Not Christian Science

Edward E. Norwood

Chattanooga Times

Chattanooga, Tenn., December 27, 1900.

To the Chattanooga Times.

We as Christian Scientists are accustomed to having so many foolish and absurd things said of us that we cannot find time, nor is it necessary, to answer them. But when something particularly unjust is said, as was your article from the New York Times in yesterday's paper, a due regard and respect for our principles demand a reply.

In reply to the question, "What about the poor? what do you do to relieve their wants and suffering?" the supposed Christian Scientist says, "Oh, we do not go among them with material aids, as you do. There's no poverty; it is a mere idea, and has no reality in the divine Mind. We think about them when we meet together, and by absent treatment reduce their self-supposed sufferings. Then we teach them to disbelieve in the reality of poverty and its imaginary trials. In this way we remove the root of their trouble."

No Christian Scientist would ever make such a foolish statement. In one respect the words are true: Poverty does not exist in the divine Mind, for that Mind is God and even the opponents of Christian Science would admit that poverty, want, and suffering of all kinds exist only in the human mind, for it is the human mind and not the divine Mind which suffers. No Christian Scientist, believes nor would he say, that poverty, suffering, sin, sickness, and death are imaginary. They are the most real things in the world to one suffering under their yoke. Mrs. Eddy, in her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which with the Bible is the text book of Christian Science, says on page 457: "Sickness is neither imaginary nor unreal,—that is, to the false sense of the patient. It is more than fancy, for it solid conviction. It is therefore to be dealt with through right apprehension of the Truth of Being."

When we speak of sin, we say "sin"—we call disease by its right name, and of death and any other form of want or woe, we speak just as others do. We do believe they are not God-given, neither in nor of the divine Mind—hence as that Mind is understood, they will disappear. Because some of our tenets are transcendental to the material senses, there is an even greater necessity for its followers being practical and sensible; and I believe as a rule they are. Like all other bodies, the Christian Science denomination contains a few people who at first have more zeal than wisdom, who say and do things that are not indorsed by its teachings nor its sober-minded followers. Yet I venture to say that nowhere, among no class of people, can be found more practical, sensible, reasonable folk than we, and I say it after mature deliberation.

No Christian Scientist believes the universe as we see it is only imaginary. But if we are to believe the Bible, and we do, it is not the real universe of God's creating, and must pass away. This material world contains all the sin, all the suffering, sickness, and death there is, and because of this we desire to rise above it. Yet we believe this can be done only step by step, by seeking understanding, and obeying God, divine Love, who fills every need, and who is all-powerful and ever-present.

A hungry man is not a whole man, any more than a diseased one is. He is suffering from a sense of lack, and that must be filled. It is evident, then, that the best and only way to satisfy his present wants is to supply him with good, wholesome food. As obedient followers of Christ, we try to fulfil all his commands. His heart went out in compassion when he saw the hungry multitudes, and he fed them. I am quite sure that every Christian Scientist in Chattanooga and elsewhere is doing his or her best to alleviate poverty and want on every side. None but they themselves and the Father know the good done in this way, for they try always to let their right hand be ignorant of what the left doeth. The chief of police and the charity commission, if they were permitted, could tell of good done, of contributions made, and help rendered, and this under promise of secrecy, for man can never reward, but God.

But sufficient to say that the teachings of Christian Science never make one callous to suffering, indifferent to distress, nor turn a deaf ear to the needy. Because of these teachings, our hearts go out in a larger, fuller, and broader sense than ever to all mankind, and we desire to help them, not only temporarily, but permanently, how to avoid the necessity of suffering, and we believe the remedy to lie solely in a right apprehension of God, divine Love, the supplier of every need and the Father of all.

Edward E. Norwood.
In the Chattanooga Times.

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Defence of Christian Science

March 7, 1901

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