I did it and nothing else gets credit…

I built a small deck out behind the townhouse I rent over a recent long weekend. I’m not much of a carpenter, but I have what I’d call decent ‘common-sense’ skills, and plenty of knowledge gained from watching and helping others who are very good carpenters. One of them was my Dad, whom I spent many years of my youth watching (at first), then later helping him with projects. That mentorship has continued in more recent years with opportunities to help friends with various projects.

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.

Christian Science and Narcissism

Image credit: Google image search.

I’ve had occasion to discuss narcissism with an old friend recently who’s also, like me, a former Christian Scientist. We speculated somewhat on whether or not Christian Science either (a) creates narcissists, or (b) attracts and/or fosters them. I’ve had some on-line discussions with other ex-Christian Scientists on the topic as well. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Please note that I am not a mental health professional, nor is anyone else I’ve discussed this subject with. What you read here are the musings of an educated layman.