Jesus Archives - H e a l t h T h o u g h t s

Trying to explain my faith

September 22, 2016 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – Thomas Aquinas.

I would respectfully disagree with both parts of that statement.

I didn’t use to be a person of faith. I wouldn’t accept anything without being able to understand and agree with it first. That made things difficult for my mother, since I resisted obeying her just because she said so. Even as a child I needed an explanation for everything. Sorry, Mom!

That I have deep faith today could be considered a minor miracle. But it’s partly because of explanations I received. It’s also from inspiration and actual evidence of my relationship with God. It’s not a blind faith.

My faith in God has come through Christian Science. And I gained it in a three-fold way described by the woman who founded the religion, Mary Baker Eddy.

Eddy was on a search for the “science” behind a spiritual healing of physical injury that saved her life. She knew, as she put it, “…that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the science of this healing and I won my way to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration.”

“Revelation, reason, and demonstration” has been the way it happened for me, too.

I’ve been able to reason and think through explanations of metaphysical and theological ideas to have them make sense. I’ve been inspired and had spiritual understanding revealed to me by a higher power. And I’ve also seen my understanding proved or demonstrated in my own experience, in ways that can only be attributed to God.

And the combining of those three modes has brought me to my own inescapable conclusions – to a consistent conviction that, as Jesus says, “…with God all things are possible.”

Rather than a blind faith, I would call mine a living faith, since all three things keep on happening. Day by day I need to reason through explanations, receive revelations in my understanding and witness demonstrations of God in my life.

For me, this winning combination has been a sort of spiritual triangulation that has made it impossible for me not to have faith.

(photo ©Glowimages – model for illustrative purposes only)

“Risen”: its promise for all of us

March 23, 2016 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

wp-BRI-HealthSpiritualityConnection-761-image — http://www.risen-movie.com/

In her take on the new movie, “Risen”, my New Jersey colleague, Valerie Minard, shows how the film helps us ask and answer the questions we’re meant to think about at Easter time. Here’s Val….

The Easter story, “Risen,” is a powerful and unusual movie portraying the last days of Jesus after his resurrection. Although the script attempts to stay true to the Biblical account, the story is told from the perspective of a fictional character, Clavius, a Roman tribune, responsible for finding Jesus’ missing body….

In his search for Jesus’ body, we see a transition from a curious observer to one that has become intrigued by, if not converted to, Jesus’ teachings….

Even though the concept of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension may seem beyond material comprehension, there are basic questions that it generates for all of us. For instance, is there life after death? Is life eternal? If life continues on a spiritual plain, is man essentially spiritual, or does he need death to become spiritual? If man is essentially spiritual here and now, what are we here for?…

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Healing heartache helps heart health

December 15, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

©Glowimages (model for illustrative purposes only)

Is heartache the same as a damaged heart muscle? No. But can mending a broken heart help heal heart disease? Yes.

This phenomenon shows that our thinking has a direct correlation to our physical health. And it’s one example of how a mental change can bring health benefits to the body.

I listened to Dr. Irv Hinds talk about his book, “Healing the Pain of Heartache: a physician explores broken heart syndrome.” Dr. Hinds is certified in pain management and as a cardiac anesthesiologist, formerly with the Open Heart Team in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His current work is focused on the interrelation of mind, body and spirit and the crucial role of spirituality in breaking the cycle of pain.

He explains how heartache adversely affects heart functions and affirms that healing heartache is vital to healing heart disease. He urges dealing with broken heart syndrome directly and not sweeping it under the rug, allowing its effects on the heart to become chronic. The griefs, grudges, hurts, resentments we carry with us – sometimes for decades – are unhealthy. Dr. Hinds says that if we walk around with a heavy heart, that can become synonymous with heart disease.

And he states that addressing our spiritual needs is indispensable for healing heartache. That really spoke to me. I know people who have experienced the healing of heart trouble through healing the heartache of a broken relationship. Forgiveness plays a big role.

In the recent Oprah Winfrey “Belief” series, one man’s quest for the love he never received while growing up with crack-addicted parents, led him to say, “Forgiveness…cleans out a place in our heart for a new life to spring from.”

