Article October 9, 1909 Issue

Christ, according to the teaching of Christian Science,...

George Shaw Cook

Mendota (Ill.) Bulletin

Christ, according to the teaching of Christian Science, is "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error" (Science and Health p.583). In other words, Christ is the divine idea or spiritual idea of God. and necessarily is as eternal and as universal as God. Jesus was the man who best understood this divine idea and who most successfully demonstrated its power in the destruction of sin and disease. Christian Scientists look to Christ Jesus as the Wayshower and Exemplar. They believe that it is right for them to undertake the destruction of sin and evil in the way that he destroyed them, and that it is possible for them to succeed in proportion as they are able to follow his example of spirituality and goodness.

No one who is correctly informed on this subject would suppose for one moment that Christian Scientists believe that they can get rid of sin by ignoring it or by simply calling it a delusion. Christian Science turns the sinner from his sin by convincing him that he need not fear sin and cannot love it because it is not of God. It shows him that God does not create sin. and that He does not permit its existence. It teaches him that sin and evil are entirely contrary to the will of God and that they have nothing to do with God's man. Thus it induces the sinner to abandon his belief in the reality, power, and pleasure of sin, and enables him to win forgiveness by forsaking sin. For this reason it will be seen that it is a mistake to suppose that in teaching the unreality of sin Christian Science encourages the indulgence of sin. On the contrary, it awakens the sinner to the absolute necessity of gaining a love for goodness that will enable him to abandon not only the flagrant forms of immorality and vice, but also the more subtle phases of evil. Thousands of sinners have been reformed by Christian Science, and many have been lifted by it out of the very depths of degradation. Indeed, it would be impossible for any one to be healed physically by Christian Science without becoming better morally.

No one who is at all familiar with the teaching of Christian Science concerning the cause of disease supposes that conscious and wilful sin is the only cause of disease. The Christian Science text book shows plainly that fear, superstition, ignorance, and many other mental conditions cause disease. It also shows that the generally accepted beliefs of the human mind claiming to operate as law are responsible for much suffering. It, however, shows that everyone of these causes may be annulled and their supposed effect prevented by a sufficient understanding of the law of God.

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