I am a student...one with a paper due next Friday and another one due the following Friday. The problem is that I can't stay on topic. It's not that I'm not interested in my topic..."Compare the ministry and miracles of Jesus with those of a current healer". Truly, if you are a spiritual nerd like I am, this is gold. The issue is that I want to make it bigger than the topic, and of course, I want to apply it to my own life...but that can't go in the paper. Remember? I'm a student, supposed to be practicing critical thinking and writing in focused and conclusive format. (with stinking footnotes to boot)
So. I have chosen Mary Baker Eddy to compare to Jesus. I have to say she comes off fairly well! Better than any other healer I am aware of. Truly - if half of the healings are true that she says she did - she is freaking amazing! She also healed multitudes. Many of her healings are documented...more than we can say for Jesus!
Why is it that MBE and Jesus could heal anything they wanted to? Is it that they were truly anointed? We have heard for centuries that Jesus was the "Son of God" - but that is not how Jesus described himself (it's how his apostles described him, 30-70 years later). And who was MBE?
I believe she was influenced by that dude "Quimby", but more so by her Puritan upbringing. This might have a tad to do with my trouble with her rigidity:) A psychologist would have a field day with her...she lost her husband, mother, and brother within 4 years of each other. Her son was taken away from her, her new husband betrayed her, and she lived in poverty for many years b/c she was a woman and couldn't own property. It makes me wonder if she "denounced" everything human b/c it just hurt too damn much?!
Ok - I'm giving you way too little information, if you don't have a basis in Christian Science. I also wonder how twisted a religion becomes, by the people who practice it. "What would Jesus do??" WE DON'T KNOW! What would MBE do? Again, only opinions.
So let's just put aside our religious differences. Do you believe in dramatic healing? Instantaneous? What are your perameters around that? MBE was big into "not sinning" and "denouncing error". OF COURSE, my question is...who gets to decide what is sinning and what is error? Might be my identity of being gay here...lots of people think I am a sinner and am going to hell...and, I have one or two issues with that. Jesus said a helluva lot more about judgement and compassion, let me tell ya! (Did I mention that Jesus said NOTHING about being gay?...again, back to topic...)
Whatever issues I have with MBE - she healed like a dynamo! But what does that truly mean? What if the Bible is myth? MBE certainly didn't think it was myth, and she healed like it was true...does that make it true? or is it like Marcus Borg says..."a story can be true even if it is not factual...".
Once again I have meandered all over this page. Thanks for reading and putting up with me.
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