 Posted Sunday, January 03, 2010 1:49 PM
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Sorry Linda.
I have tended to be a little angry lately. Although it goes against my heart to vent towards anyone, I have felt quite a bit of animosity toward maryE since I finaly got out of her grip. Some of that ill will is directed toward the mother church and her minions there who, I feel, are not at all like the good, sweet csists i grew up with. Rather, I think they are probably people in charge of a huge money making corp. who have to do what it takes to get the flood of revenue flowing as it once was.
The idea that the cs structure is all about money seems all too clear to me now. Wheras I once believed the intent of the movement was to bring light unto the world, i can now see that money was always the drive behind eddy's efforts. I think it is in something called the bible (w/out it's scientific interpretation) where we find.. 'the love of money is the root of all evil'.
I know this seems to some, irelevant, but I contend that eddy's quest for money is what led her to write s&h and her obsession with capitalizing on "her" truth is what tainted all her words and teachings. I believe there are some pretty unloving people out there deriving a living from practicing "science' and that is a direct result of eddy's original 'revelation' that...."hey! there's a buck to be made form this quimby/mesmer/ mind-control, healing thing."
Does that sound harsh?
Mainly, since coming away from cs, I've been angry that I let myself be controlled in any degree by a 'church' that sought to control every aspect of my life through subtle mind control. I've been a little like a horse who just realized there is a saddle on my back and a rider too! I can't help, for the time being, trying to throw it off!
So pardon me if I let 'er buck .
Gosh! I hope all this mental malpracice toward Eddy doesn't make her ill while sitting at the left hand of God!
Born free
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Posted Sunday, January 03, 2010 6:22 PM
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| Born Free, Some of that ill will is directed toward the mother church and her minions there who, I feel, are not at all like the good, sweet csists i grew up with. Rather, I think they are probably people in charge of a huge money making corp. who have to do what it takes to get the flood of revenue flowing as it once was. I think you're probably right about some of the people at TMC, but the people I've known who went to work there did so with pure motives, wanting to "further the Cause of Christian Science" (although I haven't talked with them later to find out how things turned out). I have corresponded with several other people over the years who became disillusioned while working at TMC, so I'll guess they are also people who went to TMC hoping to "further the cause of Christian Science" rather than just to be part of a money making scheme. My point is that most of the people working there are trying to do a good thing, even though I disagree that CS is a good thing. One thing I learned when studing "thought reform" is that the people who are recruited and controlled are generally idealistic and hardworking, wanting to do something good. I once heard an expert on cults say, "remember that today's cult members are tomorrow's former cult members" -- the idea being that the people who may seem like enemies today are actually victims who will wake up and be looking for help tomorrow. I've seen the same thing in CS; I've talked with many people who were very involved in CS (even one former practitioner) who later left CS and realized that they had been deeply wounded. I've been a little like a horse who just realized there is a saddle on my back and a rider too! I can't help, for the time being, trying to throw it off! That's very understandable. Been there, done that! I went through a lot of anger while breaking emotinally free.
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Posted Sunday, January 03, 2010 7:33 PM
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It's very common to market the young and good looking and every money making organization will take the opportunity to utilize what they see as their best assets to advantage their draw cards and sales.
Without prejudice to any religion, the Mormans will send out their young men to visit homes hoping to recruit even more young people to the fold, very often these young men are positioned to attract young women very often the bored housewife, I won’t elaborate further on this but have seen the same with Jehovah’s Witnesses. CS does not have the same advantages with the young but what they have they will still market the flesh. No different in my opinion than prostitution, marketing the flesh of the young will always be used, though some people may see this differently.
Jan
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Posted Monday, January 04, 2010 10:45 PM
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The discussion about how TMC is trying to put it's best foot forward to attract younger people reminded me of an incident that occurred when I worked there in the early 1980s. I was chosen to usher for an event (I was maybe 21 at the time). I had a couple of birth defects and wasn't considered very attractive. I was devastated when I saw a couple of CS women looking at me and holding a low-voiced conversation. One then came up to me, and told me that they no longer needed my assistance, and I could go back to work.
I've since had surgery to correct the defects, but the humiliation of that event isn't something that I can have removed quite so easily.
Siobhan
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Posted Tuesday, January 05, 2010 6:48 PM
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siobhan
Ouch! That hurt just to read. I apologise for their stupidity.
I suppose in cs there was a strong tendancy to avoid having 'defective' things too aparent to the public. But I recall lots of unhealed people in our cs church when I was growing up. one gal who I thought was really a wonderful person had a growth on her prettty face that got biger and uglier until she finally had to wear a large dressing over it. In the end it killed her. Cancer. Our first reader used to faint from time to time at the podium. My dad ,a non csist, sprinted from the back pew once and caught her before she hit the floor.! later on the way home he mocked the whole denial thing and repeated in a sarcastic tone 'it's not real ..it's not real'.
Most of the old geezers who attended our church had all sorts of ailments and the usher looked like death warmed over!
I always felt bad because as I got older my sight declined to the point where I needed glasses to read. Not a big deal in the rest of the world but to me as a cser it seemed a failure.
born free
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Posted Wednesday, January 06, 2010 11:39 PM
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Born Free -- No apologies necessary. I also saw people in the CS church trying to deny growths and other problems. One practitioner whom I knew -- someone who really tried to live CS -- died eventually of what I suppose was leukemia, at about age 40. It makes me so darn angry at the waste! I have a hard time forgiving my parents for making me grow up without medical treatment for deformities that made my teen years very difficult and that left a huge mark on my psyche.
