If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen patiently to the rebuke and credit what is said?
~ Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 8.
It’s okay to admit one is wrong when that is the case. And it’s healthy to seek out a better way of doing things when improvement is needed.
Rebukes don’t have to sting when one is open to improvement. They can be stepping stones to greater success for one and all.
How precious God has many channels to bless and correct us.. While serving in the Air Force I was stationed in Spain..the Rabbi and I became close friends with each respecting the others point of view when it came to religion. He saw some needs he felt I had and was willing to share his feelings and insights.. This led to a deeper friendship that lasted many years.. He cared snd I was blessed..
Thank you, Evan and John. This is a very worthy conversation, because we’ve witnessed so much indignant behavior in the last few years. I too have friends of every faith, and I appreciated exploring ideas together with my friends. Last week I had a conversation with a friend who asked me “what is the opposite of indignation?“ His answer was “wisdom!” I really like that! It’s impossible to become indignant if one is open, accepting, and— as Evan pointed out— willing to listen. Of course, if we’re the ones giving counsel, our motive must be loving & pure, not self-righteous. I read a lovely article over the weekend that cautioned us to keep a childlike approach to understanding, persistently being like a child, because we are always seeking understanding spiritually, with awe and wonder. The author pointed out that if we don’t have that open thought as a child has, all we’re trying to do is make ourselves heard.
Thank you for this topic today.
Love to all
Thank you Evan Rebuke is a stepping stone to progress in Christian Science. Let me share this experience.
When I became a member of another branch Society, I pointed out some laws found in our church manual and in the Society’s constitution that needed to be observed. It was a great struggle. I was told that they have been doing things that way for many decades. I was showered with abuses, for evample, claiming self righteousness. In my distress I imagined how Jesus suffered in the hands of the Pharisees. At that time I felt demoralized and angry. I had pity on these people. They were determined to continue in their old ways. After a whole year of correcting our members during our general meetings which were held four times a year, and receiving all kinds of abuses for a whole year I turned to God for help. During this time one member had told me to use my office. .i.e the Practitioners office.
After one year of such upheavals I turned to God whole heatedly to let the members of this Society see things right. I never talked about all what I had pointed out that needed to be observed. During the second year I was voted into the board of directors in our Society and again was elected as the chair lady. Following Divine Love’s guidance we all worked very hard to implement what our church constitution says and what the manual says. Members of this board started talking about the needed change in order to actually call themselves a branch of the Mother Church. Today the Society is asking to become a church.
The rebuke I received led to progress in my spiritual growth. Turning to God quietly for help is all that I need to do now. Seeing man right, the way God sees man is all we need.
Oh, Dear Anaya Grace, You are not alone in that experience of having church members up in arms over making changes! I, too, went through many many years of struggle, and working not to have divisiveness within our branch church ranks, but there it was – – too evident in dusmisdive, hurtful behavior and shunning differing views. There has been finally a great deal of progress to undo what I considered to be extremely constrictive rules. I’m still working to “unsee” the hurtful treatment, recognize I that they believed they were correctly following their “highest sense of right.” This arduous process was certainly a trial; as we grow, using our Christian Science tools, we can progress. I SO empathize with you, and send you my love.
I have been experiencing something similar. In questioning some decisions, even though I was rebuked, I have prayed about bylaws and voting decisions and have begun to feel that, even if there is opposition to change, thought is addressed and like yeast, there may be a leavening affect.
Rereading about conquering the “great struggle”, has helped me help a neighbor, who came to me recently, to ask for my help because a physician she’s seen recently told her she has breast cancer. Praying about God helping her, and any way that I can help her see the false testimony as false, was just this past minute communicated to her, and the way “grows clearer, Love is the royal way.” As I re-read your demonstration regarding following the Society’s constitution, and finding love and guidance to lead the way to correcting the branch as it has met the requirements to become a branch of The Mother Church clarified, the way to go is to follow LOVE, all the way!!!! Thank you Ajayi Grace
I love the analogy of the puzzle pieces all working together to complete
the perfect picture … peace.
