I’m Baaaack!!

Looking at my posts, the last thing I posted here was a link to an article written by John Pavlovitz, a writer, activist, blogger, and yes–pastor from Wake Forest, North Carolina, USA. That post dates back to October 2018. Normally, I’m not a fan of anyone who is a pastor or anything remotely connected to religion, but he is worth following, if you want something good and thought-provoking to read. He is the kind of Christian who walks the walk, rather than just talking it, and he doesn’t like Trump–something I consider to be a good thing. Find him here. He’s also on social media. The last substantive post I made was also in October 2018. So, it’s been awhile. I honestly didn’t think I’d come back here, then when I started trying, I didn’t think WordPress would let me back in.

Is it all real, or is it all an ‘illusion’? Make up your mind…

Image credit: Emerging Gently.

I’m fortunate enough to live in what I think is one of the most beautiful places in Canada, if not the world. I chose to live here. I wasn’t born here, my parents didn’t bring me here (although the fact that they left me a house here in their will did have a strong influence on my decision to move here), and a job did not bring me here. I live in a semi-arid valley that is hot in the summer, and experiences moderate (by Canadian standards) winters. It offers many outdoor recreational opportunities during all seasons. Ride along any of the meandering back roads around here, and you’re treated to spectacular scenery of mountains, lakes, cliffs, hoodoos, desert sage, and blue sky.

Grape Nuts

Over the years, I’ve occasionally heard the term “Grape Nuts” applied to Christian Science. This notion comes from the parallel drawn between the idea that, like the cereal that contains neither nuts nor grapes, Christian Science is neither “Christian” nor is it a “science”.

Stupid Things I Think About Because of Christian Science

I had my regular six month check-up at the dentist today. Nothing unusual about that. Most of us do this, Christian Scientists included (dental care is OK with Christian Scientists, by the way, but don’t you dare go to a medical doctor).

All Needs Met Here

 

Image Credit: (Anonymous)–from an ex-Christian Scientist Facebook group.

This meme, created and posted in one of the ex-Christian Scientist Facebook groups I’m in by one of its members triggers memories of one of my many thoughts and doubts about the veracity of so many aspects of Christian Science theology. It cuts to the quick on a fallacy of this theology and so-called “prosperity gospels” that is obvious to anyone with eyes and ears: there is a lot of suffering in this world, and a lot of human needs that go unmet each and every day. On that basis, as I see it, Divine Love (another term for God) hasn’t always met and probably never will meet every human need. Poverty happens, strife happens, shit happens. It’s all part of the human experience.

Algorithms Are Funny

I am equal parts annoyed, and sometimes amused by Facebook ads. Facebook uses some sort of algorithmic version of secret sauce to get their targeted ads to work, mining your profile information, things you post, comments you make, to try to figure out what kind of ads you’re interested in seeing. For some reason, however, it seems to think sometimes that I might be interested in adult incontinence products, although I’m not sure why. So, often they do get it wrong. Today, an ex-Christian Scientist friend of mine posted this screen-shot of a rather amusing Facebook ad fail. It seems that Facebook thinks Liz’s blog post about learning to ski as an amputee (by the way, Christian Science is the reason she is an amputee), might also be connected in some way to an article posted by the Christian Science Church on their own website. Me thinks they may need to tweak their algorithms just a little bit.

Happy 2014!

Today, we celebrate the new year: 2014. How time seems to fly lately. I don’t know if it’s a function of age, or something else, but it seems to me that time passes more quickly now than it used to. It may not necessarily be a function of age–teenagers I know have said the same thing. Maybe it’s more a function of our turbo-charged wired and connected society.

Sunday Morning Thought-spill

A fellow ex-Christian Scientist blogger has often mentioned to me that she gets shocked and saddened sometimes at the search terms (usually centred around “death” and/or “death in Christian Science” or other such terms) that bring people to her blog. I haven’t noticed those types of search terms bringing people here quite as much (I don’t tag often with the “death” tag, so maybe that’s why), but it does happen, yes; but what has tugged at me though are a couple of comments that were shared on a recent post.

Monkeys With Machine Guns

In a conversation I had with a business acquaintance a few years ago, we were discussing a multi-level marketing company we had both at different times had a brush with, which sells various financial and investment instruments through a network of independent distributors, most of whom have no prior experience or education in the finance or investment fields. He had gone much farther with the company than I did and became a representative and manger for awhile before realizing how flawed the company’s business model was and leaving. I attended one informational meeting at the behest of another friend of mine who was a distributor. When I rather quickly realized the business was a multi-level marketing scheme, I beat a hasty retreat. My acquaintance likened the company’s business model to “giving machine guns to monkeys”. This was his very astute way of describing the handing over of a complex task to someone completely unqualified for it. You’d think that no reasonably sane person would do that, but many do–sometimes with disastrous results for their financial portfolios. Personally, I’ll stick with a financial advisor who has the requisite business or economics degree, and relevant experience.

Dilemma of a Refugee From an Obscure Religion

One of my stated reasons for writing this blog is to offer a place for former Christian Scientists to go, ‘hang out’, and be with others who understand where they’ve been, because in my search, I didn’t find very many such places. That said, the ones I have found are good. When you narrow the parameters down a bit more, to specify those of us former Christian Scientists who are no longer Christian (or religious), the places you can go and be understood are even fewer. I’d love to be able to talk stuff out with close friends, but most of them don’t understand, and just think it’s crazy that I believed in such stuff, and never went to a doctor.