 Posted Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:46 PM
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Anonymous (12/28/2009)
I live with this crazy thinking everyday. If anything comes up in discussion that my husband wants to deny, he quickly changes the subject to something totally unrelated. It drives me crazy!!! Could a former CSer tell me where in S&H it indicates that this denial of things should be practiced?
Here are some relevant quotes:
S&H 296:31
Human belief says to mortals, "You are sick!" and this testimony manifests itself on the body as sickness. It is as necessary for a health-illusion, as for an illusion of sickness, to be instructed out of itself into the understanding of what constitutes health; for a change in either a health-belief or a belief in sickness affects the physical condition.
S&H 15:14
In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses.
S&H 390:12
When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let your higher sense of justice destroy the false process of mortal opinions which you name law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last farthing, the last penalty demanded by error. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick.
Boy, those take me back! Crazy-making indeed! But as you can see from her own words, Mrs. Eddy did indeed foster denial.
I have to say, after being raised in CS and in it for 33 years, going to the A/U camps and Principia, and being class-taught and a former Reader, I STILL cannot really make sense of that last quote, "Agree with thine adversary quickly..." Huh?
Ann
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Posted Thursday, December 31, 2009 9:08 PM
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| That's a lulu, Ann! Talk about screwed-up use of Scripture! First, Jesus' teaching concerns social and legal relationships. But let's give Eddy some lattitude here, and take it (wildly) as metaphor for handling the "false testimony" of sickness. If sickness is the "adversary," is she telling her followers to "agree with (this) adversary quickly, while...in the way with him"? How did Rev. Wiggins ever let that one slip by?
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Posted Friday, January 01, 2010 1:10 PM
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Ann:
Thanks for those S&H references. I figure that I may need to know them at some point in time when the denial is becoming too much.
Happy New Years!!
Happy and Healthy in the Midwest
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Posted Friday, January 01, 2010 2:48 PM
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"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. "
-C.S. Lewis
Marrying a person who has interest in Christian Science could be a guarantee that one is in for serious un-medicated pain and confusion with nothing but an excruciatingly painful way out.
We are living in perilous times, and it's a foul hand that has been dealt our children and grandchildren. I would not like to see people bring more children into the CS world considering their way of dealing with the crucial issues of mental, emotional and physical health in the future. And at the risk of seeming an extremist I will add that CS is a religion that plays unwittingly into the world of double-thinking and the demise of the whole world because of neglect of the vulnerable ones among us; from ill family members, to the people living in the streets and jungles all over the world.
CS is not a pro-active, positive action group by any stretch of the imagination. It is not pro-active when it comes to preserving marriage, preserving the dignity and growth human beings, our God given ability and right to feel, explore, express, search and think. CS does nothing to preserve the body or the health and well-being of the community. When the Bible says (my paraphrasing here) "the world will not come to an end because of evil, but because good people who do nothing", I think CSers are in the category of good people who do next to nothing.
I never again want to be involved with people who DO next to nothing. CS type of prayer (generally speaking here) is just about all that CSers do to solve any worldly problem. In my mind, prayer is God's gift to the us, the world. CSers think it is THEIR gift to the world and Practitioners charge money to do it, because THEY consider themselves "better" at it than the rest of us. Huh? Is that Biblical? Where is the mention of money connected with prayer talked about in the Bible? And did Jesus imply that any set of people were more effective in prayer than others? I think maybe He spoke against ego??
OUR gift to the world is to flex our muscles and to take as many big physical actions as we possibly can to help solve physical and emotional problems. What does MBE say about that? She says to deny the problem and the feelings and she calls it prayer. My KJV Bible says far more about action, sharing, helping and giving than it says about prayer. And what are the results of the CS system? What are the CS stats? How are the results of the CS system any different from the results of apathy, indifference, injustice, neglect and abuse?
CSers can't even keep their own families and children well and together. There are the real stats available from the empty pews of the churchs and the church closings: The national population is growing and the CS population is drastically shrinking. Over the last 2 generations the younger CS family members have left and are still leaving CS by the droves, (do some research, the numbers are there, this is no shuck and jive story I am telling.) Young and middle age adults are leaving even though it means terrible alienation of affection from family members who remain in CS. It's a dreadfully painful Catch 22 family situation.
