bible
warns us against superstition and the occult, So when we
read about things like crystals, we have to recognize that
crystals were never given powers in scripture. But God has
declared the practice of the occult is what Deterani eighteen
(32:57):
says detestable, right, and witchcraft is named along with idolatry
as ungodly behavior in Galatians five. So the use of
crystals and charms, annulets, those are actually part of the
occult practice. Just because it's a Christian using it doesn't
mean it's automatically become Christian at that point. The reality
(33:20):
is that most people who are using crystals believe that
those crystals have powers. And the danger that Christians get
into then is that they are starting to idolize those crystals,
and that is against what Scripture tells us to do.
So instead of relying on God for healing and protection,
(33:41):
we're relying on these crystals. So instead of relying on
the Creator, we've begun to rely on his creation, and
that is the danger zone for Christians. But then you
find Christians who are trying to rationalize the incorporation of
crystals in their lives. They'll say things like, well, the
(34:02):
high priests kept crystals on their breastplates and in their pockets,
so that's okay, and there's definitely power attributed to them.
But again, we don't read about power attributed to crystals
in scripture. Others actually think that crystals make Christians better Christians.
I found one website where she said, in the hands
(34:23):
of a Christian who desires to be a good person,
crystals are agents for good and can intensify good desires.
So now you're not relying on God to make you
good and for you to find goodness within your desire
to be obedient to the Lord. You're ascribing your goodness
to crystals. She also talks about crystals being healers, and
(34:48):
she says, if you've ever truly been sick, you understand
that healing is healing, whether it comes from essential oil
or surgery or pharmaceutical drugs, or therapy or crystal exclamation point.
The thing to remember here is that healing and joy
isn't coming from the stone. That it's not working like
(35:12):
medicine does, or it's not working like God does in
our lives. There's no evidence to support that, and in
this case, it's a Christian telling herself a lie. And frankly,
our beliefs need to be grounded in reality, and this
belief that crystals somehow hold magical powers is simply not
(35:32):
grounded in reality.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
So if the Bible has no teachings to say to
use crystal for any kind of spiritual purpose or because
it has specific powers in and of itself or emanating
from them, why do all these Christians justify having these
crystals and using them like you said that one lady
(35:56):
had different colors representing different things that she would be
using them for.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, I honestly think that they've fallen prey to New
Age ideas packaged as Christianity. And this is why so
many people like myself and others who talk about the
New Age are giving warnings about the Church adopting New
Age practices. And it's not just crystals, right, it's We've
(36:23):
talked about how some Christians I think it's like twenty
something meter percent these days who believe in reincarnation. We
talked about the quarter of Christians who believe in astrology,
and believing in those things as Christians doesn't make sense,
but they have somehow found a way to convince themselves
(36:46):
that it's okay. And I think it's because one, a
lot of Christians don't actually know what the Bible says
about things, and they're just believing whomever they're watching on
social media. And two, we sometimes don't want to be
told that we're wrong or that maybe our experience wasn't
actually reality. So being told, hey, you're happier these days,
(37:10):
and somebody says, oh, it's because I'm carrying this particular
crystal in my pocket. Okay, attributing that to the crystal
is probably coincidence. But because you've been carrying the crystal
in your pocket along with maybe some really good things
happening to you lately, you are giving the crystal more
(37:31):
power than it actually has. And so I think churches
need to be on guard. I would love to see
pastors speaking out more regularly about these things, to offer
clarification to their congregations about what the Bible says about
these things. I would love to see Christians talking to
other Christians about what they know about these things or
(37:54):
what they've heard about these things, and having open conversations
that are not grounded in conflict but are ground in truth.
So I think we need to stop rationalizing our beliefs
and we actually need to understand why we believe what
we believe.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Is it okay for crystals to be in a Christian's home,
because again, you're mentioning these Christians that are using them,
And of course some New age folks believe they have
certain powers that for sure they would not attribute those
powers to God. So should crystals be in the home
(38:31):
if you think they have powers or just in general.
And then what are some things that Christians should consider
about this subject, especially if they're being intrigued by perhaps
a Christian view of manifesting or thinking that these things
have powers to change their lives or change their character
(38:52):
or something like that.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah, this is such an important question, and I wish
that people would consider the implications of the choices they
make day in and day out. I imagine the listeners
will suppose that I'll say no, no crystals allowed in
anybody's homes, based on the things that I've already said,
but that's not the case. I do not wear jewelry
(39:15):
very often, so I'm not often wearing crystals. But it's
not because I don't support the use of crystals as
far as like pretty things that you might use in
your ears. I just don't wear a lot of jewelry.
But there are some Christians who really draw hard line
here because they do not want to have any whiff
(39:35):
of the occult in their home. And then there are
other Christians who are like, hey, crystals in and of
themselves are simply another part of God's creation. They're really beautiful,
and I want to wear sparkly things, and I want
to have crystals in my home as decoration, and so
as a Christian, there are just a few things you
(39:57):
have to think about. Right. You need to say, Hey,
do I a history with the New Age? Maybe you've
come out of the New Age, and this is you've
learned about crystals. You know about crystals, maybe you've used crystals.
Perhaps crystals aren't the best decoration in your home. Maybe
somebody in your family struggles with New Age and they
(40:17):
probably shouldn't be around crystals. But ultimately the question is
what are you thinking about crystals and potential powers they
might have? And do your thoughts align with what the
Bible says? And that is a really important question we
should pose about the things that we do in our lives.
