I have a dear friend who stopped attending classes at the church of Religious Science here in town. When I asked him about it he voiced several objections to the teaching. "It isn't mystical enough" and "You have to fake it till you make it to believe in this stuff"

I listened to his concerns and answered his questions as best I could, and even praised his spirit of inquiry. It seems he was adverse to bringing up his reservations in church for fear of reprisal. Maybe he was just used to the way things are done in fundamentalist churches, I don't know.

The main thing is that our faith, and our belief must be able to stand up to inquiry or they are nothing. And, further , if our beliefs cannot stand up to a mindful, critical thinking type inquiry then maybe we ought to reexamine what it is we believe and how we are approaching it. For, after all, our beliefs about God and the nature of the universe cannot alter what is really there.

Peace,

Mark

Many will challenge another's faith,from the basic point of misunderstanding it.
The thing is dude, it is OUR faith. Not theirs. It would come to the point where they could ask any questions, even made up. This isn't challenging your faith.

You are what you believe.

Namaste Tex Type,

Yes it is true that nothing outside yourself can really change anything, but specifically I was referring to honest inquiry. My friend Dave had some real concerns over the ideas presented in the Science of Mind.

Normally I don't consider logically fallacious questions and prefer to ignore them, but if someone exercises their critical thinking skills and inquires into the priciples in which I believe, I am more than happy to discuss it honestly.

This is what I mean, that spiritual ideas cannot be destroyed by an opposing viewpoint, unless the other view is in fact of a higher consciousness. For example, fundamentalists may take the view of conversion through fear and threats of doom, basically an argumentum ad bacculum (sp?) approach, but a Christian Mystic may invoke the love of God and demonstrate a richer fuller life of the spirit to show others a better way of life here and now.

The higher energy always incorporates the lower energy, in a sense, very much like the prayer of Saint Francis does.

Peace,

Mark