Something I’ve read: Everything Doesn’t Happen For A Reason

Every so often, I’ll come across an article or blog post that so perfectly states how I feel, or what I’ve been through, that I feel like I could have written it myself, except that, especially in this case, the author has said it way better than I could.

Why do some people stay in Christian Science, despite its failures?

Many of us who’ve left Christian Science, and I’m sure others who know about it, wonder why otherwise perfectly rational and sane people remain steadfast believers, despite repeated and undeniable failures on the part of Christian Science to heal. Most of us ex-Christian Scientists would put our past selves into that category of former “true believers despite the evidence to the contrary.” On a discussion thread in one of the ex-Christian Scientist Facebook groups, a group member offered a possible answer to this intriguing (to me, anyway) question.

Guest Post: Chris’s Story (Part Two)

The following guest post was written by Chris. This is Part Two of a two-part post. Part One was posted last Sunday.

---

About four months after visiting my Sunday School teacher’s home, my mother suddenly had the idea that I needed to change Christian Science Sunday Schools in order to have a “man teacher”. It was suddenly imperative that I have a ‘man teacher’. How absurd! I already had a male Sunday School teacher I was quite happy with. I had been acquainted with him for about three years at that time. He was strong, thoughtful, intelligent, and had a great sense of humor. And he had, literally, saved my life some months earlier. What better example of a strong man could I have had?

Guest Post: Chris’s Story (Part One)

The following guest post was written by Chris. This is Part One of a two-part post. Part Two will be published next Sunday.

---

I grew up in the crazy and bizarre end of the already crazy spectrum of Christian Science. But I can claim some novelty in this story, however. My mother used Christian Science as cover to confuse and do harm to me.

Go Forth, Brave Turtle!

Scared Turtle in Shell — Image by © Sabet Brands/Corbis

I don’t mean to denigrate turtles; I happen to think they’re wonderful creatures, and I encounter many of them by the lakes here where I live, and like all animals, I think they’re beautiful. However, they do exhibit a well-known behaviour when frightened that is analogous to how Christian Scientists sometimes act when they speak or write publicly about Christian Science, and are challenged or questioned on what they say. So, I denigrate them for metaphorical purposes only.