Now I see family members continuing in CS, and raising their kids in it. One of my relatives has a young daughter, who has a huge sore on her side -- but I can't, of course, say anything about it, since it's being treated by CS. I have a lot of rage built up due to this religion -- and having to be respectful of it when I am around my family who still practice it doesn't help. I converted to Catholicism several years ago, but have never told my family, other than a couple of cousins who aren't in CS. The gyrations we go through because of this "religion" are amazing, particularly to outsiders!
Siobhan
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Posted Thursday, January 07, 2010 10:59 AM
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To all, I love you all, but this forum is off kilter.Just one case in point, and I quote:
Am I being chastized?
No -- doesn't look like that to me.
Why are some of you so concerned about what cs readers of this forum might think? ... I was under the impression that this site is here for those who have suffered the effects of a life spent in cs and need to talk with others who are just as screwed up, but mending.
You're correct that this is a place for discussing and working through CS related baggage. But we do welcome participation by CSists, and we expect that all participants will treat each other with civility. (SeeIntroto our Forms and Announcementscategory, as well as our Terms and Conditions, for adescription of the type of discussions we have here and the standards of behavior that we expect.)[/quote]
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That's funny, I would have sworn that this anonymous former CSist who is obviously still deeply wounded in many ways was being ignored on this thread. Count through the posts and read with a compassionate ear! Maybe he started this thread by writing 50+ passionate lines describing his distressed experience and again 20 more lines pouring out more of his hurt and finally realized this is the wrong place to get any real warm and attentive dialog going! And obviously he used the wrong word "chastised" when he felt stung by someone here. Fundamentalist Christians are all about correctness, and it is pretty darn inhuman.
In my view this forum might well be called the cultivated aloofness of fundamental Christians, he certainly has a point that this site really isn't "here for those who have real baggage and have suffered the effects of CS and need to talk with others." It's a site where people take side trips and leave the bleeding folks in the ditch with their baggage nursing their own wounds. Many people on this forum remind me of people who happen upon a devastating bloody car accident and all they do is discuss the color of the blood or the make of the car instead of dressing the man's wounds and addressing his emotional issues and his deep expressions of what and how it all happened etc.
Compassion? Sensitivity? You all are not very big on that; you're big getting your theology correct and big on ripping apart the CS church. And furthermore Mrs Eddy does not have the exclusivity on lack of compassion. And she did not invent coldness towards human pain; coldness all throughout history was a celebrated Christian tradition, other than by dear Jesus of course!
When is enough Scripture study enough? It sounds more like a transferred addiction to me, going from an addiction to proving CS would heal ya, to and addiction to Scripture. And as addictions go, they increase over the years, and only the non-addicted can see that you are addicted. Jesus brought people to Him who never even had the scriptures. He drew people to him because of how he "treated" people, and his "treatment" worked every time! (And he didn't "treat" people by giving them doses of Scriptures! He condemned that sort of thing!)
And as for "followinghim"??? Are you sure??? sounds pretty arrogant and cold to me.
The guy who posted the above quotations/questions had a very valid point. Doubtful that he will ever get much needed compassion and emotional help here. Compassion is one of the greatest needs of humanity. Living like Jesus is an art which comes straight from the heart, bypassing the brain. It is not an intellectual game where the best thinker wins! Scriptures we can get from a thousand books. You people are acting like your scriptural proofs (that you know the WAY) are more important than injured people's need to connect with someone who understands.
This site and you Fundamentalists are a huge disappointment. And I am sure you don't really care what I think, because you are never wrong. Let's face the truth, you really aren't here to serve the injured and melt their baggage away; you are here to serve your addiction to solving the intellectual issues regarding Mrs Eddy vs your take on Jesus and hell. Good luck, because you just don't get it! You truly have my sympathy, you don't know what you're missing!
just being me
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Posted Thursday, January 07, 2010 1:51 PM
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I agree. I am leaving. I have not the slightest intention of ever converting to any form of Christianity, and it is clearly stated on the website of Do Go Be Man that he is, as pastor of a congregation, opposed to gay rights. I cannot agree with these positions, and I have not the slightest interest in arguing about who is saved or who will get into heaven. This is like I never left the CS church at all.
Ann
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Posted Thursday, January 07, 2010 2:16 PM
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Ann,
I agree. I am leaving. I have not the slightest intention of ever converting to any form of Christianity, and it is clearly stated on the website of Do Go Be Man that he is, as pastor of a congregation, opposed to gay rights. I cannot agree with these positions, and I have not the slightest interest in arguing about who is saved or who will get into heaven. This is like I never left the CS church at all.
I suppose there's not a whole lot more I could do to make you more angry, so I will be blunt. You've touched on a tender point. Like so many who have visited these forums and disagreed with what you've encountered, you have at least some of your facts wrong and are closed to the concept of Christian rights.
I am not a Pastor. I do not oppose gay rights as a secular position. I also have no power to affect or judge who gets into Heaven. That is a matter between each of us and God.
I unapologetically believe in God and His word. If you can support gay rights with His word, then you will have accomplished something I have yet to see anyone else do.
Check your history books and demographics, America was founded by Christians upon Christian principles with the expectation those principles would continue to guide our laws. Those who oppose those principles are more guilty of prejudice, bias, and close-mindedness than you accuse us. If you go into a strip club, you shouldn't complain about nudity. Coming to a Christian web forum, you should have expectations that you're going to be exposed to Christian principles. If you leap from a cliff, you should expect to encounter Gravity and not complain about the drop.
Do Go Be Man
<><
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Posted Thursday, January 07, 2010 3:32 PM
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Do Go,
You are incorrect about history, as I posted in the other section.
I have no problem with gay rights from any spiritual standpoint.
Yes, I have been angry, but that is not really appropriate. Now I simply do not feel that I belong on this site, since remaining would indicate that I agree with its values and principles. I am sorry.
Ann
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