A friend of mine was in pain due to his brother’s refusal to forgive him for something he’d done years ago. Emotionally, he felt as though his heart had been frozen for a long time. He was also having physical heart symptoms that restricted his activities.

Many times he’d prayed out of heart-wrenching anguish for this relationship to be made whole again. It was tearing him up inside – literally – and he yearned to be free of the hurt and coldness. He knew from his spiritual practice that to help bring healing to the situation, he needed to humbly align his thinking with God. So, he prayed to know how to do that more. He understood God to be totally good and unconditionally loving.

In answer to this prayer, he had a “change of heart” and felt impelled to forgive his brother for not forgiving him. This gave him a measure of freedom, yet he still felt the pain of estrangement and suffered with heart symptoms.

Fairly soon after that, his brother called and finally forgave him. Upon hanging up the phone, he went out for a winter walk in the mountains where he lived. In the snow-covered stillness, he followed the sound of ice thawing and cracking to the stream where it was melting. Looking down, he saw the nature scene at his feet as a metaphor – his frozen heart was melting and his feelings were starting to flow again. All physical symptoms involving his heart were gone from that day on.

The correlation between our heart-life and the life of our heart is increasingly being recognized by modern science. A new book by Gregg Braden, “Resilience from the Heart: The Power to Thrive in Life’s Extremes,” even asserts there’s a direct link between the heart and the brain. The goal of Braden’s work is always to bridge ancient wisdom with the latest scientific research in a way that people can utilize in their everyday lives for better health and prosperity.

And this cutting edge connection truly isn’t new. Most faith traditions urge us to examine and improve what’s in our hearts – what’s in our thinking – to bring health and harmony to our lives.

About twenty centuries ago, Jesus of Nazareth healed many incurable diseases through an understanding of God’s love. His success in healing would naturally make us want to hear what he had to say. He stressed that in order to experience God’s love and its healing power; we need to express this love to each other.

The Bible records these consecutive sentences from Jesus: “I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours. Whenever you pray, forgive anything you have against anyone.”

Right after exhorting confident trust and faith, Jesus urged forgiveness of the heart. That’s instructive. It says to me that if I’m seeking healing through prayer for a physical ailment, especially anything heart-related, I need to address my emotional baggage. It’s hard to be lifted up in inspiration with hurts and resentments weighing you down.

So, deal with what is tugging at your heartstrings. Finding your peace, forgiving, healing whatever it may be, can become synonymous with a healthy heart.

Thanksgiving and Health: an everyday relationship

November 23, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

Maybe we’re getting it wrong.

I overheard someone say one Thanksgiving Day, “You know, there should be 364 days a year of thanks-giving and one day for griping.”

Now there’s an idea.

With each passing year, it seems like the Thanksgiving holiday faces stronger and ever earlier competition from the Christmas consumerism so aggressively urged upon us.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the true meaning of Christmas. But when holiday shopping ads start the week before Halloween, the gratitude that should accompany the approach of Thanksgiving tends to get drowned out.

Thanksgiving Day is too special to let that happen. And giving thanks needn’t be relegated to a single day, or even to a season. It’s something we can do every day of the year. In addition to having us identify the good in our lives, which can help ward off the depression that we hear is more prevalent at this time of year, gratitude has been shown to be beneficial in other ways.

In fact, the health-giving effect of acknowledging blessings has been so widely studied and proven, it can literally be said that gratitude is good medicine.

A WebMD article by Elizabeth Heubeck called, “Boost Your Health With a Dose of Gratitude”, begins: “What would happen if we extended the tradition of giving thanks, typically celebrated just once a year during the holiday season, throughout the entire year?”

She quotes from a WebMD interview with Dr. Robert Emmons, Ph.D., professor at the University of California, Davis, considered a leading expert on gratitude. He says that reduction of stress and enhancement of our immune system are two health-giving benefits of a grateful state of mind.

