Article September 17, 1910 Issue

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND JUDAISM

FLORA R. TSCHOPIK

To many Jews who would gladly adopt a religion that heals, there is an apparent stumbling-block in the use of the word "Christian" as applied to Christian Science. Later, however, they learn that the term Christian Science is impersonal and is thus interpreted—The Science of Christ, Truth. Before coming into Christian Science, I had a great antipathy to the name of Jesus Christ. I had never read the story of his life, but from an inherent feeling that he was an impostor, I, as a Jewess, rebelled at the thought of the worship attached to his name. After many attempts to be healed through materia medica (going to each new specialist with implicit confidence in his ability), after seeking health at famous European resorts, and failing to obtain the cure that I sought, I decided to give Christian Science a trial and was healed!

I then realized that if God answered the prayers of Christian Scientists in conformity with the method revealed by Jesus, the fact of its being in accordance with and not in opposition to God's law, was incontestably established. With the study of the Bible and of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, in which I became interested, the light dawned; my preconceived opinions fell away one by one, and I saw life anew. I began to comprehend the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth: I saw the magnitude of his life-work, his consecration to the God of Israel, his denial of selfhood apart from God, his humility and fidelity in his healing work, in ascribing all power to the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Moses—not to another God; his perseverance in striving to bring to human sight and sense a seeing of and an awakening to the spiritual facts of life. Through the study and application of the Principle and rules given in the Christian Science text-book, the hidden meaning of the Scriptures was uncovered to me, and the reality of spiritual Life overcame the false beliefs of material existence. I gained the understanding that the world, as we see it, is not a world of matter, but a world of human concepts which exclude from our view the world of God's creating; or, as Mrs. Eddy expresses it, "Eternal things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal (Science and Health, p. 337).

Christian Scientists are profoundly interested in the truth of being, and are working away from the falsity of the material sense of existence. They accept the First Commandment as imperative, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Christian Science emphasizes this command continually. Mrs. Eddy says, "The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal" (Ibid., p. 340). To have no other gods means to recognize no power but God, Spirit, good. Analyzed negatively, this means that one must not be cognizant of matter, for God is Spirit; one must not recognize sickness and sin as realities, for God created all and called it good; consequently sickness and sin are no more a part of the creation of good than matter is a part of the creation of Spirit.

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