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“Birth of a Troubled Conscience”

Tinder, Glenn | Christianity Today, April 26, 1999

 

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Tinder was raised according to the standards of Christian Science. It’s nowhere near Christianity, he says. It’s not centered on healing, either, or on the achievement of health. What CS says is that there isn’t any sickness. It’s an illusion. We are all healthy. CS goes on to deny the existence of all evil. And of sin. And of fallenness. “They retain the crucifix, but without any point to it. We have never been lost.” To the main question, “How can there be evil in a world created by a good and omnipotent God? Mary Baker Eddy ‘answered, simply, that there can’t and therefore isn’t.’” This “takes a lot of nerve. And causes bad consequences.” It “teaches you to avert your eyes from your own sin, and from your Savior. Teaches you to avert your eyes from the ‘troubles’ borne by others. Never ask, ‘Are you feeling better?’ for this implies that someone might actually have been suffering.’” No heartfelt expressions of shared grief or even of sympathy. “This does not mean that no attention is paid to others. It means rather that those who are ill, bereaved, depressed, or in any other way afflicted are subjected to a silent process of reconstruction. They are seen as not ill, not bereaved, not depressed. This of course means simply that they are not seen.”

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1999/april26/9t5028.html