The other day the Awkward Moments Children's Bible Facebook page shared a collection of horrifying "Christian Music" videos gathered from YouTube. I followed some of the links to their logical conclusions, and came across "I Just Want To (Be A Sheep)" The sheep theme reminded me of the guest post by the (obviously a pseudonym) … Continue reading Wanna be a Sheep
Category: Religion
Games Christians Play: Three Common Examples of Confirmation Bias
While many argue that Christian Science isn't really "Christian" the "logic" used in their Confirmation Bias follows a similar track. It uses slightly different language, but the logic is very similar.
My Inner Quiet
A number of years ago, my father gave me a small pendent of an anchor. I wore it on a necklace, similar to the way Christians wear crosses. I never felt comfortable wearing a cross, none of them ever felt "right" and I never had a Christian Science "cross and crown" pendent, although for a … Continue reading My Inner Quiet
Dismissing the Dismissive
Replace “TrueBeliever™” with “properly practicing Christian Science.” Change up some of the theology so it is a little more allegorical and less literal. Add in the lines “turn to the books” and “pray harder” and this parallels what many former Christian Scientists deal with as well.
You were never a real christian
If you claimed to be a Christian, and now claim that you are not, you were never a Christian to begin with. There is no such thing as a deconvert.
How many times have we heard these words? How many times has it stung? With the wave of a hand a TrueBeliever™ dismisses the very idea. It devalues and belittles the experiences that former Christians have faced. The audacity!
When you’ve been a Christian, though, you know why these Christians dismiss you. The first reason is because the Bible tells them so:
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.I…
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What I’ve been reading: belive what you want
Why do believers want atheists to lie? via Alternet.org Just Trust the Lord via Everything's New The Necessity of Atheism by Percy Shelley via Infidels.org Jericho Brisance YouTube Playlists via jerichobrisance.com http://www.alternet.org/belief/why-do-believers-want-atheists-lie?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark http://everythingsnew.net/2014/04/24/just-trust-the-lord/ http://infidels.org/library/historical/percy_shelley/necessity_of_atheism.html http://jerichobrisance.com/2014/04/28/jericho-youtube-playlists/ fairly certain the image is via https://www.facebook.com/IfkingLoveAtheismHumor?group_id=0
Anti-human Theology: Learning to Hate Yourself
Instead of learning to hate yourself, in Christian Science we are taught God is Love. We are “God’s Perfect Children” and we simply need to realize that. Any sickness, disease or “bad” things that happen to us are our failure to fully recognize that we are God’s Perfect Children – we need to realign our thoughts with God. Allowing Error/Mortal Mind/Malicious Animal Magnetism (all of which are unreal, because God created everything and behold it is Very Good) to enter our thought and cloud our judgment (and cause the problems that need to be “healed”). We must continue to vigilantly stand porter at the door of thought and be on guard against any un-god-like ideas. The end result is similar to that described by Godless in Dixie — there is quite a bit of self-loathing because people are not able to “heal themselves” by simply “aligning their thoughts with God.”
Although Christian Science starts with somewhat prohuman theology — there is no “fall” we are perfect, but trapped in the Adam Dream, it quickly becomes antihuman because the Adam Dream is one so few Christian Scientists ever manage to emerge from — Ms. Eddy included.
I have a confession to make. I still struggle with a deep self-hatred which I inherited from my Christian upbringing. It’s been nearly five years now since I “broke up with Jesus” and yet after all this time I still have this unhealthy undercurrent pulling me down, making me think less of myself than I should. It most commonly rears its ugly head when I am under a great deal of stress. I’m sure many could confirm that it’s when you are tired and your reserves are depleted that these things tend to come back to haunt you. I hear some of this comes with age, too. The older you get, the more you just get tired, and the longer you have to accumulate charges against yourself. Some of that’s probably unavoidable, I guess, and is just a part of life. It also doesn’t help me personally that I grew up…
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Church of Christ, Scientist (aka Christian Science)
I love when non-CS go to a CS service and share their views, it is always refreshing to get a new perspective and to hear what stands out as “odd” to them.
First Church of Christ, Scientist
Sunday #14 – Church of Christ, Scientist, 501 N. Alamo, San Antonio, TX
After last week’s “toe dip” into Scientology, I thought I’d check out one of the other religions often mistaken for Scientology – Christian Science. The church is one of several on the decline in America’s religious landscape. However, you might be surprised to learn that some pretty well known people were raised in the Christian Science faith: Doris Day, Robin Williams, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Fonda, Andy Rooney, Bette Davis, Gene Autrey, Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Val Kilmer, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, and on and on.
Though the church doesn’t publish its membership numbers, I’ve read estimates of membership in the 100,00 to 500,000-range worldwide. However, many feel the number is closer to the lower level. Why is this? I can only guess its due to its unwillingness of the…
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• View from the Pew: Dispatches of a Church-going Atheist–Christian Science
An atheist live-tweets the Sunday Service based on the Weekly Bible Lesson “Reality.” He lucked out and got a congregation that could sing and had a good accompanist, I speak from experience when I say not everyone is so lucky.
Third in an ongoing series of dispatches from the pew (Week 1–Mormon Church, Week 2–Jehovah’s Witnesses).
Part 1 is a catalog of my live tweets from a Christian Science sermon titled “Reality”.
Part 2 details my impressions of a brief conversation with two Scientists (!) about the church’s finances and evidence for its claims.
Part 1
1941 copy of Mary Baker Eddy’s “Science & Health”. Linen pages & fresh Moroccan leather, y’all. #pewpic.twitter.com/a5Uni8m80B
? Optimist Prime (@DIYThinking) March 30, 2014
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what I’ve been reading: Science & Plague Puppets
Mary Baker Eddy on Electricity (and as a pdf) via the Mary Baker Eddy Science Institute RationalWiki's views on Christian Science There must not be many Christian Scientists in Croatia, Croatian Court Upholds Vaccine Mandate via IFLScience too awesome not to share: Judaic Plush Passover Finger Puppet via the Awkward Moments Children's Bible facebook page … Continue reading what I’ve been reading: Science & Plague Puppets
opting out of sex-ed
An article entitled Should Kids Need Parental Consent to Get Sex Education in School? (1) recently appeared in my facebook feed. Apparently the need for parental consent is "to protect the children" Republican state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook sponsored bills S.B. 376 and H.B. 2620 after a constituent came to her in January appalled at a … Continue reading opting out of sex-ed