a true first person testimonial of a Christian Science parent. It is terrifying when a child has a medical emergency that doesn't heal immediately. My heart goes out to the family.
Category: reblogged
Reading the Wrong People
If only the accusations hurled at me were as simple as "reading the wrong people." I was accused of "letting mortal mind win" and being a failure as a parent for not "protecting" my children, and doing untold damage to them because I've chosen NOT to radically rely on Christian Science (my misplaced faith nearly … Continue reading Reading the Wrong People
Good Homeschooled Girls: Hide the Real You
Reblogged from http://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com Good Homeschooled Girls are supposed to be perfect. They’re supposed to be Pollyanna, Elsie Dinsmore, and Jane Bennet. They’re supposed to be completely innocent, unnoticed, modest, graceful, but still look beautiful and unblemished (while not thinking too hard about it). Good Homeschooled Girls are impossible. All of us are wearing masks, we’re all acting … Continue reading Good Homeschooled Girls: Hide the Real You
I Walk With Love
This was shared a few days ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Emerging Gently sums how I feel about my Christian Science experience so nicely when they say:
- As I’ve learned to look back on the journey of my life so far, I am grateful to come to the realization that my time in Christian Science, while I view it as misguided, was not wasted.
For a time, when I heard CS hymns, my blood ran cold and I wanted to run, but over the last year or two I’ve come to embrace their familiar comfort. Some nights I sing Shepard Show Me to Kid1 at bedtime (it is “the song about sheep”), I mostly sing the melody and badly botch/make up the words as I go along, but Kid1 doesn’t mind, it is comforting.
A favourite hymn of mine is #139 in the Christian Science Hymnal. The first line is “I walk with Love along the way…” These words have always brought me great comfort, as does the musical setting. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are of my Mom singing that and also #304 (Shepherd show me) and #207 (O gentle presence) to me when I was sick. The words of all of these hymns still comfort me when they come to mind, and I can still hear her voice in my mind as vividly as the last time she sang these hymns to me when I was a child. The marriage of poetry and music in hymns has tremendous mental/emotional healing power. But, it is the line from #139 in particular, that inspires this post.
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A Letter to the Jehovah’s Witness Lady
I found this to be a most enlightening piece, I was not aware that MBE’s coming was foretold and by prophecy and that the signs were fulfilled. I may have to keep this piece on hand if the dear Mormon missionaries ever come back to visit.
A Jehovah Witness has been visiting me off and on for over two years now and she finally asked me what religion I was of. I purposely did not want her to know, but since she finally asked I told her I was an Independent Christian Scientist. After the latest visit from my Jehovah Witness friend I wrote the following letter as I really did not have time to tell her much about Christian Science.
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Ancient philosophy meets Darwin: Can science offer a way of life?
Ancient philosophers differed from those today in one crucial way:
For them, philosophy was a way of life.
Can science, too, be a way of life?
Philosophy as a way of life
All the ancient philosophers, from Socrates to the Buddha, investigated their world not just for the sake of learning, but in order to discover how to live a flourishing life.
For example, when Socrates asked his fellow Athenians about piety or virtue, it wasn’t just for love of conversation – he wanted to expose the confusion fouling up the unexamined life. When Hypatia of Alexandria explored mathematics and astronomy, it wasn’t just for the sake of learning – she wanted to know how she fit into the cosmos. And when Siddartha Gautama investigated the nature of desire and aversion, it was not out of pure interest in psychology – he wanted to know how to eradicate suffering. All…
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Anti-intellectualism and the Bible
Ms. Eddy claims “the time for thinkers has come” but if you think critically about Christian Science, or the Bible, you end up somewhere quite different than she intends.
As someone shared on my FB feed this morning
- “If you rearrange the letters in the words Faith and Religion, you can make ‘Microwave.’ No, don’t test it or question it, just believe me.”
When I was a Christian, I worked very hard at maintaining the tension between faith and reason, much like I see many bright people still doing today. I poured myself into biblical studies, learned the original languages, took classes on apologetics and worldview, discussed and argued over theology with friends into the wee hours of the morning, and even studied a bit of philosophy along the way. Like many writers I read these days, I worked sincerely out of a conviction that the Christian faith can be a well-reasoned faith. I labored all those years under the impression that you don’t have to “check your brains at the door” of the church, but can instead continue to feed both mind and spirit in a kind of symbiotic (even if sometimes strained) relationship. What did not occur to me then but seems as clear as a bell to me now is…
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Used
I want to find this doll, bring her home and care for her. She deserves more than to be abandoned by TMC.
A Warning about Christian Science Practitioners
I’m not sure “warning” is the right word, but this is something people should keep in mind. Jesus healed instantly, his disciples (contemporaries of the day who had learned directly from the Master) and the Apostle Paul fell short of Jesus’ level. 2000 years later, MBE and her CSPs often fall short of the amazing feats of physical healing. There should be no shame/stigma in the CS community attached to seeking medical attention.
Many CSPs are lovely people and are wonderful to talk to about problems, they can often help you calm down, address your fears, and work through trying times, but when it comes to life-or-death situations (infection, diabetes, cancer, unchecked growths, etc.) relying solely on someone’s “ability to heal through CS” and one’s own “understanding” is often deadly.
Christian Science practitioners pride themselves in using their Leader’s discovery and system, which is based on the original healing method of Christ Jesus.
But please note: All of Jesus’ healings were instant. There was no telling the patient they needed to handle an error before the healing could take place. There was no praying for hours, days, weeks, months and even years with no change in the condition or keeping the prayer up if it got worse. There was no refusal to take a case for moral reasons or for any reason. Jesus never made a second visit; he got it done in the first encounter.
Now that is Christian healing as Jesus did it. He may not have used meds, but he did get the job done. There is no reported case where He failed to heal. And He certainly never criticized people for not using His method.
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reblogged: The okay-ness
I have been enjoying Corinna’s blog for a little while now, I have found it to be quite insightful. I try not to re-blog other people’s posts, but this one really spoke to me and I wanted to share it beyond just “liking” it.
I’m surprised when Jackson tells me that officially the Buzz is Baptist. After seminary, he was struck by polls showing the abundance of people lacking a religious affiliation in the Pacific Northwest and, with the financial backing of a national Baptist organization, relocated here from Texas. At first he worked as the youth minister at a local Baptist church before striking out on his own about five years ago. Today, the ties to the national organization have loosened. It pays only a part of his salary and, of the 20 or so people on his staff, each one is responsible for securing his or her own funding, which comes from multiple sources. I wonder what it means about the future of denominations that I’ve had to work so hard to find one here.
When he asks me why I started my church-going mission, our conversation turns to the less material…
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kind-ism 