But what if it seems like we have nothing left to be grateful for? Like refugees from war torn regions who have lost “everything” or when events in our lives make us feel devastated.

Could it be that it’s especially in the face of dire circumstances that gratitude can lift us up and help heal broken hearts and even broken bodies?

That is what I have been finding as a Christian Science Practitioner. I pray daily for healing in my life and others’ and I’ve found that being grateful before I see improvement – when it seems there’s nothing yet to be grateful for – can work wonders. I learned this from the Bible. It’s a method Jesus used more than once.

Perhaps the most dramatic example was when Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. After Lazarus died, he was placed in a cave and by the time Jesus arrived, he had already been mourned for four days. Despite that vivid evidence of a hopeless situation, he stood in front of the cave-tomb and practiced thankfulness. Jesus prayed to God out loud: “Father, thank you for hearing me.” Then he called to his friend. And Lazarus walked out of his own tomb.

True, we are not often called upon to raise the dead. But could that example apply in our daily lives?

I’ve found it can. I’ve noticed that the more consistently I give daily thanks – without making it just a ritual, so my heart’s still in it – the more natural it is to do so in a difficult situation.

Recently I pulled a leg muscle and was in a lot of pain. In seeking healing that night, I lingered on deep gratitude for God’s goodness and for the blessings in my life which I attribute to God. I continued being grateful, even when I woke up in the middle of the night still in pain. By morning my leg was much better. By the next day it was completely normal.

Year-round thanks-giving? It’s definitely a healthy and satisfying to go!

Our declining belief in death

October 28, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

@Glowimages: Cemetary Cross — © GLOW IMAGES

The recent Oprah Winfrey (OWN) series, “Belief”, stirred up an international conversation starting with the question: “What do you believe?” It’s important to be able to answer that. What do we trust in? What do we have unshakeable faith in? My California colleague, Eric Nelson, says that even such a universally held belief as death is being challenged. Here’s Eric…

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain,” wrote Ben Franklin to his friend Jean-Baptiste LeRoy in 1789, “except death and taxes.” Had he written this today, however, it’s not at all certain that death would have made the cut.

Of course, no one knows for sure what happens when we die (well, no one who’s still with us), but there are quite a number of folks who feel they’ve perhaps gotten a glimpse, calling into question the very notion of death.

After falling into a weeklong coma, Eben Alexander, author of the New York Times best-selling book “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife,” found himself keenly aware of the fact that, as he puts it, he was loved, that he had nothing to fear and that he could do no wrong. This was pretty heady stuff, especially for someone who had always assumed that the brain – an organ that, in Alexander’s case, had completely shut down due to a rare infection – was the source of consciousness.

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Celebrate religious freedom on the Fourth of July

July 3, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

@Glowimages: The Statue of Liberty, New York City, United States of America with the Stars and Stripes flag in the foreground — © GLOW IMAGES

My Southern California colleague, Don Ingwerson, reminds us that a big part of why we celebrate our independence this weekend, is freedom to practice the religion of our choice. That idea often gets drowned out by fun and fireworks. And the prayer that’s at the center of religion can bring freedom from sickness. Here’s Don…

Is July 4 just a day for barbecues, friends and family?

It seemed that way to a friend of mine a few years ago at an Independence Day neighborhood gathering. He was surprised to learn that most of the children attending didn’t know why they were celebrating….

One of the bedrocks of our country, which many other nations tragically lack, is the commitment to religious freedom we have maintained through the years. Yet I have learned such commitment requires fresh renewal with each generation. We can’t take for granted that all our citizens will understand and appreciate this crucial component of our history, nor recognize how vital it is that it should continue.

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Empathy: crucial for effective healthcare

May 28, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

© GLOW IMAGES (model used for illustrative purposes only)

Can the caring at the heart of healthcare sometimes seem to get lost?

Many think it does, as classic family physicians have been increasingly replaced by time-constrained, clinical specialists.

Among doctors, such caring used to be called a “good bedside manner”. And after more than a generation of specialized training focused on medical knowledge and technical acumen, the value of empathy is being re-discovered and taught as an essential skill.

