Article April 12, 1900 Issue

"Is Christian Science Christian?"

Henry Ripley

Montrose (Col.) Enterprise

This is the same old conundrum that has bothered many people in this country for the past thirty years, and has not yet been solved to their satisfaction, else they would not be under the necessity of discussing it so frequently.

What do we mean when we speak of anything as being Christian? That it conforms to the teachings, or is patterned after the life, of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. That teaching is summed up in the saying, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Those commandments it is not necessary to quote.

Does Christian Science meet those requirements? I believe, after an intimate acquaintance with it extending over a number of years, that it does. If I did not so believe, I would none of it; and it is safe to say that all Scientists feel the same. Christian Science is before the country, the youngest and most radical religious system extant, courting the investigation of every honest seeker after Truth. It is willing to be measured by the rule given by Jesus, "By their fruits ye shall know them." If it is not Christian, founded upon the great truths taught by Jesus, it will not stand. If it is so founded, if it can produce the proofs which Jesus required of his followers ("greater works than these shall he do"), then nothing can stay its progress, and all the denunciation hurled against it will avail nothing.

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