Christian Science draws a sharp distinction between...

William J. Bonnin—Manchester, Eng.

Catholic Herald

Christian Science draws a sharp distinction between creation, the things that are, as they appear to our human senses, and these things as they exist in Truth, in the divine Mind that created them. By the human material senses they are apprehended only relatively as phenomena, and not cognized in their absolute reality. Hence our sense acquaintance with phenomena is mere belief as compared with absolute knowledge of the reality behind, as it were, those phenomena; hence in Christian Science matter stands for the erring human concept of true spiritual substance. The human concept is, therefore, not truth. It is given in Christian Science the generic name of error, and it is the birthplace and domain, and the only birthplace and the only domain, of evil. All that is, is perfect, for "the law of the Lord is perfect;" the imperfections exist only as the human concept is imperfect.

Christian Science teaches that Christianity's message of salvation is that it is possible for us, through purity, honesty, and humility, to work out our own salvation by letting the false concept be corrected by the knowledge of the truth; or, in Paul's words, by letting that Mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus. Thus it may be seen that no Christian Scientist would urge anything so egregiously foolish as the contention industriously combated by Father Day, that to the human senses matter, pain, disease, and evil are non-existent.

Christian Science teaches that God is Spirit, the only Mind; that He is Life, Truth, and Love. If this is "to deny the true nature of God," because it does not present Deity as a finite corporeal person, then we acknowledge materialism paramount and triumphant. As for "making a caricature of Jesus Christ," Christian Scientists gratefully aver that the understanding which has come to them through their study of Christian Science has enabled them to love, honor, and revere him more than ever they had power to in the past.

The healing accomplished in Christian Science is the outcome of a knowledge and understanding of man's true spiritual nature as the image and likeness of God, whereby the evil dwelling in the human mortal mind and reflected in our material conditions is destroyed, and vanishes as does darkness in the presence of light. Browning knew what evil was when he wrote: "The evil is null, is naught, is silence implying sound." From this it will be seen how diametrically opposed to truth it is to allege that this healing is procured by "mental suggestion" or any other process of the human mind. It would be quite impossible to find two things more completely contradictory than Christian Science and hypnotism.

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