We should ask ourselves if the things that we are
(40:40):
doing are aligned with scripture. Tewod Corinthians ten to five says,
we demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ. If you know
that you are susceptible to the New Age because you
(41:01):
have practiced it in the past, or because somebody in
your family has participated in it, or you think that
there's power in objects that isn't actually there, you probably
shouldn't have crystals in your home. Ultimately, you've got to
protect your spiritual well being as a Christian, and the
(41:22):
way that you do that is through God himself and
guarding yourself through His word and making sure that you
know it and you speak it over your life consistently.
But for most Christians, it is probably completely fine to
have crystals in your home as decoration or as part
of what you wear in your jewelry.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So how could Christians respond when they know someone who's
either Christian or not a Christian that is using crystals
or is attracted to crystals and it thinks that they
have some kind of power to help them.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah. I went to some websites in my research on
this because I know a lot of people who've come
out of the New Age and I wanted to know
what they said and what their thoughts were on this topic.
One was Melissa Doherty, who is a Christian YouTuber, Another
is Marcia Montenegro, and then Dorian Virtue, and all of
(42:25):
them basically said you can have crystals in your home.
But Marcia, I loved what she said because she was
so clear. She said, as a Christian, I think the
crystals are mere objects and harmless. It's the idea that
they were supposed to have some kind of energy or
power that I know is wrong. So the problem was
(42:47):
the beliefs behind what the crystals represented, not the objects themselves.
So she was encouraging people to view things in light
of scripture. The big thing that is the trouble spot
for Christians and crystals is this idea of idolatry. And
(43:07):
I've already said this before, but I'm going to say
it again because it bears repeating Scripture strongly forbids idolatry,
this idea of putting things above God, worshiping God's creation,
not Him. And so if somebody is struggling in your life,
that's one of the things that we need to look at,
is this becoming an idol. And lots of people have
(43:30):
idols in their lives. It's not just crystals. They go, oh,
you have crystals, You must have idols. I'm talking about
things that take the place of God at all in
our lives, whether that's sports or I mean, I could
name a bevy of things that humanity is interested in movies, music,
all the things that we do instead of reading scripture
(43:52):
or having an active prayer life or whatever. And I'm
not saying you can't enjoy those things as a Christian,
but the question are they becoming idols or are they
replacing an active worship of God. If someone in your
family struggles with these ideas, I would say you should
probably not have crystals in your home because the Bible
(44:13):
advises us not to help others stumble. Romance talks about
that a bit. But then you know if somebody in
your life that you know well who is using crystals
for healing or manifestation or prayer. As in all things,
we should respond with gentleness. I always encourage people to
(44:33):
ask questions rather than to accuse. Ask them why they
are using crystals, and if they've considered what scripture says
about divination or the occult, maybe it's appropriate for you
to let them know what science says about crystals or
doesn't say about crystals. You could offer them guidance about
(44:56):
if they're looking for relief from physical pain or emotional stress,
or they're trying to better their mental health, remind them
that Christ gives us our freedom. It's not crystals. Galatians
five to one says it is for freedom that Christ
has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not
(45:17):
let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
And if we put this in the context of our conversation,
idolatry is holding so many captives, and crystals are part
of that. So I would encourage anybody who's listening, who's
struggling with us, to be on guard against the things
that you are idolizing, that are taking you away from
(45:41):
following Christ completely, and be willing to take a hard
look at the things that are in your life and
ask yourself does this align with scripture? And if not,
I contend that it needs to be removed.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, that's a very firm and thoughtful word for Christians
on this topic. And now on a much lighter note,
I have a fun question for Lindsay. Lindsay, we have
all kinds of very funky holidays in the United States,
and just this last week we had World Chocolate Day,
So we did dark chocolate or milk chocolate or white chocolate.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
It absolutely depends on the mood, but generally it's dark
chocolate with mint.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Mid chocolate. Well, Thank you Lindsay for being a guest
again on the post Modern Realities podcast. Thanks Melanie, you've
been listening to episode four hundred and fifty four of
the Postmodern Realities Podcast. Today's guest was Lindsay meden Walt.
She has written an exclusive online feature article for the
Christian Research Journal. Her article is called Crystals, Vibrations, Energy
(46:52):
and Healing Power. You can read it for free without
a paywall at equipped dot org. That's e qu ip
dot org. You won't want to miss out on subscribing
to the other podcasts from the Christian Research Institute. We
have the Bible answer Man podcast, which is published Monday
(47:14):
through Friday, with the best of the week on Saturday.
It's hosted by CRI President Hank Handagraph and is available
wherever you get your favorite podcasts. In addition, Hank has
a podcast called Hank Unplugged. Hank takes you out of
the studio and into his study to engage in free flowing,
essential Christian conversations on critical issues with some of the
(47:36):
most interesting, informative and inspirational people on the planet. And
you won't want to miss out on the brand new
podcast from the Christian Research Journal Christian Research Journal Reads
presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. It was
a print incarnation of almost forty five years. It's now
(47:58):
on the web as you know, with new articles every
single week, so you won't want to miss these audio
articles of some of our most popular and most accessed
articles on our website equip dot org.
