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Frequently
Asked Questions
1.
What is Religious Science?
2.
What Does Your "V" Symbol Mean?
4.
What About Prayer?
5.
What is An Affirmation?
6.
What About Sin?
7.
What About Evil?
8.
Do You Believe in the Devil?
9.
What About Heaven and Hell?
10.
What About Death?
11.
Do You Believe in Reincarnation?
12.
Do You Believe in Miracles?
13.
Do You Believe in Jesus Christ?
14.
Are You Christians?
15.
Is This New Age?
16.
Is This Related to Scientology?
17.
Is This a Cult?
18.
Is This Christian Science?
19.
Do You Go to Doctors?
20.
Why is This Called Religious Science?
21.
Are Religious Science and Science of Mind the Same?
What
is Religious Science?
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Religious
Science is
a spiritual philosophy for the modern man and woman. It is based on
the Truth which arises in every culture in the form of science, philosophy,
and religion. Religious Science views religion as a source of wisdom
for revealing the Truth about the seemingly unknown forces that shape
our universe. This enables us to participate in our own life as a co-creator
with the Divine. Religious Science was founded by Dr. Ernest Holmes,
a self-taught philosopher who rigorously studied all of the world's
Spiritual paths for most of his life. In 1927, he wrote The Science
of Mind, which synthesized the truths that he discerned were present
throughout all of the world's faiths. That book is the foundation of
the principles of Religious Science. He never intended to begin a new
faith, but was persuaded to allow a church to be created to assure that
the principles he synthesized would outlive him.
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What
Does Your "V" Symbol Mean?
The
V symbol of
Religious Science can be interpreted on many different levels. On a
Universal level, the top of the V shows the Universal Spirit (God),
then the universal subjectivity, which is the medium of all thought,
power, and action, then, at the bottom, at particularization of our
manifestation of Spirit.
The
point drawn through the center symbolizes
the descent of Spirit into matter, or form. It is necessary that Spirit
be manifested in order to express Itself. The descending line shows
that all comes from the One (God)). Humanity reenacts the whole Universal
Life, and the nature of humanity is identical with Spirit. What is true
of the Whole is true of any of its individual undivided parts. Humanity
comes to a point of individualization in the Whole and is subject to
the Law of the Whole. (Paraphrased from The Science of Mind by Dr. Ernest
Holmes, p. 569.)
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What
About Meditation?
Meditation
is the time
honored technique for taming, training and transforming the mind. Religious
Science endorses all forms of meditation, from creative visualization
to the more traditional mind stilling techniques. It is through meditation
that we come into a state of God communion and thereby experience a
greater sense of unity of all life.
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What
About Prayer?
Religious
Science honors
and endorses all forms of sincere prayer. In addition, it teaches a
unique and scientific form of prayer called Spiritual Mind Treatment.
This is a powerful, affirmative method of prayer that was developed
by Dr. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science. It involves
a five step process that embodies all of the elements of the creative
process of Life itself.
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What
is An Affirmation?
The
term affirmation is normally associated with a verbal statement
that is made about some goal that we are trying to achieve, or some
experience we desire to have. However, the act of affirmation is really
much more than that. It is an act of faith. It is the ability to put
aside your doubt and fear in order to act as if your desired goal were
already a reality. In this sense, an affirmation can be any statement,
act, or symbolic gesture that affirms the reality of your intentions.
Through the process of affirmation we "act as if" our highest aspirations
were already a reality.
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What
About Sin?
The
original meaning of sin was
simply to fall short of or "miss the mark" of spiritual perfection.
A sin is not a thing, it is merely an activity that produces an undesirable
effect in out lives. In other words, we are punished by our sins, not
for them.
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What
About Evil?
Religious
Science does not deny
the appearance of evil. However, it teaches that evil does not exist
as a force or power in the world. That which is called evil is merely
the obstruction, or inversion, of the only power acting, which is Spirit.
The obstruction of Spirit's expression always occurs in the mind through
the holding of false beliefs. According to Religious Science, the only
presence acting in the universe is God, which is always Good. Evil is
merely the way that we withhold our expression and experience of that
good by accepting false beliefs into our minds.
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Do
You Believe in the Devil?
Religious
Science believes
that, since the only power acting anywhere is God, the devil simply
cannot exist as a force acting in opposition to God's expression through
Spirit. Therefore, there really is no devil. There is only the manifestation
of falsely held beliefs within our minds, which produces that appearance
of some sinister invisible force, or being, acting in our lives. To
blame unpleasant conditions and circumstances on the devil, or anyone
else, is a way of avoiding responsibility for our own experience of
life.
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Do
You Believe in Heaven and Hell?
Religious
Science believes
that heaven and hell are states of mind. We experience heaven when we
are are in harmony with the Life that surrounds us.
