Good Questions: Metaphysics and Truth, Medical Science or Spiritual Healing, The Wife of Jesus, and Church Evolution

Metaphysics and Truth

DEAR DR. TOM: With the most basic divisions in our world showing we have formed different factions with different perceptions of reality, what is “truth” (it’s disturbing that I have to put that in quotation marks) and how can metaphysics or spirituality work to bridge such a divide?

—A.M., Kansas City, Missouri

DEAR A.M.: I’m getting this kind of question with alarming regularly. Sometimes it feels like people have lost faith in the basic goodness of humanity and the institutions that support us. Whether people speak of the schools, religions, news media, government, businesses, or how we get along with neighbors of a different ethnicity, the pessimism about these times is toxic to the quality of modern life. Unity offers a different vision, predicated on the belief that God, the one presence/one power, stands behind the evolutionary process to encourage and empower those who seek the Divine within.

The gap you’ve identified isn’t really about content (what we think); it’s about process (what we do). You and I can disagree on what facts mean, but we all need to admit grace into the process, allowing everyone to arrive at their own conclusions. Just because we disagree doesn’t make one of us evil. Metaphysical Christianity, as I understand it, holds that there is no evil, only a lack of good. When we listen, reflect, reason, and meditate on each other’s words, the barriers between us disappear, replaced by a bridge of good faith.

Medical Science vs. Spiritual Healing

DEAR DR. TOM: I read your recent answer to the question about vaccinations and was shocked and angered by what you wrote, which ended with “Trust God, take the shot.” This is an uninformed, misguided, and outright harmful answer. How could you—actually, how dare you—send out this kind of misinformed, potentially harmful, even deadly answer?

—N.J.C., Washington state

DEAR N.J.C.: I have never claimed to speak for the Unity movement in this column, and I respect your right to disagree. That said, I stand by what I wrote. The facts simply don’t support the anti-vaccination position. At press time (winter 2022), hospitals are filled with unvaccinated people sick from Covid-19. There is a slight risk with any drug, but millions of people have been protected from serious illness or death due to the amazingly effective, extremely safe vaccines. At any other time in history, we would be calling the rapid development of anti-Covid-19 inoculations a miracle. But let’s look at the deeper implications of your question—whether we should trust medical science or rely on spiritual healing.

Unity founders Charles Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore said the metaphysics of spiritual healing and the tested, empirical methods of modern medicine were both scientific ways to understand how God works. The Fillmores meant scientific in the 19th-century sense of the word, objectively verified by individual practice. When doctors, nurses, and other caregivers apply the discoveries of science—like vaccines—they are active agents in spiritual healing. So, yes. Trust God’s gift of modern science. Get the shots.

Was Jesus Married?

DEAR DR. TOM: Do you think Jesus was married? And what role did Mary Magdalene play in the life of Jesus?

—W.W., Umuahia, Nigeria

DEAR W.W.: Blessings to readers on the African continent. During a lecture at Unity Institute, I once heard the late Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong say he believed Mary of Magdala was the wife of Jesus. While there is no clear New Testament support for this conjecture, Unity published an excellent article on the subject titled “Would It Matter If Jesus Were Married?” by Bill Tammeus, a Presbyterian elder who writes for The Kansas City Star newspaper. You can easily find it online.

Church Evolution

DEAR DR. TOM: Why is it so hard for the people of the Church to know that the Church must evolve to survive?

—E.P., Kona, Hawaii

DEAR E.P.: Aloha, to the most beautiful place on earth. Why don’t all people recognize the growth imperative? Natural selection, my friend. Survival isn’t mandatory. Mahalo (thank you).

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.