Hi everyone, Thank you for tuning in to the Postmodern
Realities podcast, brought to you by the Christian Research Institute
and the Christian Research Journal. I'm Melanie Cogdill, Managing editor
of the Christian Research Journal. It's July twenty twenty five,
and you're listening to episode four hundred and fifty four,
(00:41):
which is a conversation about crystals. On this episode, I'm
joined by Lindsay Mennenwald, who is an assistant professor in
the Business and Economics department at Northwestern College in Iowa.
She is also the author of the twenty twenty four
book Bridge Building Apologetics. Lindsay holds a master's degree in
(01:03):
apologetics and ethics from Denver Seminary, a jd from Saint
Mary's School of Law, and a master's in Public administration
from Midwestern State University. Lindsay has written an exclusive online
feature article for the Christian Research Journal. Her article is
called Crystals, Vibrations, Energy and Healing Power. You can read
(01:26):
it for free at equipped dot org. That's e qu
ip dot RG. Lindsay, it's good to have you back
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Hey, Melanie, so glad to be here well.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
As I noted, today we're going to talk about crystals,
and a long time ago in the Christian Research Journal
decades ago, we did talk about crystals and healing, especially
people who you know, nurses and things like that use
at and these objects. But it's kind of made a resurgence.
It did seem like an interesting kind of artifact that
(02:02):
people who are into the New Age movement in the
sixties and seventies were into. But again, Lindsay has found
for us over the last several years that because of
social media and TikTok and YouTube and all these places,
there's really a resurgence in people having interest in crystals.
So that might sound vague to some people. They might
(02:23):
not know what that is. So let's start our conversation
by defining crystals. What exactly are crystals as you're talking
about them in this article.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Right, So I think we could start at the beginning.
Crystals are basically rocks, right, So this is the idea
of us going to a museum and looking at gems
and seeing the sparkly things. The word crystal itself is
from the ancient Greek words crystalos, which means ice and
rock crystal, and cross, which means icy, cold, or frost.
(02:58):
And so if you think about like a snowflake, for example,
that technically qualifies as a crystal, even though it's not
a rock because it's got certain dimensions that cause it
to be sparkly, which is not technically a scientific term,
but I think listeners will relate to that word. It's
any solid material that has atoms that are arranged in
(03:20):
a particular pattern, and their surface reflects their symmetry. So
if you think of a diamond, which a lot of
listeners probably have in their homes via you know, engagement rings,
or any sort of gemstone that might be in a
piece of jewelry, that's a crystal. Kids like I have kids,
(03:42):
they would describe crystals as pretty stones with cool designs,
and so that's kind of what a crystal is scientifically.
I'm not a scientist, but that is what science says
about crystals.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So in the one hands, they're like gemstones. But as
part of your research went to some stores that are
specifically crystal shops, that's probably for different reasons kind of
having more like beliefs attached to them, And what did
you find when you went to those particular stores.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, So I don't know about you or the listeners.
But as a kid, I collected rocks. I think this
is a pretty common hobby amongst kids. One of my
daughters used to bring home rocks a lot. And I
went to rock shops when I was a kid, and
they were stores that had a bunch of rocks in them,
and there wasn't anything spiritual about going to these rock shops.
(04:38):
They literally was just a store that sold rocks. But
that's not the kind of shop that I went to
when I was researching for this article. Rock shops really
don't exist all that much anymore. If you're driving around
looking for a rock shop, you're probably not going to
find it. And if you search on the internet for
rock shops, what will likely come up is actually New
(05:00):
Age shops, and so that's kind of what I visited
when I was researching for this article. One of them
was outside of Denver and it sold crystals, but it
also offered things like tarot cards, which we've talked about before, incense,
smudging items, and more. I want to define smudging for you, Melanie,
(05:24):
because we haven't really talked about that all that often.
But smudging is a Native American and Indigenous practice that
was used for cleansing the spirits or purifying physical spaces
from negative energies that might exist in the air. And
so smudging has become quite popular amongst new agers, and
(05:49):
there are usually just bundles of herbs and other things
tied together with string and then you burn them, and
that is supposed to clean the energies around you. I
also visited a new Age shop in the Mall in
Dallas at one point, and I found that they offered
(06:10):
very similar items. So I just started browsing the crystals
and one of the things that I noticed right away
were the descriptions. When you're in a natural history museum
and reading about gems and stones, you might find descriptions
that are about where you find those crystals, or about
(06:31):
their colors, or information about how rare they are, or
maybe like I went to Washington, d c. In seventh
or eighth grade, and we stopped at the Smithsonian Natural
History Museum and one of the gemstones that they highlight
there is the Hope diamond, and the description there included, hey,
(06:53):
this is more than forty five carrots and which is
massive for a diamond, and it's got this blue violet
tone that can only be found in a certain place,
and that's the kind of description you would expect when
you're reading about gemstones. But I found that the descriptions
in the shops were different because they focused on the
(07:16):
power that the crystals held.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That is very interesting because I think kids collecting rocks
don't normally think of those rocks having any kind of
supernatural powers. So, you know, you just talked that you
know that they might have specific powers or people believe
them to have powers. What do you mean by powers?
Because like again, you you know, you go to a
(07:42):
gem store, you go, you know, panning for those stones,
like you know, in your field trip in elementary school.