Hell
is a state of mind
that we experience when we don't understand why something unpleasant
is happening to us. We can choose to create our own heaven or hell on
Earth, and take our beliefs with us when we go through the transition
the world calls death to the next plane of existence.
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What
About Death?
Religious
Science teaches
the eternality of life. It accepts that our physical bodies operate
within a natural cycle of birth and death. However, even though we may
have a body, we are not just our body. What we really are is the Life
that animates our body, and that Life is infinite and immortal. As we
become increasing identified with our divine and eternal nature, our
underlying fear of death begins to dissolve and our experience of life
become more joyous.
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Do
You Believe in Reincarnation?
Religious
Science neither
endorses nor rejects any particular theory or concept of reincarnation.
Since life is eternal, there are an unlimited number of possibilities
for its evolvement after the experience of physical death. In Religious
Science, we accept the on-goingness of life and we deal with what is
before us in the present moment.
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Do
You Believe in Miracles?
Everything
that occurs in our lives
is simply the out-picturing of our consciousness operating through the
Law of Mind. Therefore, those events that seem to be miraculous in nature
are actually the Law acting at a level beyond our awareness. As we evolve
our consciousness, what previously seemed miraculous becomes a natural,
normal and understandable way of life. In actuality, there is only one
miracle, this is Life itself.Top of Page
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Do
You Believe in Jesus Christ?
In
Religious Science, Christ is viewed as
a universal principle rather than a person. It is the principle of God
expressing through humanity. Jesus of Nazareth was a human personality
through which the Christ Principle, or Divine Personality, expressed
itself on Earth. The principle of Jesus Christ represents the mystical
marriage of our inner spirit with our outer personality. This union
produces an expression of Life that includes both, yet is greater than
either. The potential for this expression lies within each one of us.
Therefore, Jesus is viewed as a great example for humanity, rather than
the great exception. Ernest Holmes, founder of the philosophy of Religious
Science, says:
"Religious
Science does not deny the divinity of Jesus; but it does affirm
the divinity of all people. It does not deny that Jesus was the son
of God; but affirms that all beings are children of God. It does not
deny that the Kingdom of God was revealed through Jesus; but affirms
that the Kingdom of God is also revealed through you and me."
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Are
You Christians?
Ernest
Holmes, the
founder of Religious Science, came out of a Christian tradition. He
studied all of the world's religions, and synthesized what he saw to
be the truths running through them all, free of any particular dogma.
He began the philosophy with the intention that all churches, especially
Christian ones, would embrace the philosophy and incorporate those teachings
into their own. When that did not happen on a large-scale basis, he
allowed the people around him to talk him into starting a church to
make sure that the teachings would endure. His original intention was
not to start a new religion. Religious Science comes out of the Christian
tradition in the sense that we believe in the teachings of Jesus and
use them to create a "Heaven on Earth".
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Is
This New Age?
Religious
Science is a New Thought
philosophy. Although many people with New Age leanings are attracted
to Religious Science and some of the practices of Religious Science
such as meditation are also practiced by those who consider themselves
New Age, Religious Science does not consider itself a New Age Religion.
Religious Science honors all paths that lead to God, whether they be
Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, New Age, or any other spiritual
paths.
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Is
This Related to Scientology?
No.
Religious Science should never be confused with Scientology.
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Is
This a Cult?
No.
Religious Science teaches that each individual has the power over and
the responsibility for his or her own life. Religious Science highly
discourages the following of or dependence upon any one person, including
founder Ernest Holmes or any present ministers or teachers. Religious
Science challenges people to think for themselves and only believe what
rings true for them. One must look into one's own heart for truth.
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Is
This Christian Science?
No.
Ernest Holmes studied with many of the spiritual leaders of his time,
including Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. Religious
Science attracts many from the Christian Science tradition.
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Do
You Go to Doctors?
Yes.
Religious Scientists believe
that all is God, and that God is expressed through doctors and medicine
just as God is expressed through all of the physical universe. Religious
Science believes in spiritual as well as physical healing, and Religious
Science Practitioners often work in conjunction with doctors and other
physical and mental health practitioners to facilitate healing.
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Why
is This Called Religious Science?
Ernest
Holmes used the terms "Science of Mind", which he called the
book that describes his synthesis of the truths running through all
of the religions of the world, and "Religious Science" interchangeably.
He believed that religion and science were truly complementary, and
named his organization the Church of Religious Science to show that.
He believed that, eventually, science would prove what the mystics have
been saying for thousands of years about the nature of God, human beings,
and the Universe. His beliefs have been borne out by many modern scientists,
who have found that the universe is truly made up of energy. Religious
Science, along with all of the mystics of the ages, knows that that
energy is God.
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Are
Religious Science and Science of Mind the Same?
Yes.
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