Answer: The Seventh-day Adventist Church is strongly interested in health promotion since the Bible does not separate the physical and spiritual restoration of humanity. Jesus came to heal mankind as a whole being and gave his disciples "authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1,2).

Since antiquity there have been all sorts of philosophies concerning the origin of diseases and their respective treatment. Today we find a great variety of methods under the umbrella of alternative, or complementary, or even natural medicine. There is no clear distinction between scientific or mystical methods of diagnosis and treatment. In fact, there is a wide spectrum ranging from scientific based to purely mystical with a variety of mixtures and gray zones in between. It is nearly impossible to list all existing methods and make absolute rules.

This matter was extensively discussed during the General Conference Health Department Advisory meeting of 1996 with representatives from all world divisions. General working recommendations were made. The document Alt-med-stat.pdf can be opened by clicking on it with the left mouse button or downloaded using the right mouse button.

If you have further questions or doubts about any specific method or therapy you may find help in the book "Reader’s Guide to Alternative Health Methods", by the American Medical Association, 1993, ISBN 0-89970-525-1, which analyses over 1000 methods and reports.