I don't think we normally associate powers with crystals.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Right, unless you're watching movies. So have you ever seen
The Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Melanie, I actually haven't seen it.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So that one came out in two thousand and eight,
and I just recently have been rewatching it, partially because
of this article and this discussion we're having. But in
that film, which not a lot of people loved, but
I'm an Indiana Jones fan, so I think it's great
the Crystal Skull that they were searching for was said
(08:24):
to contain psychic powers and would give whoever had it
telepathic powers. And although that's a movie, there are people
in real life who believe that. Right, the movie has
sort of gleaned information from reality. What do people think
(08:44):
about these things? Oh, they believe schools have crystal skulls
have certain powers. Well, crystals have powers according to certain
people like New Agers. As I was walking through these
crystal shops in Denver and Dallas, actually wrote down and
took some photos of the descriptions because some of them
(09:04):
are kind of confusing and I wanted to learn more
about what the claims were. So I'll tell you a
couple of the descriptions and then we can talk about
what they mean. But for the rose or Courts, which
is just a pink crystal, it said that it's a
master healer and stimulates the immune system, so if you're sick,
(09:26):
this is the one you want to carry around. It's
also helpful for love. Energies of the higher planes. So
higher planes, Melanie, are these places that are beyond the
physical existence, and they're usually associated with things like higher
consciousness or divine reality, which again, these are all New
(09:48):
Age phrases that we've talked about a lot on this podcast,
but I'm hoping that as we talk about them more today,
people will have a better understanding of them. The blue
ora courts that I see awe and it's just a
blue crystal. Apparently it's known for eliminating all of the
negativity in your mind. It's said that it contains a
(10:10):
high vibrational tone, and it's connected to the throat, third eye,
and crown chakras of your body. Okay, so that's a
lot to define. But the third eye. If you've seen
maybe Doctor Strange the film, you'd be familiar with the
third eye, but it is often described as this metaphorical
(10:32):
eye that is in the middle of somebody's forehead that
allows for inner vision or spiritual insight beyond what you're
beyond what your actual eyes can see. Chakras are the
energy systems within your body, and they're said to be
(10:52):
interconnected with your physical body, your emotional body, and also
your spiritual body. And then the other one that I
was interested in because it was pretty is the lapist lazuli,
which we will talk about a little bit more, but
it said that it could guard against psychic attacks So
(11:13):
that's similar then to what I talked about with Indiana Jones, right,
So it contains psychic powers. So this particular stone, the
claim is that it will protect you against psychic attacks. Melanie.
One of the things we were talking about before we
got onto recording this was this idea of vibrations. So
(11:33):
I would like to clarify a little bit about what
we mean when we say vibrations. When you hear a
New Ager say vibrations, they are talking about this energetic
state that is within a person or an object, or
even your thoughts. And the idea is that as you
become a healthier being, both physically and emotionally and also spiritually,
(11:58):
I suppose your vibrations get higher and that allows you
to get to that higher plane we just talked about,
this realm of divine reality, this higher consciousness. The reality
is that science tells us everything in the universe has
some sort of vibration. This is physics, right. This is
(12:20):
when you hear Nikola Tesla quotes about vibrations. He's not
talking about New Age ideas of vibrations. He's talking about
the fact that in physics, all matter is composed of
these particles that are constantly in motion, and that motion
(12:40):
is a vibration. And so Nikola Tesla is often used
by new agers or proponents of people who use crystals
for energy, healing or whatever, as this proponent of new
age ideas, and he wasn't as far as I can tell.
They're cherry picking certain quotes from him. But in my
(13:01):
research I stumbled upon this article, very short article on
the Christian Research Journal page which I do spend a
fair amount of time on, and I found a very
short article by the former editor in chief of the
Christian Research Journal, Elliott Miller, And in it he talks
about these electronic frequencies that exist in everything, and he says,
(13:27):
but occultists assume that those electronic frequencies must also be
good for transmitting psychic frequencies. So they've made this connection
that somehow the energy that exists in all of us
is good for harnessing healing and spiritual growth and protection,
(13:50):
and they use crystals to help them do that better.
So I think the biggest confusion to kind of clear
up here is just because something has a vibration or
is moving constantly, which physics tells us we all are
if we're made up of atoms. That doesn't mean that
(14:11):
the energy is helping you in some way or that
the crystals that you're using to harness that energy are
actually working.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
As you know, the Christian Research Journal is now a
free online publication, but there are some times that our
team feels that it warrants a full print issue when
we want to bring to you the fruit of in
depth research on a particular subject matter, and so something
like that is about to be published. It is a
(14:44):
one hundred page in depth issue only focusing on the
primary research that we have done on the Eastern Lightning cult,
which it's an complete expose of this cultic And even
back i'd say a decade ago, we noted there were
(15:05):
more than four million people worldwide following this group, and
our president, Hank Canigraph has done a very deep dive
with primary research, going to China a number of times
to research this group, to talk to people who are
impacted by this group. And what this group is is
a group that worships a woman who says that she
(15:30):
is the incarnation, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Now that
seems pretty incredible. You will not want to miss this
special issue to receive this very special, in depth, one
hundred page special print edition of the Christian Researchanel. Please
go to equip dot organ. If you scroll down, you
(15:51):
will see gifts for your donation and you will see
a cover there that says the Eastern Lightning Cult Christ
returns to Earth as a female. You will not want
to miss out on this exclusive issue that is one
hundred pages of exposing this oc cultic group that has
done much damage and has influenced worldwide.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So it's a special.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Prededition of the Christian Research Journal that you won't want
to miss. And now back to my conversation with Lindsey
Mettenwald about new age crystals. Well, there are different kinds
of people that use crystals, and we've mentioned a bunch
new agers and so first of all, let's de find
(16:36):
that term. When someone says someone is a new ager,
what are you referring to? And then how do new
agers use crystals?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well, new agers are there's a lot of different definitions
you could come up with for who a new ager is.
