Editorial September 8, 1906 Issue

THE CHRISTIANITY OF JESUS

Archibald McLellan

In an article in The North American Review for August, Rev. Dr. Philip S. Moxom calls in question the right of our modern Christian civilization to be called Christian, and in discussing this question he says, "Conceivably, one may contend that our present social life is the result of a long evolution and is economically wise and beneficent, but one cannot truthfully call it Christian;" and after comparing present-day Christianity with Shintoism and Buddhism as exemplified in Japan, he goes on to say: "But what really suffers by the comparison is not the Christianity of Jesus, but the Christianity of the Church, the Christianity which we have made. In other words, Christianity can maintain its pre-eminence only by the vital and effective incorporation of the spirit and teaching of Jesus in individual and social life and character. Nothing can invalidate this proposition. The trial which the Christian nations are facing to-day is obvious and inescapable. Let us at least be honest with ourselves. If we will not practise what Jesus taught, let us cease to call ourselves Christians;" and from this he leads up to the question and answer, "Where is the difficulty? We have not taken Jesus frankly at his own word and on his own terms."

To the average man the conclusion arrived at by Dr. Moxom may seem extremely pessimistic, but when we recall that Jesus' ministry was so largely one of practical works, which he said should "follow them that believe," and we fail to find these works accompanying so much of the preaching of this latter day, we are forced to agree with Dr. Moxom that there is a certain "inconsistency of our life with the Christian faith and principles which we inculcate."

As Christians, it is our duty to do the works which our Master did, and the most conspicuous of these was the healing of the sick. He named this healing work as one of the signs which should identify his followers, yet this work has been neglected for centuries, and even now the possibility of its accomplishment is quite largely denied. What is needed for the establishment of the Christianity of Jesus and for the redemption of the world is a larger faith in God, a giving up of the prevalent belief that evil is as real as good and that God is its creator. So long as humanity believes that evil is real and God-created, so long will it believe that "the teachings of Jesus are not practical in business, politics, and international intercourse." Christian Science is, as its name implies, a system by which the Christianity of Jesus is demonstrably operative in human affairs, and because of the possibilities it has opened to mankind there is ground for hope that at no distant day the reproach of inconsistency—"un-Christian Christianity"—will have been removed from modern civilization.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

LABOR DAY LESSONS