My Christian Scientist grandmother raised me, and was the mother role in my life, and she used to say, “It’s ok to be sympathetic , but don’t ever take it down to the level of compassion. Compassion means getting right in there with the Error and believing it.” YES!!! She said this many times.
She was a big animal lover—as am I. I’m not knocking that—but the point I want to make is that she said she had too much emotion about her pets and therefore she couldn’t attempt to use Christian Science on them. So the pets always had any veterinary attention they needed.
She would say, “I’ve tried, and am not able to know the truth for my animals; there is too much emotion in the way.” It’s funny—sort of—that that was never a problem with keeping human children away from the medical world. Emotion didn’t ‘get in the way’ on that one. I feel bad being so critical of her, but these are true rememberings.
– Ashley
When I think how our poor cat suffered, let alone the humans in my life, I tremble. As a child, deep down I knew it was not right for the cat to suffer but was powerless to do anything. I came home from school one day and our cat had disappeared. Its death was not acknowledged.
– Anonymous
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Our long-suffering cat, Poogie, got the same medical attention we three children did: nothing. He, too, was to “work it out in Science.” How was never explained. Looking back, I now wonder how much of this no-doctors-for-us stuff was “radical reliance” on CS and how much of it was a reflection of my patent’s Scots-Rhode Island cheapness. As a kid I was to “work it out in Science” when I needed new clothes or wanted a bike. Again, how was never explained. But it made me damn resourceful!
I feel sad when Christian scientists are not practical. Veterinary Surgeons are only expressing God’s love and intelligence when they seek to help a pet who is unwell. I remember a Christian scientist saying, when her cat was run over, “there is no intelligence in matter and no road accidents”. I don’t really understand it.