A new ager is somebody who has particular views about
the universe and reality. Their worldview is generally a compilation
of Eastern worldviews. So you see kind of a mix
(17:10):
of Hinduism and Buddhism and other religions that kind of
help new agers come up with their worldview, but it
draws from a variety of sources, including naturalism and astrology.
And even they won't probably like me saying this, but
(17:33):
science fiction, right, So a lot of New Age beliefs
are kind of aligned with what we see in science fiction,
and I don't think that's super surprising for anyone to hear.
But new Agers are a separate worldview from other religions.
It's sort of a I used to say, it's kind
of a choose your own religion, but I think it's
(17:53):
more nuanced than that the more that I research it.
I think there are some general ideas held by new
Agers where they find agreement and then they sort of
pick and choose from there. So not all new agers
are going to use crystals, for example, but they might
all believe that energy is coming up from the universe
and that we should be trying to achieve a higher consciousness.
(18:18):
The means of getting there might be different depending on
the particular new Ager as far as what they use
crystals for. If they choose to use crystals for anything,
The two things that I find most interesting that folks
might find most interesting are crystal healing and crystal manifestation.
(18:38):
I read a book called Crystals by somebody. Her name
is Jenny Harding, and she actually I ended up having
two books by her in my library by accident, not
realizing that she had written the other one. But in
the course of my research, I purchased a crystal set
from Barnes and Noble. It was, you know, Barns and
(19:00):
Noble carries more than books these days, and they had
a whole section on crystals, and I was intrigued, so
I purchased a book on crystals as well as like
a set of rocks, and it contained another book by her.
But anyway, she talks a lot about healing powers of crystals,
and she gives advice about how to get the most
(19:24):
power out of your crystals, and one of the things
is to wear the crystal close to your heart because
that's bridging the chakra between spirit and matter. And she
says that by wearing the crystal above your heart, you're
going to spread your energy throughout your oric field. It
sounds very food food, but basically what she's saying is
(19:47):
wear it closer to your heart, and you'll get healed
faster because the chakra by your heart is connected to
all of the other chakras in your body. There's no
scientific evidence to show that healing happens with crystals. I looked,
I looked at journals, I read articles. I tried to
find evidence that would support the claims. But in general
(20:12):
the claims are called pseudoscience, and that means that they're
not actual science. And yet people will ardently argue with
you and say no, the crystal led to my healing.
I saw. It was not an article. It was a
(20:33):
social media post by someone who claimed that she had
a burn on her hand and she read up on
the types of crystals that help you with healing, and
she held this crystal in her hand every day, and
in three months her hand was completely healed. And my
brain was thinking, well, in three months, that would make sense,
(20:59):
because your body has time to heal and recover. Was
it the crystal that was healing her or was it
just time? And you know care, general care and taking
care of your body, and so that's the kind of
stuff that you know. When you see claims like that,
you have to ask yourself, Okay, they're they're giving the
(21:19):
recognition to this crystal, but in reality, uh, it was
probably time that healed, not the crystal itself. One of
the things that I read about a lot with regard
to crystal healing was the placebo effect. Uh. There was
a researcher in the UK that ran this study where
(21:42):
he told half of the participants the crystals would work
and the other half that they wouldn't. And and it
turns out that most of them claimed that the crystals worked,
but in the end it was just the placebo effect.
And this is pretty common we hear about, you know,
medical research done and people who who get the fake
drug so claimed that they were healed or that they
(22:04):
feel better. This is, you know, they didn't actually get
the active ingredient, but they feel better. How does that work. Well,
it's their brains or their minds telling them that it
actually worked. But the thing is they're not actually being
healed even though they feel better, and that's the placebo effect.
The other thing was this idea of manifestation. One of
(22:26):
my favorite things that came out of the Christian Research
Journal in the last couple of years was this article
by Anne Kennedy about manifesting and I think that one
needs to be like the most popular article on the
website because it is so critical people understand about manifestation.
Manifestation is this idea that through the power of your
(22:48):
own belief, you can think something into becoming reality. And
people who subscribe to using crystals will say adding crystals
will make this happen more quickly. So new ager that
I found online said she believes that the different qualities
of crystals can help her support her goals and actually
(23:09):
gives her an energetic kick in the right direction. Okay,
but how do you argue with that in her mind,
this crystal is working well? In science, there's no evidence
to show that that works, either manifesting or using crystals
to help manifest Instead, how are you achieving your goals? Well,
probably through hard work and dedication and perseverance. And it
(23:34):
just happens to coincide with you putting a crystal in
your pocket. And so I'm trying not to minimize too
much what some of these people definitely believe, because I
think it's important that we acknowledge that these are truly
held beliefs by people, but they're being misled. And there
are people on social media and the Internet who are
(23:57):
telling them know what you feel is real and there's
just no real evidence to support their claims at all.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Well, that's really interesting because when we think of this
type of belief about crystals, we only, or at least
I only think about new agers. So are there other
kinds of people in addition to new agers who use crystals.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, So one of the things we talked about was
how new age has sort of drawn itself from various directions, Right,
So various sources. You've got Eastern Mysticism and Buddhism and
Hinduism and all sorts of isms, astrology, occultism. But it's
very common in Hinduism and Buddhism to use crystals, and
(24:41):
usually it's in respect to enhancing their spiritual practice. So
they're using crystals to enhance their meditation, or they're putting
crystals on statues and altars, and they're wearing crystals as
part of their spiritual practices because they believe that their
(25:02):
crystals will promote positive energy and that it will help
them have better meditation sessions and it will deepen their
spiritual experiences. And there are a lot of people who meditate,
and there are many who will incorporate crystals into that practice.
