Unity History Class Module 2
When I was a little girl in Methodist Sunday School, I remember that I liked the pretty pictures of stories from the bible. The lessons were clear, they told us how to be good, and how to find favor with God. The examples of God’s wrath were also part of the stories. Again - clear in that everything could reduced to “if A, then B”. Truth was static, the rules were the rules. As I got older, my sense of Truth evolved. The answers I had received at Sunday School did not fit so well. If murder was a sin, an evil act – why was war ok (especially the one in Vietnam)? I was not aware of it yet, but I was ripe for the ideas within New Thought traditions. As a good little adolescent, I questioned everything. All the rules seemed to have exceptions, for a while there was no ground to stand upon. The traditional view of heaven and hell as rewards for good and evil behavior left me feeling flat and unsatisfied. New Thought entered my life through a chance encounter with Science of Mind magazine. My whole concept of religion was blown wide open. I found there an openness – oh my, more than one book! God within all of us? Definitely a radical and subversive thought. From my first exposure to the writings of Ernest Holmes, I was fascinated to learn faith and logic could be friends, and that religious traditions from the other side of the world could provide insight as well. Traditional Christianity (Methodism for me) taught that safety was to be found in the dominant sociopolitical institutions of my time (the church, the government, schools, etc). New thought suggested that there was really no safety, just ongoing evolution of life and truth.
Even though some of the details differ, my path to NT looks much the same as yours. The questioning and wisdom of youth, to me, is evidence of the long held belief that the best teacher lies within you, not outside of you.