Article July 9, 1910 Issue

Our critic begins his attack with the declaration that...

Frederick Dixon

Bedford (Eng.) Circular

Our critic begins his attack with the declaration that muddle in material affairs is bad enough, but that muddle in religion is a thousand times worse, and he goes on from this to labor the point that Christian Science has created a muddle in religion. The reasoning by which this is arrived at is not remarkably logical, nor can it be said that it would satisfy the ordinary historical thinker. Before Mrs. Eddy founded the Christian Science movement the religious muddle had existed for centuries, and had found expression in innumerable Christian sects. In the attempt to clear it up millions of men had lost their lives on the battle-field and in the various persecutions. As a result of all this bloodshed, not a sect has been convinced of its errors; all that has happened has been that the dogmatic tendencies of the human will have found constant and merciless gratification. Today the Established Church of this country is divided into parties whose theology differs one from the other's as completely as Romanism differs from Nonconformity. Only quite recently the head of one of the theological colleges of these parties deliberately set out what he described as five modern Christian views of the atonement. Yet your contributor talks of the muddle of Christian Science.

Curious as is this critic's first argument, it is intelligible as compared to his second. The muddle caused by Christian Science is, he maintains, inexcusable, since every one can refer directly to the Bible. Now it is absolutely certain that all the sects in Christendom have differed in the past precisely because they drew their dogmas from the Bible, and supported them by a careful selection of texts. The Romanist found the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Bible as clearly as the Reformer found that of consubstantiation. The Bible was the quarry in which the Calvinist discovered predestination and the Anglican free will. In short, it is out of the Bible that one and all of the five theories of the atonement previously mentioned have been justified.

It is precisely for this reason that Christian Science repudiates the system of proof from the text alone, and demands proof by demonstration as well. Christianity based on proof texts is, and must remain, a theory. Christianity based on practical demonstration of the truth contained in the text of the Bible, constitutes the knowledge of the truth which Jesus said would make men free, and is consequently scientific. It seems to be forgotten that the writers of the epistles spoke of the knowledge of God as scientific knowledge (epignosis tou theou); just as it seems to be forgotten that Jesus made a man's ability to demonstrate his knowledge of Truth the test of his faith in the teaching of Christianity.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Our critic begins his attack with the declaration that...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access