(25:24):
I found that people were using crystals in yoga practices
and really just incorporating the use of crystals in all
sorts of things. And what our listeners really need to
understand is that the origin of those practices really is
from this mysticism idea. It's Eastern mysticism, and it's firmly
(25:48):
held beliefs, but it's not grounded in reality.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
What about Christians. Do Christians hold to using crystals in
any kind of creative way besides collecting gems? And if
they do, why would they use crystals.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
One of the more surprising things when I was going
to seminary was I had theology professor who was talking
about some family members and he referred to them as
the crystal people, and I couldn't understand what he was
talking about, and eventually he clarified, but he has Christian
(26:28):
relatives who use crystals to achieve goals and to do
other things. And I thought, well, that's got to be
the minority. There can't be that many Christians who are
using crystals. But then I started doing more research on
this because these things are things that I really find
interesting and I discovered that there was a Pew Research
(26:51):
poll that came out in twenty eighteen that found that
thirty seven percent of the Christian respondents said that they
believe physical objects like crystals possess spiritual energy. I said, okay,
well that's interesting. That's thirty seven percent of Christians. And
you know, it's physical objects like crystals, so it doesn't
(27:13):
have to only be crystals. It can be other things.
And I said, well, maybe that'll go down as you know,
time goes on, people will realize, Okay, this is not
maybe this is just a fad. But then a poll
came out in twenty twenty two, and this one was
done by the Springtide Research Institute and it was specifically
of thirteen to twenty five year olds, So young people,
(27:34):
these are the people that are heavily influenced by social media.
These are the people who are on TikTok, who are
looking at Instagram, who are following reels on YouTube. And
it turns out that among people of faith. So I'll
clarify that in a second. But people who claimed Christian orthodoxy,
seventy three percent of the respondents said that they used
(27:57):
crystals and herbs as part of their religious practices. Latter
day Saints what we commonly refer to as Mormons, sixty
four percent of them, and again these are thirteen to
twenty five year olds. And then about forty percent of
the Protestants who responded said that they use crystals and herbs.
And then another thirty six percent who identified as just Christian,
(28:20):
whatever that means, thirty six percent of them said that
they use crystals and herbs. So a few of those
numbers might seem small to you, like the thirty seven
percent or the forty percent, but to put it in perspective,
when you're sitting in church and you've got one hundred
people there, then that's forty percent of the one hundred.
(28:42):
Would be how many forty forty people who are in
that church building with you might use crystals as part
of whatever their spiritual practices are. That's a lot of
people when you've put it that way. And I also,
you know, found a lot of people online, a lot
of Christians online who talk about using crystals as part
(29:05):
of their prayer life. One lady, she said, and it's
not only women. I just happen to find a lot
of women. There are men who also practice this. But
one lady said that she's been using crystals at her
prayer altar with her statue of Christ and picture of
the divine mercy. So she kind of goes two ways here.
She uses them symbolically for prayer intentions, right, But then
(29:31):
then she says that she arranges them in a sequence
rose quarts for love and peace, amethyst for calmness, and
clear courts for clear and pure thoughts. So on the
one hand, she says that she's got the courts there
and she's got the other crystals there as symbols to
help her focus during her prayer time. But on the
(29:52):
other she is assigning particular powers to these crystals. Right,
She's saying that rose quarts is going to help with love.
But this is where she's gone wrong. There's no evidence
to show at all that these stones carry any special powers.
Rose quartz isn't going to bring her love, and clear
quarts isn't going to give you clarity of mind. Right,
(30:14):
There's no evidence for that. And what's more important, I
think for Christians is that the Bible isn't telling us
that these crystals carry power either.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
That is just so interesting that Christians use crystals now
where are they getting this from. Are they claiming that
the Bible is allowing them to use crystals or what
does the Bible say about crystals if at all?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Right, So let's talk about what the Bible says, and
then I'll tell you some of the things that I
read online from certain Christians who are supporting the use
of crystals. So from the outset, Melanie, crystals are part
of God's creation, right, Like we can acknowledge that we
know that God create the world, crystals are a part
of it and their rocks and lots of crystals are
(31:06):
actually mentioned in scripture. So in Proverbs eight eleven for example,
And maybe a lot of listeners will already know this one,
but it says wisdom is better than rubies, right, And
I try to use that one a lot because I
want to promote wisdom. But wisdom is better than rubies.
Lamentations for talks about sapphires, we read about topaz and
(31:29):
job Maybe most commonly known would be when we're reading
about the levitical high priest in Exodus and we learn
about the high priest's breastplate, which has a ton of
crystals on it. It's got I'm not going to read
you all of them, but it's got things like turquoise
(31:51):
and amethysts and toepaths and jasper, and these crystals were
mounted in gold filigree settings. Right, and God instructed the
priests in Exodus to keep two special stones in their pockets,
called the Urim and the Thummim, which means light and perfection.
