Article April 24, 1909 Issue

Christian Science teaches that in the realm of ever-present...

C. R. Munro

Sarnia (Can.) Canadian

Christian Science teaches that in the realm of ever-present Spirit there is no sin; and so does the Bible, as for instance in the text, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God;" but sin is very real to one who indulges in it thinking he finds pleasure therein. Christian Science does not ignore sin, but it does insist that sin was never created by God, who made all that was made and pronounced it "very good." Being no part of His perfect creation, it therefore has no real existence, and hence is only temporal or mythical. The mere denial of sin, however, will not overcome it, and Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 29) that Christians "must grapple with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course." By ceasing to indulge in sin, by putting it aside and by realizing the ever-presence and omnipotence of God, in whom there is no sin, we prove its unreality and its powerlessness over us, and are able to rise above it and destroy it. And this is the denial of sin in Christian Science.

The charge that Christian Science denies the personality of God is misleading. If by "personality" is meant finite personality, then Christian Science does deny that God can be a finite personality, for how can a God who is infinite, eternal, ever present, and all powerful, be at the same time finitely personal? Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 116): "If the term personality, as applied to God, means infinite personality, then God is infinite Person,—in the sense of infinite personality, but not in the lower sense. An infinite Mind in a finite form is an absolute impossibility."

To speak of Mrs. Eddy's book as the "Bible of the sect" is entirely misleading. Science and Health is in no sense a substitute for the Bible, and has never been considered so either by Mrs. Eddy or by Christian Scientists. It is simply what its title indicates, a "Key to the Scriptures;" in other words, it is the Christian Scientists' commentary on the Bible, and they have as much right to use it in that way as the reverend critic himself has to use his denominational commentaries on the Bible.

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