Article September 29, 2014 Issue

A life redeemed

Thomas Zynda

It seemed as if I were being held captive. I constantly felt that I had too much to do, too many bills to pay, too many demands on my time, and no way out. Bearing the financial responsibility for my young family forced me to commute a long distance each day to a job I disliked. In addition, I lied incessantly, got angry regularly, drank heavily, and stole from my employer because of a false sense of entitlement. At one point I was even unfaithful to my wife. I kept this a secret from her for a number of years. I managed to convince myself that I was behaving the best I possibly could under bad life circumstances, and that I was actually acting in a good and Christian manner.

I was a Christian, but not a Christian Scientist. The religion I grew up in taught that God could be loving at times, but mostly punishing, especially if you acted incorrectly. My wife was a student of Christian Science, and once in a while I attended Sunday services at her branch Church of Christ, Scientist. Quite honestly, the sermons that were read from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy initially sounded like someone speaking a foreign language—though what gradually filtered through was an all-loving God, who was all good, all the time.

I felt a sense of well-being returning to me for the first time in quite a while.