Individuals who leave Christian Science tend to arrive, after some wandering, either at a commitment to the biblical Christianity from which CS originally departed or—more often, sadly—at an atheistic, agnostic, or self-generated spirituality that blithely disavows God. My heart goes out to these “nones,” as sociologists call them. (more…)

Josh and his family have been friends of ours for over 40 years. When he was a teenager, I taught his class at the Christian Science Sunday School. It’s always been heavy on my heart that when he and other impressionable kids were spiritually in my care, I fed them CS falsehood instead of Bible truth. (more…)

As a convert of Jesus and as someone who seeks to make converts, I have begun reading the four gospels and the book of Acts as a marvelous collection of conversion stories. Think about it. Eleven of the apostles were converts, like the Magi before them. (more…)

Often in our Christian walk, we catch a glimpse of a vision that gives us hope that we can impact others in some meaningful way. In the moment, we rarely have a clue how our vision will ever become reality. But the vision eventually does become our reality as we aim to accomplish it; it becomes a piece of our story.  So it has been for me in publishing my first book, Leaving Christian Science.
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“This isn’t working. I’ve been misled, harmed, ill served. I want out. I need to find a better way of life.” Such are the thoughts of someone feeling trapped in an unhealthy belief system or subculture.

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“You need Jesus. More than anything, you need Jesus. Your whole life depends on it, your whole world.” When I came to accept that this was true and began to make all the changes it would require of me, I was an earnest, fourth-generation Christian Scientist in my late 30s. (more…)

“Behold, what manner of love.”  These words from the Epistle of John are etched on the memory of anyone who spent years attending the Christian Science church. (more…)

Dave Petteys, a follower of Jesus since the 1990s and my colleague in hosting this website, recently jotted some thoughts about the deepening decline of Mrs. Eddy’s movement. I batted back my own reactions to each of his observations. Here’s our dialogue: (more…)

Editor: Can Christian Science, originating in the more closed information environment of the 1800s, endure in today’s wide-open setting? That’s the question in this fourth part of our five-part conversation with former practititioner Tanner Johnsrud, who is now a baptized Christian.  (more…)

(With research by John Andrews) “Male and female created He them, [equally] in the image of God,” we read in Genesis. Yet Christian Science, in both its doctrine and its culture, tends to privilege the woman (see SH 533 and many other passages), even to the point of encouraging a wife’s refusal of sexual intimacy to her husband. (more…)

Editor: Tanner Johnsrud, formerly a well-known Christian Science practitioner in St. Louis, left CS in late 2017 after he came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. He told that story in a previous post. To follow up, we asked Tanner to reflect on the good and not-so-good legacies of his years in CS, as best he can at this early stage. (more…)

You sometimes hear of a group of Christians who describe themselves as an Acts 29 church, so committed are they to extending the Bible’s narrative of apostolic faithfulness into our own times. Similarly, a new follower of Jesus Christ whom I’ve recently met might be called a Psalm 151 believer. (more…)

I was asked to put down on paper my conversion to orthodox Christianity. I was happy to do this for two reasons. (more…)

The son of one of the leading familiies in the Christian Science movement, cornered by events, finally feels himself forced to a choice between (more…)

Do you have a lifetime theme verse from the Bible? Reflecting on this is a way of seeing into your spiritual autobiography, the arc of what God is doing with your life story. Our pastor recently asked about mine, and I realized (more…)

Initially, I left the local Christian Science church when I saw hypocrisy in myself and the local branch church where I was an active member. I could no longer pretend we all had perfect lives. We defended bylaws we could not and did not keep. (more…)

“Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God,” says the night visitor to Jesus in John, Chapter 3. This ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus, clearly feels drawn to the man of Galilee (more…)

A Christian Scientist whom I first met some years ago, a younger man we’ll call Mike, recently asked me why I left Christian Science. I sensed he was open to a full and honest explanation. (more…)

When I received Christ in 1989 I began the long journey of becoming a believer and leaving the dogma and darkness of Christian Science behind me. It was a slow process of untangling (more…)