We don't know what those stones are, for the Bible
(32:13):
doesn't really tell us much information about them at all,
other than they were placed in the priest pockets. But
people have added sort of superstition to those stones and said, well,
they were definitely used for divination or to communicate with
God directly, but the Bible doesn't say that, and that's
reading more into scripture that is there. The other thing
(32:35):
we need to keep in mind is that the Bible
warns us against superstition and the occult, So when we
read about things like crystals, we have to recognize that
crystals were never given powers in scripture. But God has
declared the practice of the occult is what Deterani eighteen
(32:57):
says detestable, right, and witchcraft is named along with idolatry
as ungodly behavior in Galatians five. So the use of
crystals and charms, annulets, those are actually part of the
occult practice. Just because it's a Christian using it doesn't
mean it's automatically become Christian at that point. The reality
(33:20):
is that most people who are using crystals believe that
those crystals have powers. And the danger that Christians get
into then is that they are starting to idolize those crystals,
and that is against what Scripture tells us to do.
So instead of relying on God for healing and protection,
(33:41):
we're relying on these crystals. So instead of relying on
the Creator, we've begun to rely on his creation, and
that is the danger zone for Christians. But then you
find Christians who are trying to rationalize the incorporation of
crystals in their lives. They'll say things like, well, the
(34:02):
high priests kept crystals on their breastplates and in their pockets,
so that's okay, and there's definitely power attributed to them.
But again, we don't read about power attributed to crystals
in scripture. Others actually think that crystals make Christians better Christians.
I found one website where she said, in the hands
(34:23):
of a Christian who desires to be a good person,
crystals are agents for good and can intensify good desires.
So now you're not relying on God to make you
good and for you to find goodness within your desire
to be obedient to the Lord. You're ascribing your goodness
to crystals. She also talks about crystals being healers, and
(34:48):
she says, if you've ever truly been sick, you understand
that healing is healing, whether it comes from essential oil
or surgery or pharmaceutical drugs, or therapy or crystal exclamation point.
The thing to remember here is that healing and joy
isn't coming from the stone. That it's not working like
(35:12):
medicine does, or it's not working like God does in
our lives. There's no evidence to support that, and in
this case, it's a Christian telling herself a lie. And frankly,
our beliefs need to be grounded in reality, and this
belief that crystals somehow hold magical powers is simply not
(35:32):
grounded in reality.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
So if the Bible has no teachings to say to
use crystal for any kind of spiritual purpose or because
it has specific powers in and of itself or emanating
from them, why do all these Christians justify having these
crystals and using them like you said that one lady
(35:56):
had different colors representing different things that she would be
using them for.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, I honestly think that they've fallen prey to New
Age ideas packaged as Christianity. And this is why so
many people like myself and others who talk about the
New Age are giving warnings about the Church adopting New
Age practices. And it's not just crystals, right, it's We've
(36:23):
talked about how some Christians I think it's like twenty
something meter percent these days who believe in reincarnation. We
talked about the quarter of Christians who believe in astrology,
and believing in those things as Christians doesn't make sense,
but they have somehow found a way to convince themselves
(36:46):
that it's okay. And I think it's because one, a
lot of Christians don't actually know what the Bible says
about things, and they're just believing whomever they're watching on
social media. And two, we sometimes don't want to be
told that we're wrong or that maybe our experience wasn't
actually reality. So being told, hey, you're happier these days,
(37:10):
and somebody says, oh, it's because I'm carrying this particular
crystal in my pocket. Okay, attributing that to the crystal
is probably coincidence. But because you've been carrying the crystal
in your pocket along with maybe some really good things
happening to you lately, you are giving the crystal more
(37:31):
power than it actually has. And so I think churches
need to be on guard. I would love to see
pastors speaking out more regularly about these things, to offer
clarification to their congregations about what the Bible says about
these things. I would love to see Christians talking to
other Christians about what they know about these things or
(37:54):
what they've heard about these things, and having open conversations
that are not grounded in conflict but are ground in truth.
So I think we need to stop rationalizing our beliefs
and we actually need to understand why we believe what
we believe.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Is it okay for crystals to be in a Christian's home,
because again, you're mentioning these Christians that are using them,
And of course some New age folks believe they have
certain powers that for sure they would not attribute those
powers to God. So should crystals be in the home
(38:31):
if you think they have powers or just in general.
And then what are some things that Christians should consider
about this subject, especially if they're being intrigued by perhaps
a Christian view of manifesting or thinking that these things
have powers to change their lives or change their character
(38:52):
or something like that.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah, this is such an important question, and I wish
that people would consider the implications of the choices they
make day in and day out. I imagine the listeners
will suppose that I'll say no, no crystals allowed in
anybody's homes, based on the things that I've already said,
but that's not the case. I do not wear jewelry
(39:15):
very often, so I'm not often wearing crystals. But it's
not because I don't support the use of crystals as
far as like pretty things that you might use in
your ears. I just don't wear a lot of jewelry.
But there are some Christians who really draw hard line
here because they do not want to have any whiff
(39:35):
of the occult in their home. And then there are
other Christians who are like, hey, crystals in and of
themselves are simply another part of God's creation. They're really beautiful,
and I want to wear sparkly things, and I want
to have crystals in my home as decoration, and so
as a Christian, there are just a few things you
(39:57):
have to think about. Right. You need to say, Hey,
do I a history with the New Age? Maybe you've
come out of the New Age, and this is you've
learned about crystals. You know about crystals, maybe you've used crystals.
