We must be careful not to create icons/idols because in doing so when they, for one reason or another, do not live up to our expectations we can become an iconoclast. That is what happened in BJ’s case. I believe there is only One Person in all of human history worthy of our worship, who did not have “feet of clay” and it was not B.J. Palmer. Some of those failings may be of personality, usually one which clashes with ours or does not come up to our standard (real or imagined). We must respect and honor those so-called icons for their contribution, and positive actions but be careful not to put them on a pedestal. If we do, that is our fault and demonstrates a weakness in us and our failure to focus on an objective standard.
For a long time I had issues with what BJ did that I felt was wrong. I have only recently come to see he does deserve credit for a lot. It is good to point out that all of us, except One, are not perfect.
Thank you Dr. Hollensed We must understand/acept that no one has all the answers. Those who think they do usually lead people astray because they cannot accept that they have mental/educated limitations in their understanding. I try not to focus on those in BJ until one becomes glaring and tends to cause problems in the profession. I’m not anxious to see people question BJ but I am not anxious to see people accept all that he said (and he said an awful lot) as canon. The great thing about chiropractic is that is is based on Deductive Reasoning, which causes one to think and (hopefully) separate the wheat from the chaff.
Dr. Strauss, I have read your books many times and have followed your writings for the last 25 years and I have certainly learned a lot from you and have found it valuable. However, I seem to get from your writings a projection of your Christian beliefs that seems to have its influence on your chiropractic philosophy. I think B.J. was coming from more of a eastern viewpoint and therefore viewed God and II and UI differently than the western Christians view God as a being. Maybe I am wrong about you, I hope there can be friendly discussions about these things, I have a view of God that makes much of what B.J. wrote, makes sense to me.
You say that BJ was coming from “more of a eastern viewpoint and therefore viewed God and II and UI differently than the western Christians view God as a being.”. What you are saying is that everyone has a viewpoint (at least BJ and myself). I agree. However I might add that my viewpoint originated in the Middle-East taken from Adam and given to Abraham then to Moses and espoused/presented by Jesus Christ(Semitic in His humanity) and adopted by ” Christian beliefs” which was the prevailing viewpoint in 1895. If BJ really adopted an eastern viewpoint/belief then he “mixed” the original intentof chiropractic and has(I hope) inadvertently mislead thousands of chiropractors over the years. I do respect your (and BJ’s viewpoint). However, Chiropractic does not have/embrace a theological position but should not conflict with one. OSC does not. If what you are saying about BJ and his writings is true, he did.