CS healing and life-enriching "statistics" are totally absent. And for sanity and health sake, if you are going to place someone (yourself or your unborn children) under the influence of a so called HEALTH system (ie "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by MBE) you had best look for REAL statistics and be clear as to what REAL science requires for EVIDENCE OF PROOF! My stars! There is formal procedure required for calling a bunch of testimonies and verifications REAL statistics. These formal procedures are totally absent in CS authorized statistics. The way CS stretches the definition of SCIENCE should be labeled a criminal offence since we're talking LIFE and DEATH here, as well as CRIPPLINGS and AMPUTATIONS due to "CS prayer treatment" not working!
And when "CS treatment" doesn't work they blame the victim. And the victim is taught to blame himself! It's a mind rape; mind rape twists the thinking so badly which is much worse than random physical rape. I should know. I have been raped in both ways. Even in physical rape the victim is blamed for bringing it into his reality. Don't get me started on that one! CS just plays into society's attitude towards rape victims. Enough said here about that. Just think these things through.
My concern with CS begins with the study of human development, the erosion of a person's sense of self, and human rights given by God. CS practices a form of self-erosion while preaching health and perfection. Ummmm.
I think this is an extremely critical issue, especially since it is not only CS people who are trapped in the cycle of denial, neglect and abuse. It's a common disease of the whole world. Nearly half the world is dying young and the other near-half is enabling the killing. Jesus gave us a third option. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. I don't think this meant having more "stuff". I think it meant having more verbs. Like spunk, sparkle, vitality, curiosity, freedom, sharing, comforting, helping, love! Love is a verb, not just a thought.
CSers unwittingly support some very basic sick issues of society as a whole. And it isn't primarily women who are the victims. Boys have been just as "cheated" and crippled by their early training, just as badly as little girls have been. Many women are abusing their husbands in deep psychological ways. Many men are doing the same. Our system doesn't intervene much unless people are physically dead. The whole system: male, female, from cradle to grave is a mess. Boys generally suffer in a subtle viscerial way (which is probably why it comes out more in the form of anger and in more violent outbursts. Perhaps the CS system (and the world system) allows them to be more controlling and mean (?) and generally die earlier than women (?) Perhaps CS and the world system enable girls to become more manipulative and passive aggressive (?) and drive men to early graves? The reality rests on the education of both, and CS form of thinking needs to be renounced.
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. "
-C.S. Lewis
Just being me
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Posted Thursday, January 07, 2010 1:50 PM
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Hi Ann,
I am married to a guy that went to Principia all his life...He is 44 yrs old now. He is not a CS anymore, but all of his family is...He hasn't practiced CS since he left college I believe, but I still see some of the "effects" of this religion still lingering in his personality and behaviors...wondering how old you are and if you may know him? I really don't feel comfortable leaving his name though...hmmm...I just have kept a close eye on his family members and how they all react with life because they all seem entrenched in Christian Science...
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Posted Monday, February 22, 2010 10:46 AM
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Anonymous (1/7/2010)
Hi Ann,
I am married to a guy that went to Principia all his life...He is 44 yrs old now. He is not a CS anymore, but all of his family is...He hasn't practiced CS since he left college I believe, but I still see some of the "effects" of this religion still lingering in his personality and behaviors...wondering how old you are and if you may know him? I really don't feel comfortable leaving his name though...hmmm...I just have kept a close eye on his family members and how they all react with life because they all seem entrenched in Christian Science...
Sorry, I only now saw your post.
I graduated from Principia in 1975 and am 12 or 13 years older than your husband, so I doubt I knew him. Possibly my aunt or cousins knew him, however. They remain very much involved with Principia, and my cousin teaches at the Upper School. Others I knew at the college are teachers or administration there. However, like you, I would rather avoid naming names in a public forum.
being raised in C.S. does leave lasting effects, it seems -- I left the religion 25 years ago, but am often amazed at how often it affects me still. I have a big argument with myself every time I have a headache as to whether it's okay for me to take Advil.
Ann
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