{"id":3240,"date":"2016-03-18T10:53:40","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T14:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/?p=3240"},"modified":"2016-02-24T10:59:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T15:59:12","slug":"debunking-misconceptions-about-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayspirituality\/2016\/03\/debunking-misconceptions-about-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Debunking misconceptions about faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Excerpts from my new book, “from science & religion to God,”<\/a><\/p>\n

Opponents who attack faith should be careful not to confuse spiritual faith with blind faith. Faith is necessary in science, medicine, and religion. Consider the researcher or scientist who is trying to find a cure for cancer; they obviously have faith that a cure exists; otherwise they would not even try. <\/span><\/p>\n

Metaphysical scientists, also calling themselves Christian Scientists, have faith in God\u2019s healing power. Critics of these mental healers, who cannot distinguish between blind (ritualistic) faith and that of spiritual faith can be easily misinformed. Comments and condemnations based on a lack of research obscure any good points being made. Although this book, <\/span>from science & religion to God <\/span>doesn\u2019t obligate you to decline medical intervention, author, Sam Harris, devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society, wrote in his book, <\/span>The End of Faith<\/span>, \u201cIf your beliefs are those of a Christian Scientist, obliging you to forgo all medical interventions, you may even have collaborated with God by refusing to give your child antibiotics.\u201d<\/span><\/span> The law of Truth and Love, or Christian Science, does not \u201coblige\u201d any particular human action as if people were androids. <\/span><\/p>\n

People who insist on proving another method wrong, as if their way were the only way, will end up living out their condemnations. Like the person who adamantly opposes abortion, calling it murder, killing a doctor who performed abortions.<\/span><\/p>\n

A student of divine metaphysics, or Christian Science, does not collaborate with God as if God were a separate mind. In divine metaphysics, there <\/span>is no attitude of give-and-take; there is no human\u00a0<\/span>element that says, \u201cIf you do this, I\u2019ll do that.\u201d Do physicists collaborate with the law of gravity in order to go to the moon? No. Scientists study the principles of physics, they have the faith those rules will work, they apply the principles, and they go to the moon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mental healers study the laws of God, they have the faith those spiritual rules will work, they apply the rules, and they experience Life, Truth, and Love. <\/span><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t irreverent to stop defending suffering. It isn\u2019t irreverent to quit anger-charged condemnations. Physical laws are subordinate to spiritual laws<\/span>. Answers are found when we are able to collaborate and respect one another<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Spiritual sense must be illuminated and understandably utilized in order to enable one to practice mental healing. The chief difficulty in learning and teaching the divine interpretation accurately is that human languages are inadequate to express spiritual concepts. <\/span><\/p>\n

Divine Truth is known by its effects, not words. When you do experience spirituality, you may not be able to explain the experience in words that others will understand. <\/span>Human<\/span> thought doesn\u2019t immediately capture an understanding of the divine equation and its solution. We feel stuck on this <\/span>material plane, stuck in problems, stuck in words that have multiple meanings. We must educate our thought to the higher meaning where substance is understood to be Spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of insisting matter is substance or that spirit is far removed from daily experience, students of God\u2019s law learn that Spirit is the\u00a0<\/span>only substance and that Spirit can be part of our daily experience. Divine metaphysics enables us to know how Truth dissolves incarnate illusions and heals the sick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The starting point of prayer is an understandable God and the living, palpitating presence of Truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Until the rules of spirituality are gained, prayers can fail to heal and bless. Our prayers are not practical if we take a superficial approach, or if we believe evil is as potent as God, or if we identify persons as devils. It\u2019s the sin, not the sinner, that needs dealing with. <\/span><\/p>\n

To worship effectively and bring out the spiritual, we can\u2019t concentrate our thoughts on the material or on mortals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sin and sickness are ghosts. <\/span>Human beings have yet to outlive ghosts. Time, lack, fear, shame, mystery, idols, objects of alarm, materiality, the grave, are ghosts that continue to haunt us. Only as we understand unlimited Mind do these ghosts <\/span>disappear and allow us to demonstrate the reality of Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be continued…<\/p>\n

\"Briefer<\/a>
Briefer narrative of Mary Baker Eddy’s “Science & Health”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpts from my new book, “from science & religion to God,” Opponents who attack faith should be careful not to confuse spiritual faith with blind faith. Faith is necessary in science, medicine, and religion. 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