At times there's a strange paradox that confronts people in the search to make sense of their existence. Naturally, in the attempt to find a reason and purpose for living, men and women have long been drawn to religion. Most people feel that there has to be something beyond the self-enclosed reasoning of the human mentality—something holy —that can provide a meaningful response to what life is really all about. Yet in this turning to religion is exactly where the paradox may develop.
On the one hand, people sometimes turn to a particular religious teaching or church and then all too soon may be turned off because they don't feel they are getting satisfying answers to their deepest questions and longings. Things unexplained remain as "mysteries." On the other hand, people can also be turned off by religion if they feel a church is putting itself forward as having all the answers. They may feel preached at rather than included in a mutual search for reasonable solutions. They may even feel a kind of condescension from the church, as though their own ability to think and pray is not really significant.
One of the things that meant
so much to me In my initial
contact with Christian Science
was how it helped to put my
own questions in perspective.
Things were broadened out.
I started to get beyond looking for how I could use Truth
to how it could use me.
