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…)
“Do you ever get to church?” I’m talking with Chip, a young guy in his late 20s, son of a Christian Science family I’ve known forever. No, he says, he never does, since having decided several years ago CS is not for him — but lately he has felt there’s something spiritually missing in his life, maybe it’s time to look around.
Recently a friend asked me to attend her Christian Science church service. The Bible lesson was on “Doctrine of Atonement.” Twice a year for forty years, prior to leaving Science, (more…)
“What would you have me do, Lord?” Saul’s question to Jesus burdens me after a spiritual feast with old and new friends at the third national conference of the Fellowship of Former Christian Scientists, August 4-6 in St. Louis. (more…)
Why would any intelligent adult have to ask someone else’s permission before making up their mind about whether the Bible is true? They shouldn’t. There’s no need. (more…)
My mother was a devout Christian Scientist as were my grandparents on both sides. My father tacitly endorsed the CS line but was more consumed by material success than spiritual journeys. They would drop my brothers and me off (more…)
“To the Son of God alone faith ought to look; on him it relies; in him it rests and terminates. If it proceed farther, it will disappear, and will no longer be faith, but a delusion.” (more…)
Up to my mid-thirties I was a Christian Scientist following Mary Baker Eddy instead of Jesus. Then for a dozen years I was a Christian Scientist following Jesus and Mrs. Eddy both. Finally things reached a breaking point, (more…)
“I was free born.” With these words in Acts 22:28, the Apostle Paul is making a purely political point. He is comparing notes with the centurion, a naturalized Roman, on how the two obtained their citizenship. (more…)
Will Jesus return? Christians expect him to, based on the Bible. Christian Scientists don’t, based on Mary Baker Eddy’s writings. Her own appearing and lifework, she indicates, fulfilled (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…)
Who did Mary Baker Eddy think she was? Who did she think Jesus was? What was the Trinity to her? What was the Bible’s authority to her? What did she think was God’s plan (more…)
Editor: Many of us within the Ananias circle, even if we’ve never met in person, feel a close kinship through the shared experience of finding Jesus, the pearl of great price. The brotherly bond between Jim Ritchie in Alabama and Phil Moser (more…)
As a newer follower of Jesus, I struggled with seeing objectively into my own mental landscape and life experience as Christian Science had shaped them. I felt the need to do this for two reasons. Stepping away from long-familiar thought patterns (more…)
Sizing Up the Next Generation Fellowship
Lifting up “Jesus Christ, and him crucified,” in the words of I Corinthians 2:2, is unusual for Christian Scientists. But there is a new group in St. Louis who talk more like followers of the cross than Mrs. Eddy’s devotees usually do. What are we to make of them? (more…)
For me on this holy weekend, the contrast couldn’t be more stark between our Catholic parish’s moving Easter Vigil liturgy and what I remember of Easter as a Christian Scientist. Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, suffered on the cross and rose from the dead to redeem us (more…)
Jesus’ mother and the other women keeping vigil on Calvary weren’t metaphysicians. They were personal followers of the personal Jesus, the only begotten Son, their saving Lord, God in the flesh. But Mary Baker Eddy writes as if (more…)
Are family reasons keeping you in Christian Science? Most of us feel a natural reverence for “the faith of our fathers.” But what is this really about? Although honoring our parents according to the Fifth Commandment is never optional, (more…)