“‘All things work together for good to them that love God'” … and “Step by step
will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble”. (S &H 444: 4 and 11)
I have been thinking of how divine Love is always there to comfort, if we
are open to it, altho sometimes it does not seem that way. But be it in our
own thought that needs correcting or be it in Mississippi where storms seemed
to be so destructive, or St. Palestine in Ohio (US) or the Middle East, Ukraine
… wherever the news takes us where comfort is needed, thoughts are
elevated like in the photo above, when Love’s spiritual hugs for the world
comfort and improve whatever or wherever conflict seems to be taking place.
These healing thoughts for the world are stepping stones in improving our
own lives as well.
* correction: meant East (Palestine)
“Indignant? Who, me?” by Alison J. Hughes:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/jb72cxt822
Thank you Evan and everyone for your helpful comments.
I looked up the reference from S&H Evan shared to see it in context and found the sentence before the quote shared by Evan is this:
“We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are.”
I’m not sure everyone knows this, but you can click on the blue text from Evan’s post to see the citation from S&H in context. I enjoyed reading the paragraphs after the paragraph in which this citation appears. Those paragraphs contain many good “rebukes” that we can all benefit from humbly considering. And what are we “honestly”, but God’s complete and perfect manifestation. If we are accepting any other view of ourselves, we can rebuke that lie and affirm the truth (the counter FACT) consistently and thereby express our true God-like identity.
I’ve been enjoying doing more concentrated Bible study lately and have enjoyed listening to various podcasts related to Bible study. There is a Christian Scientist named James Early from Connecticut that has a podcast entitled “The Bible Speaks to You” that is very good. I recently listened to a podcast he produced about the “prayer of rebuke”. Jesus is frequently described in the Bible as “rebuking” error/evil/discord but I realized I don’t utilize forceful “rebuke” of these imposters enough in my own prayers. I looked up the word “rebuke” in the Websters 1828 dictionary and found one meaning is the following:
To check; to heal.
Whenever we “check” (put a stop to) aggressive mental suggestions, that results in healing. And forcefully “rebuking” aggressive mental suggestions in my thinking is a technique I’ve found very effective in silencing these suggestions. This type of “rebuke” is a form of prayer that reinforces in our own thinking that we are taking a stand for truth and nothing but the truth. Forcefully declaring that the suggestion is a lie, not from God, and therefore NOT TRUE and then affirming what is true has been very helpful to me in my practice of Christian Science.
Below again is a link to the podcast on the prayer of rebuke. After clicking on this link, to listen to the podcast, click on the white triangle in the blue circle.
https://thebiblespeakstoyou.com/how-to-pray-like-jesus-the-prayer-to-rebuke-sickness/
Yes RH, am also grateful to you that you put our attention to the blue text. I pressed it, and that is very interesting that the whole page from Science and Health came up. thank you very much for it and for the podcast! 🙂
Thank you RH for the James Early podcast link. He is awesome!
And Evan, as always, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for your post. The Bible Speaks to You is a wonderful Bible Study. I’m very grateful. CS is based on the Bible and we all need to take it up and understand it as Mary Baker Eddy did. I just learned something more I always had questions about in episode #37. I see a response to those who think we are sinners and how we can choose the path we want to walk as God’s children in His image And likeness. And not as Adam in the dream of life in matter. I now have a way to explain it should I need to with others.
I love Spirit View and am so inspired by it s as well.
Thank you RH! I learned something new about the blue text, which I didn’t realize, so I appreciate you sharing that. And I also appreciate your insights on rebuke and for including the link to the podcast. I look forward to listening to it. 🙂
I, too, would like to thank you, RH. I had no idea there was more
and never clicked on the blue hyperlink. Talk about being hidden in
plain sight. lol I always thought it was just in reference to the
quote mentioned. The Bible-speaks-to-you link is also great and
thank you for that. Your article, J, is very helpful, too.
So many lovely thoughts shared here and so much appreciated.
And prayers of comfort to the shooting situation today in Tennessee.
Thank you very much dear Evan for this wonderful spiritual reminder.
If one studies and prays daily for God’s guidance He will open our heart for loving rebuke, if neccessary, and lets us do aright. Am praying and working that I may listen humbly to righteous rebuke.
Wonderful idea what you said, Evan, i.e. to listen and act to right rebuke can be stepping stones to greater success for one and all. ♡
Thank you Evan, for this helpful topic, opening a good discussion. And thank you J, for your link to the article “Indignant? Who Me?” Encourages me to not react, but to listen to God and speak gently and with wisdom, it at all, when expressing opinions.