Perhaps crystals aren't the best decoration in your home. Maybe
somebody in your family struggles with New Age and they
(40:17):
probably shouldn't be around crystals. But ultimately the question is
what are you thinking about crystals and potential powers they
might have? And do your thoughts align with what the
Bible says? And that is a really important question we
should pose about the things that we do in our lives.
We should ask ourselves if the things that we are
(40:40):
doing are aligned with scripture. Tewod Corinthians ten to five says,
we demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ. If you know
that you are susceptible to the New Age because you
(41:01):
have practiced it in the past, or because somebody in
your family has participated in it, or you think that
there's power in objects that isn't actually there, you probably
shouldn't have crystals in your home. Ultimately, you've got to
protect your spiritual well being as a Christian, and the
(41:22):
way that you do that is through God himself and
guarding yourself through His word and making sure that you
know it and you speak it over your life consistently.
But for most Christians, it is probably completely fine to
have crystals in your home as decoration or as part
of what you wear in your jewelry.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So how could Christians respond when they know someone who's
either Christian or not a Christian that is using crystals
or is attracted to crystals and it thinks that they
have some kind of power to help them.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah. I went to some websites in my research on
this because I know a lot of people who've come
out of the New Age and I wanted to know
what they said and what their thoughts were on this topic.
One was Melissa Doherty, who is a Christian YouTuber, Another
is Marcia Montenegro, and then Dorian Virtue, and all of
(42:25):
them basically said you can have crystals in your home.
But Marcia, I loved what she said because she was
so clear. She said, as a Christian, I think the
crystals are mere objects and harmless. It's the idea that
they were supposed to have some kind of energy or
power that I know is wrong. So the problem was
(42:47):
the beliefs behind what the crystals represented, not the objects themselves.
So she was encouraging people to view things in light
of scripture. The big thing that is the trouble spot
for Christians and crystals is this idea of idolatry. And
(43:07):
I've already said this before, but I'm going to say
it again because it bears repeating Scripture strongly forbids idolatry,
this idea of putting things above God, worshiping God's creation,
not Him. And so if somebody is struggling in your life,
that's one of the things that we need to look at,
is this becoming an idol. And lots of people have
(43:30):
idols in their lives. It's not just crystals. They go, oh,
you have crystals, You must have idols. I'm talking about
things that take the place of God at all in
our lives, whether that's sports or I mean, I could
name a bevy of things that humanity is interested in movies, music,
all the things that we do instead of reading scripture
(43:52):
or having an active prayer life or whatever. And I'm
not saying you can't enjoy those things as a Christian,
but the question are they becoming idols or are they
replacing an active worship of God. If someone in your
family struggles with these ideas, I would say you should
probably not have crystals in your home because the Bible
(44:13):
advises us not to help others stumble. Romance talks about
that a bit. But then you know if somebody in
your life that you know well who is using crystals
for healing or manifestation or prayer. As in all things,
we should respond with gentleness. I always encourage people to
(44:33):
ask questions rather than to accuse. Ask them why they
are using crystals, and if they've considered what scripture says
about divination or the occult, maybe it's appropriate for you
to let them know what science says about crystals or
doesn't say about crystals. You could offer them guidance about
(44:56):
if they're looking for relief from physical pain or emotional stress,
or they're trying to better their mental health, remind them
that Christ gives us our freedom. It's not crystals. Galatians
five to one says it is for freedom that Christ
has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not
(45:17):
let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
And if we put this in the context of our conversation,
idolatry is holding so many captives, and crystals are part
of that. So I would encourage anybody who's listening, who's
struggling with us, to be on guard against the things
that you are idolizing, that are taking you away from
(45:41):
following Christ completely, and be willing to take a hard
look at the things that are in your life and
ask yourself does this align with scripture? And if not,
I contend that it needs to be removed.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, that's a very firm and thoughtful word for Christians
on this topic. And now on a much lighter note,
I have a fun question for Lindsay. Lindsay, we have
all kinds of very funky holidays in the United States,
and just this last week we had World Chocolate Day,
So we did dark chocolate or milk chocolate or white chocolate.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
It absolutely depends on the mood, but generally it's dark
chocolate with mint.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Mid chocolate. Well, Thank you Lindsay for being a guest
again on the post Modern Realities podcast. Thanks Melanie, you've
been listening to episode four hundred and fifty four of
the Postmodern Realities Podcast. Today's guest was Lindsay meden Walt.
She has written an exclusive online feature article for the
Christian Research Journal. Her article is called Crystals, Vibrations, Energy
(46:52):
and Healing Power. You can read it for free without
a paywall at equipped dot org. That's e qu ip
dot org. You won't want to miss out on subscribing
to the other podcasts from the Christian Research Institute. We
have the Bible answer Man podcast, which is published Monday
(47:14):
through Friday, with the best of the week on Saturday.
It's hosted by CRI President Hank Handagraph and is available
wherever you get your favorite podcasts. In addition, Hank has
a podcast called Hank Unplugged. Hank takes you out of
the studio and into his study to engage in free flowing,
essential Christian conversations on critical issues with some of the
(47:36):
most interesting, informative and inspirational people on the planet. And
you won't want to miss out on the brand new
podcast from the Christian Research Journal Christian Research Journal Reads
presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. It was
a print incarnation of almost forty five years. It's now
(47:58):
on the web as you know, with new articles every
single week, so you won't want to miss these audio
articles of some of our most popular and most accessed
articles on our website equip dot org.
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