It improves the experience of both patients and doctors when medical professionals express clinical empathy, according to the Kaiser Health news service. The patient feels understood and cared about, has a better outcome and is more satisfied. The doctor in turn gets a better rating, faces less risk of malpractice suits and experiences decreased burnout. The whole system is benefited. (See “Efforts to Instill Empathy Among Doctors are Paying Dividends.”)

I too have learned how powerful empathy can be, in my journey as a practitioner of Christian Science healing. But I view it from a slightly different angle. To me, empathy for patients is not just a technique to show you understand another person’s emotions and share their feelings. Rather, it’s at the core of our desire to help one another. As children of a loving Creator, the capacity to care for each other is innate in all of us.

Re-thinking our self imposed limitations

March 26, 2015 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

Man inside a bubble — © GLOW IMAGES (model used for illustrative purposes only)

The first words in my Twitter profile are: “Breaking free of limits!” So, I’m delighted to share this inspiring story from my British Columbian colleague, Anna Bowness-Park. She tells how a shift in her mental approach freed her from fear and pain; and transformed what could have been a disaster into a “spiritual adventure.” Here’s Anna….

Canadian Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek was not happy. A new member of the team was a better rower than him, consistently beating him at races. Although annoyed, Kreek was also curious. What made this young rower more successful? So, over coffee he asked the question. The response was surprising. “I seek failure,” said his teammate.

Expanding this idea in an entertaining and thoughtful TedX Talk in Victoria in 2013, Kreek went on to explain his teammate’s comment. Imagine yourself with a bubble around you. That bubble is your self-imposed limitations; how you see your abilities and what you believe about your capabilities. Kreek stressed that breaking through that bubble is the first step to understanding our true abilities. It is a vital part of understanding how we unwittingly limit ourselves in every avenue of life, including our health.

What was interesting, was that Kreek’s teammate did not talk about diet, fitness or modern technology as what helped him be a better athlete. He talked of a mental app; if you like, a change of thought about how he sees himself….

This is something I learned in a small way that forever altered how I see life….

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How Christmas relates to healing

December 17, 2014 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

I grew up not knowing the real origin of Christmas. Our family still celebrated Christmas (and Hanukkah) with presents and decorations, food and fun. But I wasn’t familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth, which as the saying goes is “the reason for the season.”

Fast forward to early adulthood, where I’d begun to read the Bible and practice spiritual healing through Christian Science. I experienced quick healing of a wound – in a way that would be considered physically impossible.

One evening, I was trimming my mustache and slipped. The scissor blade went deep into my upper lip. At that moment, along with pain and surprise, I had another response that came from my spiritual study.

I recalled an account I’d read that day about a woman working in a restaurant. While using an electric appliance with one hand, she reached out with the other to turn off a dripping faucet – causing a huge electric shock to grip her.Continue Reading

I Was Addicted To Gambling — Here’s How I Overcame It

April 30, 2014 By christianscienceminnesota Leave a Comment

My London colleague, Tony Lobl, gives a heartfelt account of how spiritual growth enabled him to gain control over his thoughts and actions. He was permanently cured of the disease called, addiction. Here’s Tony…

When did I cross the line and become “an addict”? Perhaps during my final year at high school. Day after day, I’d play hooky from class to join a covert clan of gamblers playing card games in the seniors’ common room.

It didn’t seem like an addiction at the time — as a good bluffer, I’d regularly turn a healthy profit. But it wasn’t the money that drew me; it was the buzz of pitting my wits against my peers’. However, the fact remained that the writing was on the wall. On days when luck ran out, I’d still carry on until I lost everything, including my bus fare home. Thankfully my father never asked why he had to pick me up.

Despite my lax approach to classes, I got into University. For a few years, an array of extracurricular activities kept the gambler at bay, hidden within. So did a couple of cash-light years following graduation, as I pursued a vain dream to be Britain’s answer to Bob Dylan.

But the desire to gamble remained and quickly resurfaced when I finally got a job at a video production company. Instead of saving my money, I immediately began feeding it to voracious slot machines in London.

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