The previous entry has obviously touched an issue of considerable importance and concern for many Christian Scientists. Does any faithful Scientist doubt that venality lurks deep in the lair of the Journal-listing beast? My faint hope was a false one; its bite is worse than its bark. The explanations of "mentor" which have been helpfully provided in comments to the previous entry by someone (or ones) actually clarify more than was intended. They smack of the parody diversion in the Trammell imbroglio.
Mrs. Eddy did not provide for mentors or even use the term, and she made a provision for everything a Christian Scientist requires. There are Christian Science practitioners and authorized teachers. Period. Mrs. Eddy makes their respective functions perfectly clear. That both have been corrupted in recent years by bureaucratic hootchy-kootchy is another subject. Despite the seemingly innocuous explanations, complete with smarmy standard-bearing, the mentor canard is an insidious mulligan on the Journal-listing course. If the usual information in the Journal listing application doesn't trigger any concern or results in an unplayable lie (no pun intended) the mentor mulligan is then played. It is a ruse to smoke out "insurgent" Che Guevaras before they become an official part of the system, even if it means foregoing the annual $250. Boston wants to know if those with whom the applicant is hobnobbing also pass muster. Ches or proteges of Ches must not be allowed a place in their cozy Camelot (to conflate a couple of metaphors).
"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out." (Christ Jesus, Luke 14: 34-35)
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16 comments:
Bravo! Magnificently reasoned and written. You have left the pro-mentor crowd not one leg to stand on. Where would we be without your talent for thinking deeply and putting that thinking into lively, often humorous, words? And best of all, you are wholly devoted to the Cause Mary Baker Eddy established.
God bless you, which He is doing...
The way you end your blog post is so inspiring! How can it not be, given you've chosen the words of our dear Master, Christ Jesus, to make your point? My deepest thanks to you for what you've written. Just wonderful!
Wow, the number of SAT words that you can properly employ in grammatically correct sentences is impressive; it's a shame that you feel employing such skills to attack the church with your biting sarcasm is a good use of them, though. Why do you have such a need to find fault? It certainly isn't the Christianly Scientific way to effect change. As MBE has so clearly explained, a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, yes, but also in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness. I wish we could see some of the latter characteristics coming through in your sophisticated verbiage. You might not be as popular with your little band of cheerleaders then, but you'd have a better chance of accomplishing something good. And isn't that what you really want to do? Think about it.
A wonderful entry. Cannot express enough appreciation to you for standing up for the Cause our Leader gave the world. You are a shining example of one is trying to follow Christ as Mary Baker Eddy did.
Love and blessings,
No one can read all this blogger has posted over the months, or even some of the entries, and have any doubt that he or she feels deep respect for the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. And reverence for our Master, Christ Jesus. And we know how stern was His rebuke of wrongdoing. I thank God this earnest student of Mary Baker Eddy's teachings is doing so much. Would that more so-called CS's would do likewise.
I say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for using your God-given ability to help keep Christian Science as our Leader left it.
Best wishes to you,
Dear Blogger,
Thanks so much for this excellent entry. And for one you did on November 2l of last year, "Unfailing Supply for Fishers of Men." Wonderful and filled with solid metaphysics. I've shared that posting with a friend who just lost his job, and I know he'll be helped.
I know that anyone who loves the Cause as much as you do will continue speaking out on what's wrong at the highest levels. And I can't help thinking of something Mrs. Eddy says in "First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" on page 2ll, where she speaks of those who "are sticklers for a false, convenient peace, straining at gnats and swallowing camels." She brands such as "too cowardly, too ignorant, or too wicked" to uncover evil, and "excuse themselves by denying" that wrong exists. And she ends marvelously with this: "All that error asks is to be let alone; even as in Jesus' time the unclean spirits cried out, 'Let us alone; what have we to do with thee?'"
I was thinking about why this blog is so widely read throughout the world, and gaining new readers every day, and these two reasons stand out to me: it's because the blogger is able to articulate what so many of us CS's have been feeling, and it is obvious to any thoughtful reader of this postings that the blogger deeply cares about Mary Baker Eddy's great Cause.
What strikes me about the dissenting comment previously is this: if that individual doesn't approve of the way this blogger is at work for our beloved Cause, then that person certainly is free to start their own blog and work according to their lights. If I were that individual, I definitely would not be visiting this site, but would be practicing what I am preaching.
Think about it.
Good for you! Couldn't be clearer that Mrs. Eddy provided all anyone needs to know about becoming a Journal listed practitioner. You've just reinforced what faithful students of Christian Science have known for years, namely that she has given us all we need, through her writings and the Manual By-laws to be about Christ-healing. The Field does not need any gimmicks. Or worse.
Thanks for all you are doing for our Cause.
I think "regular, appreciative reader" has it right, too. The blogger and his "following" if you will, are not "attacking the Christian Science church." They are pointing out the errors that have not been recognized as mistakes by TBD and corrected, but rather swept under the rug for the past 25 or so years. Neither Jesus nor Mrs. Eddy withheld needed rebuke, and neither were velvet gloved about it!
Someone tried to put me in a little band of cheerleaders, and I am happy to be in it where it comes to respecting what Mary Baker Eddy has given mankind. And me and my family. (Dream on someone: this group of dedicated CS's may not be as "little" as some of you hope.) When I compare my situation, having God to rely on for health and supply and peace of mind, with just one relative who takes about a dozen medications a day, is always ill, lives in terror of contracting this or that afflicton, has absolutely no peace of mind, does anyone wonder why I applaud anyone--and I do mean anyone--who will use their thought and talent to keep Christian Science as our Leader left it?
Would that the officials of our Church were living more for Christ, and less for self.
Yes, this blogger is hilariously funny at times, and I've laughed out loud with many of this person's readers. And these days, it's good to get a laugh now and then. But do you know what I appreciate the most? The earnest desire to stand up for the greatest Discovery of all the ages--Christian Science. I say, full speed ahead and don't pull your punches. Someone has to willing to tell the truth. We do not get it from officialdom.
God's blessing upon you.
I'll go you one better: not only do we not get a truthful answer from Boston, we don't get an answer. I'm still waiting for a reply to the Trammell business. But perhaps this blogger has already put a finger on why this is so in something posted earlier last month. Was it the one about time to call in a dragonslayer? I'm going to look it up right now.
"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."
Christ Jesus (John l4:l6)
"In the words of St. John: 'He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.' This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science."
Mary Baker Eddy, page 55 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures".
Is it any wonder that we who believe the above care so much about upholding the purity of our Cause?
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