 Posted Monday, March 16, 2009 10:10 PM
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| I am not a christian scientist but i do know several. I do not understand the religion they espouse and so i'm here trying to understand both sides.
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Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:41 PM
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| Welcome to the forum. Perhaps by reading a lot of the threads here you can at least understand the dark side of Christian Science. It's a complex religion and very different than any other "Western" Christian religion in that its followers believe that the entire material world is not real. "Man" is actually a spiritual being, ONLY a spiritual being, and all the rest is false, a lie and basically evil. The reason Christian Scientists dont take medicine is NOT because they are depending on GOD to heal them, they believe that because Man is only spiritual there really IS no sickness, and if they understand this they wont be sick. If this sounds kind of crazy imagine being a child and limping around on a broken ankle until it finally heals up, all the while your parents telling you that you must understand that there IS no broken ankle, 'cause there is no accident or no bone to break...you are a perfect child of God. It happens...and much worse. Its all in the annals of this forum. Square Peg
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Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 6:29 PM
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Welcome nuhere,
You've come to the right place if you want to learn the reality of CS that no member of the CS Church will tell you. They teach that the only reality is that which is unseen. If you can't see it, then it's real. If you can see it, you are having a delusion.
What most people call reality is only an allusion to a CS member. But since all CSists still eat, drink, bathe, brush teeth, comb hair, get dressed and work for money to buy clothes, food, pay for car, gas, housing, utilities and furnishings you will see that none of them really, really, really believes what they say they believe or they would be astral projecting themselves all over the place and have a self-cleaning body (like a self-cleaning oven.)
My CS friends and family had just as many illnesses, personality problems, character defects, accidents and monsters in their life as anyone else; it's just that they never got bold enough to admit it. We never talked about it, never did any problem solving over it, never got any comfort for it, never learned how to deal with any of it, nor prevent it. Thus we all turned out to be pretty closed-up people with barely any ability to feel much of anything other than outbursts that we were dreadfully ashamed of and denied the next day (like a drunk denies being drunk and driving the car onto the neighbor's front lawn.
CSists are positive, pleasant, polite and nice, but the love that compels normal people to take their vitamins, get involved with early detection of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or treat any life threatening ailment with medicine of any kind just isn't there.
The CS brand of "Love" is not the kind of love, empathy, compassion and communication that holds the world together if you want my opinion.
I was sick all the time while I was a CSist. Only I had to hide in my bedroom in shame, I had to endure the fevers, the aches and pains and lie about it while my CS family insisted that the sickness was the lie. Talk about feeling CRAZY half the time. I only felt sane when I was out joking around with my friends . Then the guilt would set in for being so mortal.
I left CS bit by bit when I started college, but it has a way of sticking to your thinking like crazy glue for a long time. I am pretty much healed from it after many years of deprogramming and I have never been healthier... and I no longer have to lie about it either. I can admit when I am not feeling well, and take my herbal teas, my nutritional supplements and an occasional medication without feeling like I have disappointed God. I am grateful to God that He has provided us with material means to aid in our wellness and our healing if we should do something to cause ourselves sickness or injury or pain. Sometimes those things just jump up on us and it isn't always something we did to bring it on. (I was never allowed to think that way when I was a CSist. I always had to believe that it was my thinking that was all wrong. Can you imagine spending years and years not being to respect, appreciate and trust your own thinking and your own feelings and still having to be grateful and pleasant all day, every day!?
I am so grateful and happy I am free of CS.
no more CS 4 me
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Posted Wednesday, March 18, 2009 4:59 AM
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Would you mind my asking what religion you are?
I find that there is a higher risk of conversion to CS for people who don't know their Bible, or what their own Church teaches that well. I'm not saying that the religious don't convert, but just that it's not as easy. Sometimes the unexplainable healings bring people in, including former doctors and midwives (that I've known).
Yeah, I'm a little concerned for you.
Friendship is a tool for discipling a person into a religion. If a person is patient enough, you won't even be aware that they're inching towards your conversion. Talking about the beliefs and topics are actually teaching methods. They'll be able to rapidly discredit any false explanations of what they believe. I just wish they could see the difference between some of the teachings they've been given, and the truth of the Bible.
Was there any particular subject you wanted clarity on? I think there are people here who can probably explain some things (about a number of false teachings), and then explain where the Bible teaches the real thing. You'll probably need that.
Have you ever read Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults? My sister in law challenged me to read the parts pertaining to CS, and I did in the vein of being able to discredit those accusations, and explain CS to her further. Given this site I'm on, you can guess who won! No it wasn't a contest, and we were as patient and kind and loving as you could ask for. I never lost my temper with her, nor she with me... not on that! It prepared me to do more comparisons, of CS teachings to Bible teachings (and they do differ). Not everyone is that patient. You'd know your friends best.
The thing that knocked me over, though, wasn't that. It was Josh McDowell's "More Than A Carpenter" - $4.95 in paperback. If you want a CSer to think about who Jesus really is, they'll have a lot to chew on with that book, and it's a quick read. They'll mull it over for months. You know, the seed planted, that bears much fruit. Plus, if we're sure of our Lord, we'd each be less likely to fall for the false doctrines of a cult. Mrs Eddy makes a big point, in CS of denying the deity of Jesus. It's really thorough. Even the Bible version they sell in their Reading Rooms has the first pages of Introduction omitted - where the translators explain when "LORD" means _______, or when "Lord" signifies ______. As technical as it is, it's worth reading and remembering, since there are times when the Bible intentionally calls Jesus God.
I guess that's enough for one day! Have fun!
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