 Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 11:39 PM
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| Are there any ex-christian scientists willing to telephone a current cs follower to warn them and explain their story? I am interested to know this. Coz if this forum is serious of warning folk about christian science I am sure they would perhaps take that extra step if required, am I correct or not? I am not familiar with CS and I know I wont win the battle with my mum however, if an ex-csist discussed it with her and could answer her questions then I know there would be hope for her. No point me trying coz everything I throw at her she has an answer for and that's coz I don't know too much about CS, well as much as her anyway!!!! I guess I am becoming desperate.
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Posted Friday, September 28, 2007 3:30 PM
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Hi, I was raised in CS and thought it was weird from the time I was about 5. At 16, I informed my family who was really into it, that I was done with CS. I never had to be polite about it after that. They were respectful of my position. Why?
When I was 7, I was hit by a stick in my eye and lost acuity in that eye. Had I received medical attention, it would have been fine. But instead they practiced their faith on my seven year old bod and I paid the price. In my late teens I let them know that CS was straight up child abuse in my case. They had no answer.
When I was 36, more than double the age of when I had confronted, mostly my dad but all the family had been conpilicit and not sympathetic to my plight, it dawned on my to forgive all of them for their past "error" (Haven't used that word in a while.)
So I visited my dad and brought up the scene I had created half my lifetime ago. I told him I forgave him unconditionally and asked him to forgive my anger…which he did. We were fast friends for the rest of his life.
I must say that of all the lessons in life I have learned that the power of forgiveness is my favorite.
Now in reading over the forums I note there is a lot of faith and church and religious talk, I make no pretensions of having any ability here. But what I see lacking is a healthy dose of psychological understanding and kow towing to authoritarian behavior.
Now specifically trying to get mom to see that CS is wrong:
The psychologist will tell you that you cannot make anyone do something they do not want to do. That includes belief systems.
The Buddhist will say that possession is the greatest sin. You posses the idea that you can change you mom's belief. Let go of that possession.
Logic fails in this instance as well. We are dealing with faith and belief. So you have to dispense with normal thinking that include logic and reason and enter into the world of Alice in Wonderland where you have to believe in five impossible things before lunch.
Finally, no action ever comes from thoughts. Action only comes from feelings. Suppose you want to give up smoking. If you say, "I am going to quit smoking", nothing happens. You keep smoking. But if you get it in you gut (like some sort of health crisis due to smoking) you get the message at another level. This is the feeling level and you will have a good chance of a positive outcome of quitting smoking.
One way to reach her is to "I message her". I feel bad when you do Christian Science. (You might need to clean that one up a bit) You are allowed your own feelings. She cannot do anything about that. …and you get to respect her belief system.
Christian Science promises way too much and does not deliver. It seeks to compete with the medical community but uses 19th century thinking and none of the advancement in medicine that is available now. They also live in the world of all or nothing. Medical science encourages a second opinion. Christian Science is a house of cards and soon will run out of recruits because no one will believe what they must beleive to be a Christian Scientist.
When the health crisis comes, after too much dithering, they usually do the deal with the "devil" because they really do know that CS does not have the tools that the medical community does.
Be nice to your mom and talk about things you can agree upon.
Mike in New York
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